First Impression: Bobbi Brown Sea Pearls Collection

Bobbi Brown recently released a new collection called Sea Pearls. I thought I'd share with you my first impression of two products from the collection: Shimmer Nail Polish in Pink Pearl and Shimmer Brick Eye Palette.

If you're a fan of Bobbi Brown, chances are you know about her highly acclaimed Shimmer Bricks for the cheeks. So I was pretty eager to see if the Eye version would live up to the name. The packaging is gorgeous as usual. Upon opening the palette, I was greeted with a lot of shimmery powder and glitter everywhere. A chunk had chipped off one of the eyeshadow tiles during its journey in the mail. I carefully swept it all off the plastic and the mirror with a brush. The instructions on the box said to be careful with this delicate product, it was handmade in Italy.

 I swatched the colours on my arm and found the eyeshadow to be smooth and relatively pigmented, considering they are pale and shimmery colours.

I immediately spotted some colours that I liked. There were some that I felt that I would not use either because I don't know how to use it or because I think it would not look flattering on me. I will have to experiment with this palette for a while before I'm confident enough to write some form of tutorial on it. Please leave me a comment down below if you're interested to see one.

As for the nail polish, this is the first time I've tried a Bobbi Brown one. It is really easy to apply. I am usually a messy applicator and I go back in with a cotton bud dipped in remover to clean up afterwards. With this nail polish, I found that the brush was easy to control. I swept it on my nails with very little mess left to clean up.

I wore it for three days without any top coat and it didn't chip. And it takes a fair amount of remover and working to get every last bit of the polish off. From there, I deduced that it has good staying power. But I could be wrong.

Without flash

The nail polish has a shimmery and pearlescent finish. To me this shade of pink looks elegant and sophisticated; I would use it for special occasions, like to a wedding or a formal dinner/event. I personally would not wear this as an everyday colour.

With flash

Bobbi Brown products are of high quality and these products did not fail to meet that standard. At this point, I cannot say that they are must-haves in your makeup collection. I can, however, say that they would be luxurious additions.  The Shimmer Brick Eye Palette retails for $99; the Shimmer Nail Polish in Pink Pearl for $26.

Triple S: Travel Makeup Bag

As promised, this is a post on my "travel makeup bag". I was away for the last weeks, because with a winter course in a different campus (one in a different town). So the makeup that I brought with me, was technically travelling.

Here's what I took with me:
1. My trusty Bobbi Brown Day to Night Cool Eye Palette
2. Natio Extreme Volume Smudge Proof Mascara
3. A compact mirror
4. Eyelash curler
5. Clinique Superbalm Moisturizing Gloss in 10 Grapefruit
6. Mini nail clippers
7. A pair of tweezers
8. A nail file

The Bobbi Brown palette is perfect for travelling. From left to right is Ivory (matte), Flint (matte), Charcoal (matte), Petal (Shimmer wash), Rockstar (Metallic) and Gunmetal (Shimmer wash). You can easily create a day time look with Ivory, Flint and Petal. Rockstar and Gunmental are great for a smokey grey eye look, perfect for night outs. Most importantly, I use Charcoal religiously as my eyeliner. I simply wet the eyeliner end of the brush provided and dip it into Charcoal. So I simply could not have gone on this trip without this palette.

So far I'm not impressed with the Natio mascara. I'm still trying it out. The only perk to this mascara (that I can say for now) is that it doesn't smudge and leave me with panda eyes. I really like my Clinique lipgloss. It doesn't dry out my lips and it gives a touch of colour. I clip my nails once a week because I can't stand them long. So they are a staple in my makeup bag. Tweezers and a nail file were also staples for me. I had to keep my brow hairs in check and blunt my freshly cut nails down.

What do you have in your travel makeup bag?