Malibu Nudes? Sounds interesting. And contradictory. First, it means we have traditional nudes by Bobbi Brown. Ok, that’s what we’ve come to expect. But when I hear Malibu I immediately imagine something full of hustle and bustle and… well, colour. So, I don’t know what Malibu Nudes are, but I’m sure enough eager to learn. There must be a splash of colour in this collection. Something vibrant. Especially as it’s a summer collection 🙂 And summer collections are probably the most colourful ones of all seasonal collections. Well, there can be exclusions to the rule, of course. Because there are limited edition collections that are not seasonal that can be pretty artsy. I’m going to write about MAC X Chris Chang collection soon. Talk about burst of colour 🙂 Anyway, back to Malibu Nudes by Bobbi Brown, let me guess, there’ll be a nude eye palette 🙂 Face first though. You know how I am with my makeup products range order 🙂

 

What we have for the face in this collection is a panoply of blush. Four blush duos, two shades in each, that is, we have eight blush shades to pick from. Eight shades is a lot of blush for one collection 🙂 When I look at all the shades, here’s what I gather. First, they are all matts. Second, the first duo is much lighter than the other ones and stands out immensely. The three other duos can be characterized by two concepts – ‘berry purple’ and ‘intense pink shades’. You’ll need to look very closely to be able to tell the difference and know what shades are your shades or shades that you can make your own. I’m going to help you though and give you a comprehensive guide of these three duos that look so similar. First things first though.

 

The texture of this blush is professional. I’d say, if you’re a consumer, it might be a little bit tough to operate, or else, you’re probably not quite used to such texture, if you’re mostly into luxury consumer makeup. You can do it though 🙂 You’ll just need a little time to adjust. I, for one, like luxury market consumer textures more than professional ones, but it’s a matter of personal choice and personal taste for sure. Bobbi Brown is by all means a great professional brand qualitywise.

 

So, the blush. Here’s the first duo.

 

An odd man out in Malibu Nudes blush family 🙂

 

The two shades are called Pastel Pink and Powder Pink

 

Here are the two shades. By the look of them, they strike me as very pink and not too bright but baby doll like, kind of.

 

Pretty much, this palette is the ultimate pink blush lover palette. It’s all pink here. Ever pictured yourself up in pink clouds? You’ve got it right here 🙂

 

Pastel Pink

 

It’s not really that pastel. Yes, it’s on the lighter side. But to me, pastel shades are even lighter shades than this cute and shy pink here. It’s a cool pink. There’s a lilac touch and a lilac twist to it, sort of. I can’t say it’s a natural looking shade. It’s an all madeup and pretty shade 🙂 It’s so pink it’s actually romantic. To me, it’s surprising to see this pink in a summer collection. I don’t think that this pink will work well with tan. And I don’t think you wanna use it, if your skin is nobly pale, because then it’s simply too… pink for you 🙂

 

Powder Pink

 

This shade has a more natural feel about it. It’s warmer. It’s a warm pink as opposed to Pastel Pink. Still, it’s so-o pink. If the first shade was baby doll cool pink, this shade is a baby doll warm pink, there’s just no way around it 🙂 So, even though this pink is warm and not too bright, keep in mind it’s not a natural blush shade. It’s more of a get all cute and dolled up kind of shade. There’s nothing wrong with that, you just need to know that. I’d say this warm pink is more universally becoming than its cooler counterpart in the duo.

 

So, what can I say about this first blush duo by Bobbi Brown?

 

If you like pink and girly blush, you have to check it out 🙂 If you decided to go baby doll in your look and don’t know how to do it in the blush department, this duo is the thing to grab and go for. Something in me wants to mix these two shades. I can’t even explain why, I just want to do it. If it’s a ‘do not repeat’ kind of thing, I’ll let you know 🙂 But somehow I do think it will actually look good. More or less, this duo provides for a fresh and happy feel. Or a girly and romantic feel.

