Review & Look: Elizabeth Arden Red Door Beauty Box Palette.

My uncle got me the Elizabeth Arden Red Door Beauty Box for my birthday back in February.  I searched for information about the box via the interweb, but found close to nothing.  I haven’t really come across many swatch photos, reviews, or tutorials relating to the Elizabeth Arden palette or any of the other items in the box. So incase any other ladies received the “Beauty Box” or purchased it to use, I’ll try to be as extensive as possible with swatches, reviews, example looks etc …over the next few weeks. :) For those who don’t need such an extensive review you can skip straight to the end to read a paraphrase over my personal pros and cons about the product ^.^

The palette came with two insets you can swap in and out. I'm not sure which one I used because they aren't numbered; however, the colors are labeled.  For this sake of this blog I’ll call this palette number one!

Closed palette.

 

"Palette 1"

The shadow's names; top row from left to right:

• Plumsmoke
• Oyster
• Berry Pink

bottom row from left to right:

• Iridescent Lilac
• Beechnut
• Baby Blue

two cheek colors from left to right:

• Pink Glow
• Rose Shimmer

Swatches:

From left to right: Plumsmoke, Oyster, Berry Pink, Iridescent Lilac, Beechnut, Baby Blue.

From left to right: Pink Glow, Rose Shimmer.

 

Here is a smokey eye look using the above "palette 1," 

Photo w/indoor lighting.

Photo w/natural lighting!

I have the colors "Plumsmoke" on the lid, "Oyster" on the outer crease, and "Beechnut" on the inner crease. I personally think the palette is void of a great highlight color. However, I think “Oyster” was the intended highlight shadow. My highlight from this look is Urban Decay's "Virgin." You could use any soft beige/skin tone color or your normal go to highlight in place of “Virgin” if you don’t own the color! 

 

I used the cheek color "Pink Glow" as my contour, and the shimmer powder "Rose Shimmer" for the apple of my cheeks and as a highlight for my face. Kat Von D's lipstick in "Celebutard" is on my lips with NYX's Mega Shine Gloss in "Beige Pearl" over top. Any nude lipstick would suffice in place!

The shadows made my blue-green eyes look gorgeous! However, the application process was grueling. For my day to day makeup I would not go grabbing for this palette because it was so time consuming. I used Too Face Shadow Insurance as a primer before applying any shadows. The three shadows I used went on pretty sheer.  I can only imagine how much more sheer they would have been when applied without any base or primer. The colors don't transfer to your eye lid like how they appear in the above swatches. I had to pack on the color over and over again with a brush, until finally I decided to apply “Plumsmoke” wet. It’s the only thing that made the shadow actually somewhat mirror what it looked like in the pan. I wasn’t truly impressed because for an Elizabeth Arden price I could have went for a favorite drugstore palette I know that will transfer true to pan. To add to that, when I came home from work I noticed that the colors began to fade ever so faintly.

HOWEVER, the face products in the palette acted completely different. The cheek color transfers true to pan. It’s not sheer, and also very build-able because the texture is really smooth. My FAVORITE item from the palette is the shimmer powder. I looked for it sold separately on the Elizabeth Arden website, and was sad to see it isn’t sold separately (or at least not on the website).  It feels very fine when applying, and gave me a perfect sun-kissed pink glow.  I’ve begun to use it as my highlight for my everyday makeup. I’ll be sad to see it hit pan. 

Pros: 

• Cheek Color in “Pink Glow” is a great blusher. 
• Shimmer Powder in “Rose Shimmer” is a fantastic highlight shadow to create that soft pink glow! 
• The packaging is adorable, and the palette is easily opened.

Cons: 

• The “insets” fall out really easily, so if you aren’t careful you might drop and shatter the     shadows. 
• There is no way to store the other inset while you aren’t using it that won’t guarantee any damage to the shadows. (It only comes with a simple plastic cover for over top).
• The shadows are sheer, and the colors don’t transfer true to how they appear in the palette     unless applied wet. 
• The shadows themselves are hard to work with, and need lots of color packing and blending over and over to achieve a good look. 
• It also came with a brush and sponge applicator with the palette. The brush frayed and wasn’t really usable. 
• All the shadows are shimmery, so the palette lacks shadow variation.

Overall, I wouldn’t purchase it, but I really adored the way it made my eyes look, and I did get lots of compliments on my makeup that day, so I’ll continue to use it when I have enough time to spend playing around with the shadows. 

I'll do another look with palette #2 along with swatches etc., soon.