Bobbi Brown Color Strips:  Orchid Palette

Bobbi Brown Orchid Palette ($60.00) is an eye, cheek, and lip palette from Bobbi Brown’s Color Strips Collection, which includes three palette variations. I’m typically wary of any palette that has lip wells in them, but I was excited, for these aren’t just the typical lip color, these are Pot Rouges, which are designed for cheeks and lips.

Pot Rouge

• Powder Pink is a creamy rosy pink that can be layered for an opaque look on lips or sheered out for an everyday blusher on cheeks.
• Pale Pink is a cool-toned blue-based pink that feels creamy and goes on fairly opaque.
• Sand Pink is a creamy coral-beige shade. I don’t see a lot of pink in this, but it’s a muted, played-down coral that will work well on warm skin tones in particular.

Eyeshadow

• White is a matte white. It’s a muted white, so it’s not a bright, totally unwearable white.
• Dusty Plum (Metallic) is a mauvey-plum with a shimmery finish. It has that “metallic” feel, like it’s almost wet you swatch it.
• Orchid Sparkle is a sheer, sparkly lilac–very light, very sheer, and prone to fall out.
• Mulberry is a richly pigmented royal purple with a matte finish. Like a lot of mattes, it applies better when you use a brush than anything else. I don’t have a shade quite like this.
• Caviar is a dark black-brown with a matte finish.

Oddly enough, my favorite part about this palette are the Pot Rouges. After trying Cabo Coral last month, I was curious about the other shades of Pot Rouge, and this is a good way to try out three new shades. All three were very creamy and pigmented, and they’re wearable on both cheeks and lips, so they do double-duty.

The eyeshadows didn’t get me too excited–I really liked Mulberry, though–I’m not sold on these five together. I can see a few combos, but usually I see a lot of combos in Bobbi Brown’s palettes and that wasn’t the case here. Orchid Sparkle is a throwaway shade for me, just because I know it’s a pain in the butt to use and it’s incredibly sheer; to make it work, try wearing it over a dark, metallic base. Dusty Plum Metallic would be my other shade favorite, because it’s smooth, pigmented, and versatile.

I like Bobbi Brown’s palette packaging, because the palette itself is sleek, but it’s practical, too.  The cheek/lip shades are separated from the eyeshadows quite well, and each palette also has a clear lid that flips up to further protect the shades from dirt and dust.

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• Product: 26/30
• Value: 8/10
• Ease of Use: 4/5
• Packaging: 4/5

Recommendation: If you’ve wanted to try Pot Rouges, this is one way to try three at once… and get some eyeshadows as a bonus!

Availability: BobbiBrown.com, Nordstrom