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Friday, February 27, 2015

I Couldn't Resist: bareMinerals The Posh Neutrals Eyeshadow Palette

Admittedly, I've become a bit of an eyeshadow palette snob: these days it takes a spectacular one to set my heart aflutter. But, you know my love of bareMinerals READY eyeshadow formula, documented here, here and here, so as soon as I saw that they had released two more Limited Edition colorways in their Neutral 8.0 range, I knew I had to get my hands on one.
After much deliberation, I settled on READY 8.0 Eyeshadow Palette in The Posh Neutrals ($40 for 0.24 oz), which I belive has the most clear cool undertones out of the three variations. The name is a bit ridiculous and reminds me of my Spice Girls fan days, but I guess that doesn't really matter - for inside the sleek rose gold compact, you find eight beautiful neutral eyeshadows in a variety of depths and finishes.
The shiny compact comes in a simple cardboard envelope with the names of the shades on the back (though notice the inaccurate shade representations both on the outer box and the back of the palette itself) and three eye look suggestions on the inside. I like the packaging of these palettes, even though they're a bit of a finger print magnet - the compacts are small but sturdy and come with a big mirror inside, which makes them the perfect travel eyeshadow palettes. I traveled with both The Finer Things and The Posh Neutrals now (I took it with me on our recent trip to Colorado) and I was very happy with my choice.
I like the rose gold theme, however now it slightly bothers my collector's soul that I have given away the yellow gold Power Neutrals palette, because together with the silver Finer Things, they would have made a beautiful precious metals trio. But, alas - I'll have to deal with the fearful symmetry of just two READY 8.0 palettes.
Now for the important part - the eyeshadows inside. Similarly to The Finer Things, The Posh Neutrals has quite a range of different formulas and textures. Here we have a silky matte (warm beige Promise), mattes with microglitter (Curtsy, white with silver flecks, and Romance, blackened aubergine with gold and copper glitters), satins (light peach Debutante, dusty mauve Waltz and silver sage Caviar & Cake), and high shimmers/ metallics (warm taupe Valet and Sizzle, a light bronze with silver microglitter).

It's a bit difficult to spot those differences in finish in photos, so I've decided to include a couple shots in full sunlight, hoping to capture the more complex shimmers. In terms of pigmentation and texture, these shadows differ quite a bit between the finishes, with the one matte and two metallics being the most opaque and soft, the satins equally soft but less pigmented, and the mattes with microglitter the most sheer and dry in consistency. None of these shadows are bad though - I find all quite easy to work with, even if I have to layer to get more pigmentation. Overall, I like all of them, but find the darkest Romance and bronzy Sizzle the most problematic, as the microglitters have a tendency to migrate and fall down my cheeks.
Shades swatched in diffused natural light in the same order as in the palette.
Swatches in direct full sunlight.
In terms of shade selection, I think The Posh Neutrals is going to suit light to medium skintones the most, both on the cool and warm ends of the spectrum. You can absolutely create a complete eyeshadow look with just this palette, although I wish there was one more medium depth transitioning/blending shade; in lieu of that, I've been using Promise, the only matte in the palette, to soften the edges and tone down the shimmer of other shades. I find the satin shades, especially the muted tones of Waltz and Caviar & Cake, to be the most unique and difficult to replicate, although fans of bareMinerals READY taupe shades will be very content with Valet and Sizzle as well.

Here's a shot comparing The Finer Things and The Posh Neutrals - you can see that the latter has more watercolor tones and less contrast than The Finer Things. I'm sorry I don't have The Power Neutrals anymore to give you an idea of differences between the two, but from my memory (and photos), The Power Neutrals was both a bit more grey and warm. On my fair cool skintone, I do prefer the muted pastel shades in The Posh Neutrals palette.
My favorite eye look using The Posh Neutrals palette is the silvery sage Caviar & Cake on the inner two thirds of the lid with plummy Valet in the outer third and softly in the crease, further blended out with matte beige Promise around the edges. I also applied flecky white Curtsy in the inner corner, light bronze Sizzle along the lower lashline, and used the darkest Romance wet to line my upper lashline. It's quite subtle, but luminous and pretty, and when I tilt my head, you can just about see the copper microglitters of Romance between the lashes.

I hope this was helpful to anyone trying to decide between The Posh and The Sexy, or just generally on the fence about these two new palettes. From what I've seen on Temptalia, they are supposed to be limited edition, although The Power Neutrals was a limited release at first too, and then became a permanent part of the range. Have you been tempted by the new READY 8.0 palettes?

28 comments:

  1. It looks so beautiful! AND IT'S ROSE GOLD, how can anyone resist that?!

    Would you like to write a guest post for my inspirational Wednesday-segment called #NoteToSelf?
    All the info is in this post: http://charlinehasablog.blogspot.com/2015/02/notetoself-call-for-guest-posts.html

    Love, Charline xx

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    1. Hi Charline!

      Thank you for the invitation, but I'm a bit inundated with post ideas at the moment, plus we're moving very soon, so I don't have as much time for blogging as I would like to. Good luck with your series, I'll be on the lookout for the next instalments!

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  2. I can totally see why you got sucked into buying this! The colors are perfect for your complexion! :-)

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  3. What a gorgeous palette! Looks so pretty on Monika! I love their eyeshadows too! Might have to take a looksy at this one!

