Bobbi Brown Shimmering Sands Palette Swatches, Review, and Demos (Day/Smoky Looks)

Bobbi Brown's launched their Summer collection, which includes the limited edition Shimmering Sands palette which a lot of people were very interested in when I posted images of it on Instagram. This palette is actually smaller than it might seem in pictures. My palette is a press sample, so the weight of each pan isn't printed on the bottom, but they are much smaller than a typical circular shadow so my guess is they're about 0.7g each or so, as compared to the typical 1.5g.

The good news is this is a very portable palette if you want something quite subtle and good quality, but not overloaded with too many full-size shades that you can't finish.

As you can see from the swatches above and below, there are a mix of textures, from sparkly to metallic, to satin, and matte. That said, there is only 1 truly matte shade and 2 satins that look mostly matte but contain tiny sparkles in them. A usual for Bobbi Brown shadows, I personally find the shimmers/metallics to be the smoothest and easiest to work with. The matte and satins are smooth but extremely subtle.

All the shades are pretty smooth, and pigmentation level is sheer to medium intensity. If you like Urban Decay and Make Up For Ever type intensity, you might find these quite subtle. But if you're more accustomed to MAC and Bobbi Brown shadows, then most of these are pretty good.

Both of the dark browns on the bottom right of the palette are actually those sparkly translucent creamy shadows that work better patted on over other shades. They also work alright on their own as a wash over the entire lid, but they won't work well as definer shades without eyeliner or a dark cream base, as they are too translucent and not nearly dark enough to shade and define.

Compared to the Spring Hot Nudes palette from earlier this year, I actually prefer Hot Nudes. I feel I get a bit more variety; cool, warm, matte, shimmer. While the shades in the Shimmering Sands palette are beautiful, there isn't a huge variety. You will find a single transition shade, and none of the colors are really deep enough or matte enough to make great liner/definer shades along the lash line.

But it's still versatile enough as a daily palette, and can give you some options for transitioning between day and night.

Below are 2 quick tutorials to demonstrate the possibilities to you. Do take note that the Smoky Look was done with a brown liner smudged lightly onto lids as a base. The metallic brown in the palette is nice but not as intense as this without a base.

DAY LOOK

 SMOKY LOOK