Essentials Lip Palette 2001 ($45)
Last year I wanted the Bobbi Brown Millennium Palette and I never got it. This year I made my love of Bobbi quite clear and I actually received two palettes! The compact, slightly festive palette includes five lip colors and five lip shimmers with a lip brush. All the colors are super-wearable and very cute. I love to mix and match all of natural colors. My favorite combination is the wine lip color with a little garnet shimmer. It's perfect!

review: 1/01

ColorOptions
"Life should be about options," or so says Bobbi Brown. Options is the new idea behind Brown's new line, ColorOptions. In addition to the browns and beiges Brown became famous for, she has developed a "brand new" palette of colors and textures. The four new products include the Artstick, Sparkledust, Lip Glimmer, and Lip Lacquer. All the products come in similarily bright and vibrant shades such as magenta, tangerine, bright pink, and platinum.

The Artstick ($25)
The Artstick is a 2-in-1 lipcolor/blush stick that comes in 6 shades. With almost every other makeup brand having something similar to the artstick, this formula is nothing new to the makeup world. I purchased the artstick in bright pink, obviously a bright pink shade. This stick has an extremely thick, creamy texture that can be difficult to blend. It also dries to a semi-powder, "satin" finish. While it goes on smoothly, I found it to be too thick and opaque. It had a heavy feeling and I felt rather clown-like wearing the color on my cheeks. It upsets me and my acne-prone skin to know that Bobbi Brown products are not non-comedodogenic and are usually oil based, as in this case. Thus, for $25 one could most likely find a very similar product for much less and in a more skin-friendly variety.

Sparkledust ($20)
I had similar results with this equally pigmented loose shimmer powder. This powder is high quality with a smooth texture and light feel, similar to the other Bobbi Brown powders. Sparkledust comes in five attractive shades. I purchased amethyst, a silvery lilac. I found this powder was best suited when used as liner, for a more subtle look. It can also be applied with a finger or brush. Although good quality, there are many other very similar products on the market for much less. L'Oreal, Jane, and Clinique all make similar powders for half the price.

Lip Glimmer ($17.50)
Lip Glimmer is your typical high quality Bobbi Brown cream lipstick, with the addition of "glimmer," or glitter. In the tube the glitter looks large and unattractive, but surprisingly goes on lighter and more shimmery rather than glittery. The texture is ultimately lightweight and smooth. The price isn't bad, but again, one could find a cheaper version.

Lip Lacquer ($18)
Lip Lacquer is a highly pigmented, shiny gel complex lip gloss. The sales woman at the counter claimed that lip laquer was a hybrid of lip stick and lip gloss. I found it very similar to Bobbi Brown's other lip gloss, however this one comes in an aluminum pot instead of a tube. I love Bobbi Brown's tube lip gloss, so of course I liked Lip Lacquer as well. I purchased a shade called tangerine and layered hot pink over it. The colors were great, the texture not sticky, and very smooth. Lip glosses come in many qualities, but I believe Bobbi Brown makes one of the better ones on the market, so it doesn't bother me too much to pay $18 a pot.

Overall, Color Options seems to be aimed at the "Younger Crowd" or those who want a little more than the Essentials offer. While the line offers nice shades, as a whole there's nothing very unique or innovative about it. All the products have been around in other cosmetic lines for years, so there's nothing to really be pleasantly surprised by. One will find the high quality that is synonymous with Bobbi Brown, but there are always equally good products offered by other companies for much less. I guess the key word here is options.

You can find ColorOptions online at BobbiBrownCosmetics.com.