Morphe ChromaPlus Eyeshadow Trios are a collection of 5 mini eyeshadow palettes that come in some interesting shade combinations, each including Morphe’s ChromaPlus mattes plus one Molten Metal shimmer that can be used wet or dry. Most of the color options run lighter (for example, peach, pink, and mauve themes) but there is one palette that has a dark navy blue. It looks like they were going for shade combos that feel “wearable” while including one slightly out of the ordinary shimmer. They are $13 each, contain 3.5 g / 0.12 oz of product and are available through Morphe or Ulta.

They come in plastic cases that snap shut with a mirror inside the lid. The two I got were not difficult to open. The top of each compact has a matte color coded lid to represent the shade combination inside and the bottom of the palettes are mirrored/reflective. They don’t feel flimsy or like they might break easily.  They feel slightly less substantial than the packaging the 6-pan and 12-pan palettes come in but still fairly decent quality. The powders inside have a super subtle scent that I have to try hard to notice but I don’t smell any fragrance.

Swatches

For both sets of swatches below, I swatched the Molten Metal in the center twice, dry on the left and wet on the right.

Delicate Drama – Pale, muted mauve. This mauve is more pink than purple and is just barely deeper than my skintone. It looks ever so slightly warm on me and adds a hint of contour to my eye.
Sultry Shift – Reddish brown matte base color with an ultra fine pearlescent blue sheen topped with larger blue and purple sparkles. The base color of this is super close to the color of Nightie Night.
Nightie Night – Medium purplish mauve with red undertones. When swatched or applied more heavily, this shade looks more purple but when it is sheered out the red tones come out more.

Pink Pirouette – Light neutral pink. This one shows up brighter on me than I expected it to. I thought it would fade into my skintone and give me a hint of color but it’s actually pretty bold.
Balletcore – Light pink fine shimmer with larger gold sparkles. It has a duochrome quality to it but it doesn’t look like a shifty shade to me. Has plenty of opacity to look like it does in the swatches but I also like how it looks sheered out.
Ruffled Feelings – Medium taupe with neutral undertones. This is the type of midtone shade I could reach for everyday. Perfect depth and actually neutral on me. Doesn’t have any obvious red, grey, or golden tones when sheered out around the edges. 

Performance

The mattes are so velvety and smooth, even more so than the mattes in the 12-pan and 6-pan ChromaPlus palettes I have. I’m pretty sure the formula is a bit different because they feel and apply slightly differently. These don’t require very much effort to blend out and instead of adhering strongly to the skin, they are a bit easier to dust away during blending. They feel “looser” and less grippy which makes it easy to apply the color quickly to the crease but I felt building up the color to get it to look more intense took more time and effort. 

The Molten Metal shimmers can be used wet or dry. I was afraid they would be too firm/dry to use without wetting my brushes but they aren’t. I get plenty of color payoff dipping into them with dry brushes or my fingertip and they show up and build well. I tried also using them wet, by both spritzing a brush lightly and by more aggressively creating a “slurry” with more water as the brand says to do. Personally I prefer how they look when I use them dry. They do come off as more opaque and maybe a bit shinier when used wet but I think they sit on the lids in a more flattering way when used dry and I like the more ethereal sparkle effect I get when using them that way.

Any fallout I got was mainly larger sparkle from the shimmers. The most fallout I got was moderate, not quite enough for me to be annoyed about and some days I wore it, I got hardly any fallout. Using them with damp brushes or as a slurry gave me close to no fallout.

Tip/suggestion: The shimmers adhere better over bare lids or primer than they do directly over the matte shades. Using them with a damp brush did help if I wanted to layer them over the mattes.

Without primer, I got between 4 and 7 hours of wear before I started seeing creasing. The mattes seem to hold up longer than the shimmers. With primer, I got around 9 hours of wear before I started seeing creasing. 

Looks

Look 1: (Tulle Order Palette)

• Pink Pirouette – Inner/outer crease, lower lashline
• Ruffled Feelings – Inner/outer lid
• Balletcore – Center of lid (dry brush/fingertip), center of lower lashline (wet brush)
• Morphe Bi-Liner in Rhyme – Lower waterline

Look 2: (Tulle Order Palette)

• Ruffled Feelings – Outer lid/crease, lower lashline
• Balletcore – Center lid (wet brush)
• Morphe Bi-Liner in Give – Lower waterline

Look 3: (Cut To The Lace Palette)

• Delicate Drama – Crease, lower lashline (hard to see but it’s there)
• Sultry Shift – All over lid (dry brush)

Look 4: (Cut To The Lace Palette)

• Nightie Night – Crease, lower lashline, liner
• Delicate Drama – All over lid, used to blend out deeper matte above crease

The Morphe Underslated ChromaPlus 6-Pan Palette is one of 3 newly released all-matte palettes in the ChromaPlus line. This one is the most neutral of the 3, with a well-rounded selection of shades that feel complete on their own or that can be paired with other palettes or singles. This goes for $16, contains 7.5 g / 0.26 oz of product and is available at Morphe and Ulta.

