Go For The Glow — Bobbi Brown Spring 2014 Nude Glow Collection

It’s rare when a makeup artist espouses the benefits of minimalism, and yet Bobbi Brown has become a household name by doing precisely that: suggesting that women should use makeup as a means through which to enhance their natural beauty, using a light hand throughout the application process and refraining from overly theatrical looks that might appear mask-like. It’s this philosophy that has made Bobbi Brown synonymous with female empowerment, with the notion of all women being beautiful and makeup simply being a tool through which to enhance said beauty and boost self-confidence.

These guiding principles are very much apparent in the new Bobbi Brown Cosmetics Spring 2014 collection: Nude Glow. Focusing on the buff shades of the season and the emphasis on luminous, lit-from-within, healthy-looking skin, Bobbi Brown created three subtle, delicate, and primly pretty eye shadow palettes, each meant to correspond to a particular skin depth (one for fair-skinned women, another for medium tones, and one for deeper skin tones); along with three wispy, moisturizing, petal soft, sheer pink lipsticks; three muted nail lacquers; and three brightening palettes, each designed to create a specific type of glow.

I had the chance to try two of the lip colors and two of the eye palettes so, below, I’ll expand on these particular products, offer swatches, and more. Let’s get glowing!

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SHEER LIP COLORS

As previously mentioned, this collection introduces three new Bobbi Brown Sheer Lip Color ($25 at BobbiBrownCosmetics.com) hues, each packaged in a sleek silver tube. These hydrating lip colors deposit just a subtle wash of color to the pout so as to complement its naturally rosy tones and pump up the intensity just the teeniest bit. From a textural stance, the lip colors feel buttery without gliding all over the place  — an important trait since we all know how frustrating it can be when you rub your lips together and then discover your lipstick running well past the outline of your mouth, gathering inside the cupid’s bow and so forth. Clearly, they’re not saturated with pigment since the idea here is to create a soft and barely perceptible look, but these lipsticks do pack a lot of shine without all the juvenile sparkle. That said, these aren’t particularly long-wearing so do expect to reapply often.

The three new colors introduced are: Pink Flush, a warm seashell pink shade with golden undertones; Pink Rose, a blue-toned, almost guava-like pink; and Pink Gold, a shimmering rosegold pink.

Below, you’ll find swatches of the Pink Flush and Pink Rose shades. As you’ll see the colors look like gradations of one another, but I personally find the Pink Flush hue much more enticing.

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EYE PALETTES

At the heart of the Nude Glow collection are three eyeshadow quads meant to complement a woman’s skin tone so that the colors in the quad designed for her will brighten her eyes without it looking like there’s anything on her lids. Women with extra light to light skin tones, then, should opt for the Crystal Eye Palette ($50 at BobbiBrownCosmetics.com), which includes silver, cream, and pink hues. Those with light to medium skin tones should pick up the Nude Eye Palette ($50 at BobbiBrownCosmetics.com), which includes nude, pink, and gray hues. And, for those with darker skin tones, there’s the Bronze Eye Palette ($50 at BobbiBrownCosmetics.com), which contains golden, brown, and peach hues. Each quad contains two matte eye shadows and two sparkle eye shadows, so that you can mix and match these colors and add as much or as little shimmer as you desire.

I had the opportunity to try and swatch two of the palettes: the Crystal Eye Palette and the Nude Eye Palette. Here’s the scoop on those!

Crystal Eye Palette

This palette feels like a ballet recital translated into makeup — and I mean that in the best possible way. The colors are ethereal and delicate, and they infuse a hint of color into fair skin while also adding a hint of delicate sparkle, as if showering fairy dust on the lids. You almost feel like you’re playing dress-up and having a princess party when wearing them!

The four shades in this palette are Porcelain, a soft creamy pink shade that’s almost imperceptible on skin and which has a delicious matte texture; Opal, a sparkling hue reminiscent of a pink mother-of-pearl gem; Angel Pink, a soft peachy pink hue with a matte finish; and Mica, a pink-tinged silver shade with plenty of sparkle.

Here are swatches of the hues in the palette:

Obviously, you can mix and match shades, layer one color over another, blend hues together,  and so forth. If you want a mega soft look, you can always opt for a matte eye shadow hue and then use one of the sparkling shades to line lids or to accentuate the inner corners of eyes.

Nude Eye Palette

Like the Crystal Eye Palette, the Bobbi Brown Nude Eye Palette is designed to complement the skin and give it a radiance boost. While the Crystal Eye Palette accomplishes this feat primarily via soft pinks and silvers, this one aims to do so via nude and taupe hues.

Again, this palette incorporates two matte eye shadow hues: Nude, a café-con-leche shade that borders on camel-colored, and Dove Grey, a grayish brown hue that’s almost a chocolate mousse shade. These are complemented by two sparkle-rich eye shadows: Cement, a flax seed hue with plenty of golden sparkle; and Ballet Pink, a white gold shade with tons of yellow gold sparkle.

Check out swatches of the shades in the palette here: