the Lorac PRO

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Lorac PRO palette, Nars Pro Prime, Elf C eyeshadow brush, Paula Dorf shader, MAC 217

I finally picked up the much praised Lorac PRO palette in the holiday sales, after no small debate between several palettes I’ve had my eye on. This just edged out the Too Faced Chocolate Bar palette, which I’m afraid I still kind of want, but not due to any disappointment with the Lorac PRO. Garnet, Sable, Mauve, and Pewter are the standout shades for me here, and this just my kind of palette: essentially warm neutrals but with a few jewel shades to spice things up. I like that I consider using some shades I normally wouldn’t reach for, like Slate, just because they are there – palettes can be good for meandering outside your usual colorways.

These are excellent quality, creamy and smooth, very little dust/fallout for me. A nice price point for the quantity and quality, too, especially if you find it on sale.

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Lots of beautiful combinations here.

Gold Trench No. 4

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For an effortless, sheer shadow with low-level sophisticated shimmer, look to the Burberry Sheer Eyeshadows. The Burberry makeup line is nice across the board, great formulations for lips, base, eyes, face, but for the most part I think it’s too expensive to be truly tempting, and their colors are overwhelmingly neutral. If I am up for the Burberry price tag, I go to Chanel (blush, lipstick), Dior (eyeshadow), or Guerlain (bronzer), where the options are iconic, proven, and where I’ve made happy choices in the past.

That said, these eyeshadows are really so nice. They are not highly pigmented (one popular way of determining the quality of a shadow) but we do not hold this against them as it is not their purpose. Their purpose is to be uniformly pigmented and slightly creamy in texture (imagine the texture of a Dior shadow with half the pigmentation) such that they give a foolproof wash of color that is ideal for a polished, understated look. Their colors are virtually all shades of beige and brown, and they are lovely.

I plumped for the shade Gold Trench #4, a beautiful pale gold (I wish this were the color of my trench coat). As if I needed yet another gold eyeshadow. I also like Pale Barley (silvery taupe) and Midnight Brown (chocolate brown). Great for an easy single shadow look.