Collection Pro Palettes
The makeup market is absolutely huge. New beauty brands are popping up at every turn, and the big brand names are striving to keep their place fresh and unique in such a saturated bunch. And rightly so. As consumers, we have become accustomed to excellent makeup products, redesigned old classics, reformulated cult faves and young brands raising their game and offering us something excellent and completely alternative to the norm. We are treated to a beauty scene that is absolutely on the top of its game.
And one brand that I feel is really striving to keep its place at the forefront of the high-street, drugstore market is Collection. Rebranding and dropping the numbers from Collection 2000 back in 2012, this brand is a real favourite with high-street and high-end lovers alike. I know that personally, I have used and loved their fast-stroke eyeliner since my teens, when I wore black eyeliner to high school every single day. And since then they have launched a number of lipsticks, kohl liners and powders that I was happy to throw into my makeup bag at any opportunity.
And now, they have just launched a range of professional makeup palettes that could rival the big name brands, at a fraction of the price. Between a brilliant £4.99 and £5.99 to be exact. Whether the user is looking to contour, highlight, blush, bronze or shadow, this set of four pigmented, and wearable palettes are going to be a best seller for certain. And here is why…
Your Style Your Mood Palette
#YourStyleYourMood Palette – £5.99
The key eyeshadow palette of the range incorporates 10 eyeshadow shades, worked into two eye looks: olives and browns or pinks and plums. For the Autumn season, the palette is a fool-proof way to dress your eyes in on-trend shades, whether you’re in the mood for something more natural or a little more bright. It combines two matte shades, in a banana yellow and a nude beige, whilst the rest of the shades are pigmented and full of shimmer.
I was so impressed when trying out the blendable shades on my eyes. Opting for the nude matte beige into the crease of my socket, applying the nude shimmer to the whole lid, more of the small olive toned shade to the outer half of the lid and the deeper plum brown beneath it to the outer corner. Therefore using a combination mainly from the left shade selection that I feel could have been made more subtle for daytime, and smoked up like this for a nighttime look.
And for £5.99 I think this is going to take the drugstore eyeshadow market by storm. It is certainly worth the price and contains powders that could rival the best sellers of the market.
Blush and Glow Palette
#BlushAndGlow Palette – £4.99
Potentially my favourite palette of the bunch, the blush and highlight palette is a product I feel is inspired by some of the biggest names and best-sellers in the beauty market right now, such as Nars and Anastasia Beverley Hills. It combines four powders: 2 blushes, one bronzer/contour and a highlight. It is one of those easy to use products, that combines three products that every beauty-lover requires for their routine. A touch of blush, a sprinkle of highlight and the warmth of some bronzer and contour.
For the look created here, I used a slim brush to chisel out my cheek hollows with the bronzer and also applied it to the side of my temples, over my forehead and down the neck. I then used the matte blush of the two, over the apples of my cheeks with a blush brush, before using a small brush to apply the natural highlight to the tops of my cheekbones.
The finish was beautiful. The shades blended onto the skin with no fuss and gave me the look I was hoping for; contoured, illuminated and glowing. The fact that this also combines two blush shades, one in matte and one in shimmer, is great for the girl who hopes to go from day to night with one convenient palette.
Face The Day Palette
#FaceTheDay – £5.99
I feel this is potentially the palette that most people will opt for out of the four, due to its combination of cheek and eye pans. Combining a bronzer, blush, highlight and four eyeshadow shades, the palette is an on-the-go superstar. The blush and the highlight are similar, if not the same, as those in the #Blushandglow palette, yet the bronzer is warmer and more orange toned. This isn’t a shade to contour with, but great for a warm bronze to the face.
The four shimmer eyeshadows in neutrals and browns could again allow you to create a day look with the lighter tones, and smoke out the look for the evening with the deeper tones, making me feel as though this palette might become an essential for so many. Just throw it in your bag and you have your whole powder routine sorted.
Conceal And Light Like A Pro Palette
#ConcealAndLightLikeAPro Palette – £5.99
The most exciting palette in this collection, in my opinion, is the Conceal and Light. With eight cream concealers, this palette reminds me of so many makeup artist kits, at just a tiny fraction of their price tag. This palette will enable the user to colour correct, brighten and conceal any area on the face – whilst also providing a potential contouring cream for lighter complexions. The concealing shades, in a variety of skin tones, can be used under the eyes or over any imperfections on the face. The yellow toned shade can brighten dark circles under the eyes, the purple shade can revive dull skin and the green shade can be used to neutralise redness.
For my skin tone, I often have trouble with a purple tint to my under eye circles, so I used the salmon pink toned cream underneath my eyes to neutralise the purple, before layering a mixture of the other skin tone shades over the top as my concealer. The darker toned cream could also be used as a contour cream on light skin tones like mine whilst the pink shimmer cream can be used as a highlight.
The colours are blendable with a medium coverage and really did the job, especially when used with a beauty blender. A damp sponge can really help to blend cream products into the skin for a more flawless finish. This is super convenient for on the go and is sure to be a huge hit for those looking for a professional correcting and concealing product with a brilliant price tag.
I feel that Collection have really raised their professional game with this launch, pushing four new products into the market for the gal who requires fantastic products on a budget. I was so impressed with the pigmentation, blendability and wearability of the textures, consistencies and shades in these palettes and I feel they’re going to be a huge sellout over the next few months! As a gal who loves her high-end makeup as you know, these really blew me away!
If you’re interested in the new products, the set of four Collection Palettes launch today, October 14th, exclusively at Boots and Boots online!
Which do you think you might add to your makeup collection first?
This excellent discovery of four awesome new high street palettes was kindly sponsored by Collection!
