Afterglow Palette

Becca Afterglow Palette ($39.50 for 0.26 oz.) is a cheek palette that features three of the brand's pressed highlighters and two of their blushes. I think it's a great concept, and it is a nice way to try their famous cheek products, but I do wish the pans were on the larger side; they are the size of your typical eyeshadow (the palette itself is the same size as Becca's eyeshadow palettes), like MAC, Urban Decay, etc. There is a little space between each pan, so it is possible to use some blush brushes without issue, but it's something to consider if you tend to use medium or large-sized blush brushes. If you use a highlight brush to apply the pressed highlighters, I think you'll be just fine, though. The quality of the palette's contents is fairly comparable to the standalone versions, but I noticed all five seemed ever-so-slightly drier here, as if there was less binder, which actually made the highlighters more forgiving on the skin (Becca's highlighters have a fine line between gorgeous glow and pore-emphasizing). This palette contains $20.36 worth of highlighters and $17.92 worth of blush for a total value of $38.28, so you're paying just over a $1 for the "for the price of about one, I get to try five" point of view. (Becca's highlighters cost $38 each, while the blush comes in at $32 a pop). This particular palette is VERY warm-toned, and I wish they had done a cooler-toned option or else mixed up the shades more to make it more versatile across skin tones. If I could have chosen the shades (assuming only one edition), I would have gone for Pearl (yes, creating a pressed version just for the palette!), Moonstone, Blushed Copper, Hyacinth, and Nightingale--which is really proof that Becca needs to consider adding cooler and more neutral-toned shades into the ranges.

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