Review & Swatches: Aveda Culture Clash SS14 Limited Edition Makeup Collection & Aveda Earth Month

Aveda are well known for their revered haircare range, but did you know that they do makeup too?  I didn't until I discovered their latest S/S14 collection.

Aveda's current makeup collection is called Culture Clash, and is "inspired by dramatically disparate styles, including tribal and folkloric with the urban and futuristic".  It's a very different look from I've seen from other brands promoting recently, but it still has a fresh Spring appeal to it which is evident in the shade range as you'll see below.  I was lucky enough to be sent some of these Limited Edition pieces to have a play with, so let's take a closer look at the products.

 Aveda Petal Essence Single Eye Colours (1.25g, £12 each)

The Petal Essence Single Eye Colours are sold in single square pans so that you can mix and match the shades to make up your own personalised palette.  They're all magnetic so you can either purchase a palette from Aveda, or pop them into your own Z palette.  I was sent four shades:-

Seafoam - Light pastel mint green with fine gold shimmer.

Aquamarine -  Classic aquamarine with fine shimmer.

Burnished Bronze - Light toned metallic bronze with fine gold shimmer.

New Lilac - Pale pastel lilac with fine shimmer.

The two light pastel shades, New Lilac and Seafoam, were sadly disappointing, on the chalky side and had poor colour payoff.  Aquamarine and Burnished Bronze however, were like completely different eye shadows!  They have much smoother textures, a lot more pigmentation, and really pop when they're applied over a primer or used wet.  I've been wearing Burnished Bronze a lot this week and it's received plenty of compliments.

[L-R] Aveda Nourish-Mint Smoothing Lip Colour in Peruvian Lily (3.4g, £12) and Aveda Nourish-Mint Sheer Mineral Lip Colour in Muscadine (3.4g, £13) 

I'm a big fan of minty lip products, so when I opened these up and got a whiff of that minty goodness, I had a good feeling.  The packaging of these feels eco friendly and they're a good compact size for purses and small evening bags.  Aveda's Nourish-Mint formulas is blended with a delicious organic vanilla mint flavour and they have a slightly cooling effect on the lips which helps to moisturise and plump them up.

The Smoothing Lip Colour in Peruvian Lily is a vivid, bright pink (which looks even brighter in real life) with a smooth and creamy formula.  It has a semi-matte finish, wears evenly and lasts a good 3-4 hours.  The Sheer Mineral Lip Colour in Muscadine is much more like a traditional tinted lip balm, offering a very sheer wash of glossy colour on the lips. 

 Aveda Nourish-Mint Smoothing Lip Colour in Peruvian Lily

Aveda Nourish-Mint Sheer Mineral Lip Colour in Muscadine

Aveda Nourish-Mint Rehydrating Lip Glaze in Berry Bud (7g, £16)

Sticking with the nourishing vanilla mint theme, the Rehydrating Lip Glaze is a super pigmented creme lipgloss meets liquid lipstick.  Berry Bud is a bright medium pink with lots of shine.  The doe foot applicator with this is great, but I did find myself using a lip brush just around the edges of my lips because it is so pigmented.  This lasted a good 3-4 hours before it started to fade and left behind a lovely subtle pink stain as shown below.

 Aveda Nourish-Mint Rehydrating Lip Glaze in Berry Bud

Stain left behind from Berry Bud

[T-B] Aveda Eye Definer in Graphite, Aveda Nourish-Mint Lip Liners in Cactus Blossom and Maple (1.14g, £14 each)

These pencils are really cute - they sort of remind me of the ones that I used to use in art class!  I was impressed by the formula of all three of these.  The Eye Definer in Graphite is beautifully smooth and easy to work with and blend if wanted; no dragging, just gets the job done quickly.  It stayed on for most of the day, only starting to fade in the evening.  The Nourish-Mint Lip Liners are also great, they're smooth, creamy, don't drag and have fab pigmentation.  Cactus Blossom is a bright baby pink that can be used all over the lips, whereas Maple is ideal for creating softer neutral looks.

[L-R] Aveda Nourish-Mint Rehydrating Lip Glaze in Berry Bud, Aveda Nourish-Mint Sheer Mineral Lip Colour in Muscadine, Aveda Nourish-Mint Smoothing Lip Colour in Peruvian Lily, Aveda Nourish-Mint Lip Liners in Maple and Cactus Blossom, Aveda Eye Definer in Graphite.

Celebrating its 15 year anniversary, Aveda Earth Month 2014 continues to help communities around the world with a commitment to raising $6 million for clean water.  For over 30 years Aveda has been committed to its mission of caring for the world we live in and setting an example for environmental leadership and responsibility.  Every year, in April, the entire Aveda network unites for Earth Month - raising money and awareness for the 768 million people around the world that still cannot access clean water.  Find out more here and you can follow the Aveda charity initiatives and tweet @AvedaUK using the special hashtag #AvedaCleanWater. 

Have you tried / do you use any Aveda makeup?

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