Burberry Spring 2014 English Rose Collection: Rose Pink & Sage Green

Burberry is the last to launch its Spring 2014 collection in Singapore, and having stared at promo pictures for the past few months, and looked on in envy as everybody else in the world laid claims on their palettes, I lost all desire for it.  That is, until I saw them again in person.

As I examine the palettes in person, I can almost feel the spring breeze on my cheeks, the first blooms of delicate little white daffodils and pale roses…  And as dipped my fingers into the palettes and swatched them, a lovely thrill spreads.

These are distinctly spring palettes with their soft colors and muted tones, but the curation of the colours is very British.  I’m in thrall with the bottom 2 shades in the #10 Rose Pink quad, and the middle pairing in the #15 Sage Green quad.  Here is a closer look at the palettes:

Burberry Complete Eye Palette #10 Rose Pink

This is the signature look on the Burberry Spring 2014 campaign, and is very distinctly “English Beauty” in my mind.

Rose Pink consists of a pale frosted ivory, a light frosted pink, a medium-light satin red-tinged brown, and a satin medium salmon-pink.  The colors are all very soft with the exception of the salmon pink.  They felt incredibly soft and finely milled to the touch, and apply wonderfully smoothly.

Just to see how well the colors blend and show up on my lids, I used the light frosted pink first all the way up my eye socket, then I layered the salmon-pink on the inner half of my lid, followed by the brown on the outer half.  Given how light the brown really was against my skin tone, I used a firm pencil brush and dabbed it on quite a bit for the color to show up.  Even then, I felt like I needed a bit more definition, and so I used a very soft brown pencil and drew a upward sloping half wing and smudged it out.  You could always use a darker brown eyeshadow.  And finally, I used the frosted ivory as a highlighter, and to line the lower lash line.

Burberry Complete Eye Palette #15 Sage Green

Sage Green was a very reluctant purchase, one which annoyed me considerably.  I hadn’t intended to buy yet another green palette, especially not so soon after Guerlain Les Tendres (reviewed here).  But felt harassed and hard-sold into buying it by the never-ceasing chatterbox of an SA.

To be fair, I was somewhat moved by the color composition of Sage Green.  That medium brown color is warmer and redder than its equivalent in Rose Pink, and is fairly close to Burberry Sheer Eyeshadow in Pale Barley which is one of the more popular eyeshadow singles.  I loved it in combination with the light teal color – when placed next to the green, it looks like a pale green, but distinctive blue notes emerges when swatched.  It is somewhat sheer, but buildable in intensity.  The bottom green is lovely, with tinges of yellow in it.

Part of my irritation with my purchase was the fact that I didn’t like the way the SA had applied it on me, but I didn’t have the energy to argue.  I admit color placement and application style is very personal, and the way I like it is much more precise – light teal on the inner ¾ of the lid, green along lash line blended upwards, brown in the outer corner, and ivory as highlighter.  The brown here shows up much better so I didn’t feel the need to add another darkening shade.  Instead, I played with more colors by lining my lower waterline with a reddish-brown pencil.

Incredibly, I think this may be my personal favorite green eye-look so far.  I like the fact that the colors are soft, the frost content brightens up my tired peepers but are not overly bling-y.  And with just the hint of green along the lash line, it is still work-appropriate.

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I believe Rose Pink quad may already be soldout in some places, but both are permanent to Burberry’s Complete Eye Palette range so it will eventually be restocked.  Meanwhile, if you are still in dire need to pick out some Spring palette, you may wish to give Sage Green another do-over.

xoxo