Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Bobbi Brown Bronze Eye Palette from the Nude Glow Collection

The assortment of beautiful new eye palettes at Bobbi Brown counters is dizzying. I stood at the counter at Neiman Marcus, wondering, "How many can I afford?" "How many will I really use?" Those questions turned out to be my decision criteria.

There were multiple palettes on the Nude Glow and Nectar and Nude displays. Had I had unlimited funds, I would have selected several. Then I asked myself, which one or ones would I use the most? Several of the Nude Glow palettes offered two matte shades, which are not my favorites for several reasons: 1) I have plenty of neutral, matte eye shadows, and 2) I find them rather lifeless on my skin.

The limited-edition Bronze Eye Palette ($50) stood out. It had only one matte shade and offered three shimmering shades that were quite wearable. You can see my very own palette below.

Luminosity for eyes meets skin tone-enhancing color - Bronze Eye Palette features four perfect hues for medium skin tones in a mix of matte and sparkling textures: Gold Bar Sparkle Eye Shadow, a beige gold; Amber Shimmer Wash Eye Shadow, a warm copper bronze; Toast Eye Shadow, a toasted peach; and Rich Bronze Eye Shadow, a golden brown. Go figure! It was created for medium skin tones. I can't buy that. I have fair skin, and the colors look great on me. So there. Who thinks up this guidance?

As usual this week, my swatch photos were taken in full sun as I was surrounded by snow - not ideal photography conditions. I was freezing, so you may note the goosebumps on my arm. The things I do for this blog!

I used a sponge-tipped applicator to apply all shades (heavily), and I took the photos in full, mid-morning sunshine. I started my application at the top of my arm with Gold Bar Sparkle Eye Shadow at the top of my arm and moved clockwise around the palette, finishing with Toast Eye Shadow at the bottom. Incidentally, I'm not terribly fond of Toast. It's a little muddy on my skin, but the other colors are good for looks I like. I'll play with Toast. Maybe I can learn to love it.

Gold Bar Sparkle Eye Shadow is heavy on sparkle and light on pigmentation. You can see how sheer it is. Still, it leaves a pretty effect on the eyelid, so I won't hold its sheerness against it. Naturally, you can use it to top any eye shadow shade to give it a lift.

As you can see directly above in a darker photo, Amber Shimmer Wash Eye Shadow is drop-dead gorgeous. The warm copper bronze makes me dream of spring. The same is true for Rich Bronze Eye Shadow. The golden bronze is a gorgeous accent or crease shade - perfect to warm up your look.

Bobbi Brown says these eye shadow shades work with your skin tone, practically blending on their own, to bring brightness and lightness to any look all in a polished silver compact. How to use it? The company suggests starting with a classic Bobbi eye - light allover shadow, medium lid shadow, dark liner - then layer Sparkle Eye Shadow on top. How will I use it? Most often I will combine Amber Shimmer Wash with Rich Bronze Eye Shadow for a warm look that will sweep me away to a tropical island.

The new Bobbi Brown eye shadows are available at all Bobbi Brown counters. I purchased the Bronze Eye Palette at Neiman Marcus. You can also find it at the Bobbi Brown Web site.

Photo at top courtesy of Bobbi Brown; other photos by Best Things in Beauty

6 comments:

Eileen said...

Who thought up that silliness about the palette being for medium skintones? Probably the same person who thought up Guerlain's blond/brunette system for their bronzers :-). We all know what a bunch of nonsense that turned out to be. No matter, those colors are beautiful against your skin and should make your blue eyes sparkle. Enjoy!

Anonymous said...

Is this a new eyeshadow formulation? I've read reviews where some people don't find the BB powder or cream shadow sitting too well on their eyelids (only discovered after getting the cream shadow for myself in velvet plum and finding I had to sheer it out to get a decent finish). Clinique and BB are owned by Lauder and the former has gone over to a new formulation (you reviewed them last year). I'd stick with Clinique but the colors are so bleh compared to the Bobbi Brown offerings.

Anonymous said...

All shades in the palette look lovely! I think these would look flattering on pretty much everyone really.

Nemo said...

Your feature today on the BB Bronze eye palette is important. I too liked it, wanted it, but refrained from buying it because of the medium skin tone thing on her website. Those are the colors that I look good in, sultry even (whatever the heck that is), but here was the makeup maven herself saying no, that's for medium skins, not fair ones like you, toots. Well, thank God for you, CG! I would venture that by the time a woman is using makeup on a daily basis, she knows a thing or two about what looks good on her. So why doesn't BB just well, shut up?

VancouverChic said...

Hi CG,

Oh my on green eyes!!!!! I've must have!!!! How is the wear time for the shadows and does is there fallout from the sparkle shades?

On green or blue eyes this set would be amazing.

Thanks CG!!!!

Elena said...

this quad looks so luxurious! I love the shades it comes with and I'd really love to receive this as a gift or even buy it. Sadly, this brand is hard to get in my country...