Bobbi Brown Tortoiseshell Palette in Sand Pix + Swatches

We took a sneaky peek at this at the beginning of June and you lot reckoned it looked tasty, tasty, very very tasty indeed. One of two palettes from the July-launching Tortoiseshell collection from Bobbi Brown, I've been sent Sand, €57.50, which is the version for paler skintones. Warmer types are catered to with Bronze, which contains amped-up versions of the colours.

Each of the two Tortoishell palettes is a double-decker affair - you open the casing and the top layer lifts up, allowing you to slide the bottom layer out so you've always got full access to all eight shades. No glosses in this one, which'll keep those who hate a mix of gloopy lip products and powder shadow happy. The packaging is nice - a glossy mottled brown plastic, designed to mimic tortoiseshell.

My only small niggle with the casing is I think you may have to be careful with transporting this as the little inner legs that hold up the top layer might not take too kindly to being bashed about. They're firm enough now, but over time could be a point of weakness. It's a small thing and what we're most interested in is the colours, eh?

Lets start with the top layer so. Once you get into this you can see it's very firmly designed into night and day looks - though of course you can use 'em whatever way you decide. The four on top are all very subtle and three are matte, so there's no shouting out for attention with this quad. What could you use these colours for? Me - I'd wash the ivory over the lid as a good base shade, use the peachy colour in the crease of the lid for a bit of definition, or the darker brown for some more drama, and the gold would be lovely used in at the corner of the eye by the nose.

The bottom gives a good bit more drama.  You could do a wicked smokey eye with these colours and the two shimmering shades are particularly nice. Imagine them used on the lashline over that very dark brown? Yum!

My swatches for these shades are frankly crap, I do apologise - I found it really hard to get good shots for some reason. - so I'm not doing this 100% justice.

As a Bobbi Brown palette, though, it's a good one. Wearable neutrals that are medium-pigmented, some nice new colours, a good mix of textures and shades you can use day and night. It's not just "oh, ten more slightly different browns."

So, do you reckon it's worth a punt?