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  4. Hey Monika, this palette looks perfect on you! I don't think it'll look that good on my skin tone, but on yours it's perfect! I have long wanted one of these palettes, but I just don't use my palettes often enough. Maybe I'll try a quad at some point tho!

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    1. Sunny, I know about your hesitation over bigger eyeshadow palettes :) But you should definitely check out their duos and quads, they have some beautiful warmer neutrals in those - I think you'd love them!

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  5. These shades are beautiful! The lighter peachy shades are what I'd like to call Monika shades. They suit your perfectly, and you look gorgeous wearing these colours :-)

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    1. Hahaha, oh, Lily - I feel like there hasn't been much peach on the blog recently! But, you know, Spring is coming here, so maybe that should deserve its own post :D Thank you! xoxo

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  6. Love it!!! Lovely colors that you cannot resist. I find it so perfect especially this Summer. This is something worth checking out.

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  7. Hi Monika,
    I actually have bought both Posh Neutrals and Sexy Neutrals. Couldn't make a choice. I also have Power Neutrals, too. I love the quality of those eye shadows, that's why I couldn't resist. The color choices in the palettes are a bit unusual for me, though, and a bit repetitive, at least for me. I wish they would add medium brown or taupe or something, for the crease. But the colors are very nice, the quality is great, so I still love them.
    Looks great on you, as usual!

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    1. Hi Tanya! Hahah, I completely understand not being able to pick between the three, I think they're all beautiful in their own right - but you're right that some shades look very similar between the palettes, especially on the eyes. The Finer Things has a matte white, The Posh Neutrals has a matte white with sparkle. Both have taupey shades that look similar on the eyes. The Finer Things has a shimmery light pink, The Posh Neutrals has a satiny light peach. But on the other hand, I guess that's what happens with all neutral palettes - just look at the UD Naked vs Lorac Pro, for example.

      Thank you my dear! <3

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  8. I must admit I never bat an eye on bareMinerals, but your post piqued my interest! Thanks for sharing the nice swatch pictures, too. Happy moving, Monika!

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  9. This looks gorgeous! I really like the look of the shades and the packaging. I think bareMinerals eyeshadows are quite underrated - I have The Epiphany duo and it's incredible. I don't have any of their palettes though but this one is tempting :)

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    1. I don't have any of the duos but they always tempt me, I think they have some terrific shade combinations in those. I have the quad in The Truth and it's fantastic too, for a basic taupey brown look.

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  10. Oh it looks so so pretty! I bet you won't regret this :-)

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  11. I desperately want both of the new palettes in this line, and since I haven't purchased ANY makeup in 3 months, I may very well splurge. Even though I need more palettes, neutral or otherwise, like the proverbial hole in the head. I love, love, love the bareMinerals eyeshadow formula, but your review does make me hesitate just that bit longer before pressing the "buy" button. I'm a little concerned about the variation in texture, since that hasn't really been my experience so far. :/

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    1. I haven't actually checked in person if these are available in store, but maybe give them a swatch if possible? I definitely think Romance is the most problematic shade in the palette, but even with one less than perfect shadow, I'm still very happy with this purchase. Or, you know... one can always return/exchange?

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  12. Er...make that no makeup in 2 months (just checked my Sephora account). But it FEELS like 3 months. I guess makeup junkie time is like dog years?

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    1. I feel you. This palette was the only thing I bought in February, and I have a strong resolution not to buy anything in March, in preparation for the April VIB sale; even though I'm only planning to get a couple products. But man, a couple months on a no-buy feels like such a long time.

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  13. This palette appears to have a lot of my favorite colors. Love the soft eye look on you. I envy your eye-lining skills!

    I don't wear eyeshadows often, but LOVE the Bareminerals formula (the satins, especially). I have a duo that I received as a Sephora gift and after testing that, I had to go get a cpl. of their neutrals. Such amazing quality!

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  14. I haven't tried eyeshadows from BareMinerals to be honest, but this palette looks very nice! The rose gold compact is to die for as well. *_*

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  15. I had a duo from their pressed eyeshadow formulation and adored it! The fact that most of the shadows in the palette are winners makes this really tempting! I'm a bit of a palette hoarder, but I'm sure I could make room for one more ;)

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  16. I've always been tempted by BareMinerals shadow duos and quads, but I think it would take a palette like this to make me dive into the brand's eye shadow offerings properly! I think the colours look wonderful on your skin tone, and that rose gold packaging is very nice to look at. The colour representation on the sticker is way off though, you are right! Very funny ;)

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  17. Aaaauuughhh this palette is too pretty and I can't deal.

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  18. Hi Monika, these 3 palettes are really pretty and I have been trying to stop my urge to buy one. I think I like Sexy the most but the Posh one is definitely pretty too. Although I normally like bolder, more saturated shades, I think these would be perfect for spring. Lastly, your eye look looks beautiful!

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  19. Love the colors and love that you used one of them wet as a liner. Looks perfect! What lip color are you wearing...I really like that it has a nice color without being overpowering.

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    1. Hi Josie! To be perfectly honest, I don't really remember which lipstick I used for this look, but it could be either the Bite Beauty Lip Pencil in Sable from their LE tin last Christmas, or elf Mineral Lipstick in Rosy Raisin. Sorry I don't remember exactly which one, hope that helps at least a little :)

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