Saturday 24 March 2012

Estee Lauder Pure Color Five Color Gelée Powder EyeShadow Palette 01 Bronze Sands and Bronze Goddess Eau Fraiche Skinscent

Earlier this week, I came across the Estee Lauder Bronze Goddess Capri collection at Manor (a department store in Switzerland). The annual Bronze Goddess collections are usually not sold in Singapore, despite the fact that it's a tropical island, probably because the suits think that Asians care mainly about whitening.

That's a pity as the Bronze Goddess collections usually contain some delightful gems. This stars of this year's collection are the Pure Color Illuminating Powder Gelée in Shimmering Sands and Pure Color Five Color Gelée Powder EyeShadow Palette 01 Bronze Sands. The Illuminating Powder Gelée is a "tribrid" formula of liquid, powder and gel that is amazingly pigmented and glowy but Shimmering Sands didn't appeal to me.

Instead, it was the Bronze Sands palette that caught my eye ever since details of the collection first surfaced online. The five eyeshadows are in the same powder gelée formula, and can be used either dry or wet for a lustrous metallic finish. It contains 0.15oz/4.4g of product, which is quite generous. It retails for US$45 on Nordstrom.com (but it cannot be shipped to international addresses, so one option is to use VPost if you are in Singapore).

Bronze Sands is a rich mix of pale yellow gold, copper, golden beige, warm chocolate and a smokey teal, embossed with a wavy sand dune effect. It's an outstanding example of how Tom Pecheux has breathed new life and creativity into the brand since taking over as Creative Makeup Director.


These swatches were done on bare skin without any primer, using the included sponge applicators. When I swatched the tester in the store with my fingertips, the finish is even more intense and opaque. You can view more swatches on Karlasugar, Makeup & Beauty Blog and Best Things In Beauty.


The only flaw is that the case is hard to open without chipping a nail and it closes shut with a loud, blunt click.


After testing out two limited edition fragrances (Bronze Goddess Capri Eau Fraîche Skinscent and Bronze Goddess Eau Fraiche Skinscent), I settled on the latter. Described as a "solar floral", it has top notes of Sicilian bergamot and mandarin; middle notes of Tiare Milk-Tahitian gardenia petals, coconut oil, orange flower buds, jasmine, magnolia petals, myrrh; base notes of amber, sandalwood, vetiver, caramel and coconut cream. It is a warm and soothing confection on my skin. Gardenia-based fragrances are usually too heady for me but this is nicely balanced out by the orange and mandarin notes. The caramel also gives it a yummy sweetness that sparks off snack cravings for me!

Manor was giving away this 8-piece gift with purchase of CHF100, which helped to alleviate somewhat the pain of paying the ridiculously jacked up prices in Switzerland.

The gift included Re-Nutriv Ultimate Lift Age-Correcting Creme (15ml), Hydrating Creme Cleanser (30ml), Pure Color Long Lasting Lipstick #46 Barely Nude, Sumptuous Bold Volume Lifting Mascara, Double Wear Stay-in-Place Lip Pencil 08 Spice, Pure Color Gloss 09 Rock Candy and a Pure Clor Eyeshadow palette with 9 shades (each 0.35g).


Most of the shades in the palette are from the permanent line, except for #65 French Vanilla and #66 Candy Crave which are not listed on Esteelauder.com.


While passing the Thierry Mugler counter, I was also given a change to spin a wheel for a free sample and scored this Angel Perfuming Hand Cream :-)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Loving the eye palette!!
Hope Singapore will bring it in =)

Leticia - Cosmetics Aficionado said...

That palette is gorgeous! I love Estee Lauder. They have great GWPs too.

Light Love said...

the bronze palette is gorgeous! love the colors <3

Tracy said...

I hope you managed to enjoy the sunshine over the weekend. Nice GWPs - always makes it easier to take in the prices. Cosmetics in DK is jacked up too, and all across the board. Somehow it only makes you appreciate what you have even more!