The first thing that jumped out at me was the beautiful packaging. On a white background is a shimmery image of the house mascot in house colours. The palettes have magnetic closures with a small mirror on the inside shaped like a crest with three of the the house traits written underneath. If nothing else these are well designed and make a good keepsake for all the Potterheads out there.
Full disclosure is that I am a huge Harry Potter fan. I have read, listened and watched the stories and films over and over and over again. So believe me when I tell you I wanted these palettes to be amazing, but they were somewhat of a mixed bag.
GRYFFINDOR
The colours are well chosen and are representative of Gryffindor. The bottom three colours are the standouts, specifically the copper and champagne shades that blend well together. The dark brown shade is smooth as a swatch and if using it as a lid shade it goes on well, however in this palette I wanted to use it to deepen the outer corners and unfortunately it doesn't work well in that respect. The crimson shade that should be the siren of this palette is okay, you do get some good colour payoff but it goes on the lid in a slightly lighter shade and can come of pink if you don't pile it on.
SLYTHERIN
The Slytherin palette has some truly magical shades but I would maybe make one major change. The black matte I would swap out for a uber dark green matte. As it stands when swatched the black is really black but because it is so pigmented it is hard to blend out and can look messy. My favourite shade is the dark green shimmer shade, it goes on smoothly and really shines. Champagne stand and the grey are nice and work well if the dark green if you want to add a pop of colour or a gradient. The pale green shade is hard to work with and I struggled getting colour pay off but once it's on the lid it is very bright and pretty. My feeling is that this is a palette that would apply well with the fingers as the swatches are out of this world.
HUFFLEPUFF
The Hufflepuff palette is by far the easiest to work with but then the Hufflepuff colour scheme lends itself to this. Golds and bronze type colours are usually the easiest colours to get right in a palette. The shade that lets it down is the matte brown in the bottom right hand corner. It just doesn't blend well at all. Had it worked it would have been a great little palette but as it is it has no shade that can deepen the outer corner. The shimmer shades in this palette really jumps out and are easy to blend together. My favourite is the bronze in the top row. It makes green eyes really pop.
RAVENCLAW
This palette is the worst of the four. The problem is blues/purples are hard colours to get right and this just doesn't work at all. There is just one colour that applies well and that is the copper shade in the bottom right hand corner, but the rest are just awful. The dark blue shade is patchy and the lighter blues just don't show up very well at all. For me this palette is a hard no.
The key take away here is that these palettes swatch well and are very nice keepsakes. If you are buying them as Harry Potter memorabilia then go right ahead, they are fun items to have on display, however if you are buying them for their eyeshadow then you will be disappointed. I will keep these because I am a Potterhead, but I won't be using them on my face anytime soon.
