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Friday, November 04, 2011

Edward Bess Back To Basics Palette




Edward Bess, the Duke of Understated Chic, has just released two carefully edited and highly ambitious palettes. The one you see here is Back To Basics, a neutral (leaning warm) eye-cheek-lip set. The other Edward Bess palette, Berry Chic, is just as pretty; If I could mix an match, I'd go with Berry Chic's lip glosses but keep the rest of the shades from the Back To Basics palette, but that's just me.

So what did Edward Bess curate for us in this palette?






Four eye shadows, all with a subtle shimmer finish: a light ivory, a warmer very light sand, a rich cocoa brown and a complex and hard to define mauve-peach (I know, sounds crazy)that blends with all of them and creates the base of the look for me.

Then we have two cheek colors: a highlighter and a cheek/lip stain. The latter has the same texture of Edward's Compact Rouge, while the highlighter is a sibling to his All Over Seduction. Now, I made comparison swatches and you can see the colors are different enough. One thing to note is that I don't have the Afterglow highlighter, only the paler Sunlight. The closest of the existing Compact Rouge colors is After Sunset, and you can see it's more red than the one in the Back To Basics palette.
The highlighter is not very light, as you can see. But on my olive skin it has its own charm in giving a warm glow without actually adding much color (I blend it a lot more than I did for this swatch). If you're very pale you'll only need the lightest touch. Still, I suspect almost everyone can find a use for this color.




The lip glosses are probably the weakest link of this palette, at least for me, though they're still of excellent quality and I do find them usable on top of actual lipsticks. Both colors are pale and beige, but at least they're sheer so there's no concealer effect.

The two-sided brush is actually usable when on the go. It's soft and dense enough and feels decent in my hand; It will do nicely when you can't or don't want to reach for your brush roll/bag.

Texture and application are consistent with the rest of Edward Bess' line, meaning extraordinary and luxurious. This palette is truly a wardrobe-basic item to which you can add build upon. It's excellent for travel (I wish it came out before my last trip) and would make a breath-taking gift for a discerning loved one.

Bottom Line: Excellent.

Edward Bess Back To Basics Palette ($75) is currently available on edwardbess.com.

22 comments:

  1. Use coupon code OPRAH to get it for $60 on edwardbess.com. (Apparently, it's one of her, and soon to be one of my, Favorite Things!)

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  2. What an amazing palette for travel and for a basic face. Thank you for this review!

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  3. It's such a gorgeous palette. I do wonder whether this will be too warm for me? I need to have a better look at the colours in the Berry palette. Thank you very much for sharing your thoughts.

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  4. Thanks for the code, K!
    Gaia, thanks the for post. I think this is too warm for me as well, but I will have a look at the Berry Chic one. They're gorgeous palettes!

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  5. Gaia,

    Do you think there will be issues with the powder products getting into the lip products? I usually skip palettes that have lipstick/gloss in them for this reason, but this looks like a gorgeous palette...

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  6. K., thanks for the tip. Yes, this really takes the sting of the the price (and makes it very tempting to order a second one).

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  7. Nazia, indeed. It's almost everything one can ask for.

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  8. Jamilla, it is, right? And wonderfully usable and essential.

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  9. Jane, I think it's quite basic and neutral. I can't see any of this colors as looking unflattering on you, not to mention the way EB colors have this quality of adapting to one's face.

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  10. Rola, yes, it is. A full face in a chic package that goes everywhere.

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  11. Joolz, I'm having a hard time not buying the Berry one... I don't need another palette, but it's so beautiful!

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  12. Michelle, my trick for using this kind of palette is to keep the protective plastic insert that comes in the compact and use it to cover the lip colors when scooping any powder-based product. That way there's no icky powder in my lip gloss.

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  13. You know, after I wrote that, I realised I was forgetting to factor in the Bess effect!

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  14. Gaia,

    Thanks for that tip! That is a great idea. I am totally going to pick this up, I think this will be a perfect palette for traveling. Thank you to K for the coupon code!

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  15. This palette is so much fun I had to order it, and it comes with an EB brush too! *Happy dance* :)Many thanks K for sharing the information.

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  16. K, thank you for the code! Gaia, your review got me, I'd been trying to avoid the Siren song of EB, too late. It was tough to not buy the berry one, esp with the code and the fact that it looked gorgeous, but never say never...

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  17. Thank you for the great review!! Do the eyeshadows stay put like his permanent eyeshadows?

    By the way, you can use the code for 20% off on any item, not just this palette on his website.

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  18. Could you do a look with both of these palettes, also how does the berry chic palette compare to le metier de beaute's silk road kit for winter/fall 2011?

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