Skimlinks Test 
The new Bobbi Brown 8-pan Golden Slipper Eye Shadow palette that I purchased recently was very impressive, so I was tempted to try out her other new Holiday 2020 eye shadow palettes as well. This time I’ve grabbed the only 12-pan palette in this holiday release, the Bobbi Brown High Barre Eye Shadow Palette.
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About the Bobbi Brown High Barre Eye Shadow Palette
This Bobbi Brown High Barre Eye Shadow Palette retails for $59 USD, and is available in major retailers like Macy’s and Nordstrom, as well as on Bobbi Brown’s website.
There are 7 mattes, ranging from light skin tone color to dark brown, 1 shimmer wash, 1 metallic and 3 chrome metal formulae. The majority of the non-matte shades are neutral. There are couple golds in this palette too, those are indispensable shades in the holiday season!
On their website, this Bobbi Brown High Barre Eye Shadow Palette is described as ‘fantasy-wrapped palette of twelve ultra-blendable eye shadows. An extended lineup of poised pinks, sparkling pale golds, pops of pomegranate and cool nudes puts on the most spectacular show of the season’.
The outside packaging of the palette is so stunning! Like the Bobbi Brown Golden Slipper eye shadow palette, the watercolor cover art is also created by Cecilia Carlstedt. It is ‘inspired by the wonder of dance and the holidays in New York City’.
I really enjoy the packaging of Bobbi Brown eye shadow palettes (for the non-cardboard packaging), it never disappoints! They always look elegant and luxury!
Ingredients and formulation of the Bobbi Brown High Barre Eye Shadow Palette
The full list of ingredients of this Bobbi Brown High Barre Eye Shadow Palette can be found on Bobbi Brown’s website here.
As for the majority of Bobbi Brown’s eye shadow palettes, the first ingredient is always talc. There is no smell or any fragrance in her palettes.
For the formulation of the eye shadows, I was a little bit disappointed with I first touched and swatched the eye shadows in this palette, no matter they were matte or shimmer. The texture feels pretty powdery and dry to me. I sometimes heard people saying Bobbi Brown’s eye shadows are stiff and not pigmented, they do not perform well on swatches.
I think the quality of the shadows in this High Barre eye shadow palette is not as nice as the ones in the Golden Slipper palette. The most obvious is the two golden chrome metal formulae on the top row of the palette. They feel much more stiff and hard-pressed in the pans. I even think they may develop hard pans in a few uses.
However, apart from swatches, their performance on the eye lid is unbeatable! Maybe it is powdery texture of the shadows that make them easily dispersed and blended onto the skin with a brush. They are not patchy, pretty pigmented and buildable when applied with eye brushes! Although I still wish the chrome metal shades in this palette is as smooth and soft as in the Golden Slipper palette!
Swatches for the Bobbi Brown High Barre Eye Shadow Palette
I was surprised that the swatches were much more muted than what you saw in the palette. Many of the matte shades didn’t swatch well on the arm and were somewhat patchy too. In order to show the color intensity of the mattes shown in the picture, I had to go back at least 2 times into the pan to pick up more product, which is not desirable.
Besides, the shade difference between some of the mattes is not as pronounced as you may expect from looking at the palette. The difference is even less when we are talking about the shades on the lid.
Comparison swatches with the Bobbi Brown Golden Slipper Eye Shadow palette
The color stories of these two palettes are not alike, but some of the neutral shades are similar.
The pale pink shades in both palettes are very similar, even within each palette. They are almost invisible on my skin tone! I wish they something more difference in both palette.
I would say in general, the Golden Slipper palette’s color story is more cohesive. It may not be a very versatile palette in terms of the number of difference looks, but you know to grab this palette if you wanna do something neutral with a pop of peachy gold eye look! The High Barre palette, on the other hand, is a less impressive palette because it lacks a coherent color story to me.
Watch the video below for more details:
3 Bobbi brown High Barre Eye Shadow palette looks
The 2 gold chrome metal shades really called my name when I first saw them. So I first created this eye look with brown and gold. This is a pretty look for many occasions. I like it and it was easy to create. Unlike the swatches, the shadows perform beautifully with eye brushes. I think it is a typical Bobbi Brown eye shadow formula.
This look is also very similar to the one I created using her Golden Slipper Eye Shadow palette!
This second eye look I focused on the standout fuchsia shade in the middle of the palette. It wasn’t pigmented enough to show up clearly with one dip into the pan, it required building up, which is not necessarily bad if you want to have more control over the finished look.
The yellow/light gold chrome metal shade on the right upper corner is very sparkly and obvious on my lid. It is a very pretty accent shade to be used on the middle of the lid.
I decided to try out and incorporate all the shades in this palette to make eye looks. So here we come the third and final look I created this time. It is a nice dark brown smoky eye. I do not usually wear eye shadow looks that are smoky, so it is probably not one that I’ll come back to for now. But once again, I think this palette performs well on the lid instead of swatches.
Final Thoughts
Overall, I think if you have (or leaning towards to get) the Golden Slipper palette, you may not need this palette. If you are after the fuchsia and smoky eye looks, I think there are better palettes in the market that you can choose from, like the Pat McGrath’s Celestial Divinity Luxe Quads Risque Rose, Nars Extreme Effects eyeshadow palette, Rare Beauty Magnetic Spirit eyeshadow palette and Huda Beauty Khaki Haze Obsessions. Many of which has excellent eye shadow formulae.
It is, however, undeniable that the packaging of this Bobbi Brown High Barre Eye Shadow Palette is exceptional and probably my favorite among recent palettes!
I will rate this Bobbi Brown High Barre Eye Shadow palette as:
- Texture: 5/10
- Color payoff: 6/10
- Longevity on eye lid: 7.5/10
- Quality consistency among shades: 7/10
- Color scheme uniqueness: 7/10
- Affordability: 6.5/10
Where to get the Bobbi Brown High Barre Eye Shadow palette
- Bobbi Brown
- Bloomingdale’s
- Macy’s
- Nordstrom (non-affiliate link)
(contains affiliate links)
