September in November

Back in September I picked up Bare Esentuals Ready Eyeshadow 8.0 palette in September Issue $40. At the time I was so pumped for the whole new line of Ready products from B.E. that I just wanted everything!   September Issue seemed like the perfect set for me. Some great neutrals and a pair of great 'color colors' in a small compact that is perfect for travel!

 The palette is in a really nice silver mirror finish and comes with a small pamphlet of tips and a few looks to create with the colors. It's handy, just not necessary, but I appreciate the thought.

 I especially like the back of the palette because it shows each color and the name clearly. If I were to store this and had a ton of palettes this would really help me find what I'm looking for fast. That's key. 

Once I got inside, the colors were there before me, almost too nice for me to dig into. But dig I did! 

I played around for a while with the colors and created a few looks on my eyes, which I never took real photos of. Until now, I've only used the loose shadows by B.E. but have been really pleased with how well they stay and blend. These seemed no different. They went on very easy and blended well to make new colors or just to blend in general. The tiny brush is double ended and felt nice and soft and would be really great for touch ups. I especially liked that one end was a pointed pencil brush to get into the corner of the eye or to do a lower lash line. You don't see that often in compacts.

I really had high hopes for this palette and wanted to love it so badly. The problem however, was that I just didn't. And the only reason I don't love it is because some of the colors just weren't bold enough for me.

• Glitterari is a really nice pink neutral with golf flecks. This I liked. 
• Pret-a-porter is a solid flashy gold! I love this gold but it's far too flashy on my tan skin to really wear in the day but it would be a really great color to blend into things.
• Ensemble I was very excited about and was hoping for it to be a nice deep eggplant on me, but once I got it on, it seemed rather muddled and didn't pick up the deep purples I was hoping for.
• Couture, which seemed like a rich golden chocolate color seemed to be neither here nor there on the color chart for me. Though it has nice golden tones to it, this did nothing for my skin tone and seemed to just wash me out a lot.
• Editor's Pick  is a lovely green teal that I was excited to try. That is, until I got it on me and realized that all the brightness that is in the compact didn't translate to skin at all. Rather than a bold teal, this went on me more like a frosty army green. In itself it's a really nice green that could be worn as a neutral, no problem. But I wanted the bold teal and was really disappointed in this color on my skin.
• Statement was another one that looked wonderfully bold in the palette. A bright orchid color that I was sure was going to be amazing with the dark chocolates in this set. But once I got it on, I laid very flat. The color seemed like a very matte shadow with flecks of metallic sparkle in it. Though it felt great on the skin, the color was just too washed out for me and even with layers, it was hard to build up the color to anything brighter than a pastel. 
• Silhouette and Tres Chic I don't have swatches for, but they are both very matte neutrals mostly for the brow bone and highlighting. 

The packaging is great. Perfect size and great brush included. The product itself is great, goes on smooth, blends well, feels great and lasts a full day (with primer), but the part I'm disappointed in, is the colors in this particular set. Looking back on it, that's something I should have realized before I picked it up. B.E. is not MAC or Make Up Forever. Though they do make some bold colors, their shadows are far more subtle and really focus more on lovely daytime looks and basic nighttime smokey eyes.  I knew all this going in, but like I said, I was so caught up in the Ready movement that I just thought I could will my way into some bold colors in a ready to go palette! 

I've since returned this set because I knew it just wasn't meant to be, but I still go back to the store and the website to check out their new B.E. Ready Eye Palettes and to see what new Limited Edition sets are out, especially now that the holidays are coming up.

I know it didn't work out this time with us, but I'm cyber stalking Bare Esentuals until I decide that I want to give us another chance. It wasn't you Bare Esentuals....it was me.