Edward Bess launched a new eyeshadow palette called Matte Artiste which has eight shades of luxurious matte shadows. It comes cased in a large mirrored compact and a small brush. All eight shades are well pigmented and ultra soft making them super easy to blend and layer. There are a few places you can buy it right now, the palette retails for $75 at Neiman Marcus (there’s a GWP going on this week online) and Bergdorf Goodman, but QVC has a special price online for $59.12.
The palette’s eight colors include:
- Beige is a cool-toned beige cream
- Mystique is a medium warm camel
- Allura is a warm deep brown
- Hypnotique is a cool deep brown
- Veil is a soft powder pink (this one is quite amazing)
- Stone is a medium soft grey
- Mojave is a greyed-black-brown
- Smoke is a deep smokey black with a soft feel
The texture is extremely soft but the pigment is very good. The soft
texture makes them a bit powdery in the compact. Using a brush will show
a bit of powder kick-up much like those of the Hourglass Modernist
Eyeshadow Palettes (Infinity reviewed here).
However this doesn’t translate to powdery fallout when you apply them
on the eyes. As with any powder shadow, the colors might have a tiny bit
of debris that falls to the cheeks, but I have yet to use a powder
shadow that doesn’t fall out even a little bit. On the lids, the colors
are really very good. Even the lighter neutral mattes show up well but they don’t make my medium olive skin look washed out.
texture makes them a bit powdery in the compact. Using a brush will show
a bit of powder kick-up much like those of the Hourglass Modernist
Eyeshadow Palettes (Infinity reviewed here).
However this doesn’t translate to powdery fallout when you apply them
on the eyes. As with any powder shadow, the colors might have a tiny bit
of debris that falls to the cheeks, but I have yet to use a powder
shadow that doesn’t fall out even a little bit. On the lids, the colors
are really very good. Even the lighter neutral mattes show up well but they don’t make my medium olive skin look washed out.
I am usually not a fan of matte palettes because an all-matte palette tends to my lids look flat. I like to mix on mattes and shimmer together, I rarely will wear an all-matte eye with the exception of Urban Decay Naked Basics and Naked2 Basics. Edward’s Matte Artiste has made the cut for me to be an all-matte palette that I can wear without additional tweaking or layering of other colors. Each color is completely matte but they don’t appear flat on the eyes. The colors all work well together, there is a diverse range of options with the eight colors but some good in-between colors for those who prefer less contrast.
Lasting power is quite good. The pigment is ultra rich and they lasted on my lids all day from early morning until the evening. Having eight colors makes for a lot of options in terms of layering and combining. I have played with this one using 3-4 colors at any given time. All perform really well.
Close ups of the colors:
For those who want to know how the Edward Bess Matte Artiste compares to Urban Decay Naked / Naked2 Basics, here are the swatches side by side. I think it’s different enough to justify owning in terms of matte shades. While I really adore the Naked2 Basics, Edward’s offers a darker range of colors for more definition.
Above: Edward Bess Matte Artiste Palette shown with a selection of other Edward Bess favorites
Bottom line: a winner in my book. I’m a huge fan of all things Edward Bess and this one is no exception. If you’re in the market for a good palette of mattes, this is one definitely worth looking into. However if you weren’t a fan of the Hourglass Palettes because of the soft powdery texture, you probably won’t like this either and may want to test this one in person first before purchasing. I personally really liked the Hourglass palette and I really like this one, but I think some people might prefer shadows that aren’t quite as soft in texture. My experience is the shadows are very soft and you will see powder debris and kick up in the palette once you dip a brush in any of the pans, but that is where the powdery-ness ends. On the lids they glide on really nicely without a lot of fallout (there is a tiny bit, but that is to be expected with any kind of powder).
If you’ve tried this one please chime in with your thoughts in the comments below. I’d love to hear your thoughts, or if you have a holy-grail matte eyeshadow palette, please share! You can find the Edward Bess Matte Artiste now at QVC (where I bought mine), Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman.
