Lancome Summer Eyes: Color Design Palette in Desert Sunset

Over the last few years, I haven't paid much attention to Lancome. I was busy branching out into other lines, and basically decided to avoid the Big 3 (Lancome, Clinique, and Estee Lauder) because I felt that they already get enough press. Recently, my eye was caught by a lipstick display and I ended up purchasing Hypnose Doll Eyes mascara, as well as one of the new Rouge In Love lipsticks and a Color Design lipstick, all with good results. So when Lancome went into gift at Macy's last week, I decided to drop by and see what they had to offer. And it was gorgeous. 

The Lancome Summer Collection, Bronze Diva, is truly lovely. It includes a 6-shadow eye palette, three new Artliners, 4 Juicy Tubes, 3 Color Design Hydra-Balm lipsticks, 2 powder bronzers, a blush, and 2 nail lacquers. Wow! Quite a collection. They're all beautiful and focused on shades of bronze and pink. I limited myself to just two items (so far) from the collection, the Artliner in Gold Passion and the Color Design Palette in Desert Sunset. 

Desert Sunset is a stunning palette of varying shades of cream, bronze, copper, orange, deep brown. It's the perfect summer combination for any eye color, especially brown eyes like mine. The colors are soft and subtle, yet vibrant in an understated way. 

Top Row: Light Beige (matte), Pink Coral (shimmer), Shimmer Pink Peach (which I found to be more matte than shimmer, and more orange than pink).

Bottom Row: Beige (shimmer, and slightly lighter than the Light Beige, interestingly enough), Copper (shimmer), and Deep Brown (shimmer). 

As you can see above, it's beautiful to look at, and the colors are fairly universal, with the possible exception of the orange--admittedly, not for the faint-hearted. I, however, am pretty much up for anything. I'm loving it. 

These colors are a dream to work with, applying evenly and blending easily. They are fairly soft and powdery, but there is minimal fallout. The gradation in the depth of color from the lightest beige to the deepest brown, with color shining in between, allows for any number of different looks ranging from the most natural to the smokiest and most dramatic, from totally neutral to colorful and playful. 

I did two different looks to give you an idea of the versatility of the palette. They're actually fairly similar, but do showcase different application techniques and colors. 

Here, I used the Shimmer Pink Peach on my lids with Copper in the crease, Light Beige at the brow bone, and Deep Brown as liner. 

Here, I used Pink Coral in the inner corner with Shimmer Pink Peach on the outer half of the lid. I used Copper in the crease and Light Beige on the brow. I finished with the LE Artliner in Gold Passion. 

Bottom Line: This is an absolutely stunning palette that's versatile and very fun to work with. I'm going to continue playing with it to see how many variations I can come up with...there will be many. The colors are universally flattering, especially for dark eyes. The quality is excellent, and ease of use is outstanding. Wear time is also very good over primer, with no creasing or fading. If you're looking for some summer eye shades, this is a great place to start.