Estée Lauder X Victoria Beckham Modern Mercury Highlighter and Bitter Clove Metal Eyeshadow Review

This must be one of the most anticipated collaborations this year.  I was rather excited to read all the pre-launch press as I adore Victoria Beckham and the packaging is right up my alley. So I ordered a few items online from Estée Lauder website on the release day.

With much self-control(haha), I purchased the Modern Mercury Highlighter, Bitter Clove Metal Eyeshadow and Brazilian Nude Lipstick.

Today I’m reviewing Modern Mercury and Bitter Clove. Undecided at this point if I will be keeping Brazilian Nude(the packaging is so tiny:( ).  Below is a photo of Brazilian Nude for your viewing.

Without further ado, here comes some photos of the gorgeous, sleek and sexy packaging:

I think we all know when we buy luxury brands you are paying for the name and the luxe packaging.  I absolutely love the leather-feel, fluted black case with gold rims.  Admittedly,  I am not a fan of the clasp, it’s a tad too chunky!

Personally I think Victoria Beckham has created a collection that is a reflection of her, i.e very wearable, chic and sophisticated.  The price point could be lower however!

Modern Mercury is a rose gold with a metallic finish.  The texture is silky and smooth.  There’s hardly any powder kicked-up.  It is pigmented and can emphasise pores as well as skin texture with layering.  It wears well for 8 hours before fading away.  I love that it has a hint of rose and pink.  You can use it as a nude blush providing your skin can take it:) It is a lovely blush topper.  I love pairing Modern Mercury with Tom Ford Savage blush and MAC Highly Illogical(Star Trek Edition).

To satisfy my curiosity, I had a dig through my stash to see if I have anything similar.  I was a little surprised when discovering the darker shade in Tom Ford Moodlight is quite similar to Modern Mercury, around 90% I would say (it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise as Estée Lauder owns Tom Ford).  Modern Mercury is slightly lighter.

Over to Bitter Clove, it is a bronzy green with fine gold shimmers.  It wears well over 8 hours with minimal creasing ( I do use Nars Prolong Wear Eyeshadow Base always). It looks much more intense and dark bronze in the pan.  When swatched with a single wipe, you can see the gold shimmers are suspended in a thin green film.  The shimmers thankfully stay put and I don’t end up with a disco face at the end of the day:( You can wear Bitter Clove as a sheer wash or build it up to a much more intense effect.  You will see in the heavy swatch below.  I have been pairing it with Tom Ford Spring 2015 Cream Eyeshadow or Urbandecay Naked Smoky and quite like the final looks.

I tried using Bitter Clove wet with a damped brush.  This would yield a darker shade with less obvious shimmers. To be honest, I don’t think I would use it wet again…just not my application preference.

I find the best way to apply Bitter Clove is actually using my fingers.  However this way you would get hard-pan quite quickly.

These swatches were taken by a large window in natural light. Both were build up heavily.

Here’s a video of the swatches.

Overall I love having them both.  Although they are not extraordinary shades that you would need.  Bitter Clove has won me over much more than I thought so I have ordered Black Myrrh.

Let me know if you have any questions.  The collection is selling fast so if there is anything you’re eyeing on, you need to decide ASAP!:)

Until next time.

Much love always,

Sandyxo

This post featured purchased item.  My opinions expressed here are honest and unbiased.