Has anybody else been loving Patrick Ta lately? I’ll be honest, I’ve been stalking him on IG and lusting after his gorgeous, glowing bronzy looks. Although a shit-ton of makeup is involved, it all looks so effortless!

Chrissy Teigan, the naked-loving, twitter-trolling, model/host, wife of John Legend and mother of a hella cute baby, is one of his clients. Mary Phillips is also Chrissy’s MUA, and they both make her look like a summer goddess. I am a pyjama-loving, Netflix-watching, Master’s student who sees far too little of the sun, however this collaboration by Becca with Chrissy gave me hope that’s I’d look equally gorgeous! Plus the colours are very POC friendly.

Read on to see how the palette performs and whether it’s worth purchasing.

All swatches are in this order: Rose Gold, Beach Nectar, Hibiscus Bloom, Malibu Soleil

Performance

Rose Gold: subtle rose pink; a tad dark on my skin as a highlight, but can be used as a blush topper. I don’t like shiny blushes to be honest, so I don’t have much use for this highlight.

Beach Nectar: ugh, I can’t tell you how much I love this. It’s a warm, peachy-gold highlight, and it really melds with my skin. I usually gravitate towards subtle (non-sparkly) highlights, but this is a step up from those, with some added shimmer and shine.

Hibiscus Bloom: warm, coral pink blush. I adore this colour; it adds to the ‘just-got-some-sun’ vibe. The shimmer in it is very subtle and it doesn’t really show up negatively on the skin.

Malibu Soleil: what can I say, it’s a warm brown bronzer; performs well but isn’t particularly wowing.

Comparisons

The two highlighters aren’t like anything else I own. As you can see, Beach Nectar is still peachier than Opal. What surprised me is how similar Hibiscus Bloom and Life’s a Cherry are! If I was being nitpicky, Life’s a Cherry is a tad redder and doesn’t possess Hibiscus Bloom‘s gold sheen, but for all intents and purposes, they’re identical. Finally, Malibu Soleil is warmer than either of the other two bronzers.





Overall Thoughts

This palette made me conflicted. While I love Beach Nectar and Hibiscus Bloom, and just those two justify the cost of this palette, I’m trying to be more conscientious with my buying habits (here’s the reason). I don’t need a shit ton of blushes and highlighters, because they take forever to pan and use up, so I can’t justify keeping this in my collection. Therefore, I will be returning it. If Becca ever releases Beach Nectar on its own (and let’s be real, they will, just like Champagne Pop), I might purchase it.

If you have a smaller collection, are just branching out into highlights, or love Becca, this is a worthwhile palette to consider. It will be good for travel, plus the quality and lasting power is fantastic, and the colours are great for medium-deep skin tones (and with a light hand, can work for paler skins). So make the decision to buy it or skip it at your own discretion!

PS. Does anybody else find it weird that Becca’s palette formulation is different from their permanent formulation? Considering the wear time is comparable, I wonder what the reasoning for that is.