The Best Burgundy Palettes
When it comes to a smokey party eye, burgundy is the new black.
We’re putting this down to the current consensus that less makeup is more, (even if we’ve definitely got quite a bit on.) The classic black suddenly seems a little heavy for a night out, whereas burgundy offers a softer, bronzer glow. It's instantly warming and looks kind of rich. Which can never be a bad thing.
Despite the demand, single burgundy shadows remain fairly elusive, so the key is to find them in a palette. We love the thrill of finding a good burgundy hidden amongst a quintet of nudes and soft neutrals and have come to the conclusion that palettes are generally better - allowing us to build the perfect shade that's easy to amp up or tone down according to the occasion.
There are plenty of great palettes out there, but these are a few of our current faves.
Smith & Cult
Cult nail polish brand Smith and Cult have just launched their makeup line and it's exactly what we’ve been missing in our lives. Housed in hammered silver packaging with gorgeous formulas that actually work, everything from the mascara to the liner is on point. Our absolute favourite is the Book of Eyes Shadow quartet in Noonsuite, which is set inside a silver palette, quirkily askew. This palette also comes in a gorgeous silver and smokey colour way, but the bronze palette is definitely the best- and one that looks great on darker skin tones. Its made up of three degrees of gold glitter and a matte burgundy. We love to layer the darkest gold glitter under the matte burgundy, for a luminescent burgundy eye with punch, but every shade looks great on its own. This is one for the sophisticates and makes building up for day to night a breeze.
Zoeva
Our founder has sworn by Zoeva’s Cocoa Blend palette for years. It comes in a cardboard case which makes it easy to move around without fear of shattering it to a thousand pieces (there really is nothing worse!) This 10 shadow-strong palette comes with a range of taupes, golds and browns, but Freshly Toasted, Warm Notes and Subtle Blend are standouts. We layer the darkest gold beneath the burgundy shimmer and top with the matte, for a bronze eye with a bit of depth.
M.A.C
M.A.C’s AW16 palette is perfect for the season, appropriately named Burgundy x 9, this palette is full of different shades of brown, gold and bronze. As with everything M.A.C, the formulas are spot on, the pigment punchy and the quality of glitter - the perfect blend between glitter and shimmer. Great on their own for a more natural sweep of colour, or seamlessly buildable with up to four hues, this palette looks professional, is small enough to carry around and is packed full of options.
Sleek
Sleek have kind of smashed the whole highlighter/contour game and have released some pretty gorgeous palettes this year. These are slightly more on the glittery side and don't necessarily have all-day staying power, but they are great if you're on a budge,t or are not sure you're quite ready to commit to the burgundy trend. The I-divine palettes have been created with the party season in mind and the colour range is just right if you’re not feeling too flamboyant.
Makeup Obsession
Revolution's baby sister Makeup Obsession promises to be as good as the Makeup Revolution palettes, which are a great budget buy (Particularly the Iconic Pro 1.) Their pigments have always been fantastic for budget shadows, so we were excited to test out MuO.
The great thing about MuO is that you are sold individual shadows for you to put into your own 6, 9 or 12 shadow palettes. Makeup Obsession have everything from highlighter and contour pans, to a huge array of shadows that come in either cream or powder. We felt like kids in a candy store, running around the pop up with our mini basket, filling up with admittedly too many bronze shadows. The only problem is actually whittling them down at the end, but the quality of the shadows are really good for the price and the palettes are seriously cute. They are a little on the glittery and less shimmery side, but the concept and wealth of options is awesome.