I purchased the Duo 003 Bundle to save some money since I knew with certainty I wouldn’t be able to stick with just one quint. Eventually, I would buy at least one more. I nearly always enjoy my PML purchases, so as soon as I fall in love with the parts of collections I buy, I’m always tempted to get more. However, I’m upholding some restraint with this collection. Buying two quints was the correct decision for me, but this might be all I get this year.

Bijoux Brilliance Eyeshadow Palette in Bronze Ecstasy and Lunar Nightshade

The quality of these are just what I would expect from the brand. The satins are stunning, the shimmers are beautiful, these are pigmented yet easy to blend, and among the shimmers there are various textures. The shades in the middle of both palettes are the wettest to the touch. As for Enchanted Bronze and Noir Nebula, they both have this very strange texture that smooths onto the lids nicely, and the base color is opaque, but the sparkles within those two are larger in particle size and not all that tightly grouped together. It nearly gives a scattered effect on the eye. Those two are also easier to get sparkle fallout, so I apply them precisely and carefully as the last step of the eye looks. I also tend to wet my brush since it makes me feel like they stick better that way, though it might not be necessary. My technique with those less easy shimmers is to apply them with my finger first, dampen a brush to pack on another layer to get the amount of sparkles I want, and then add one more final layer with my finger.

Merlot Mystique is a gorgeous plum-brown that reminds me of the darkest shade in Tom Ford’s Honeymoon quad. When I apply that to my crease, it loses some of the purple tone, so I basically blend those edges to my satisfaction and then add a little more of that shade on top to get the true color to show. The same goes for Midnight Iris that can just look like a deep purple, but adding a little back on at the end will show the vibrancy of that particular color.

I don’t get any creasing using these with the Gerard Cosmetics Clean Canvas or MAC Paint Pot, but I have gotten a tiny bit with the Coloured Raine eyeshadow base. The longevity is good since I don’t see them fading or dimming in their shine on the eyes.

I feel satisfied that the two quints I added to my collection are different enough from the rest to have been worth it, but I don’t think I’d have been excited enough over the other two color stories in the Bijoux Brilliance Collection. They’re pretty, but wouldn’t stand out as unique. Plus, I haven’t gotten as much use out of these as I’d like to, so adding four at one time would have been overwhelming.

After someone pointed out the similarities of the color stories between Lunar Nightshade and Kaleidos’ Futurism III Astro Pink, it feels less unique than I thought. However, I don’t regret getting it. And even though I don’t see myself coming up with a variety of different looks using Bronze Ecstasy, I’m very pleased with those staple looks I do end up creating. That one is actually my favorite of the two!

The brand’s 5-pan palettes seem to be an easy way to add more varieties of colors to their offerings, so I look forward to seeing more of these in the future. This is especially the case because as much as I love PML mattes, I love the matte/satin-matte hybrid formula that has thus far been exclusive to the quints.

HOLIDAY COLLECTION DISCUSSION

The most tempting products for me were the two MTHRSHP Bijoux Brilliance face palettes consisting of two blushes and 9 eyeshadows in each. These are great for people who haven’t purchased much from the brand, especially prior releases, which is why it would ultimately be a bad buy for me.
Starstruck Splendour has both blushes that are too light for me (plus one is a repeat anyway). Jeweled Temptation has a new shade that’s too light, plus the famous Paradise Venus which I owned as a single before gifting it to my sister, but got it again in the Divine Blush + Glow Cheek Palette from last year, and it’s the darker shade within the Paradise Glow duo blush that I still own. My excuse for keeping the duo is for travel, but by right, I should find a new home for it. Even if I chose to do that, I’d still end up with two Paradise Venus pans left if I bought Jeweled Temptation.
I was watching a discussion video when someone mentioned Jeweled Tempation’s color story looks like the MTHRSHP Mega Celestial Divinity Palette and I couldn’t unsee it. They’re not exact dupes, but it’s too similar for me to justify getting it even at a discounted price considering the blush situation.

That same person also mentioned that Starstruck Splendour looks like Celestial Odyssey, which I did not purchase during the holiday season it was released. However, I own the six pan palette Velvet Liason (I left it in Germany), which comparing those promo pic colors to the Velvet Liason promo pic shades, the vibes are similar there too. So, I am ultimately skipping both products, even when they go on sale.

Next most interesting for me were the quints, but I bought the two that appealed to me most. I was actually set on also buying Bordeaux Bliss until I thought about all the pink and purple toned shades I have, and the fact that the nearly-cream-to-powder mattes were the stars of the show for me in the quints initially and Bordeaux Bliss only has shimmers. Sunset Romance is also pretty, but too pink and too neutral to avoid feeling repetitive for me.

The Divine Blush + Bronze + Glow Trio in Supernova Siren was nearly as tempting, specifically for the highlighter. I usually stick to golds, dark champagnes, and light bronzes, but a warm peachy-pink highlighter with golden shimmer can sometimes peak my interest. However, I already own the Burnished Honey bronzer (along with two other bronzer shades). I’d be willing to sell my individual one in order to not have two in my collection, but Burnished Honey isn’t even my favorite of the bronzer shades. I might have done that if it was Bronze Divinity instead. In photos, the new Midnight Orchid blush looks too vibrant of a fuchsia shade for my taste. It looks within the same color family of Lovestruck, plus deeper, and I specifically have avoided buying Lovestruck because it’s not the type of blush color I enjoy seeing on myself. So, unless this is one of those times when the website photos don’t accurately show how the shade will look in person, that makes two cons against getting the trio. While it’s true that I sometimes will buy a whole face palette just for one shade, a highlighter is rarely special enough to be worth that. And as intrigued as I am by Solar Fantasy, it’s in the Divine Glow formula whereas I prefer the brand’s Skin Fetish: Ultra Glow formula. A non-sparkly non-glittery baked gelee is my absolute favorite from the brand, and unfortunately that has only been for the Divine Rose one. They’ve yet to release that kind in another shade and I’d prefer to wait however long it takes because that one still trumps the rest of the highlighters I own from Pat Mcgrath, even though the Divine Glow formula is still nice. It’s just not as special on the market. So, this is ultimately the one product I’m still waiting to see photos and videos posted online to decide if the blush is more my style and if the highlighter is still something I want. If yes to both, I’d only get it on a deep discount considering the risks of me liking it are slimmer than the potential disappointment. It may very well be that these two quints I reviewed end up being the only Pat Mcgrath Holiday items I buy.

I nearly forgot that new shades of the colorful mascaras are part of this collection too! I commend the brand for taking a risk on those, since I don’t think there’s a big market for that kind of makeup product, but it’s an easy pass for me.

Also, I know it’s not just me thinking this collection and several past releases are all in the Bridgerton aesthetic. I can’t help but think that the collaboration didn’t sell as well as anticipated (which is backed up by the appearance of so many Bridgerton items at TJMaxx) and a lot of packaging and components intended to be extensions of the Bridgerton line have been passed off onto customers with different names pretending to be uniquely different collections. I like the bows and jewels patterns and designs, so I enjoy having these while the brand doesn’t have to take a loss by just excluding the Bridgerton label from the products. The only downside for me is the not-so-bold color stories, so I’m looking forward to when we’ll be able to move onto some fresh concepts and ideas.

Anyway, that’s everything for this week! Thank you for reading!

-Lili ❤