Burberry Spring/Summer 2016 Runway Highlighter Palette

I'm so glad that this was brought back in wide release so that I can talk about this with you. Keep an eye out on Burberry's site, Nordstrom, Sephora, and Saks for the most recent inventory. I bought mine at my local Burberry boutique.

Burrberry released two limited edition highlighter palettes for Spring/Summer 2016. Since I have so many light gold highlighters, I went for the white shade (#01). These highlighters retail for $68 (ouch!) and weigh in at 0.5g.

The compact is the same as Burberry's quads and blushes.

It has a nice velvet sleeve, with a pocket.

In that pocket is a small brush. Not my tool of choice for a highlighter, but it could be used for travel or in an emergency. And any true makeup lover knows that highlighter emergencies happen.

First, let's take a moment to appreciate the small details. From the plastic lace sleeve on the palette to the embossed lace on the highlighter, this is a true collector's item.

Take a close look at that sleeve.  Now, look at the pan.  Burberry simply nails the details.

Seriously, this one is almost too pretty to swatch.

In terms of a white highlighter, this one seems to be a chameleon. It's far more metallic simply swatched, but buffs out to a luminous glow.

This might be the season for the white highlighter- and this pale diva is loving it. I pulled two of my other white highlighters to give a real comparison.

When comparing the three recently-released white highlighters, we can set aside the white half of Chanel Perles et Fantaisies immediately. It's more of a sheen than a metallic highlighter and the most natural of the trio.

Both the Burberry Runway highlighter and Becca Pearl are metallic.  Burberry is a little more metallic and bright than Becca Pearl. It's also more sparkly in real life. It pulls more silver than Becca Pearl. Unfortunately I passed on the silver Chanel highlighter from holiday a couple of years ago, so I can't compare the two to see if I could tease the silver bits out of the Burberry.

Although they're all different, if the price tag of the Burberry scares you off, a buffed-out Burberry and buffed-out Becca will be close enough. If you're a hard-core highlighter fiend, go check it out. This is an incredible collector's piece.

I'll leave you with one more photo of this gorgeous highlighter.

Did you buy either of them?

Burberry Nail Lacquers in Antique Gold & Dark Bottle Green

Today I have a double dose of nail goodness for your Saturday morning pleasure. I haven't been doing as many nail posts lately simply because I have a number of LE Fall items to get reviews out on ASAP.

Burberry's Fall 2014 color collection included six total nail shades. Of those, one (Oxblood), has made two prior appearances on this blog. I chose two of the five new shades, passing on Elderberry because I've bought so many dark purples as of late, Ink Blue because I have multiple dark blues, and Teal Blue because of the warnings from amazing blogger Color Me Loud who ran into formula and staining issues (seriously, go check out her swatches. Amazing!).

That left me with two new loves: Antique Gold (#445) and Dark Bottle Green (#423). Both retail for $22, which is somewhat affordable compared to Dior, Chanel, and Tom Ford. I've made it a point to seek out varying formulas and colors from Burberry. Their formula has come a long way since I bemoaned it with Oxblood.

First up, Antique Gold. I actually pre-ordered (and subsequently cancelled) this from Saks. It's a thin, metallic formula, but self-levels well. That huge dent visible on my nail is actually my current nailbed. If I had longer nails, I'd have cut it off.

A metallic formula is by its very nature less forgiving than my usual cremes. That is three thin coats, and NO topcoat on my nails here. I'll admit to a quick swatch 'n run with these shades because I wanted to get through my fall picks. I honestly don't have anything quite like the brassy (in a good way) Antique Gold. I can see myself wearing this a lot when it gets just a bit cooler. I can still get away without a coat most days, so I'm not in the mood for this yet.


And then there's Dark Bottle Green. My swatches look much darker than the promo photos, but my swatches aren't in the sun or in direct light. I have three coats, no topcoat on my nails here.

I didn't do the best cleanup job here; my apologies. In my defense, I was running out of natural light and needed to get this swatch completed since my bosses likely would've made the "smelly diaper face" when confronted with green nails in a conservative workplace. (For the record, the only dark green I've smuggled through the workplace is Chanel Mysterious, which could pass for something other than green in many lights.)

