Initial thoughts: Profusion Midnight Fever and Sultry & Neutrals 10 Eyeshadow Palettes

Three weeks ago, reader palette_obsession shared with us some pics and swatches of the Holiday 2012 palettes from Profusion. These palettes have caused some buzz since there's no denying that they look like the Urban Decay Naked palettes. 

I finally found both palettes at Big Lots last week (thanks to those of you who shared the tip that these are surfacing at both Walgreens AND Big Lots!) and although I haven't had much time to play around with them, I have used both of them a few times so I'd like to give you my initial impressions of both palettes. Hopefully this can help you determine whether or not these may be worth the hunt.

So let's start with the cooler of the two palettes:

Profusion Midnight Fever 10 Eyeshadow Palette

(retail: $4.99, weight not given on packaging)

Keep reading for my full review of both palettes, with swatches...

These Profusion palettes are actually a little bit bigger than the UD Naked palette (they measure about an inch longer).

These swatches were done over NYX HD Shadow Base. If you look closely, you can see where the fallout sort of got "trapped" in the primer (the little dark dots around the swatches). So yes, there is fallout with this palette:

Another thing you'll notice is that the finish on all but one shadow in the Midnight Fever palette is the same. These are all shimmers (the black is more of a satin).

As for dupes in the Urban Decay Naked palette, there are some similar shades, but nothing I would call a full-on dupe. This palette is not a shade-for-shade dupe of UD Naked, but the sequencing of some of the shades is identical. For instance:

Here's a side by side comparison of Urban Decay Gunmetal to the similar shade in the Profusion palette:

 Pretty close.

 Now let's take a look at the the Sultry & Neutrals palette:

Profusion Sultry & Neutrals 10 Eyeshadow Palette

(retail: $4.99, weight not given on packaging)

I swatched the shadows in this palette over LA Girl Pro Primer in Nude because I was afraid that, without a little bit of color underneath, you wouldn't be able to see the lighter matte shades at all in my photos:

You still can't really see the lighter matte shades in my pics because the colors are very close to my natural skintone. But at least you can see that you get five mattes in the Sultry & Neutrals palettes and five shimmers. Very nice to see an even 50-50 of mattes and shimmers in an inexpensive drugstore palette.

This palette is not a shade-for-shade dupe of the UD Naked palette either, but the sequencing of some of the shades is identical:

And here's a comparison of UD Smog to the similar color in the Sultry & Neutrals palette:

I can't possibly give you a final verdict on these palettes since I've only been using them for about a week now. However, here's what I can tell you:

If you already own UD Naked or Naked 2, I would say that you probably shouldn't bother with either of these. The quality of the shadows, including texture, complexity and richness of color, staying power and ease of application are far, far superior in the UD palettes. 

If you don't own either of the UD palettes and you're looking for similar colors and don't care about having exact dupes, these Profusion palettes might be worth considering. Yes, you will have to play with them to determine which primer works best for you (I wouldn't try wearing these without primer--they're too weakly pigmented for that), and yes, there is fallout. However, I don't find any of the shadows in either Profusion palette to be horrible, and I was actually surprised by how workable they can be. Sure, you might need to pack them on and take special care to avoid fallout but, over primer, a lot of the colors are decent and I was expecting a LOT worse, given some of the feedback I've read. I don't know if I'm just used to working with drugstore and dollar store eyeshadows, but I really didn't find these anywhere near as bad as others have described them to be. But keep in mind that if you're used to shadows that have perfect texture and pigmentation on the very first swipe, then you should probably avoid these because you'll be in for let-down.

So there you have it. These palettes aren't for everyone, but I hope this gives you a better idea of who MIGHT like them, and who definitely will not like them.

Do you already own either of these new Profusion palettes? What do you think of them?