Skimlinks Test 
(*affiliate link) The latest Melt Cosmetics Mary Jane Eyeshadow Palette is finally here! I have really been looking forward to get this Melt Cosmetics 10-pan eyeshadow palette since I saw its promo photos!
This is also my first Melt Cosmetics larger palette. I did own the Blueprint eyeshadow stack from a while ago (reviewed here). My impression of Melt Cosmetics is that, their shadows are ultra pigmented and smooth. I couldn’t wait to try this cool and neutral tone beautiful color story palette!
The cover of this Melt Cosmetics Mary Jane Eyeshadow Palette amazing! The name Mary Jane is raised with crystal-like texture that are filled with small pieces of sequin inside. Although not sure how, I do find some pieces of them on my floor from time to time..
Table of Contents
About the Melt Cosmetics Mary Jane Eyeshadow Palette
This Melt Cosmetics Mary Jane Eyeshadow Palette * retails for $58 USD. There are a total of 19.35 g or 0.68 oz of product inside. I got mine during the Spring Sephora VIB sale *, which is still going on until 4/19.
There 10 shades: 4 mattes, 2 smooth shimmers, 2 chunky shimmers and 2 sheer but sparkly toppers. Other than the 2 lightest shimmers, everything else are pretty pigmented, especially the deep colored shimmers!
According to the description, this Mary Jane eyeshadow palette is inspired by ‘the dense tones found in cannabis smoke and the luster of crystal-coated buds’. I think that is a very interesting and special inspiration! Very much the vibe of Melt Cosmetics as in their other palettes.
Ingredients and formulation of the Melt Cosmetics Mary Jane Eyeshadow Palette
I realized the list of ingredients photo above is almost impossible to read! If you’re interested to know the full list, it is the same as that found online (see here *). Talc is listed as the 9th ingredient in the list. What I remember was that, Melt Cosmetics did not use talc to make their eyeshadow. Maybe they changed the formulation. I’m not gonna lie, I am a little disappointed to see they use talc. I think they can make beautiful and high quality shadows without adding any talc as in their previous releases.
This Melt Cosmetics Mary Jane Eyeshadow palette is also parabens-, gluten- and cruelty-free. There is also no detectable fragrance from the shadows. They are made in the USA.
I have a lot to talk about regarding their formulation! Although my only other experience with Melt Cosmetics eyeshadows was the Blueprint eyeshadow stack, their texture/formula are very unique. I seldom come across eyeshadows that have these specific textures.
First of all, let’s talk about the shimmers/toppers at both ends of the palette! They are very sheer imo. There doesn’t seem to have a strong color base to the shades, especially the one on the left (Mary Jane). While Kali has some pigmentation to it, it was also very hard to blend without being ‘spotty’ on the lid. There are also fine glitter particles in these two shades. That’s why they are very sparkly.
Mary Jane and Kali are both soft and somewhat crumbly when picked up with a brush. As I usually use finger to apply this kind of shadows onto my lid, I already see some areas developing hard pan in both of them! I think these two shades are very difficult to use, especially for non-makeup artist like myself.
For the mattes in this Mary Jane palette, they are decent. I would not say they are my favorite, but they’re also not hard to work with. The lightest matte (Mari) doesn’t show up on my lid even those I layered several times with a brush. Mari doesn’t look like my skin tone color, but yet doesn’t show up, it is very perplexing.
The other matte Gaspar is a nice mid-tone shade, it is a bit patchy and takes longer time to blend. I kind of expecting them to be better for the price. Also, if I could change one of the mid-tone brown mattes to other shade, I would put a mid-tone to light khaki for more variety.
As I mentioned before, there are 2 smooth, your regular shimmers in this palette (Bamba, Bo). They are beautiful and I like them a lot. However, for the other 2 shimmers with chunky and grainy particles, I found that there are A LOT of fallout when applying them. Even though I appreciate how beautiful and sparkly they look on the lid, it was kind of messy. I highly recommend to do your eye first when you use this Mary Jane eyeshadow palette.
