In Bobbi Brown’s Fall Mauve palette, it contains three shadows, three lip colors, and one blush.  I’m much more pleased with this palette than say Bobbi Brown’s Nude palette, because the colors show up on me a lot better.  The eyeshadows include Navajo, which seems to make regular appearances in her palettes, and I find it can be a chalky color on my skintone if I don’t use it right (which generally means using it lightly and blending/fading it moreso than normal); Vintage, a gray with mauve undertones color; and Chocolate Mauve, which is like a subdued chocolate shade.  The blush is simply called Mauve, and it is a pinky-mauve tone.  I imagine this particular shade of pinky-mauve is fairly universal.  As for the lip colors, Dusty Mauve is a creamy lip color that goes on incredibly sheer for me; Mauve lip sheer is a little more pigmented, but not too much; and Vintage Mauve is the most pigmented, though still quite creamy and sheer.  If you go heavier with the shadows, these included lip colors will work out, since you can pair the heavy eyes with softer lips.

I much preferred the individual lip colors for this launch, though admittedly, I’ve only tried Heather Mauve (a truly pale, toned down mauve with gray-pink).  I also tried Black Pearl Shimmer Lip Gloss, which is a deep purplish-brown with icy pearl.  Mauve Lip Gloss is a pale, low-sheen purple-mauve.  It’s very opaque, which I like for this particular color.  But the most stunning item from the launch was Bobbi’s Black Mauve Shimmer Ink Long-Wear Gel Eyeliner!  It’s like a black-brown-purple.  I suppose it reminds me of a deeper, darker MAC Nice Vice Paint Pot (which was LE, anyway), but this formula is great for when you need eyeliner that sticks around all day long!

Overall, in my limited experience with Bobbi Brown as a brand, I found this collection more impressive than some of the others (like the Nude Collection).  I feel like these offer pops of color and fun, while still being subtle and appropriate.  I hope that you, like me, will look at Bobbi Brown through a different lens than you would a MAC collection–because the brands are distinctly different and separate!

Anything from Bobbi’s Mauve Collection inspire you?  Will you at least check it out or will you let it pass you by?

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Being TRUE Luminance Collection ($86.00) is an eyeshadow, eyeliner, blush, band bronzer palette. All of the colors are the same size, which makes them versatile in terms of what you can use them for–they could all easily be used as eyeshadows. It comes with Matte Peach, Soft Pink Shimmer, Rich Golden Brown, Brownze Glaze, Gilded Pink, and Sheer Gold Metallic. What’s awesome is that they include a step-by-step instruction guide with the palette to help you apply certain looks and get ideas on how to use the multi-tasking palette. The colors included in this are nearly two inches in diameter, which makes them quite large, and I imagine it’ll take someone a very long time to ever finish one. The palette also comes with a Press Definer Brush for lining your eyes.

I loved the gold in this–it’s a very bright pop of sunny yellow gold, which makes it so perfect for summer wear.  There is a melony-peach color that works nicely as a wash all over the lid, as well as a blusher on warm skin tones.  The light pink color would look nice as both a shadow and a blush, depending on the look you were going for.  The colors were all pigmented, and I felt they went on quite smoothly.  There is a good mix of mattes and shimmers, so you’re bound to find yourself with plenty of looks to try.

See swatches… Read the rest of this entry »

Top row, left to right (eye shadows):  Naked, Bare, Nude, and Buff; Bottom row, left to right (lip color):  Bare, Beige, Brownie, and Cocoa

Bobbi Brown Nude Lip & Eye Palette ($60.00):  As pretty as this pre-made palette looks in promo images, and even in person, the eyeshadows left me unsatisfied.  I enjoy a nice neutral/nude look from time to time, so I thought that this palette would make a great addition to my travel bag or for occasions where minimal makeup is necessary.  There are four eyeshadows, but three of the four look virtually the same on me (I’m medium toned), even with a white-beige base (MAC Soft Ochre paint pot). 

Naked and Bare are so similar and seem to differ mostly in texture, where Naked seems a little more shimmery and Bare more matte.  Nude is a warmer version of Naked/Bear with more peach/rose undertones.  Buff would be my favorite, because it is darker and distinguishable from the others.  I also didn’t find any of these to be a great highlight color, though I suppose Nude is the one you might assume to use.  When looking at pre-made palettes, I do expect that there will be several looks that I can using the palette exclusively–not having to grab additional colors.  From the promotional image, it did look like there was a little more color differentiation than you get in real life. 

Aside from my issues with the colors/color pay off, the textures are typical BB:  smooth and soft.  I didn’t bother using the brush that comes with the palette because the bristles were just too coarse against the delicate shadows–it cause them to flake more than I liked.  Full-size Bobbi Brown brushes are much better than the baby versions put into palettes (which is no different than other brands’ palettes, including MAC), so in a pinch, they’re great, but if you can, take your regular brushes with you.

The lip colors were much more exciting than the shadows, because they all had good pigmentation and the color variation was there.  Bare lip color makes an excellent subdued rosey shade with soft undertones of plum, while Beige is a shimmery bronze-tan that adds a nice layer of iridescence to lips.  Brownie is a great sheer soft tan color that should work with most skintones.  Cocoa was my least favorite, just because it doesn’t suit me well; it is a nice shade of brown with red undertones with low-level shimmer.  The lip brush is cute and compact, but I never have the patience for lip brushes.  I opted to use a larger, flat firm brush (meant for eyes) to apply it, just because it was faster.

