TheBalm Balm Voyage makeup palette review, swatches, photos

The moment I saw photos of theBalm's new palette, Balm Voyage, on Temptalia, I knew I was going to buy it. Thankfully theBalm had one of their 40%-off sales in December. How do the people at theBalm Cosmetics come up with such cute packaging every time?

Here are the swatches and review of the Balm Voyage makeup palette.

Packaging of Balm Voyage palette

A sturdy cardboard case and there is no applicator. It is bigger than Balm Jovi - see comparison photograph with other palettes from theBalm below.

Balm Voyage is vacation-themed. The colourful packaging features postcards of travel destinations from around the world outside. Both flaps come with magnetic closure and keep the eyeshadow and lip products separate. How many palettes club creamy and powdery products side-by-side, making you screech in frustration? You have to love theBalm for this!

The inner flap features a mirror and tells you that the passport belongs to "Anita Vacation". Does Billy Birmingham work for theBalm?

The smaller flap gives you colour combination ideas in a very cute way - through boarding passes!

And the back cover features in-flight crew, passengers, and the colours in the palette.

Formula of Balm Voyage palette eyeshadows and lip colours

The shadows are smooth, buttery and pigmented, typical of theBalm. I have noticed a little more fallout with this palette, though, than I did with Balm Jovi. These seem more powdery, somehow. Not massive fallout like MUA or even as much as Sleek, but definitely more so compared to previous palettes from theBalm, that's all. Nothing to complain about.
Oh, and the lip colours are brilliant. I definitely won't use them as cheek colours. The shades are named Second Officer, First Officer and Captain. All three are very well-pigmented and leave behind a stain that stays on nicely. The condensation on the colours is because the photo below was taken on arrival - it disappeared within a few hours in my airconditioned room. Second Officer is a classic bright red, First Officer is a medium peach and Captain is a beautiful pink.

When you compare the sizes of the individual shadows, Balm Voyage has far, far larger pans as you can see below (next to N#de'Tude).

 

Shades and swatches of Balm Voyage makeup palette

The shades are named for in-flight seats and are:
A4, B4, C4, D4
A3, B3, C3, D3
A2, B2, C2, D2
A1, B1, C1, D1
B3, C3, B2, C2, B1 and C1 are matte eyeshadows. And all lip colours have creamy-satin finishes.

And the swatches, from left: First Officer, A4, B4, C4, D4, A3, B3; row two from left: D2, C2, B3, A2, D3, C3. Row three from left: Captain, A1, B1, C1, D1, Second Officer. All swatches are on bare skin.

First row, from left: First Officer, A4, B4, C4, D4, A3, B3.
Second row, from left: D2, C2, B2, A2, D3, C3.
Third row, from left: Captain, A1, B1, C1, D1, Second Officer.
I did an EOTD featuring A2 recently here and will definitely be sharing more soon.

All of these were swatched with fingers, over bare skin, no primer. And some of them are swatched very lightly to avoid messing up the beautiful palette until I *have* to, despite which two of the pans, A1 and B1, have swatch marks already. Normally I use a sponge applicator for swatching but I refuse to dent these pans for now! Are you like this as well with new palettes?

Bottom line
A must-have for all fans of theBalm. And anybody who loves buttery, pigmented eyeshadows. And travel. TheBalm.com posts internationally, though you'll have to check with their website for various rates. I suggest holding out for the next sale from theBalm or HauteLook, though, else the palette costs $42, without including postage. Oh, and did I mention you get 10% off just by signing up for their newsletter?
Disclaimer: Still not PR, entirely my money :D