Disclaimer: I purchased this.
Gah, but I love me some blush palettes. I also like Urban Decay's Afterglow blush formula, and 6 of them for $45? So, when Urban Decay released the Gwen Stefani blush palette, I reached for my wallet immediately. Not so much because I'm a Gwen or No Doubt fan (I was more of a Seattle Grunge fan), but because "blushes!". After using the palette for 3 weeks, here are my impressions.
First, a little background on the palette: it was developed by Gwen for Gwen, as they reflect the shades she wished she had in her collection. The color selections therefore represent what someone who is very fair would gravitate towards. There is a mixture of cool and warm tones, although warm dominates IMO. All of this works for me, so far so good.
The packaging, also designed by Gwen, is NICE. Substantial and with a nice heft to it, I like the white/gold graphic pattern.
The pans are a nice size and the formula itself is easy to work with. These do kick up a fair amount of dust but they apply smoothly. Taking into account these were developed with the fair complected in mind, I wouldn't call them under pigmented - but they are light in color. This has it's pluses and minuses, but for my skin tone it's mostly pluses.
The darkest shade Easy is actually the one I will use the least, as it's darker than I usually go when it comes to blush colors. It's lovely though, and with a light hand it's definitely workable.Cherry is a cool-toned bubblegum pink and was a surprise like for me, as it has a nice glowing quality that is not over the top.
Lo-Fi is a matte tan that can be used as a bronzer and/or contouring shade for the fair complected. It's warm toned without leaning too orange, and it works well to warm up my winter pasty skin without looking obvious - I like it. Angel's champagne beige shimmer is a lovely highlighting shade that gives a soft glow. Love.
The other two blushes (Hush, OC) work better as highlighters IMO, as they do not give enough color to work well as blushes on me. That's okay, because they are really pretty and I'm in a major highlighter phase right now. I especially like using OC over a cream blush, as it's peach/pink duotone shift works well over so many of the colors that I gravitate towards. Hush's high shimmer means I have to use it sparingly in order to not emphasis pores, hence regulating it to highlighter status.
If I had to rank them on preference and how much I will use them, it would probably go this way: OC, Lo-Fi, Angel, Cherry, Hush, Easy. Bottom line, it's a really good palette if the colors work for your complexion, and for mine they do!
Here I'm wearing OC over a peachy pink cream blush, Lo-Fi as a bronzer, and Angel as a highlighter. Perfect spring colors, and Mobile is having an early spring - it will be approaching 70 degrees several days this week.
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