Bobbi Brown Chrome Collection

Holiday through Bobbi Brown’s eyes sure is pretty (and the model shot is one of my favorites in a long time). But when I first saw Bobbi’s holiday preview book, the two items that first caught my eye were the Earth Metal Palette and the Chrome Palette.

This year’s holiday collection is on a Chrome theme, and as a result, I’ve kind of mentally divided the items into “Chrome items” and “other stuff.” Glitter lip palette, basics eye palette, tube tint trio — that’s “other stuff.” But the Chrome items are this palette, three Chrome eyeshadows (a new formula!), three lipsticks, a brush set — and I’ve heard a rumor of some mini Shimmerbricks for sale only at Neiman Marcus? More on that as I learn more.

The Chrome palette is beautiful, and, in my opinion, one of Bobbi’s best. It unfolds twice, just like the Earth Metal Palette did — keeping the shadows and the glosses separate, and revealing a hidden mirror. The whole palette is kind of a variation on sparkle. Classic for Bobbi, it’s also kind of a variation on shade (see Shimmering Nudes, Nude Eye Palette), but it’s nicely done and the texture and pigmentation are good.

White (eyeshadow) is just a soft, smooth white. Polar Ice (shimmerwash eyeshadow) is like gossamer. It’s very softly pigmented, faintly shimmery smoky purple. Storm (sparkle eyeshadow) is a pretty, glittery silver-violet. Iron (eyeshadow) is bluish-grey, impressively smooth and pigmented. Thunder (metallic eyeshadow) is a lovely shimmery grey. Moonlight (sparkle eyeshadow) is a glittery pink neutral. Cyber Grey (shimmerwash eyeshadow) is a lovely purpley taupe grey, but I did have to work to build it up to that level of pigment. Foil (metallic eyeshadow) also took a bit of work; it’s fainter, a bit more purple. Chrome (metallic eyeshadow). Is. Gorgeous. It’s this pewter-brown-silver and I completely love it. I wish it were sold as a single shade. Charcoal Haze (eyeshadow) is a grey brown — it could definitely be a bit more pigmented, but it’s a nice color. For certain skintones, I think this collection of shadows is going to be just amazing.

The lipglosses are all sparkly. Pink Mist (shimmer lipgloss) is pale pink. Winter Bronze (glitter lipgloss) is tan-caramel. Berry Shimmer (glitter lipgloss) is a sort of mauvey rose with silver sparkle. Chrome Pink (shimmer lipgloss) is peach.

The Chrome Palette is $75.
There are three Chrome eyeshadows. This is a new shadow formula for Bobbi, and it’s really smooth and pigmented — delightful to swatch, but obviously quite frosty. I LOVE Pewter. The color “pewter” is like warm steel. It’s silver (cool) which has been “dirtied” with a warm shade like gold or brown. The shadows are $22 each, and tragically limited edition.

There are also three limited edition holiday lipsticks: Chrome Metallic Lip Color (which looks silver in the promo pic, but swatches sheer grey with shimmer), Plum Pearl Metallic Lip Color (brown plum with sparkle), and Port Lip Color (sexy port red). The lipsticks are $22 each.
There’s one final Chrome component: a mini brush set in a dark silver bag.The set contains a mini face blender, a mini angle eyeshadow brush, and a mini liner (all short-handled) for $55.