June 25, 2018

When You Can Tell An Eyeshadow Palette Is Just Going To Bad By Promo Images Alone

I receive a small commission if you shop through my link.

You know it’s a little sad when you can just tell an eyeshadow palette is going to be bad just from promo images alone. I got up at this morning, hopped on the treadmill, and starting quickly browsing through Sephora and I saw the new Bobbi Brown Night Drama Eyeshadow Palette and literally cringed in horror. I could be wrong, terribly, terribly wrong! Actually, I hope I’m wrong but I fear I’m not.

This one looks bad.

Since Bobbi Brown left the brand at the end of 2016 and since that time I’ve noticed quite a few changes. One would be the endless assortment of clearance items and sales. This is highly abnormal for an upscale brand like Bobbi Brown. I mean, Bobbi had a friends and family sale but that was once a year and done. It was pretty rare to see anything on sale from the brand unless you happened upon it at the Cosmetic Company Outlet Store.

Nowadays, Bobbi Brown Cosmetics are on clearance at Nordstrom, the Rack, Hautelook, Macy’s, and others.

Another thing that has changed is the lack of color stories. I don’t really see seasonal color collections from the brand anymore and when and if they do them they are typically very small collections. It’s sort of sad as I was hoping for a pretty peach collection this year for Summer but so far there has been nothing in the works for Summer 2018 from the brand.

However, they do have this new Night Drama Eyeshadow Palette which looks more like something that would be best slated for a Winter or Fall launch. It contains 12 shades in matte, shimmer, and metallic finishes.

Shades: Cream (matte warm cream), Constellation (metallic iridescent pink gold), Purple Dusk (metallic rich plum), Chocolate (rich chocolate brown shimmer), Dawn Haze (matte yellow beige), Torched (metallic bronze copper), Oyster (warm silver sparkle with glitter), Indigo Night (rich blue metallic), Molten (matte mid-tone brown), Woodrose (soft nude matte), Smoldering (rich silver purple metallic), Galactic (sparkling black metallic)

You REALLY can’t judge makeup on promo images alone but this palette looks dry as hell. I actually want to buy it just to satisfy my curiosity if I’m right about it being as bad as it looks.

Do you judge makeup by promotional images alone? Or do you give them a shot?

If you do judge them by images are you right about the formula when you do try it?

Do share!

Where to buy

Sephora

I receive a small commission if you shop through my link.

About the Muse

Isabella MuseIsabella is just an average everyday geeky girl who doesn’t blend her eyeshadow correctly, wears too much blush, and hopes she never finds her holy grail products because she likes the thrill of the chase so much. Her mission is to bring you super honest reviews on makeup, skincare, fragrance and all things beauty. She’s in no way an expert on the topic and she sure as hell isn’t a super model. But she’s passionate about makeup and is seeking like-minded individuals that like pina coladas, getting caught in the rain, and ones that enjoy spending hundreds of dollars at Sephora without feeling buyer’s remorse. If you’re that person feel free to reach out and leave a comment or follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Bloglovin‘.

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Comments

  • Kish

    You’re right, it does look awful. It’s such a shame, Bobbi Brown used to be one of my favorites for eye shadows. Their collections were always so put together and classy. Now it just seems like minimum effort and underwhelming products. Such a shame.

    • Isabella Muse

      It’s hard to say with promo images but I took one look at this and I winced. It just looks dry AF! Agreed! Very minimal effort 🙁 Bobbi stepped down and the whole brand’s image went to down!

  • Jane

    I think Bobbi Brown the person is launching a cosmetics collection again, only I can’t find anything about it – just her supplements and things. (Google’s results for me lately are SO bad).

    But yeah that’s one bad palette. Way too warm and not very well coordinated.

      • Jane

        It was supposed to be! I think I signed up for updates, but I think that was a year or more ago and I’ve heard nothing.

  • Susan

    I don’t see a problem other than it looks like almost every other palette out there, mostly warm browns with a couple of shades that are so red they’d make me look like I’m sick, plus a black that I’d never use. The blue looks nice. BB is usually too $$ for me, but it’s nice to see something that isn’t 12 shades of basically the same brown.

  • Carol G

    I just see a miss-mash of colors on this one. Does not appeal to me at all. It’s as if a bunch of people sat around a boardroom table and said: We have to release something. Someone just slap a bunch of colors together and we’ll call it a day.

    • Auroraboros

      I was thinking the same thing.
      I have to admit that Bobbi Brown has lost their appeal to me. Some of her mattes are really nice, but the shimmer and metallics are too dry for my liking and not very pigmented.
      I want to love the brand, but I gave up on eyeshadows after buying Nude Drama palette. Hell do I love the sparkle shadows. It’s the most sophisticated sparkle/glitter toppers I’ve used but as much as I love it, Bobbi Brown keeps including too many in her palettes

  • Saoirse

    I can’t tell just by looking at a palette. If there are pictures of swatches, it helps, but if I’m really interested, I like to swatch it myself at the store, feeling the texture and seeing how it blends on my hand. Very rarely will I buy a palette without seeing it in person (but come to think of it, I recently did just that and, thankfully, was lucky to have received a great product).

  • Debbie T

    Until recently I worked in a UK department store, by the BB stand. Over the past couple of years, what used to be an exciting counter, became a lacklustre and empty space. Seeing this latest instalment, I am not surprised 🙁

    • Isabella Muse

      So sad! Things have changed so much in such a short time! I hope the stories about re-branding are true!

  • Rina

    I must be a total noob. I really like it. with the exception of the camel brown one, I love all the shades. Oh well..

  • Lisa

    The post-Bobbi products just look unimaginative and blah. They have lost their vision. Their quality has been impacted since late last year, too, with a definite hit-or-miss on shadows and blushes. The constant sale on bummer products screams problems. I remember another brand Estée took over years ago that went through the same vision and quality issues, and it took forever – and another owner – to recover.

    • Isabella Muse

      sad sigh. ITA! But I think it has actually been longer than a year when it comes to quality!

  • Isabella

    looks boring
    and until you started talking about BBrown I would have said it was some private label brand for 12bucks

    sad trombone

  • Ann Marie

    No, I 100% agree. I often wonder what she thinks at new launches because the colors are crazy and glittery and so NOT what the brand used to be about. I’ll be skipping this, as well as all the rest of the others. I’m sad for her.

  • Kris

    I don’t care for this either and I love her makeup.I am so upset that her line is going downhill. I did recently try the new crushed lipstick and love it!!! I got 3 shades!! I’m sure there’s more in my future!!!

    • Isabella Muse

      those crushed lipsticks are the best I’ve seen from her in a while ;-D

  • genevieve

    The BB brand has been so poor for so long and very expensively average at that. So I think you are right Muse to be a bit negative about this palette.
    For a start I think the shades have been randomly placed in the palette – a blue here, a burgundy there etc. Secondly, I am not sure who the target audience is – warm tones or cool tones or a, again, random assortment. To me it does lean a little more cool toned, but if they had added a jewel green instead of the caramel brown, then I think it would have been a true jewel palette.
    Anyway, I am not going to buy it as I distrust the brand now.