Jeffree Star Cosmetics Blood Sugar Palette Review & Swatches + 3 Looks

Heyy dolls, happy Friday!

I wanted to do another palette review before the month ended because I will be changing my focus palette in March. Since I did two lookbooks this month (Blue Blood and Blood Sugar), I wanted to start with the palette that started the whole “blood” line for Jeffree Star Cosmetics: Blood Sugar!

Blood Sugar literally changed the game for JSC. It was their third palette released in February 2018 and their first 18-pan palette!

Product Description from JSC & Beauty Bay:

Our iconic Blood Sugar palette! Featuring 18 striking eyeshadows and pressed-pigments.

This palette is serving three luxurious formulas: matte, metallic and foil. Luxurious red faux leather finish in a metal clasp palette. Highly pigmented and effortlessly blendable, this striking palette can be used to create a range of wearable looks.

• Vegan friendly
• Cruelty free
• One of the best palettes for brown eyes

Size: 1.5 g / .05 oz per pan x 18 
Price: $52.00 USD

Packaging

The packaging is different than what I’ve ever seen. Taking the palette out of the white cardboard sleeve, reminded me of a VCR which is so old school! I loved watching my VHS movies when I was little. Jeffree mentioned that the packaging was inspired by doctor medical boxes and it reminds me of a first aid kit. The outer packaging of the palette is red faux leather and it feels so nice and smooth. The letters are in white across the palette and look really striking.

The two metal clasps on the side are unique and this is the first time I’ve seen anything like it in the makeup industry. It is also heavier than any other palette I own. Opening the palette is a bit difficult; it is well-sealed, and feels very secure.

The pan sizes are smaller than Beauty Killer and Androgyny, but to be fair, there are eight more shades in this palette. Comparing pan size side by side, the pan is still a bit bigger than a MAC or ColourPop single shadow, for reference. The shade names are underneath each shade and are inspired by Jeffree’s love for candy and interest in all things medical and dental, as well as his dental experiences.

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Cost Breakdown

I like to do a cost breakdown on palettes that are more expensive so you can see the difference in price per pan and gram. This palette retails for $52.00 USD, contains 18 pans, and has a net weight of 27 grams. That brings the cost per pan to $2.88 USD and cost per gram to $1.92 USD.

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Formula & Application

This palette has three formulas; matte, metallic and foil. The three metallic shades are Blood Sugar, Sweetener, and Candy Floss. Donor is a hybrid pressed pigment glitter, foil, and metallic in one, as described by Jeffree. Half of the palette’s shades are pressed pigments and the other half are regular eyeshadows.

The formula is amazing and super high quality. I personally haven’t tried many high-end formulas that shock me to the core the first time I use them, but these made me feel like that. My mind was blown! They are so easy to apply, they blend smoothly, and are buildable. The formula is consistent throughout, none of the shades gave me a hard time. There is a bit of kick-back when I dip my brush, even though I dip gently, but that is to be expected from pressed pigments. Even so, my brush picked up a decent amount of pigment.

There is a warning on the white uni-carton that the following shades are not intended for use around the immediate eye area: Prick, Root Canal, Cherry Soda, Cavity, Extraction, Tongue Pop, O Positive, Sugar Cane, Cake Mix, Fresh Meat, Coma, and Sweetener.

The reason for the warning is that they use dyes for the reddish shades instead of carmine. I have previously talked about Red 7 Lake before in my ColourPop Element of Surprise review, and Blood Sugar also uses Red 6 Lake, Red 28 Lake, and Red 30 Lake. These dyes are used in place of carmine and will* stain the eye area. That warning is put there for people with sensitive eyes and skin, so if you are worried about that, this palette is probably not for you.

Other than that warning, which I didn’t find to be too big a deal, I think the palette performs spectacularly. The shades are striking, creamy, easily blendable, and the color story is distinct and unique. I did buy the palette because* of the red shades. I have been obsessed with red shades for years and could never find a palette or singles of reds that were *true reds, so this palette was a great addition to my collection.

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Shade Breakdown & Swatches

I think this palette is very wearable, especially the first row, perfect for neutral looks. The second row is also wearable and includes two bolder shades, Cavity and Root Canal. The final bottom row is probably my favorite and the reason I wanted this palette in the first place, as it contains all of the reddish shades. I also really like that two shades have embossings — Coma (a Caduceus) and Prick (a needle), which look cool and unique. The rest of the shades are embossed with the JSC logo.

Let’s do a quick shade breakdown by row while I show you some swatches.

Note: Shades with an (*) are some of my favorites!

Blood Sugar swatches in Natural Light

Glucose – Bright white matte
Sugarcane – Powder pink matte
Cake Mix – Soft orange brown matte*
Ouch – Camel yellow brown matte*
Donor – Golden bronze metallic
Intravenous – Dark red brown matte

Blood Sugar swatches with flash

Candy Floss – Pinky lilac glitter*
Tongue Pop – Salmon pink matte*
Sweetener – Peachy pink gold glitter*
Cavity – Neon pink matte
O Positive – Mauve matte
Root Canal – Bright purple red matte*

Prick – Bright red orange matte*
Cherry Soda – True red matte*
Fresh Meat – Berry red matte
Blood Sugar – Copper red glitter
Extraction – Deep berry purple matte*
Coma – Deep eggplant matte

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Looks:

I created seven looks with this palette so far, and plan to do more in the future. But for the purpose of showing you guys the range of looks that can be done with this palette, I will show you three. Feel free to see my full lookbook here.

Look 1: Purple Dream

Shades Used: Coma, Root Canal, Cavity, Candy Floss

Look 2: Gold Mine

Shades Used: Ouch, Cake Mix, Intravenous, Donor

Look 3: Luxury

A recreation of this Pinterest post.

Shades Used: Cavity, Intravenous, Tongue Pop, Sweetener, Blood Sugar, Fresh Meat

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I want to thank my wonderful husband for buying this palette for me for my birthday. It is the first product from JSC that I ever got to try and my mind was blown by the quality.

What do you think of the color story? Would you be into it?
Have you tried any JSC products or palettes??

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Disclosure: this review is a personal opinion and is honest. I do not receive compensation for my reviews. Product(s) was/were purchased by me, unless noted otherwise.