Marks & Spencer Golden Goddess Holiday Palette Pix and Swatches

S'all a bit Missoni really, isn't it, I thought of the lovely-looking Golden Goddess Holiday Palette from Marks and Spencer. Then I checked the press release they'd sent along with the sample just to make sure it really was from M&S. Phew - it's a budget-priced version though thankfully and at €10 this isn't exactly gonna break the bank.

Still, €10's only good value if you can get good use from the shades in the collection, so we'll have a gander at them and then investigate the quality of the pigmentation, shall we?

Looks nice, doesn't it? You get three shadow shades in fairly narrow strips, a bronzer - in a very bleedin' narrow strip for a bronzer - three sheer glosses and a couple of not-that-useful brushes.

Time for some closeups.

Shadows are simply named soft peach, gold and golden brown, the bronzer is monkiered just so and the glosses are nude, coral and chocolate. Quality-wise, these wouldn't be the most beautifully silky shadows I've ever tried - gold and golden brown are a little rough-textured and have quite obvious glitter, but peach is a good bit smoother, as is the bronzer.

How's payoff?

Sheer, definitely.  You're looking at golden brown, gold and soft peach plus the bronzer (which has quite a nice copper hue to it) thickly swatched here. The finishes are shimmers - and as mentioned, there is glitter so I reckon fall out's going to be an issue. But hey, lets recap that price - this palette is a tenner.

Is the pigmentation any better with a lick of UDPP beneath it, then?

MOS DEF. This transforms into quite a decent little bit of space-saving holiday kit if you bung in a tube of Primer Potion too. Payoff's dramatically improved and the shades start to pop. Obviously you can't use UDPP under your bronzer - well, eh, you can, but ... y'know - so it might not be the best-performing bit, but the shadows are far nicer when used over a base.

And how about the glosses?

Now, they are very sheer, so I dug a good chunk out so you could see the colour. On my pale hand, you can see the shades well  - bear in mind lips are much more naturally pigmented and the finish will be much more hint-of-a-tint.

All in all though (pretty packaging aside) from a disappointing start, with a bit of finangling - but only if you already have some eye primer to hand - this could work out well as an affordable all-in-one for a holiday in which you're only packing hand luggage. Oh - and if you're a fan of bronzey browns too, of course.

What do you think? Would you buy it?