I don't have a comparison swatch, but when I brought this home I immediately thought of Button London British Racing Green. The Butter London shade is about 1/8-1/4 shade lighter, with a pronounced silver shimmer giving it a lighter appearance. I'd call them fraternal twinsies. If you have one, the other isn't necessarily required.

I didn't get a chance to try these out for wear time, but I've been getting 1-2 days out of Burberry polishes as of late.  I really find these shades to be a great addition to the line, and highly recommend them for fall.

Burberry Orange Poppy Nail Polish & Lip Glow Balm

Today's post is a bit late since Summer 2014 has come and gone, but I'd still like to share some of my selections from the Burberry Summer Showers collection with you. Although I wanted to purchase the entire collection, I ultimately passed on the blushes and concentrated on one of the three Lip Glow Balms and two of the three nail polishes.  I have the matching Lip Glow Balm and Nail Polishes in Orange Poppy to share today.

Burberry Nail Polish in Orange Poppy is a deceptive polish. It looks quite red in the direct morning sunshine, but it's really a stunning red-orange deep fiery shimmer. You can get a bit of that in the lower left part of the bottle in this photo.

I have three coats plus topcoat on my nails in this shot:

I find this to be an incredibly lovely shade, and I wore it frequently this summer. Burberry Nail Polishes retail for $22 and contain 8ml/0.27fl of polish. These shades are listed as limited edition.

I picked up one of the three Lip Glow Balms to try the formula, and I felt that Orange Poppy was the most unique of the three shades. The Lip Glow Balms are limited edition, retail for $28, and contain 4g/0.14oz of product.

It contains the same iconic Burberry check on the balm like other Burberry lip products.

Orange Poppy appears to be a neon orange balm and almost unwearable. It's not what it seems, just bear with me. I adore Orange Poppy.

Just look how lovely it is!

One of the reasons why I only chose Orange Poppy was because I wanted a shade that wasn't easily dupeable in my stash. I love balms, and the Burberry Lip Glow Balm is one of the best I've seen. It's a hydrating balm that does highlight any flaws in texture, so make sure to exfoliate.

Just to show how much of a balm this really is, here's a representative swatch, outside:

It's so lovely on my pigmented lips as well. It's actually wearable three seasons of the year.

Bottom line: Burberry hit it out of the park with this formula. The only reason that I didn't pick up the others is that I have similar shades in my stash. As long as they're available, I do recommend them.

Burberry Nail Polish & the Lip Glow Balms are still available at Burberry.com, Net-a-Porter.com, and Nordstrom.com

NOTD: Burberry Daffodill

Today's NOTD (the first of about 100 I swatched while computer-less) is one that I've been waiting to share for quite awhile.  Burberry Daffodill was part of the English Festival micro-collection; in Burberry boutiques last month.

I am so very happy that I picked up this shade.

There are three coats plus Butter London Hardware on my nails in this shot. The formula is the absolute best yellow creme that I've tried, and that includes Chanel and Butter London as direct comparison. Like all yellows, it was slightly streaky but leveled out flawlessly after three thin coats.  This shade restored my faith in Burberry nail polish.

Yellow is one of those nail shades I like in photos and in theory. I love that photo.  In person, I feel like it just doesn't look right on my hands. Still, for the faith it restored in me with this brand, it's so worthwhile.

Burberry Lip Cover No 29 Golden Peach

I feel like today's product should come with a bit of an apology. I have several Burberry items that I planned to review in April that I just didn't get to.  In this particular case, its because I was still testing and had gotten derailed by my new favorite that I introduced you to yesterday- Chantecaille Lip Chic in Wild Rose.

After a disastrous trial of Dior's Rose Crinoline, I was still yearning for a peach shade for spring/summer that actually worked with my highly pigmented lips.  I've got bold corals- both orange-based (see: Clinique Runway Coral) and red-based (I'll be showing you my new favorite, Lipstick Queen Jungle Queen tomorrow).  But I still couldn't find a good, soft peach.

After my extensive trials of Burberry products, I saw that Lip Cover #29-  Golden Peach was back in stock at Burberry.com. Lest you've forgotten in the whole 12 days without a Burberry review, Lip Cover lipsticks are full pigment and coverage, fairly moisturizing and medium-wear, retail for $30, and contain 0.12oz/3.5g of product.

