One of the popular releases during the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale was the Laura Mercier 'Flawless Icons' Eye & Cheek Palette (priced at $65, valued at $155). This palette features eight eyeshadows with two beautiful face products from the Matte Radiance Baked Powder line to include Bronze-02 and Highlight-01. As a beauty junkie who owns two of Laura Mercier 'Artist's Palette' For Eyes, I thought it wouldn't hurt to go ahead and purchase another beautiful palette from her. As with any of her palettes, I feel that Laura Mercier always does an exquisite job with the color layout and range that she chooses for her palettes--They simply mesh so well together and when placed on the eyes, everything just blends to perfection (color and formula wise).
Out of the eight eyeshadows there are two mattes, two demi mattes, and four shimmers. All of the formulas performed well, but I definitely showed more favoritism towards the shimmers. Though, quite frankly, I was quite pleased with the pigmentation of the mattes (we all know that finding good quality mattes is a rather difficult task). Highlight-01 has always been one of my favorite top-of-the-line highlighters as it acts as an amazing au naturale glow. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Bronze 01, even with the slight sheen running through it, worked wonderfully as an contour/bronzing shade. Those sparkles made me slightly hesitant in the beginning, but phew! The quality of everything gets a thumbs up from me--Blendability, pigmentation, little to no fall-out, smooth, buttery, etc. etc.
Unfortunately... What truly disheartened me about this palette was that if you do own the most recent Laura Mercier 'Artist's Palette' For Eyes (Holiday 2014 and 2016), you will find among the palette a total of 4 dupes which includes Guava, African Violet, Espresso Bean, and Cashmere. Now, should this dissuade you from taking the plunge? Well, let's put it this way. If you own at least one of the face products (either the highlighter or bronzer) AND one of the Artist's Palette For Eyes then I would say look away as it would not be worth your while. Looking for a do-it-all (except no blush), on-the-go, easy makeup? Then, yes, that $65 spent will thank you later.
