Musings of a Muse

The Muse knows you love to hate her because she gives you a bad case of makeup lemming. Would you be so kind as to let her do it one last time before the weekend starts?

Let me introduce you to the Clarins Palazzo d’Oro Collection. Prepared to be wow’ed girls (and guys) this is probably the most luxurious set this season, nothing has topped it and I’m doubtful anything will.

Jump for it!

With a focus on a festive gold color theme this collection is both elegant, luxurious, and utterly beautiful. Weighing in at $57 for the Clarins Gold Attractions Face Palette and $66 for the Clarins Gold Attraction Eye Quartet & Liner Palette the price could be deemed a bit too rich for some. That’s why you have the Muse though to convince you how much you need it.

Both $57 and $66 is a small price to pay for each piece as both the quality of the makeup and the weighty compacts are quality pieces to add to your collection if you like a more posh makeup item. Where as some brands will put out a gorgeous looking palette you might take note that once you get the item in your hands it’s not nearly as nice as it looks. The palette may feel a bit flimsy….not the case with these. Each palette is quite a heavy piece, very, very lush. They are made up of a plaster like design in gold. Fact is even if you aren’t planning to buy I urge you to your Clarins counter to experience how truly great these are as I’m very impressed with packaging never mind what’s inside.

Now…most important after packaging would be the contents. Sometimes you get great packaging minus awesome contents. It’s been known to happen now hasn’t it?

Good news. Both the inside and the outside are fabulous.

Clarins Gold Attractions Face Palette is an acquired taste as if you aren’t a shimmer lover it might not be for you. However, if you love shimmer as much as I do, this will surely make your day. No over spray here kids, it’s full on shimmer straight through. The formula of the powder is a tiny bit gritty but for the most part blends easily leaving behind a golden dusting of fine sparkle. I thought it was a bit too much for my face but for body it’s ideal and in my photos below I used it as an eye shadow. It works a treat as an eye shadow and gives just the right amount of golden sparkle to lids. Pair it up with a dramatic cat eye or a bit of brown liner on the lower waterline and you’ll be sporting a glamm’ed up festive party look for the Holiday.

Sporting a light dusting of Clarins Gold Attractions Face Palette on face and eyes.

Clarins Gold Attraction Eye Quartet & Liner Palette is just as gorgeous as the powder. Clarins took the time out to create simple, easy to apply instructions for the palette which creates a total of four looks. I attempted two this week and will try the other two next week. Each look is better than the last in my opinion. The palette comes with four shades of shadow and one liner. You’ll get a orangey gold shade, a chocolate brown, a pale beige pink, and a lighter brown. All the shadows are richly pigmented with a beautiful silky formula. The liner is a deep chocolate brown with a creamy, powder-like formula.

Various looks created using the Clarins Gold Attraction Eye Quartet & Liner Palette (by the way I’m wearing the Tsumori Chisato for Shu Uemura Rouge Unlimited in the first two photos).

Overall, Clarins Palazzo d’Oro Collection was an absolute joy working with and is my favorite Holiday Collection to date. The palettes are luxurious and very posh but still manage to remain practical and easy to use. Although a little high in price I deem them very worthy of picking up as they are truly special pieces. In a sea of ho-hum Holiday Collectons, Clarins Palazzo d’Oro stands out as a true masterpiece.

Gorgeous, truly gorgeous. Muse Approval for purchase. This one is a keeper.

Loves it.

The entire collection is available now from http://us.clarins.com

Disclosure: The following item was provided to Musings of a Muse by a PR firm for review purposes. For further information please see my FTC Guidelines or my Disclosure/Disclaimer posts.