As many of you have been recently exposed to my voluminous posts about eyeshadow as of late, many of you know I’m new to doing the fancy stuff but I’m completely fascinated. I’ve even gotten rather good, as evidenced by all the compliments I’m getting from the mommies in the PTA.

Remember when I did that post on Urban Decay’s holiday collection? I love all the brilliant pigments, but let’s face it: those looks are for night time or holiday parties. Who can wear electric blue while grocery shopping unless it’s Wal*Mart??

So there’s two new palettes I want to tell you about. Both of these collections have more gold and earthy undertones, which is GREAT for daytime looks on brown skin. LAVISH is a collection Anastasia Beverly Hills put together exclusivey for Sephora, and thankfully I was able to snag the last one because I think they’re getting close to selling out. The kit comes with eyeshadows, tweasers, an eyebrow pencil, eyeshadow brush (meh) and eyeline (also meh). The standouts for this collection is the AMAZEBALLS colors. My hands down favorite is Sienna, a gorgeous burnt orange that is just….wow when you apply it with the other AMAZEBALLS color, Moss. But guess what? I just went to go look for a link for you and then discovered they’ve sold out of it…everywhere. Ugh…I’m getting a little annoyed about how makeup companies are creating artifcial demand by deliberately doing limited quantities, but more on that later. Anyway, if you can get hold of the palette on a random site or get it bootlegged, here’s what it looks like:

Another palette that I know for SURE is still available is the SMASHBOX The Master Class Palette 2.This is the mother of all daytime makeup palettes! Okay I’m exaggerating, because I haven’t seen all makeup palettes, but this one has an amazing collection of 28 eye shadows, 4 cream eye liners, 5 blushes, 1 bronzer, and 2 soft lights. ($59)

The colors have gold undertones and range for earthy to cool. You’ll definitely need a primer though, because the colors go on light, but build beautifully. I spoke with Lori Taylor, SMASHBOX lead cosmetics guru (who’s also a black naturalista so I lurves her) and she gave some recommendations for her favorite colors in this palette for darker skin:

Peacock
Ambient Serpent
Haze
Dusk
Java
Ultramarine
Amethyst

Here’s me wearing Peacock, Flamingo and Java…

Flamingo is on the upper lid, Pecock is on the lower lid, and I brushed out the edges with Java. As you can see, it’s earthy, warm and subtle. Totally perfect for PTA meetings and not grocery shopping at Wal-Mart.

Here’s my new makeup bestie, Lori Taylor…

Taylor says us brown girl need to “go deep,” meaning we should probably stay away from the lighter shades because they end up looking white or ashen. The downside, at least from what I gather from the reviews of this palette, is the packaging. Some of the shadow pans have come loose with some customers, and others have complained that the shadows don’t go on deep enough on the first application (which is why I recommended using a primer. It will be a must). But the universal praise seems to be the blushes and highlighters.

Now that we’ve got these new fancy digs with Livefyre, you can post your own pictures right in the comments section! Lemme see whatcha got!