It can be maddening to write about makeup all the time, so I hope you enjoyed the last two posts as much as I did making them. But now we are back on track! Today I'd like to talk about a holiday palette: the Estee Lauder Pure Color Five Color Eyeshadow Palette in Angel Petal (P2,000+). I know, this is so belated, but the palette is still a great choice for sooty, glittery evening eyes.

The eyeshadows come packaged in an expensive-looking gold case. I had one of these from 2012, but that came in a sort of metallic midnight blue. I like them both! I love how Estee Lauder packaging always looks modern and classy, but never dated.

The five eyeshadows are on the cool side, featuring a shimmery petal pink, a copper, metallic taupe, glittery charcoal, and matte beige. Most of the colors have pronounced shimmer in them, but they are twinkly and fine, very much like Bobbi Brown's famous glittery ones. Estee Lauder's are also multi-colored and far from flat and tacky.

"Shimmer" is a word that has a lot of negative baggage in terms of cosmetics. Especially here in the Philippines, girls run the opposite direction when they hear about shimmer in face products! Well, it's hard to blame them when everyone is so oily and sweaty all the time here. Nonetheless I personally like a bit of shimmer on my face. I like how my complexion looks brighter overall, more skin-like and fresh. 

Now I've said this before and I can go to my grave saying it: nobody does shimmer like Bobbi Brown. It's sooo fine, subtle, and twinkly when it needs to be! It's never vulgar or cheap-looking, but more importantly, it doesn't make skin look like a disco ball.

I'm currently loving the limited edition Bobbi Brown Shimmer Brick in Lilac Rose (P2,400). This looks like blush at first glance, but it's really more of a skin illuminator and highlighter than anything else! It's a sheer golden pink shade that makes the skin look flawless and fresh. Seriously. Illuminators like this are the cosmetic world's best obvious secret.

I've had Bobbi's Shimmer Brick in Bronze for about two years now so this is more of the same, except it's considerably less pigmented. It can be a veeeeeery subtle blush if you layer it with a blush brush.

The holidays have come and gone, but the glittery glamour that accompanies it doesn't have to leave as well. The beauty holiday collections are still on the shelves, so if you want to score some good deals or collector's pieces, you better hurry for one final look at the counters!

The Lancome Holiday Collection is another memorable ensemble for me. The inspiration is Hemingway's "A Movable Feast", where he wrote about his life in Paris. It was the 1920s, a decade remarkable for its smoky opulence and subversive elegance. The Lancome collection imagines Paris dressed in gold, with shiny crystal chandeliers flashing on sequined dresses, as if in a dance of light.

The Ombre Hypnose Mono eyeshadows (P1,395) look fantastic! They feature a mesh/ sequin imprint on the powder, while the top of the compact has coated golden glitter.