Estée Lauder Bronze Goddess Summer 2012: Shimmering Sands Illuminating Powder Gelée Review and Swatches

After watching Lisa Eldridge's beautiful summer metallic tutorial I ran directly to Estée Lauder's website and purchased the Bronze Sands Pure Colour Gelée Powder eye shadow palette, see here for review and swatches. I also succumbed to the charms of Shimmering Sands Illuminating Powder Gelée ($50.00 CA). All photos taken in natural light, NC 35/40 skin, product is LE.

 Estée Lauder Shimmering Sands Illuminating Powder Gelée
blended out from right to left

To recap, EL about a year ago came out with a tri-blend formula that combines pigments in a gel base, This gel formula givesthis product a simultaneously dry, powdery and creamy texture. From the name, I assume Shimmering Sands is marketed as a highlighter. It has a deep, shimmery reddish bronze colour and is so highly pigmented that it really makes this product a bronzer/blush. The shimmer factor is not overwhelming, and it's subtle glow makes this wearable for both day and night. This product is so intensely pigmented that you need the lightest of applications. I recommend using a duo fibre brush such as MAC's 188 or 109 and simply touching the brush on top of the product to ensure you don't pick up too much. The good news is that this product blends easily and buffs out nicely. Given this product's density, I don't know what EL was thinking by including an oversize foam tip applicator. I would expect clown-like results if you try their provided method of application!

I think this product will suit warmer skin tones on the medium - dark end of the spectrum a little better than cooler, fairer skin tones. Due to it's red base and very strong pigmentation, lighter skin tones may find this product gives them a more "sun burnt" than bronzed look. That being said I do think you could get this to work for a fair, cool complexion, it would just require a very light hand and plenty of blending.

Fans of MAC will note that the recent In Extra Dimension Highlighters closely resemble Shimmer Sands. If you liked that formulation you will also like this product (and vice versa). A good thing to note is that none of the MAC highlighters are dupes for Shimmering Sands. Glorify would come the closest, but it is much more orange, coppery and shimmery (and less wearable in my opinion) than Shimmering Sands.

At the time of writing this post, this product was still available online, and qualifies you for free shipping.

Overall grade: B+

J

Estée Lauder Bronze Goddess Summer 2012: Bronze Sands Pure Colour Gelée Powder Eye Shadow Palette Review and Swatches

I realize I'm very late to the game on this collection. I did see it when it originally came out on counters months ago but I ignored it because I honestly can't remember the last time I even considered buying anything from Estée Lauder. In my mind  Estée Lauder's traditional image (and therefore what I assumed to be it's demographic) is early middle aged, old money, weekend-in-the-Hamptons type ladies. Now before all the younger, non old money, EL loving readers send me hate mail, I do realize that over the past decade EL has been changing their image and products to reflect a younger, more ethnically diverse and dare we say slightly trendier consumer!

But I digress! To make a long story short I changed my mind when I watched the excellent tutorial by Lisa Eldridge which uses the Bronze Sands Pure Colour Gelée Powder eye shadow palette. Shortly after watching this tutorial and being sufficiently impressed I hopped on EL's website and purchased both the Bronze Sands eye shadow palette ($48.50 CA) and the Shimmering Sands Illuminating Powder Gelée ($50.00 CA). This post reviews the eye shadow palette which is limited edition, all photos in natural light on NC 35/40 skin.

Estée Lauder Bronze Sands Pure Colour Gelée Powder Eye Shadow Palette

swatches clockwise from bottom left - center

About a year ago Estée Lauder introduced the Gelée Powder formula which is a tri-blend formula that incorporates gel, powder and liquid textures in one product. Without some sort of complicated chemistry lesson, the main take away point of this new formulation is that pigments are suspended in a gel base and not a powder base like regular shadows. This results in a unique texture which is simultaneously dry, powdery and creamy. The shadows feel very dry on the brush or applicator but apply densely and blend like butter. This is the same type of technology seen in MAC's Extra Dimension shadows.

The very summery colors in Bronze Sands include a soft white-gold, rich copper, pale yellow-gold, slightly blackened chocolate brown and a muted grey-teal. All five shades have a metallic finish, though the chocolate brown shade is the least metallic of the five. The copper is the most intensely pigmented shade. My favorite shade of the five is the pale yellow-gold which is neither too warm nor too green. I also appreciate the mix of cool, neutral and warm tones. This broad range of shades means this palette will look spectacular on both warm and cool toned skins.

This is a great palette and although the color choices are not that unusual for a summer release, their texture and finish are reason enough to pick this up. If you love shiny, metallic shadows this is the palette for you. At the time I purchased this (two weeks ago) it was still available on EL's website. Unfortunately at the time of writing this, it appears to have sold out online in Canada. A quick check on ebay reveals that numerous palettes are still available there albeit at a marked up price.

Overall grade: A

J