 

Now we’re going to get into the purple and intense pink territory. If you like any of the two, you’re in for a treat 🙂

 

Duo # 2

 

See how much brighter it is? And darker? 🙂

 

Sand Pink

 

It’s a warmer purple or, else, to put it simply, it’s plum. It’s so warm though it has a brownish edge to it. Because of this warmer feel and this brownish kick, this blush shade is on the darker side of things. I was about to say it’s too dark to look good with tan, but this brownish edge to it changes everything. It will look good on you for the rest of the summer and the beginning of fall, when your tan is still there and going. If you like plum blush shades, you might like this one. I think, it’s a good blush shade to have, if you aren’t afraid to go darker on your cheekbones. This shade is not pink though, not even sand pink 🙂

 

Pale Pink

 

Just as that warm plum shade is not pink, this shade here is not pale pink. It’s a medium pink, pretty bright, in fact, at least, by my standards it is. It’s a cool pink too. Very cool, almost lilac like or purple like, but not quite, it stays in the pink territory. Can be a very appealing shade, if you’re into bright cooler pinks on your cheekbones. You’ve got to be careful with it though, if you’re a pale faced beauty. Nobly pale skin doesn’t cooperate well with shades that have lilac in them. Especially, when we’re talking face products it doesn’t.

 

Duo # 3

 

Another plum and another pink. Only these are quite different.

 

Plum

 

So, this is what is plum by Bobbi Brown. I can see how it’s plum. This plum has a lot of purple in it though. It’s cooler than the purple shade we’ve just seen in duo # 2. In all honesty, I’d say this shade is actually purple. A medium purple. A brighter purple. A bold purple. If you’re into bolder purple, it’s right up your alley. If you are not into brighter purples, this shade might be too bright to start with. If you’re looking for a blush to go with tan, Sand Pink is a better option than Plum.

 

French Pink

 

A medium brighter pink, a purplish pink, only it’s warmer rather than cooler. If you want a cooler medium pink, go for Pale Pink instead of this one. This shade is more natural than any of the other pinks in the three duos that have plums and pinks in them. There’s something very appealing about this French Pink, I have to say. Something grounded. Something nice. This is a good pink that’s a step up from natural pink and into all up and running and ready to go out shade 🙂 It will look good on a lot of people out there. What’s French about it? I don’t know, but ‘French pink’ sounds cool.

 

Duo # 4

 

The last one.

 

Tawny

 

Tawny is a telltale name. It means this shade that’s still purple in its essence has some brown to it and, maybe, a touch of red too. It’s the darkest of all the plums in the three palettes. The most ‘bronzery’ shade of the ones we’ve talked here with a purple zest. Will look good with tan. This is the shade I’d use not just for blushing but for contouring, highlighting and all those new and trendy ways to do sculpting 🙂 This shade can help you shape your cheekbones the way you like or the way you want to see them but never dared try seeing them before.

 

Peony

 

Brighter, cooler, intense pink with a markedly lilac undertone to it.

This shade is the most baby doll of all in the four duos. It’s a shade for those who like to make up and are not afraid to show it. It’s too intense to be romantic. It’s probably too cool for pale skin tone. Even more so, this shade is so-o baby doll like, everyone should be careful with it and go light on it, at least, the first time you use it. If it works, then you can shine and dazzle to the full 🙂

 

These are the three plum and pink duos.

 

If you actually want a plum and pink blush duo, you can pick the one that appeals to you most and go for it. Just keep in mind that whichever duo you go for, it’s not a natural look thing. And it’s not a vampy or sultry kind of thing. It’s more of an optimistic and bold kind of thing for those who dare to do an accent on the cheekbones. Although, you could always mix and match shades, of course, and get your own very special result 🙂

 

That’s all we’ve got for the face. Blush, blush, blush and more blush. Left to right: Pastel Pink/Powder Pink, Sand Pink/Pale Pink, Plum/French Pink, Tawny/Peony.

 

Let’s see what we’ve got for the eyes now.

 

Remember I told you I predict a nude eye palette will show up along the way here? Uh-huh 🙂

 

Here’s one for you.

