Estée Lauder Bronze Goddess Summer 2013 - Batik Sun Palette

With the seasons seemingly being a hit-and-miss affair this year, I'm pulling out every summer-themed makeup item in an attempt to invoke some kind of sympathetic magic. Luckily, there is an array to choose from, so though it may not feel like summer, it will darn well LOOK like summer.

The Estée Lauder Bronze Goddess collection offers up the usual suspects this year, with bronzers and burnished tones galore. And as usual, I gravitated to the golds and teals of the gorgeous limited edition Batik Sun palette.

In many ways this doesn't come across as a particularly unique palette. If you have the Estée Lauder Bronze Goddess palette from a couple of years ago, Bronze Sands from last year, or the Stila Sun palette from waaaayyy back when, you're probably in the ballpark of the kind of look that can be achieved with this. That said, there are some real standout shades here as well.

The pale wheat in the bottom left corner is a fairly common shade - medium pigmentation, soft and blendable. Not unique, but almost mandatory it seems.

The light, pumpkin orange is delightfully unexpected, and would looks absolutely killer with blue eyes. It has great pigmentation, a smooth texture and a satin/shimmer finish.

The gold shade is, again, standard, but boasts an incredibly buttery texture and fabulous pigmentation. It applies like a dream.

The Mediterranean teal shade is jaw-droppingly gorgeous. It has a slightly drier texture, albeit not powdery. It takes more patting and layering to build to full intensity, and doesn't blend as smoothly, but for THAT COLOUR, I will make the extra effort.

The purple-tinged taupe (turple? paupe?) in the middle has the same dense, creamy, faultless texture as the gold, with similarly intense payoff. Stunning in the crease and as a liner.

Though this is not one of the gélée-texture palettes that I am so inordinately fond of, it's still a very strong outing from Estée Lauder on the eyeshadow front.

Availability: Still at some counters, and from The Bay online. Also at Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus. Price is 50$ CAD and 48$ USD.

Pros: Textures range from good to excellent, with lovely payoff across the board. The orange and teal shades in particular are more unique. Range for creating a more subtle versus very vibrant eye look.

Cons: The teal shade requires a bit more care in applying and blending. The neutral shades are more easily duped, so depending on your collection this palette may not be cost-effective.

(I purchased this from the EL counter at The Bay.)