Golden Peach was originally released with the Spring 2012 collection, and is a true peach with a few pink undertones to keep it from being a bright orange shade- despite how it looks in the tube (Devon Sunset (#28) is closer to Rose Crinoline).  Please see comparison swatches of the two at Natural Chic and Beauty Crazed.

After testing this for a few days, I feel like I hear angelic music and the Hallelujah Chorus when I put this on my lips.  This is my HG peachy coral lipstick.  It's soft but pigmented enough to cover my problematic pigmented lips without any concealer (or "crap"). It's true love for Golden Peach and I, and we'll be spending some serious time together this summer, especially with the amount of turquoise that I wear.

Golden Peach requires touch-ups every 3-4 hours, or after eating/drinking- like the other Lip Covers. However, in the iconic Burberry packaging, you may want to whip it out more often than that! This is one of the non-frosty Lip Covers, and wear/finish/moisturizing factor are right on par with my favorites in the line. This is one of my top 3 Lip Covers by far.

While Lip Covers are generally close to their appearance in the tube, I think showing swatches is the best way to back up my claim that this is a soft shade.

In direct sunshine:

Outside, not in direct sun, no flash:

Outside, with flash:

Inside, without flash:

Inside, with flash:

And finally, on my lips:

Bottom line- this is one of only a few shades in my current rotation. It's perfect for this time of year and I highly recommend it.

Burberry Lip Cover 01 Nude Beige

I've waited until Day 30 of the Burberry month to bring you that catch-up post I've been promising because the final item isn't a color product.

Burberry Lip Cover 01 Nude Beige isn't a color that I would normally select (it's a very pale beige), but I received it as a GWP.

Burberry's Lip Covers are mainly opaque and quite creamy. Out of the three lipstick lines, I like the texture of these the best. This photo captures just how light Nude Beige really is:

This color is lovely, but very tricky for me to pull off. I'm going to do my best to show a handful of swatches.

Outside, without flash:

Outside, with flash:

Inside, without flash:

Inside, with flash:

It's a lovely nude shade. I just wish that I could pull it off.  The nice thing about GWPs is that I can experiment with shades I normally wouldn't without the $30 hit.

Here is Nude Beige on my very pigmented lips. Once again (like with Rosewood), the photograph looks a lot nicer than it did in person.

In person, it gives me concealer lips, even well-blended.  I decided to try a few other things to make this shade work.  A natural progression is to add a gloss. Since I don't own Nude Beige gloss, I substituted Nude Gold.

It simply added a layer of sheen. Again, the photos look far better than it did in person.  I'm not sure why Burberry products tend to hide imperfections in photographs.

Overall, this is a lovely nude for people with less-than-pigmented lips.

Burberry Sheer Eyeshadow No 03 Porcelain

It's hard to believe that Burberry month is coming quickly to a close. This is the final Sheer Eyeshadow shade I'll be featuring.

Porcelain #3 is another of the light, neutral shades that Burberry has become known for.  It's a peachy neutral that is just slightly off of my skintone, making it another of the un-makeup shades I've come to embrace.

With a primer, this lasts all day and has the same buttery texture as the other shades in this line.

While it's darker than Trench, I still struggle to photograph this shade.

Outside, no flash:

Inside, no flash:

Inside, with flash:

And a comparison shot to give some context for this light shade:

This is the best shot I have of any of these shades.  Although more metallic, NARS Tzarine #1 is closest to Porcelain.

Overall, this is a lovely neutral that suits a range of skintones.

Burberry Lip Velvet No 306 Pink Amber

Today's bit of Burberry is the second Lip Velvet shade that I selected.  I received a mini of Burberry Lip Velvet #306, Pink Amber.

Pink Amber is a full-coverage matte with satin tendencies.  It's highly pigmented and covers my very pigmented lips in just one swipe.

Since this is a mini, I don't have many photographs to share.  That said, Burberry's mini lipsticks weigh in at 0.8g/0.028 oz vs the full size 3.5g/0.12 oz.  Pink Amber is a bolder, matte equivalent of Blush Lip Cover.

Outside, without flash:

Outside, with flash:

Inside, without flash:

Inside, with flash:

This color is incredibly pigmented. Here it is on my lips, without flash:

And with flash:

Normally this is where I'd show a comparison swatch, but I don't own any other matte shades in the same universe as Pink Amber.  This was my introduction to the Lip Velvet range, and find Pink Amber to be a totally wearable MLBB shade.