The Bobbi Brown Surf Eyeshadow Palette ($65) is one of two new limited edition eyeshadow palettes launches with the Bobbi Brown Surf & Sand Summer 2014 Collection.
I was fairly impressed with the Bobbi Brown Sand Eyeshadow Palette but I’m unfortunately about to tell you that the Bobbi Brown Surf Eyeshadow Palette isn’t as lovely!
Bobbi Brown Surf Eyeshadow Palette features eight shades of eyeshadow and comes housed in a burlap textured flip palette with a magnetic closure and a full size mirror. User beware, I find these eyeshadow palettes gorgeous but really difficult to travel with as they will likely flip open if you aren’t careful about how you store them during travel. Just a warning!
I do think the Sand Eyeshadow Palette has a much nicer offering that the Surf one. I found the shadow formula and pigmentation far superior in comparison to the Surf Palette. Although visually this palette is very pretty with both shades of the surf and sand so you get both warmer and cooler shades in this palette where as the Sand Palette was all about warmth! I think the Surf Palette really embodies what the collection is going for as it features some cooler aquatic shades that represent the sea and some warmer golds, bronzes, and taupes that represent the sand.
Shades include:
- Cream (creamy beige)
- Bikini Bronze Metallic (warm copper sparkle)
- Pink Quartz Metallic (shimmering soft pink)
- Surf Sparkle (soft aqua blue)
- Sunshine Metallic (golden beige)
- Sea Foam Sparkle (soft pastel green)
- Sunny Gold Metallic (warm gold shimmer)
- Oyster Sparkle (warm silver)
Bobbi Brown Surf Eyeshadow Palette
Bobbi Brown Surf Eyeshadow Palette
Bobbi Brown Surf Eyeshadow Palette Swatches
The shadows come in a range of metallic, satin, matte, shimmer, and sparkle finishes. I typically adore Bobbi Brown Sparkle Eyeshadow but one of the more disappointing aspects of this palette are the sparkle shades. Surf Sparkle and Sea Foam Sparkle have virtually no pigment and can only be used as an over coat or a sheerer wash of shimmer on lids. The texture doesn’t bother me as all of Bobbi’s Sparkle Eyeshadows have a chunkier, flakier consistency but some might not love the fall out that you have to contend with during application. There’s one matte shade here and one satin both of which are quite dense and dry with sheerer color pay off. Out of the eight shades I would say that Bikini Bronze Metallic and Sunny Gold Metallic are the best textured shadows (I’m wearing both below) with the best pigment. Other shades are just a very sore disappointment with either too dry a formula or little to no color pay off.
If you are shopping the collection I do recommend Bobbi Brown Sand Eyeshadow Palette because unfortunately the Bobbi Brown Surf Eyeshadow Palette isn’t what I expected. Visually this is a beautiful palette but actually working with it will prove a disappointment. In my experience, I had to doctor things up to get the look I wanted to go with! So above I used some of the shadows in the palette for the “sand” portion but I used some Urban Decay 24/7 Eyeliners to get the “surf” portion in my look since the aquatic shades are so disappointing here.
Oh well!
Can’t win them all can you?
If you want to save money you can skip the Bobbi Brown Surf Eyeshadow Palette but if you do want to indulge it’s available now at Nordstrom.com, Bobbibrown.com, and at counters.
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You just saved me some money as I was going to get this.
How is the other one?
there’s actually a link to a review of the other palette in this post 🙂 you can take a look at that for my thoughts!
omg I LOVE your lower lash look!! so colorful!! kinda sad considering you were reviewing the eyeshadows but the UD liners took center stage 😛
haha thanks ashley and agree, sad that it wasn’t the palette that achieved the look!
Ahh, thanks for the honest review! I was really drawn in by the blue and green shimmer shades, but honestly the E.L.F. Ariel palette seems to have similar ones with better color payoff! I’m happy I spent $10 on that (its en route now!!!) than $65 on this.
