Review & Swatches: Burberry Complete Eye Palette in Pink Taupe

 

Having tried Burberry's Sheer Eyeshadow before, I was curious to see that they'd added a quad to their eyeshadow lineup.  The Complete Eye Palette offers four complimentary shades, presented in order of application, for "effortless eye definition".

I particularly like that the flocked velvety case fulfils an extra function above being a slightly swanky way of presenting an eyeshadow compact.  It contains three applicators - a mini sponge (bleh), a mini angled brush, and a mini fluffy eyeshadow brush, all of which are soft and of good quality.

The Pink Taupe Complete Eye Palette contains four neutral shades: a rich brown, a dusty pink, a slightly khaki toned taupe, and a soft champagne beige.  As with the single shadows, they are described as "sheer" - although as I've said before, this isn't the sort of sheer that means a whisper light application.  

Swatched, you can kind of see what sheer means to Burberry - they're not packing a punch of pigment, but they are incredibly soft and delicate, offering muted buildable colour with a very slight sheen to it.  My favourite of the shades is the dusty pink - pink is such a lovely colour from the eyes, but can look a bit odd if the tone is too red or too fuschia.  This pink has a taupe undertone which makes it perfectly wearable on the eye.

For the recommended application, you start in the top right hand corner (in this case, the champagne beige) and apply a wash of colour over the lid to provide the base colour.  Then, using the second lightest colour (the khaki taupe), you blend colour into the crease along the eye socket to create definition.  The second darkest shade (the dusty pink) goes in the outer corner of the crease, and the darkest (deep brown) is used along the lashline.  The result is subtle definition with a soft sheen.  Of course, you don't have to apply the eyeshadows like this - they're just as good in pairs or used alone.  

Overall, I'm pretty impressed with this little palette - the shadows are soft and easily blendable with a lovely sheen to the finish.  The colours are an excellent interesting neutral option.  And as usual, the packaging is pure luxury.  At £40, this is an expensive eyeshadow option - but well worth it, in my mind.  Find the Complete Eye Palette at Harvey Nichols, in store and online, now.

Disclosure: PR sample