 

Nude on Nude Eye palette

 

Oh, so I guessed nude, but what we get here is really nude on nude. Ok 🙂

 

Now only all these five – well, Ok, four – shades are nude, they are all classically matt. No texture variety and texture games here. It’s all fair 🙂

 

Let’s see the brush first.

 

It’s Dual-Ended

 

We have here Angle Eye Shadow Brush

 

And Eye Liner Brush

 

Seriously, it’s an eyeliner brush? I’ll tell you what, the chances of me being able to apply eyeliner with this brush are almost zip 🙂 Don’t know about you.

 

Back to eyeshadow. And the shades 🙂

 

The first shade. Nude.

 

An ever so warm beige. A super warm beige. An extremely warm beige. Pinkish, maybe, with just a touch of pink. This shade is very cozy. Blankety. I just want to get wrapped in it and this calm and soothing sensation I get by just looking at it. There’s something deeply pleasant about this shade. It’s a perfect warm nude shade. If you’re looking for one, you’ve got it here. You just have. It’s the kind of shade that can be a base shade for warmer hues makeup. Or it can be a swipe on and get going shade to make your life easier 🙂

 

Cement

 

Let’s start at the beginning here. What colour is cement? Grey. Ok. Moving on. Is this shade grey? Not really. Or else, not fully. I’d rather say it’s a greyish beige with a lot of grey in it. Or else, if your colour perception is the opposite of mine, you’ll probably say this shade is light grey loaded with beige. Another nice one. Well groomed kind of shade with a little bonus. Another shade you can use as a base, only for greyish eye makeup in this case. I like it. It’s flattering almost across the board. Don’t be afraid to try it. I think it’s worth it 🙂

 

Wheat

 

When I hear ‘wheat’, I picture something warm and… yellowish. Definitely warm though. So, now what you need to do is forget all about what I picture, because it’s not what this shade is like – at all 🙂 It’s a cooler shade, a greige shade with more beige than grey in it and a touch of lilac, maybe. Or you could say it’s a cool beige with just a touch of grey. This shade is a solid one. It’s nude, just like all – well, almost all – shades in this palette. But it’s this greyish kind of nude, just like that Cement shade, you know. And it’s a nice distraction from all the beiges out there on the market 🙂

 

Espresso

 

Hey, this is not nude 🙂 I know why it’s here though. Remember that eyeliner side of the dual ended brush? The eyeliner brush that I couldn’t use as an eyeliner brush? Uh-huh. Now we know what it’s for 🙂 It’s for this shade. So that you could use it to line your eyes, while you’re using the rest of the shades as eyeshadow. Espresso is black brown. Yes, I’m talking about both coffee and this shade here 🙂 Both are black brown. Or very very dark brown.

 

Malted

 

Yay, we’re back to warmer. Although, it’s debatable, I guess. It’s not as warm as Nude by a long shot. Still, this shade is a warm beige, milk and coffeish in a way. I can’t believe I can possibly like four out of four nude eye shades in a palette, but looks like it’s happening right now 🙂 Malted is very malted. It’s languid and relaxed and pleasant. This shade feels good. And that says a lot about the shade, obviously 🙂 If the two greyish shades are too grey for you, and Nude is too pinkish for you, Malted is the way to go 🙂

 

This eye palette is very very nice. It’s soothing. It’s nude like. It’s easy. It’s saying – hello, let me help you look even better and fast, I’m nice, you won’t have to work too hard, let’s do it, we’ll be good together 🙂 The quality is good. And I do like that Espresso odd man out kind of shade. It gives us a whole new vision of this palette and opens up new horizons making it possible to create evening, going out like, hot makeup. My heart goes out though for the four nude eyeshadow colours. Wow.

 

And off we goes to the lips. Or should I say lips and cheeks? Because as we know, Art Stick by Bobbi Brown is a multi purpose product that we can use on our lips or on our cheeks for a matt colour result. If you like the shade, want to wear it on your lips but lack shine, grab any transparent gloss and top the shade you love with it 🙂 Or transparent sparkly gloss, for that matter, only it’s going to be a totally different look then. And texture.