Swatches for the Melt Cosmetics Mary Jane Eyeshadow Palette
Except the 3 lightest shades in this palette, all the other shadows were swatched very nicely on the arm. I actually like all those 7 deeper shades individually. They are just stunning and beautiful shades! But this palette is very much on the deep side for day time or even everyday wear. If you have a deeper complexion, I think these shades will look stunning on you!
Now thinking about that, isn’t it perfect if Melt Cosmetics made 2 versions of this palette, one for fair to light, and the other for medium to deep, skin tones?! Just like some of the palettes from Sydney Grace.
Overall, I think 7 darker shades in the swatch are all true to the colors appear in the palette, while the lightest matte brown swatched lighter than I expected, and the 2 toppers are very sheer and doesn’t show up too well.
Comparing Melt Cosmetics Mary Jane Eyeshadow Palette with other cool tone palettes/singles- Tom Ford, Viseart, Stila
The gunmetal shimmers shades in the Melt Cosmetics Mary Jane eyeshadow palette reminds me of the Viseart Petits Fours Lilas quad (reviewed here), which is one of my favorite cool tone palettes! They are actually quite different. Lilas is even more cool than Mary Jane.
Putting all these comparison swatches together side-by-side, it seems to me that the closest was surprisingly the Tom Ford 01 Soleil Neige eye color quad (reviewed here)! I don’t know why I stopped using this quad from Tom Ford, it is so pretty!
The other Tom Ford singles in the photo was the Cream and Powder Eye Color in 06 Young Adonis. The Stila was Glitter and Glow liquid eyeshadow in Smoky Storm. Some of the comparison shadows are similar and some quite different, but for sure they the textures of all them are very diverse.
4 eye looks created using the Melt Cosmetics Mary Jane Eyeshadow Palette
Although I admit that all the 4 looks I created using this Melt Cosmetics Mary Jane Eyeshadow Palette are subtly different in general, this first look appears khaki brown to me, which is a pretty look! Here I used all the shadows dry, including the topper shades.
You may be able to see some of it, there were indeed tons of fallout from using the chunky shimmer shade Sweet Lucy. I had a hard time brushing off the fallout on my cheek.
Also, if you look closer, the glitter pieces in the topper shades made my inner corner looked really messy. The worst was that some of the glitter or chunky particles from the shadows go into my eye and it was irritating my eye. This is a major drawback of using this palette, which happen almost every time, unless I don’t use those chunky shimmer or topper shades.
I like this second look. I think it is more wearable than the first look for me. The topper shade Kali was applied much smoother and turned out to be more shiny, the difference was that I sprayed MAC fix+ * onto my natural hair brush after picking up the shadow. That way, the application is better and easier.
The intention behind this look was that, I wanted to create something that I feel comfortable wearing in daily life. So everything was applied lighter handed than other looks. I like how it looks and is within my comfort zone.
In this last look I was at the point of just wanted to use every single shade in the palette… this is a very smokey and sultry look for me. I can say that both of the gunmetal shimmers performed very well, just not a look that I would wear except very few occasions in a year. Nonetheless, it is still a pretty look!
Final Thoughts
Overall, I like the color story of this Melt Cosmetics Mary Jane Eyeshadow Palette a lot! The formulas of the lighter shades may not be my favorite, but if you are a smokey eye gal, I highly recommend this palette to you! The topper shades are very workable if they are used wet. Just be careful not to let the glitters to go into your eyes!
Either if this is not a color story that you gravitate towards, or you’re more of a makeup beginner, or you don’t want to spend too much time in doing your eye makeup, I think you should not get this palette. As in my comparison swatches session, there are other much easier to use palettes that can give you similar eye looks when you want to, like the Viseart Lilas palette (reviewed here) is a very nice one, I love that quad.
However, if you really like or want to try this Mary Jane eyeshadow palette out anyway, I think it’s a good time to get it now during the Spring Sephora VIB sale *!
I will rate this Melt Cosmetics Mary Jane Eyeshadow Palette as:
- Texture: 8/10
- Color payoff: 8.5/10
- Longevity on eyelid: 8.5/10
- Quality consistency among shades: 6/10
- Color scheme uniqueness: 8.5/10
- Affordability: 6/10
