Palettes can be intimidating. You only like half the colors and the other half you’re terrified to mess up. You end up just wishing that all the colors went together but were also different enough to, well, make a difference.

Meet the Hourglass Modernist Eyeshadow Palette, and cue the deluge of “It’s like art!” reviews. Totally deserved, but still—if it’s like art, doesn’t that mean you preserve it and never touch it with your fingers? Because that’s not the impulse you have holding this palette. “The arrangement of colors make these palettes literally mistake proof!” Stacey Nishimoto told us after she experimented with the whole range across the eyelids of Jen Humphrey, the blogger behind Agogo (who looks a bit like the American Alexa Chung, no? Those eyes alone...). “The neutrals really let you play and explore without looking like a panda!”

Think of it like a handheld gateway to the modern smoky eye—you can create subtle gradations and bright accents or keep it simple with a monochrome swipe. The colors are all pressed in a continuous 3-D mold, so they’re literally born to be together, and all the colors blend no matter where you put what. So what makes the Modernist so modern? Not all the abstract art references. What makes it modern is that it’s so damn easy.

Jen Humphrey photographed by Clara Balzary, wearing the Hourglass Modernist Eyeshadow Palette in Graphite (exclusively at Sephora), Obscura , Atmosphere , Monochrome , and Color Field . Hair and makeup by Stacey Nishimoto. This post was written in collaboration with Hourglass.