REVIEW ┊ LORAC Pro to Go Eye + Cheek Palette

As the warmer months approach, travelling will be on a lot of people's agenda. Travelling light is ideal but my "be prepared for everything and anything" nature makes that an unattainable dream LOL *le sigh* When LORAC was exiting Sephora (WHY??) I was able to snag the LORAC Pro to Go Eye + Cheek Palette for a slightly discounted price. Since then, it's been a travelling staple for several reasons, of which I'll enumerate below!

First, Let's talk about the cheeks! You get two blushes and a bronzer. I don't wear blush when I wear light makeup because my cheeks have some rosy-ness of their own that usually peeks through my base makeup. But when I do, Coral and Pink cover all the bases. Application is quite smooth and the products are true to pan. With Pink and Bronze, the colors need to be built up but can show up quite strongly if you pack your brush with too much product. Blendable and silky, you won't have trouble applying these!

Pink is a matte, neutral medium pink that doesn't make my face look red. Along with Bronze, the texture is a bit stiffer but my brush has no issues picking up the product. On the contrary, I don't get fallout or a powdery kick up as I do with softer products. Making a mess is the last thing you want on your mind or in your makeup bag!

 Coral is a pinky orange with a golden sheen that adds a subtle highlight to the face. It leans more orange than pink on my skin tone but it perks up my complexion. The texture is very smooth and buttery but I don't get any powder kick up when I dab my brush in it. Pigmentation is stronger than with Pink and Bronze so tread lightly. 

 Bronze is a matte neutral brown. It is perfect for me light medium skin tone. For the longest time, this was the only bronzer that I could use a contour shade. I normally don't use bronzer for its intended purpose of bronzing my complexion so I appreciate that it's matte. If you did want to add a glow, adding Pearl on top would do the job!

Moving on to the pièce de résistance--the eyeshadows! There are 3 shimmers and 3 mattes, 6 shadows in all. From first glance, they aren't anything miraculous and exciting. As time went on, however, the basic-ness of the shadows make it the perfect foundational shades for every look. The shadows are true to color and pigmented. Depending on your brush, you can really get a sheer wash or a pigmented punch! When palettes do a sequel or a mini-size palette, I get worried about the quality dropping, but rest assured, these shadows are no different from the other two LORAC Pro Palettes.

I could let the swatches speak for themselves but I'll do my best to describe their awesomeness xD

Pearl is a satin, off-white tint. Silver sparkles run throughout the formula but the shadow is very smooth and pigmented. The sparkles catch the light in an interesting, glimmery way. I've even used this as a cheek highlight and it isn't too much or overdone. I wouldn't use it for the morning if I'm going to be out in the direct sunlight but as a cheek topper at night, it picks up the light in a lovely way.

Shell is a matte vanilla tint. Though it doesn't show up that way in my photos, in person the yellow tone is much more noticeable in comparison to Pearl. Because of that, I like to run this under my brow bone as a subtle highlight, blending color and neutralizer as my brow bone tends to be red. Definitely a favorite of mine in this palette :D

The star of this palette--and the most metallic--is Chai. The lightest touch picks up product so go lightly with this. Chai is a coppery bronze that looks great as an all-over lid color. It doesn't make my eyes look swollen or puffy so that's perfect for rushed mornings. 

My next favorite shade, Cafe, is a matte, warm medium brown shade. I like to wear this in the crease or as an all over color. Seriously, it's such as essential shade for light to medium skin tones. The creaminess lends an easy blendability and pigmentation--such a treat to use! 

Mink is a blackened brown with coppery gold sparkles running throughout the formula. Aptly named, the sparkles are subtle but I think this is one of the weaker shadows in the palette.From the swatch, it isn't pigmented which is a good thing as it's a darker shade but when I apply and try to blend, the shadow tends to stay in one spot and get patchy. It needs a little bit more work than the others but nevertheless, it's great for blending out liner or as a soft liner look. 

Black is your typical matte black. It isn't the most intensely pigmented black on the market but for subtle, every day looks, it's suitable. I like using this as a softer than black pencil liner but bolder than brown liner, a happy medium. If I want to darken Cafe for a stronger crease shade, this fulfills that purpose thoroughly. 

Since I have the LORAC Pro Palette and PRO Palette 2, I decided comparison swatches were in order! Is it really necessary to own all of the palettes? I'll let you be the judge ;)

I'm sorry this picture is so blurry so I'll just describe the nuances of each shade myself. They appear very similar on my skin tone but Buff actually appears more yellow than Shell. In fact, Shell and Cream are quite similar swatched than in the pan.

