I hope to answer a few of these questions but also open the floor for suggestions, I rarely have all the answers...
--What am I sacrificing? --In general, yeah, quality does get pitched out the door when you find a product that has every color in the rainbow available to buy for a song, as they say. But don't be disheartened. Unless you, like me, are using it for any number of faces, skin tones, eye colors, etc. You really only need be concerned with finding a palette that works for what flatters you!
--What am I gaining?--You will generally get a better price than buying piecemeal, and it will help keep that ever expanding cosmetic drawer, bag, shelf, neater and tidier. Also not all brands are as extreme as the two listed above. There are smaller six or seven color palettes in the mid price range from extremely reputable companies.
--What to avoid...-- If you're anything like me, you're uncontrollably attracted to the shiniest, prettiest, sparkliest, little palette available! But I must caution you here. Just because it's the prettiest, doesn't mean you'll use it all that much. A pair of Louboutin's may be the most gorgeous item in your closet but how often would you wear them to the office, to run errands? Or meet friends in the park, flea market, for brunch, on the weekend??? Exactly. Buy a pretty color or two here and there! Everyone needs to have a few, they're fun for special occasions, but let your palette be a hard worker, ready to travel with you for last minute applications on the train, or easy to fit in an overnight bag. Also beware ones that come for certain eye colors, or to achieve certain types of applications "the smokey eye palette." It's silly to ever think one size fits all, it's silly to think all brown eyes are exactly the same, or that everyone looks best with these specific smokey colors. Silly.
--What to select-- Go with one that has colors you know you like, and you'll wear. Go ahead and use the tester, even if it's only on your hands, an imperfect system, but better than buying blind. Check and see how bright it looks after only putting a little on your hands. This is pigment content. The closer the test patch completely matches in opacity and tonality to the shadow pan, the higher the pigment content/the higher quality the product. If it looks very light and washed out in comparison, the lower the pigment content/lower quality. Does it crumble at all when it hits your skin? Or does it glide on, despite being power, almost like a cream? This is moisture content, and the higher it is, the nicer the brand, the longer it will last.
Ok OK, but I AM a makeup artist?!?!??!--- Right, me too! So use your pay structure to guide you here. If your boss, director, bride, etc. is shelling out serious dough for you to be their artist, then you really need to follow suit and spend on them. It's all proportional, though. Never spend MORE on product (that you are KEEPING in your kit--aka NOT being reimbursed for by anyone and then handing over to them) than you are being paid. It's totally lame but I am going to quote Charles Dickens now: "Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen pounds nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds nought and six, result misery." --Wilkins Micawber, David Copperfield. It's still true my fellow artists. Especially in the current economic slump that still plagues the arts. (Always the last to pick up...) Spend less than you are being paid and be able to keep some dough for food and medical. Don't go into debt buying MAC cosmetics for a job where all they've promised you is "great experience!" and "free lunch!" But in the end a palette will be your best friend. It travels soooo much more easily than a bag full of different colors, and you rarely have to plan out what to take with you, they're all coming! If you have a favorite brand, color scheme, share it!
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