Smashbox Reign Collection Review and Swatches

"The Smashbox Reign Collection is inspired by the ruling era of the English Tudors—an imperial court mired in salacious scandal and royal indulgence. The products featured in this collection are luxe, sexy, and indulgently sensorial, giving a glimpse into the extravagant lifestyle of royalty..."

Actually I think Smashbox was thinking "Oh my gawd that Jonathan Rhys Meyers is the hawtness let's base a collection around all that eye candy!" Or at least that's how interpenetrated it. The Muse has a one track mind when it comes to loving me some JRM.


Jump ahead for the review on the smashing Smashbox Reign Collection!

Oh baby I'm a need the two palettes that were released with this collection so stay tuned for the review on those but for now I'm going to show you three pieces from the collection that created this rather awesome, elegant, super easy look for me yesterday.

Check it.

I got my hands on the Smashbox Reign Jet Set Palette which is hello all kinds of gorgeous. Really they put alot of effort into this collection so props and applause to Smashbox. The palette is a slick faux leather affair with a flip top, full size mirror, two wells with liner duos, a mini liner brush, and a "tudor" Smashbox themed coat of arms design. The palette is quite elegant, don't expect cheap here, it's a very nice piece of palette and alot of love and consideration was put into the design, likey! This particular palette houses two wells with snap closures. Inside each well a duo of Smashbox Jet Set Gel Eye Liners await you. You'll get a deep, dark rich chocolate brown and light brown on one side and a golden metallic bronze and light metallic bronze brown on the other. I'm not the biggest fan of Jet Set liner as a prefer Smashbox regular cake liner from yesteryear but one thing I do love about Jet Set is the ability to use it as a shadow. The colors aren't deeply pigmented so they blend wonderfully on the eye for a sheer wash of color or build it up for deeper color payoff. I got creative with this palette to create my look as I didn't want to go all boring on you and just line my eyes using it. To create my look below I used the liners on the right side of the palette, the bronze brown and golden bronze. I placed a bit of the brown on my lid and blended out and proceeded to layer the golden bronze on top. Presto done. I lined my lower waterline with tons of the deeper chocolate brown on the opposite of the palette to set off my brown eyes. It's a very simple, understated yet incredibly elegant look. Granted I'm doubtful that Smashbox had any intention of creating such a look with the collection but I was feeling all creative. It's worthy of a pick up in my opinion as it's travel friendly (hello four liners in one chic case! I likey you to come with me on holiday!) plus the shades all work as a shadow as well.
























Now my new best friend is the Smashbox Doubletake Lip Color Pencil. This really beefed up my look with a bold splash of rich red on my lips. Brace yourselves for a moisturizing lip experience as Smashbox has perfected this one. The pencil is dual sided with a liner on one end and a lip color on the other. I braced myself for a rather blah experience as normally pencils aren't all that fantastic. However, I was simply shocked at how juicy, moisturizing, glossy, and pigmented the lipcolor side was! Whoa! I didn't use the liner but I did use the lipcolor all over my lips for my look below and as you can see it contrasts amazingly well with my more subdued eye look.












Finally I tried the one gloss that was released with the collection. Again very elegant packaging as this has a tiny charm attached to the gloss with the Smashbox coat of arms emblem. Slightly disappointed with this as the color quite reminds me of the shade released with Smashbox Muse. I personally prefer the bolder look they decided on with the duo lip pencil as this more subtle nude peach is a tad boring however I imagine it'll go very well with the bolder eye palettes that I hope to review for you soon!












Overall, the Smashbox Reign Collection definitely has royalty stamped all over it. It's a tad on the expensive side for Smashbox but I must say I'm quite impressed with the packaging, the overall look, and the beautiful shade selections. If you're looking for a rich makeup look this season do settle on Smashbox Reign. Loving all over it at the moment and Muse Approving it for purchase.



The Muse's Smashbox Reign Look







So far it's a love!

Sneak Peeks: Bobbi Brown Ivy League Collection Review and Swatches

Oh. my. god. The Muse is so about the Bobbi Brown Ivy League Collection! I told you a bit about the collection yesterday and popped a sneak peek of my FOTD today on Twitter.




For Fall the bold, green eye look is too entirely flattering for brown eyes in my humblest. Putting aside the preppy factor and just rejoicing over such a true, gorgeous shade of forest green is enough to make me dance around in circles of joy.

Check it after the jump!

So far I've only gotten my hands on Bobbi Brown Shimmer Wash Eye Shadow in Golden Leaf but I want to haul the other emerald green shade that is being released. The texture of the shadow is super smooth, blends beautifully, and is deeply pigmented, delish! Although it's a shimmer wash shadow it still manages to have a velvet-like finish with a subtle hint of golden sparkle. Too pretty.












To accompany the greens in the collection a new Bobbi Brown Long Wear Gel Eyeliner in Forest Shimmer Ink was created. The color has a dominate brown note but also has the deeper aspects of a golden olive green. The shade is perfectly suited to the two shadows released and could possibly work as both a liner and a base.








I also told you about the new Bobbi Brown Creamy Eye Pencils. I got one in brown plum. Quite a nice, moisturizing pencil that glides on smoothly without skipping and smudges like a dream. For my look today I didn't use the pencil but I have a future FOTD planned with it.








Honestly for me the stars of this show are the Forest Shimmer Ink Gel Liner and the two new shadows, particularly Golden Leaf. Although I favor a warm look in the Fall that's made up of browns, golds, and occasionally oranges I can't deny that such a deep, dark green is utterly flattering and fitting for the season.

Well done Bobbi. Another incredible line up.

For my look below I simply used Golden Leaf eye shadow all over my lid and crease followed up with Forest Shimmer Ink liner on my waterline. You can see how dramatic the look is, it obviously speaks for itself that a simple wash of shadow on my lids and a little lining created a bold, beautiful look! Also as promised a close up of my eye using Urban Decay Eye Lash Primer and Urban Decay Skyscraper Mascara...I think you can see the results are quite nice when the two are combined.








Anyone hauling?

Excited as I am about all that green?

Tell it!