Christmas in July: bareMinerals The Finer Things Eyeshadow Palette

So, this is not the 'Christmas in July' post that features beauty brands' mid-summer preview of their holiday offerings as presented to the press... This is the Christmas in July where I, in fact, show you a pick from last year's Christmas (quelle horreur!) because, well, it's lovely and I purchased it at a great price - how does that sound?

The objet in question is bareMinerals The Finer Things Eyeshadow Palette, (LE Christmas 2012, currently unavailable but I ordered mine from beauty.com for $25 reduced from $40). Truth is, I had some money stashed away in store credit and I was looking to spend it on a new eye palette to satisfy my usual palette cravings (cause I hadn't gotten a palette thus far this year!) and was almost convinced to get the LORAC Pro. But... I looked at the swatches, thought about it, looked at my stash of predominantly neutral shadows... and bareMinerals The Finer Things just called my name.

The palette features 8 mineral-based eyeshadows with a variety of finishes, housed in a very simple silver case (minimalist aesthetic aside, it's an absolute fingerprint magnet) with eyeshadow names on the back, as with other bareMinerals READY eyeshadows. I own only one more bareMinerals READY product, which is the Truth quad from the permanent line (click!) so I already knew that the formulation of these eyeshadows is an absolute dream: creamy, smooth, pigmented, long-lasting with minimal fallout. And this palette is definitely on par with the quality I came to expect.

In terms of the shades themselves, I'm happy that I decided to purchase The Finer Things over LORAC Pro, because I would view the bareMinerals selection as 'neutrals with a twist' as opposed to more classic neutral shades. Left to right, we have Penthouse, a matte black with bigger silver shimmers, Custom Made, a pinkish champagne with a pearl finish, Cadeau, a medium satin grey with a violet twinge, Truffle, a warm metallic bronze, First Class, a unique antique gold/ platinum with a pearl finish, Upgrade, a medium purpley taupe (flail!), Five Star, a pigmented matte white, and finally Private Isle, a satin navy with a hint of purple. By the way, I find all the shade names adorable and very much in line with the feel of the palette; I might be silly but it really does evoke a sense of effortless luxury to me.

The palette also came with a double-ended brush (actually, not too bad at all!), a deluxe sample of Prime Time eyeshadow primer that I might include in some eye primer round-up some time in the future, and a little leaflet with diagrams showing eye look ideas, which I'm planning on actually trying out as some color combinations are not what I would usually go for - I'll probably try to cull those looks into a semi-presentable post in the next week or so.

All in all, I'm very excited about my bargain find and can't wait to try more looks with these shades; I'm especially looking forward to trying out the gorgeous grey of Cadeau and using the navy Private Isle as a color accent. Have you ever scored a great beauty find in the post Christmas sales? What are your favorite bareMinerals palettes?