Fortune Favours the Brave by Makeup Revolution

Perhaps one of the most exciting and highly coveted products to come from budget cosmetics company Makeup Revolution thus far, comes the Fortune Favours the Brave palette - a palette which is born of a collaboration between Makeup Revolution and British Beauty Blogger and I believe a lot of time and effort was put into providing this palette with just the right shades.  I have to say, even after its' release months ago, it is still highly desirable and seems seems to sell out often which is why it took me quite a few tries before I was able to get my excitable hands on this one.

The beautiful case, complete with my smudges.

Unlike the typical glossy black casing that the typical Makeup Revolution palettes are usually armoured in, this palette is prettily adorned with a hard golden matte plastic case which gives a premium luxurious look to the product - this does not look like a £9.99 palette. Within, you get your typical large crystal clear mirror and the palette boasts 30 varied and interesting shades.  What is so revolutionary about this palette is that several of the shades are veined with contrasting shimmers and pigments that add a dynamic flare to the shadows, giving more dimension and seeming to add strength to the overall pigmentation itself. 

Most of the shades in the palette are focused on a theme - that being Gold!  The shadows range from a few matte base colours in soft light beiges and peach to shimmering rose golds, bronzes, khakis and aubergines.  Several of the colours have gold veins throughout the pigment giving an almost planetary look to the pan (or perhaps reminding you of the way you might see veins of gold appearing through rocks in a mine). The plastic sheet within the palette reveals the shades have equally inventive and interesting names such as "midnight rainbow", "pink diamond" and "lonely planet".  In keeping with the theme, you'll also find three shades known as "fortune", "favour" and "brave".  There was a brush in the palette but it disappeared somewhere never to be recovered - I never did get the chance to test it out but it looked like it might have worked well for blending (I think it was a double ended brush, I could be wrong though).

Blending with these shadows worked like a dream, they go on soft and velvety and brush into each other as long as you use a good soft blending brush (it sometimes helps also to switch to a clean blending brush after adding your darker shades - this is a tip I picked up from famous drag queen "Miss Fame" on Youtube.



Shades I used here were "New World" and "Lonely Planet" with a bit
"The Revolution". "New World" is on glance a white shade with flecks
of gold through it, which comes out beautifully shimmery yet subtle
enough for a daytime look that brightens the eye.

In testing out, I have to say I was definitely impressed with the pigmentation - especially on some of the darker colours. Even without using a primer I was able to achieve some quite intense shades and dramatic looks which blend well with each other (which as is always my unfortunate problem, never shows as well on camera due to me using an iPod touch and iPad for the moment).  Every colour in the set seems to have at least five contrasting shades (if not more) that match it spectacularly - as gold is the theme here, every contrasting shade works with gold bases.  There doesn't seem to be much limitation with this palette, you have everything you need to achieve almost every look you can think of, smokey, sultry, glam, gothic, or nude.  All it takes is skill, patience and a few decent brushes (I use Makeup Revolution's Ultra Metals pointed crease eye brush, FYI).


Here I used a lot of "Lonely Planet". "Winning and "Blacqua".
The application looks a bit sloppy, this was just me quickly
testing the shades out before a bath. Threw on my trademark
wonky lash for effect. 

The dark shades in the palette are all quite interesting and unusual - "Lonely Planet" for example is a deep burgundy shade with copper and red undertones - it isn't too highly shimmery so works well as a crease colour or an all over shade for ultra dramatic night time looks.  Another of my favourite shades in the palette is "Transformer" which is an intense deep forest/teal green with a slight satin finish, it comes out intensely dark but with blending can be very soft and subtle. "Midnight Rainbow" is a satin finish navy that stands out beautifully but comes out dark and sultry while it's sister shade "Skylight" is somewhere in the range of a cobalt blue with golden undertones that make the colour really pop and give it real
dimension and depth.

Shades "Tip Top", "Green Machine" and "Smoothie"
were used here with a tiny bit of "Golden Coins"

What I really do love most about this palette is that every shade is highly wearable - this is akin to having a nudes palette that can double as a varied, diverse and interesting looks palette - what defines how the look comes out is your technique, your blending, the brushes you use and the use of a primer.  Some of the shades I've even used when I couldn't be bothered getting my highlighter palette out ("New world" and "Pink Diamond" do really work nicely in a pinch).  I've provided several photos of the quick looks I was able to achieve with the various shades available in the palette.  My pictures were taken without filters, without fancy lighting and without a good camera - right now I'm working with an iPod Touch (5th generation) and an iPad 2, so the camera quality isn't spectacular. 



Here the colours were "Midnight Rainbow", "Skylight" and
"Fortune". I did this without a primer and the shades
did look quite intense and eyecatching.

So...where exactly can you get this incredible revolutionary palette?  I believe Superdrug is selling it, and I've heard from various sources that it can sometimes be found at Ulta depending on availability.  Also, you can always go to Makeup Revolution's portal and find the site for your appropriate country and order straight from there (which I recommend as the palettes usually tend to be more fairly priced directly from the source).  Personally, I highly recommend this palette, it's by far one of my favourite palettes by Makeup Revolution so far (perhaps only seconded by "Eyes like Angels" and "Affirmation", which are two of my go-to palettes by the brand).
If you're looking for a luxury quality product with an affordable price that will give you versatility to play around with, then this is what to go for.   

     

Wearing "Soft", "New World" and "Smoothie".  This was my
subtle serious daytime look for an appointment at the bank.
Trying to look serious while having pink hair is no small feat,
let me tell you.