Overall, it dismays me to say that I don’t feel like this palette is worth it in the end, since the shadows did not offer me a variety of potential looks to create - three look about the same, and one is dark enough to add depth to the crease/outer lid.  I’ve liked previous Bobbi Brown palettes much more, especially the Metallic trios.  I also thought the lip palette for the Heart’s Truth was gorgeous, but this one just falls short for me!

New Romantic “Unicorn” Palette ($27.50)

Inspired by the euphoric and intoxicating feeling of new love. The New Romantic Unicorn palette contains everything needed to evoke your inner romantic. Three lovely shadows flirt with a trio of seductively shimmering glosses all meant to be mingled with the kit’s perfectly passionate blush! Create the look of innocent love or go all out glam to inspire an evening of lustful bliss!

What makes it worth it: The shadows have good color pay off, and the selection is versatile enough to give you the ability to create several lovely looks from the three eyeshadows.  I think the blush is absolutely gorgeous; it’s a shimmering pink that is almost pale, but not quite, making it excellent for both warm and cool tones.  The packaging is cute, so if this is your thing, you’ll love this palette for sure.

Why you might pass on it: If you aren’t a palette fan, then this obviously isn’t for you. The brush with this palette is similar to other Too Faced palettes, but I’d probably never use it myself.  Also, with no blush brush, you’d have to dig into your own stash anyway.

Find this product at Too Faced locations, www.toofaced.com, and www.nordstrom.com.

Good Girl / Bad Girl Kit ($29.50)

From the glam labs of Too Faced comes this beauty kit that celebrates both extremes of your persona. Feeling a little naughty? Then transform yourself into a seductress with the ‘Bad Girl’ palette of sexy jewel-toned shades! Is your inner saint clamoring to get out? Then go naturally nude with the ‘Good Girl’ collection of toasty caramels and sugary beiges. Each palette features three shadows and three glosses. Finally, a makeup option to help your inner attitude bust out!

What makes it worth it: I was swatching this a few times at Sephora, and wow, you really do get amazing shadow pay off in this kit.  I was pleasantly surprised at the smoothness of the shadows as well as how lovely the shades turned out on the skin.  The glosses weren’t bad, but they didn’t wow me as much as the shadows do (I expect most glosses to be decent in a palette, even if annoying to apply).  I think the packaging is adorable, and I love the good girl/bad girl aspect of the dual-sided palette.  I like that they include brushes on the side for your application needs, too.  I think this is an excellent kit for the price, and it would make a lovely stocking stuffer or gift for a gal pal.

Why you might pass on it:  If you aren’t a palette fan, then this obviously isn’t for you.  Otherwise, there’s no reason not to get it!

Find this product at Too Faced locations, www.toofaced.com, and www.nordstrom.com.

Yves Saint Laurent | White Gold Celebration Palette ($67.00)

“What could be more wonderful for a woman than to wear a symbol of passion around her neck in the guise of a heart?” asked Yves Saint Laurent. An icon of his illustrious Couture house from the very first collection, a precious, asymmetrical pendant ornamented with rubies and diamonds became his good luck charm. At the presentation of each of his Couture collections, the heart always adorned his favorite model. On greeting cards, it expressed his fondness for people. As the ultimate tribute to this special symbol of love, the heart weaves its way through an elegant, festive make-up collection. Bearing the matte Cassandra and dressed in shiny silver, the entire collection celebrates love with dazzling refinement.

COMPLEXION | The Tender Rose blush adds a joyous hue to cheekbones. The Starry Rose highlighter sprinkles a festive radiance on the upper cheeks, beneath the eyebrows and on the middle of the lips.

• Tender Rose blush is the adorable heart-shaped pink on the right of the palette.  It’s a lovely universal shade of medium pink that I think most women would love.  It’s a satiny texture, easy to apply, and gorgeous all around.
• Starry Rose highlighter is the white-pink rectangle with “Yves Saint Laurent” emblazoned into it.  It’s a great shimmery light pink shade that goes well on cheekbones.

EYES | The extremely soft, glide-on eye shadow unfurls a ribbon of color on the eyelids. With an optical smoothing effect, the Heavenly Beige, Magic Copper and Moonlit Burgundy shades emit exceptional radiance.

• Heavenly Beige is a lovely incredibly light tarnished gold color, it’s a nice all over lid color for a quick wash of color.
• Magic Copper is my favorite shade out of the three, because it’s a rich bronzy gold color.
• Moonlit Burgundy is a deep raspberry crimson color that goes on easily and would make a great crease or outer lid color.

LIPS | A mini palette of ROUGE PURE SHINE gives the lips renewed definition and volume while providing long-lasting comfort. It is offered in three luminous shades: Pure Garnet, Natural Beige and Bohemia Rose. Rich and creamy Simply Gold gloss can be applied alone or over one of the ROUGE PURE SHINE shades to intensify the shine with shimmering, sparkling gold reflections.

• Simply Gold gloss is a rich bright gold that goes on quite sheerly despite it looking so pigmented in the palette.
• Pure Garnet is a bold, vampy red–very holiday and dramatic.
• Natural Beige is a sheer beige lip color that goes on easily, but it doesn’t give you much color.  It’s ideal for smoky eye looks.
• Bohemia Rose is a warm-toned medium pink with lots of gold undertones.  I think it’s my favorite out of the three, because it’s so flattering on lips.

Find this holiday palette, along with several other YSL holiday offerings, at www.yslbeautyus.com.