Again, they look quite similar on my skin but in person, there's some slight differences. Nude is more pink, Beige appears more neutral, and Pearl appears more white in terms of color. In terms of texture, Pearl is much more like Champagne from the LORAC Pro Palette but much smoother. 

Now none of these are exact dupes of one another but textures is similar. Chai is somewhere between the warmth of Gold and the brown-ness of Mocha. If I had to pick, Chai looks most similar to Mocha but distinct enough to justify "needing" both.

Oh geez, I cringe a bit looking at these swatches because it doesn't do these shadows any justice. Please bear in mind that the shadows perform so much better than these swatches depict. Taupe and Lt Brown are quite similar but Taupe is just slightly more cool toned. Cafe is the warmest out of the three but in my crease, these differences are negligible since I only use the smallest amount. 

I guess this part is a bit redundant and overkill but I'm nothing if not thorough. No difference detectable in feel, application, blendability, color, etc. Glad to see LORAC keep things consistent in their formulation!

And now, for the grand finale, two looks I created using this palette! Looking back, they look really similar but I was trying to do a day look and a night one. Anyhoo, I hope you like them :D

LORAC Pro to Go: Daytime

LID--Cafe

LINER-- Black

BROW BONE-- Shell

LIPS -- NARS Satin Lip Pencil in Lodhi

LORAC Pro to Go: Nighttime

LID--Cafe

CENTER OF LID--Chai

LINER--Black

INNER CORNER--Pearl

OUTER CORNER--Mink

BROW BONE--Shell

OTHER THOUGHTS

Really ambitious with the last one! Looked a bit muddy in person but glad that it transfer that way in the photos. That's one of my complaints about this palette. There are varying degrees of color intensity: light, medium, dark but the colors themselves are quite similar to one another. Chai is like a more glamorous version of Cafe; Shell and Pearl are like fraternal twins; Black and Mink are like cousins. This would be great for someone who isn't looking for much variation and needing just the bare necessities. I want to emphasize that you can get by with just this one palette but for the makeup collectors and hoarders--myself included--this isn't absolutely essential unless you're starting to build your makeup collection. It's a great foundational piece to complement other things you have but if you already have your basics covered, passing on it wouldn't be a total loss. 

The aspect that stands out to me is its functionality. Since it contains the essentials, adding a highlight here and some other shadows would make it perfect for on the go. Despite it being half the size of a regular LORAC Pro Palette, there is some bulk to it--if you were to pull the two halves apart, it would equal one full-size LORAC Pro Palette. It would however, fit into smaller bags easier though. The magnets are particularly strong with the Pro to Go, important when you're going about with this in your bag. I haven't had an issue with the regular LORAC Pro Palettes opening themselves when I travel but I would hate for something to dig into the buttery shadows and creating a mess (and a deep wound in my heart!) The mirror is generously sized; it's large enough for me to see my entire face, making foundation a breeze. Only thing is, it doesn't prop open on its own but I tend to hold mirrors close to my face when I do makeup--I blame my nearsightedness >.<

I also love how there are accompanying tutorials but you would need a smartphone with a QR code scanning capability. Not the most accessible but the thought is nice. The card inserts are nice but I tend to lose those as soon as I open up the palette so having things online makes it easy to look up. More and more companies are providing usage instructions with their products which make makeup for beginners that much easier. 

This palette contains a total net wt of 0.4oz/12.8 g of shadow and a total net wt of 0.35oz/10.2g of blush/bronzer. The LORAC Pro Palette contains a total net wt of 0.32oz/8.8g of product so even though you're only getting 6 shadows in the PRO to Go, you're getting a good deal at $38usd compared to the LORAC Pro's $42usd. 

THE BOTTOM LINE

I'd recommend it to those who are building their makeup foundation or are looking for a do-it-all palette. The eyeshadows are good staples that work well with other shadows. The blushes and bronzer are versatile enough for a variety of looks. If you already have the basics covered, you can safely pass on this palette.

WHERE TO BUY

Kohl's | LORAC | Nordstrom | ULTA 

Thanks so much if you got to the bottom of this post! It was quite a long one to photograph and compose but I wanted to provide as much information as possible. I didn't think to do comparisons of the blushes and bronzer but they are easy colors to dupe. If you would like to see those, I can do a follow-up post or add in those photos later :D It's Sunday, which means the end of the weekend but I hope you had a productive weekend! I just went grocery shopping so I feel accomplished and set for the week xD 

XOXO,

MWAH ♥

Twitter // Instagram // Facebook // Bloglovin