Also, which UD eyeliner colors are you wearing? They’re kind of amazing! I’m obsessed with green and teal eyeliners.
my pleasure sara, I am sad to say, you don’t need a $65 palette like this 🙁 if you want I do recommend the sand one as that’s nice but this was disappointing 🙁 UM GOOD QUESTION! It’s Freak and something else, I’ll get the color for you when I get home tonight 😀
Thanks! I found a NYX dupe for Freak that is close enough for me, and I own Flip Side but not Deep End (which would be my 2 guesses for the teal).
That’s IT! Deep End 😀 you’re GOOD!
Oh no! I wanted this to be amazing. 🙁
I love the way you did the colorful eyeliner! I’ve tried doing something similar to that before, but I just end up looking like a clown or a colorful raccoon 🙁 Being oily sucks. Out of curiosity, which UD eyeliners are you using? Deep End and Freak, maybe?
Oops, when I originally tried to post this, there weren’t any replies, but I see someone already asked about the eyeliner! Sorry 🙂
🙂 it’s ok!
thanks chica 😀 and yup, you guessed right, deep end and freak! the key to not looking like a clown, I’ve been there I know, is to apply it, and just run a q-tip over it as it sheers and smooths it out and it ends up looking less clown-y in my humblest!
Oooorly?? I’ll have to try that! I don’t know why that never occurred to me. I’m still such a makeup noob; sad to say that when I’m already 26…lol. ;(
hell I’m still a noob myself 😀
Thanks for the review. Honestly, I’m not surprised–Bobbi just isn’t known for her “bright” eyeshadows i.e. blues, greens, etc. I find her to be more of a nude, natural colors kind of gal.
my pleasure caryn! agreed! She def does nude well but colors is a hit or miss!
This is why I go to your site everyday, you have honest reviews on the latest and greatest. I don’t know how you got the blue bottom liner to look so vibrant, cause in the swatches they look really dull, i have the urban decay primer for shadow, did you wet the brush when applying the blue shade? Either way you really made it come to life. Overall, like the look you put together:)
hey ashley, aw thanks flattered!!!!!!!!!!!!! That bottom liner portion isn’t from the palette, it’s actually a Urban Decay 24/7 Eyeliner (two actually). Unfortunately the blue and green were just too sheer to do liner work like that 🙁 thanks glad you liked the look!!!!!!!!!! 😀
Do you know of any seafoam or mint green shades that are good? I’m getting a little fustrated with that shade. It seems like no matter what brand I try I have issues with creasing/patching/dryness/color payoff. I have yet to find a HG
urban decay minx is nice jennifer (does have chunky glitter though) also nyx seafoam and Make Up For Ever #168!
Wow, it looked so cute in the pan but with the swatches it’s really bad! It’s rare to see shadows, especially a high end brand suck so much! I can’t even tell which shade is which with the swatches… Thanks for posting, you’ve definitely saved some people from this potential purchase!
my pleasure candice, yeah they kinda do swatch all the same :-/
Yay, I was so disappointed when I saw it in stores.
On the plus side, that look you came up with is very pretty on you! Seldom do you wear brights anymore, so th
thanks christina 😀 and true! I never do brights anymore, sometime down the road I got boring haha! Yeah, unfortunately about the sheerness le sigh 🙁
Disappointing, especially at that price! I think if people will try to buy dupes of each color of this palette from the drugstore brands, they will spend less than the price of this palette and will probably be able to find the higher quality ones.
I picked this one up….it looks so pretty in the pan. It is kind of a “meh” palette but oh well. I’m enjoying the left side and oyster sparkle, but yeah, all the shades look more or less the same. I’m a sucker for the Bobbi seasonal collections.
same here coco, I’m just a huge mush for bobbi brown le 😀
Thanks so much for the honest review, Isabella! Sand Palette is gorgeous so I may check that out instead :).
my pleasure 🙂
Ah, man! I ordered this earlier today when I was at work…if only I had waited till I got home to check your posts first! 🙁
aw sorry nat! hey try it out, if you hate it return it 😀
I ordered it online from Macy’s, so I think I’ll be okay to return it to the store in person…I did order from Canada and shipped to the states but hopefully that won’t make a difference! 😀
Good luck!!!!!!!!!
*sigh* I wanted this to be beautiful..
It’s a shame these aren’t as pretty on the eyes, as it is in the palette :/
If I didn’t already have shadows similar to the Sand version, I would get it w/out any guilt.