 

Speaking about texture, this Art Stick formula does dry my lips a little, not too much, but still, so I prefer to use lip balm underneath is, which turns it more into a classic cream lipstick formula, because its matt finish gets diluted with lip balm. I don’t mind it though. And I don’t like to use Art Stick on my cheeks. I prefer more traditional blush products and formulae. If you do use Art Stick as blush, please, let me know about your experience. I’d love to hear it 🙂

 

In Malibu Nudes collection Bobbi Brown released five shades that are new and limited editions shades – limited edition from what I can gather. Also, three permanent range shades are said to be part of this collection.

 

Let’s start with limited edition shades.

 

Here’s the first one.

 

13 Brown Berry

 

Huh, interesting, brown berry. Does it mean it’ll be like beige with purple? We’ll see.

 

Before we do though, let me show you this pencil sharpener that’s included into every Art Stick to make it easier on you when it goes blunt. It’s a bigger size makeup pencil sharpener that’s pretty efficient.

 

And we’re back to Brown Berry.

 

The tip of this shade that’s supposed to be a preview of the colour looks… nude. Just nude.

 

This is a very nude shade. It’s a very warm beige nude. There’s something warm pinkish about it. This shade will look good on you, if warmer nudes usually look good on you.

 

Matt finish definitely becomes this shade, because it’s nude, so it makes sense that it doesn’t have shine or sparkle to it. It’s matt and natural looking.

 

If you like nudes and warmer nudes in particular, don’t miss this shade, pay a close attention to it. It’s very flattering and surprisingly rare in terms of showing up in makeup ranges and limited editions.

 

One nude down. More to go.

 

14 Rich Nude

 

See? What did I tell you about more nude shades? 🙂

 

This one is more intense and darker. Almost like milk and coffee but not quite. It’s somewhere in between warm and cool leaning to warmer.

 

Of the three limited edition nudes in this collection this one is the brightest or darkest, depends on how you look at it. If there’s such a thing as sultry nude in this world, this is it 🙂

 

Rich Nude is a very good name for this shade. It’s rich, it’s deep, it’s there, you know. I’m no big fan of nudes, but looking at this shade here, makes me wanna wear it. There’s something very appealing and very flattering about it.

 

Shade # 3. Nude again.

 

16 Bare

 

What can be more nude than bare? And what can be more bare than nude? 🙂 I like this shade name.

 

Oh, it’s a dear. This shade is the lightest of the three nude shades. It’s the coolest one too. And it has most pink in it. I like it a lot.

 

It being so pinkish makes it very pleasant. So pleasant some people who are fans of pink nudes might want to wear it, dip their toe in beige nudes and, maybe, even come to like them. Why not? 🙂

 

If I had to pick one nude of the three ones here and recommend it, I’d say – go for this one. You know why? It will look good on almost all of us. And different. And that’s great. This shade is truly well done.

 

Moving on.

 

18 Electric coral

 

Coral? How very summery. And electric on top of it? I guess, we’re done with the nudes, huh.

 

This shade is a brighter and lighter orange. How can one shade be brighter and lighter at the same time? Here’s how.

 

This shade is a bright orange shade. What makes it electric is that it’s not a darker subdued kind of coral. Instead it’s a bold and bright orange. A statement kind of orange.

 

I wanna say be careful with this shade because it doesn’t always look good on everyone. But there’s something so optimistic about it, it’s so full of light and energy I think it’s an exclusion to the rule, and we all can pull it, even if we have to take a little effort for it 🙂

 

And the last one of the five new shades.

 

19 Punch

 

Punch is supposed to be fun, right? I certainly hope so 🙂

 

Well, this punch is nice 🙂 It’s a very bright and very warm pink. It’s so bright it would be fuchsia if it were cool. And then it would be like all those other summer fuchsia lip shades out there.

