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The Morphe Moon Stone Palette is one of 4 color options available in Morphe’s ChromaPlus 12-Pan Palette series. It is a cool toned neutral palette that’s heavier on the mattes than on the shimmers. All of these are “regular” powder eyeshadows as opposed to the 6-pan palettes that have Molten Metal shades, which can be used wet or dry. That formula is not available in the 12 pan palettes.
The palettes are made of substantial-feeling plastic, and open and close without magnets. There is a large mirror inside the lid, and the top of each palette has a unique design that is representative of the color story inside. The lids open about 60% of the way (you cannot open the palette so it lays completely flat on the table).
I feel like this palette has a good selection of mattes for “typical” everyday wear that would appeal to someone who likes cooler toned neutrals. Otherearthly, the matte shade in the middle row, is obviously cool toned but so are all the shades in the top row, which may not be as obvious. The deeper brown in the bottom row is on the warmer side but I don’t feel like it fights with the rest of the palette. I’m not as crazy about the selection of shimmers in this palette (personal preference). I like the two shades on the right side of the middle row but could do without the two in the bottom row. I just don’t prefer such cool silvers on me.
The mattes have a solid level of pigmentation. They show up and build well. Compared to one of my older Morphe palettes, I feel the mattes in this are better. They require a bit of effort to blend out though and are not the type to “blend themselves”. I find it helpful to pick up a small amount of color at a time, and tap my brush on the back of my hand to work the color into the bristles before applying color to the eye to get the smoothest blend. That said, I don’t think they are the kind of mattes that stick unrelentingly to the first spot you place them… they just grab on more than some other formulas I have.
The shimmers vary a bit in finish and opacity. The lightest one is sheerer. Some have more large sparkle than others. In general, they seem to be a more emollient powder shimmer formula, not dry at all. They adhere best over bare lids or directly over primer but apply well enough over the powders. If you have very dry lids, it might help to use a hydrating primer or use a setting spray to damped your brush when applying them. Fallout wasn’t bad if I was careful. At most, I got moderate fallout from them and it wasn’t enough to annoy me.
There is one matte with sparkle shade in the middle row. It does have some sparkle fallout but I was able to use it without creating too much of a mess and the sparkle did show up well on the eye.
I wear tested this 4 times and overall the shadows seem to last well on me even without primer as long as I apply plenty of matte eyeshadow first to the crease area before applying any of the shimmers. I noticed on days when I wore shimmer alone, creasing started much earlier.
Price: $23
Availability: Morphe, Ulta
Swatches
Speed Of Light – Matte white.
Just A Phase – Matte light pinky-peach.
Extra Alienating – Matte medium taupe with rosy undertones.
Rocket To Riches – Matte cool toned deep taupe.
Otherearthly – Matte pale purple-y greige.
Galactic Gem – Matte deep blue-grey with silver sparkle.
Lucky Stars – Sheer white shimmer with multi-color sparkles. My camera picks this up as mostly white in direct bright light but in person, I see a lot of fine blue shimmer, a hint of pink shimmer, and larger gold/silver sparkle. Layering this shade over a deeper matte helps bring out its dimension more.
Opulent Orbit – Metallic shimmery cool bronze with lots of larger silver sparkle.
Space Age – Metallic aluminum silver. The sheen on this is very smooth and it looks like all the particles are tiny fine shimmer but this actually has a ton of small sparkle in it, just very densely packed. Can be sheered out to be more sparkly-looking or built up to look more foiled.
Nocturnal Nova – Shimmery grey with some larger sparkle. There isn’t quite as much sparkle in this as with Opulent Orbit.
Cocoa Cosmos – Matte deep brown. A hint warmer than the rest of what’s in the palette but doesn’t fight with the other shades.
Total Eclipse – Matte almost-black. I would say it’s more of a VERY deep grey than a true black.
Pros and Cons
Things I like:
- Mattes have good color payoff
- Wear time is good if mattes are used as a base before applying shimmers
- Fallout is reasonable
- The basics are there for a simple everyday eye without needing to bring in other palettes/singles
- Two pale mattes so I can customize better
- Two transition shade options that I can tell apart from each other
- Several deeper shades I can use for liner options
- Shimmers are versatile enough to use in a sheer/sparkly way but can also be built up reasonably easily to look more metallic
- Nothing redundant in here
Drawbacks and other considerations:
- I found using shimmers alone resulted in much shorter wear time
- The shimmers do not always adhere as easily over the mattes as they do over bare lids or directly over primer
- The mattes do not blend “effortlessly” but they are easy enough to work with
Looks
Look 1
- Just a Phase – Inner corner
- Extra Alienating – Outer crease
- Galactic Gem – Outer lid (damp brush)
- Opulent Orbit – Center of lid (damp brush)
- Otherearthly – Lower lashline
- Morphe Bi-Liner in Shine – Lower waterline
Look 2
- Otherearthly – Applied to most of lid and blended up into the crease
- Total Eclipse – Inner/outer lid
- Lucky Stars – Center of lid (damp brush)
- Speed of Light – Inner corner, dusted lightly over the liner on lower lashline
- Morphe Bi-Liner in Rain – Inner water line, inner lower lashline
- Morphe Bi-Liner in Now – Outer water line, outer lower lashline
Look 3
- Cocoa Cosmos – All over lid/crease
- Speed of Light + Just A Phase – Inner corner, brow bone
- NYX Glitter Primer – All along lower lashline
- Opulent Orbit – Applied over NYX Glitter Primer (dry brush)
- Morphe Bi-Liner in Rhyme – Lower waterline
Look 4
- NYX Glitter Primer – All over upper lid
- Lucky Stars – All over lid, layered over liner on lower lashline just on the inner half (dry bush)
- Otherearthly – Crease
- Space Age – Inner corner (dry brush)
- Morphe Bi-Liner in Friend – Lower waterline, upper wing
- Morphe Bi-Liner in Foe – All along lower lashline
Look 5
- Total Eclipse – All over lid, blended into crease
- Otherearthly – Transition above crease
- Speed of Light – Brow bone
- Nocturnal Nova – Center of lid, inner/outer lower lashline (dry brush)
- Lucky Stars – Inner corner (dry brush)
- Morphe Bi-Liner in Mild – Waterline
Look 6
- Speed of Light + Just A Phase – Inner corner, brow bone
- Opulent Orbit – All over lid, slowly worked it up into the crease (dry brush)
- Morphe Bi-Liner in Give – Lower waterline
- Morphe Bi-Liner in Take – Lower lashline
Look 7
- Speed of Light + Just A Phase – Inner corner, brow bone
- Extra Alienating – Crease
- Nocturnal Nova – Lid
- Morphe Bi-Liner in Rain – Waterline
- Morphe Bi-Liner in Shine – Lower lashline
Look 8
- Speed of Light + Just A Phase – Inner corner, brow bone
- Just A Phase – All over lid
- Extra Alienating – Crease, lower lashline
- Total Eclipse – Liner
Look 9
- Speed of Light + Just A Phase – Inner corner, brow bone
- Just A Phase – All over lid
- Otherearthly – Crease, lower lashline
- Nocturnal Nova – Liner (wet brush)
Look 10
- Speed of Light + Just A Phase – Inner corner, brow bone
- Just A Phase – All over lid
- Extra Alienating + Just A Phase – Crease, outer lid
- Cocoa Cosmos – Liner
Look 11
- Just A Phase – All over lid
- Extra Alienating – Crease
- Opulent Orbit – Center of lid (dry brush, applied sparsely)