It comes in a plastic compact with a snap closure and a mirror inside the lid. It doesn’t feel too lightweight or flimsy (I’d say it feels more substantial than recent Essence products I’ve purchased and closer to the type of plastic packaging you get from Natasha Denona). The hinge has a decent amount of tension and stays open at whatever angle I open it to. I can only open the lid to a little past 90 degrees so it cannot lay completely flat on a table. It wasn’t particularly hard to open… didn’t need to pry all that much or use any extra tools to get it to open up. The shadows appear to be glued into the palette and don’t seem to be easily removable. They have an ultra faint “mineral” scent but no noticeable fragrance. 

Swatches

Blanc Slate – Pale creamy white with an ultra subtle pink undertone. This is not a pure bright white, but instead has a softer, less stark quality. On me, it’s still very pale against my skintone and just reads as “white”. 
Comfort Zone – Medium muted rosy nude. If I just use this as a crease color it creates warmth and has an obvious rosiness to it.
Cashmere Only – Medium taupe with subtle red tones. This one applies with a little more depth than Comfort Zone and looks way more like a true neutral on my skintone.
Street Chic – Medium cool grey with subtle purple tones. This is a tiny bit deeper than the light grey in the Morphe Moon Stone Palette (my review here). When I use this I don’t really notice the purple tones on my eyes, but I can tell when I swatch it next to other greys I have in my collection.
Totally Timeless – Deep brown with neutral undertones. Good pigmentation, applies evenly, isn’t difficult to blend and diffuse around the edges. Has enough grip to easily use as eyeliner.
Pared Black – Rich soft black. This isn’t the deepest or darkest black but it has strong color payoff and applies evenly. Has enough grip to easily use as eyeliner.

Performance

After having this palette for about 2 weeks, I’ve gone back and forth on whether it was a worthwhile purchase for me. When I first saw it online, the idea of it seemed right up my alley: all matte, all neutrals, wide variety of tones and depths, all in a small palette with just enough shades. It seemed like it could be a perfect, easy, not-overwhelming, no-brainer neutral palette I could use quickly. When I received it and actually used it, I started to feel less enthusiastic about it. The thing I get caught up on is the shade selection. The lightest matte is too light for the way I typically use pale mattes. The 2 midtones in the top row are a bit deeper than I prefer for a quick crease color (I like lower contrast looks for easy everyday makeup). The grey just looks odd on my skintone. I have zero issues with the 2 deepest shades as the colors are perfect and they perform well as liner shades. 

With what I said above, I do appreciate the quality of the product all-around. The formula is actually great and the packaging is nice quality considering the reasonable price. It still doesn’t meet the desire I originally had for it, but this is a personal preference and not necessarily a fault in the product. 

If you have any of the larger 12-pan ChromaPlus palettes, the formula is similar to those. The shadows feel firmer but really smooth to the touch, not dry but also not particularly “buttery”. There is no graininess to the powder and swatching the shades heavily with my fingers did not leave any hard pan behind. They have higher color payoff and grip onto the skin more readily. This means they do not “blend themselves” and require a bit more effort to soften and diffuse around the edges. I thought they were easier to apply to bare lids than to apply over primer. Without primer, they blended much more easily and I had more control over how intensely the color went onto the lid. They are not dusty and do not create a lot of kickup in the pan when dipping into them with brushes. I can get a small amount of fallout from the deepest mattes if I go in heavy handed without tapping excess off my brush.

Wear time without primer was between 5 and 7 hours before they started creasing on me. With primer I was able to get around 9 hours of wear before they creased on me. 

Looks

Look 1:

• Comfort Zone + Cashmere Only – All over lid, crease, lower lashline
• Blanc Slate – Center of lid
• Totally Timeless – Winged liner

I mixed a bit of both the midtones in the top row for most of the lid color and layered the matte white over top for some brightness in the center.

Look 2:

• Street Chic – Inner lid/crease, used as blending shade above black on outer corner and above crease, lower lashline.
• Pared Black – Added depth the the outer lid, smudged into upper lashline
• Blanc Slate – Center of lid

Look 3:

• Street Chic – Inner crease
• Comfort Zone – Outer crease
• Totally Timeless – Outer lid
• Cashmere Only – Lower lashline
• Blanc Slate – Center of lid

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)