 

Instead this shade goes the other way. And I’m ever so happy it does. It’s so warm in its core and so pink. It’s fun, there’s no question about it.

 

At the same time, if you prefer classic shades and fuchsia is just too artsy for you, or you don’t like cool pinks 🙂 this pink here is as bright as fuchsia, but it’s softer, more womanly, kind of, more of a classic. This shade is pretty rare.

 

These are the five limited edition Art Stick shades. Left to right: Brown Berry, Rich Nude, Bare, Electric Coral and Punch.

 

My personal favourites are Rich Nude, Bare and Punch. They are just so beautiful and so becoming. Me liking two nudes means these nudes are outstanding almost 🙂 And Punch is, well, just cute. And the kind of shade you want to go for, if you want to do a bright lip look. I’m quite happy with Art Stick selection here 🙂

 

We’re going to see three more shades now that are part of permanent range, as far as I understand, but are part of this collection too. So, here they are, more Malibu Nudes 🙂

 

The first one of the three.

 

2 Sunset Orange

 

Orange? We had coral already, didn’t we?

 

Hm, interesting. Guess what, if I had to name these shades, I’d do it vice versa.

 

Electric Coral is actually orange, as we’ve already established. This shade, even if it’s called orange – by the way, Sunset Orange is a very nice shade name – is more coral than orange. It’s still bright, but it’s darker than Electric Coral, it might be even reddish a little bit. Yeah, I think it is.

 

Sunset Orange is an easier orange shade to process than Electric Coral. It’s more conventional in a good way. You can wear it anywhere, if it clicks for you.

 

Next.

 

5 Dusty Pink

 

Let’s see how dusty this pink is 🙂

 

This shade is not dusty at all. It’s a medium purple pink. A very pretty one. A very flattering one. Almost universally. Almost across the board.

 

It’s a very wearable pink. The kind of pink you can feel comfortable in. This pink is just close to what I call my personal nude pink.

 

If you come to think of it, nude pinks are usually lighter or much lighter than natural lip colour. Well, this shade is not. And it will look natural. And you can wear it to work, to hang out with your friends, on the red carpet, just anywhere you want. A great one.

 

And the last one of the three.

 

8 Bright Raspberry

 

Sweet raspberry shade. Nice.

 

Ok, so, this shade is a bright berry like purple. Markedly more purple than Dusty Pink. Much cooler. Raspberry? Not really. Raspberry is more pink than that 🙂

 

You know what? I see this shade a lot of late in limited editions. I have a feeling this shade is going to come in strong and, maybe, get trendy.

 

Do you know that berry shade clothes are all hot this fall season? Well, this shade is like those shades, only in makeup. Guess what, if you pair up a berry colour dress with this lip colour, you’ll look amazing. Yep. You know, that wow effect will be all yours 🙂

 

These are the three shades that are permanent range shades. Left to right: Sunset Orange, Dusty Pink and Bright Raspberry.

 

They are pretty. I like them. I’m not that much into corals. But I do love Dusty Pink and Bright Raspberry. I want to wear these shades. And I think end of summer and early fall is just the time to do it. On the second thought, these shades are great to the point where I can wear them any time. These are just two good pinks. Real life pinks. I can see myself wearing them, I can see you wearing them. So, let’s do it 🙂

 

Ok, now that we’ve seen the whole collection, I’ll tell you what – I think I figured Malibu Nudes out. This collection is well put together, in a clever way. It does have a nude part in it and a vibrant Malibu part in it.

 

The nude part is the eye palette and those nude Art Stick shades.  While Malibu part are those blush shades and those brighter Art Stick shades. So, there are several ways you could go with your look here. You could do nude eye makeup plus brighter blush and lip colour.

 

Or you could do nude eye makeup and nude lip makeup and have an accent on your cheekbones with the blush.

 

Both are good options. And then within these options you have more options 🙂 because you have a variety of shades here. Anyway, the choice is all yours. I can only say that Malibu Nudes by Bobbi Brown is a good idea and a good collection 🙂