Benefit: Smokin' Eyes Palette

I hate buying palettes where you can't select your own colours as there always seems to be one or two 'dud' shades that never get used, so not sure what possessed me to buy Benefit's Smokin' Eyes... especially because I'm not the bigeest fan of Benefit (twee packaging, hit-and-miss colour pay off, and all at premium prices) .

Anyway, it must have been the make-up artist's demo of the product that happened to be going on at the time, but I found myself handing over my cash for this... but no regrets, as I really like it:

Good Points:

1. The pewter shade and the darker shade blend together really well to create a smoked-out look and having a grey base isn't as harsh as black. Pigmentation is good and the texture of the shadows feels soft and expensive.
2. It comes with the 'brow-zings' eyebrow gel which I loved - I was able to fill in any gaps in my dark eyebrows without it looking too dark, heavy and, er, bloke-ish if that makes sense. Angled brush that comes with the palette is just right for applying this.
   
3. It comes with the subtle pale pink highlighter cream 'Eye Bright' to use in the corner of the eyes to brighten them. I like that they provided this for the inner corners instead of a silvery white shade - that's a make-up trick that I feel is a bit cliched now... all a bit textbook.
4. Instuctions are good for smokey eye novices
5. Size of the mirror is quite generous.
6. Black kohl eyepencil is good - doesnt drag, easy to smudge, nice on the waterline.
   

Criticisms?

1. The pale shadow isn't shimmery enough. If this is to be used under the arch, I think it needs to catch the light more. I usually substitute this for my MAC Phloof! shadow, or Illamasqua pigment in Furore for night time looks.
   
2. Despite how much I like it, there's quite a lot of fall out from the dark shadow. I'd advise doing your base after the eye or applying translucent colour under the eye first to protect the base.
3. The eyeshadow brush provided is poo. Just don't bother. Rather use a MAC 242 brush for application then a 217 for blending, or even just my fingers.
4. I could say that the tweezers were rubbish... but I will refrain. I bought this on holiday and having forgotten my usual tweezers, so I was grateful for these. They're ultimately a really handy addition to the palette.
   

All in all, a good buy. I like that it contains lots of products and accessories and I really wasn't expecting much. I'll post some pics of with my eyes made up to show you... for now, here are the pics of the palette.