Bobbi Brown Copper Diamond and Party Collections

I was really excited to get to know some of the women working behind Bobbi Brown Cosmetics when I went to Fashion Week in September, and when they offered to send me some of the new Copper Diamond collection and a few pieces from the Party Collection to test out, I was so excited! So of course I said yes, and I've been playing with them all week.

I've been wearing the Shimmer Brick on my cheeks and the bridge of my nose -- like a bronzer -- for the past week or so. It's a great way to get some extra glow, which has been really helpful because I've been under the weather the past week. It's subtle enough to be an excellent transition-into-winter bronzer for me. Everyone always says you should keep wearing bronzer throughout the winter, but honestly, we're not getting the same amount of sun in winter as we do in summer, so a lighter bronzer, like the Copper Diamond Shimmer Brick, works wonderfully.

Here's the Copper Diamond Shimmer Brick on the right, with the Gold Shimmer Brick that I already owned on the left. (Hooray for Shimmer Bricks!)

Another thing about the Shimmer Brick is that you can also use the individual strips of color as eyeshadow, which I did today. (Since I didn't use any primer, it creased, but that's because it's my eyelids and not the fault of the shadow. Anything and everything will crease on my eyelids. "Crease free" will crease on my eyelids.) But warm-and-neutral-metallics are always a good call for eyeshadow collections, I think.

Plus, um. Yesterday morning I totally dropped it on the bathroom floor, swore a little, picked it up, and found that it didn't break (hooray!!) so I would say that this is safe to travel, especially if you don't want to take a whole ton of eyeshadows -- just one Shimmer Brick and you've got eyeshadows and bronzer/highlighter. Easy. Done. (I took my Gold Shimmer Brick to New York for my first trip last March, and it survived, as you can see.)

I also tried the Copper Diamond Glitter Lip Balm, which I found to be a little brown for me, but I tend to favor more colorful lips overall. That said, for a balm it has really good color and a glitter that's not going to blind people and doesn't feel gritty on the lips. (Since I've been sick and, um, mouth-breathing, my lips aren't in the best of shape for testing out lip products.) I think the Pink Crystal or Crystal Diamond balms would be good picks for stocking stuffers, and I'm tempted by Pink Crystal too. It comes in a circular pot with a little mirror, which is cute, but requires you to apply with your fingers or with a lip brush.

From the Party Collection, I received the Metallic Eye Shadow in Glitz, which is a lovely white-gold shimmer (totally goes well with the Copper Diamond Shimmer Brick colors for that metallics-are-the-new-neutral look), and Martini Glitter Lip Gloss. I've heard a lot of good things about the Metallic Eye Shadows, and Glitz is gorgeous. I'm also thinking of checking out Bash (forest green -- would be so great for a smoky eye) or Indigo Nights (because I am a sucker for metallic navy shadows) or After Hours (ditto for metallic purples).

Martini is a lot of fun -- clear glitter gloss -- to put over any color of lipstick for some more shimmer. It's in a square compact, just like the eyeshadows and blushes, so that it can be popped into a custom palette of all your favorite colors. Like Copper Diamond, though, you need to use your fingers or a lip brush to apply. (I am highly lusting over Velvet Rope, which is a red glitter gloss. Yes, I deeply love Hedwig, why do you ask? Pink Soiree looks to be adorable too...)

All in all, I'm really enjoying what Bobbi Brown has for us this holiday, and highly recommend that you go check them out. The Copper Diamond Shimmer Brick is a total winner and will likely be disappearing off of counters awfully fast... (Curse these limited edition collections!)

Thank you to Bobbi Brown Cosmetics for the opportunity to try out their new collections! I... will probably wind up spending some money on the other colors in them! (I'm talking to you, Velvet Rope and Metallic Eye Shadows...)

images from bobbibrowncosmetics.com and periodicstyle.blogspot.com