BALETTE ROYALE: Beau- TEA Brackets

[danielledanielle]

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Hear ye! Hear ye!🎺🎺🎺🎺

It's time for another BALETTE ROYALE 

DUN

DUN

DUN........

Last year, you kindly joined me and our former ambassadors on a battle to find a palette that could be The One Palette Challenge for 2025.  AHHHHHHH, BALETTE ROYALE: Showdown of the Shadows 

This time, we're doing it again, so bring out all your beauties to find the one.  From 8...That's right, with much appreciated feedback, we're bracketeering 🤣

BUT... there's some considerations, can't make it toooooo easy:

1. Choose 8 palettes (no size limit this time)
2. Pair them into 4 brackets of your own during the preliminary/party planning period and post your pairs.
3. **To keep it challenging and have an element/surprise I encourage you to bracket before the hint**
4. Check for the theme of the week and post AT LEAST three looks (you can also post a pic of the palette with the shades highlighted/marked).  Bonus points for posting before the week ends to keep it spicy 🔥.
5. Pair your winners against each other in the remaining weeks.
6. Come back and vote!

And the overall theme is......

(Prince, with tea.  High Beauté anyone?)

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Battle 6: Tea: Duali-TEA 

That's right, this is the dual of the decades, this week is straight from the 2016 vs 2026 makeup challenge trend earlier this year. 

So.....

Are you more about the 2016 YT/Instaglam or you a clean girlie from 2026? Do you think your semifinalists can do BOTH?  

This week is the face off between your third week winner and your fourth week winner 🥊

Previous weeks

Spoiler

Battle 5: PERSONALI-TEA
But, not your personality.  It's your persona, with tea.  (Look I know it's a stretch, personatea wasn't working and personality does...)

I really liked the images from one of François Nars book, Persona.  What is your day to day, 9-5/10-6/11-7 style?  Or what persona is lacking that you know you put on fault?  Give me alllllll the looks you can create with your BALETTE that meet this theme the best

Battle 4: Rich Aun-TEA

THAT'S RIGHT...I wanna see rich auntie this week. What is a rich auntie? It's the Aunt that is child-free, independent, and loving and living her life. She celebrating the moms in her life but spoiling their kids and always looks good doing it.

Rich Aun-TEA makeup is about simple eye looks, but done exquisitely well, often complemented by something bold and/or expensive.

Tea: Match Latte with extra cold foam and 1 pump/packet of sweetener

Battle 3 (March 23-29): Royal-Tea Opulence is the factor here. Give me a little zhuzh, be bougie ... Or shall we say BOURGEOIS! Give me luxury. You can be bougie and on a budget, just give me a look that's says "royal" whether it's the crown of your collection or an actual crown.


Inspo: Darjeeling Tea with clotted cream & scones
 
Week 2: FrivoliTEA/Dressed to the TEA

Janelle Monae to me is the modern definition of a dandy.  And.....Sephoria is this week!!!  Whether you're attending or not, the Sephoria Euphoria is in the air. I thought this would be a perfect time to revisit 2025's Met Gala theme, Superfine. Would love to see a Fit... So let's get dandy, show some FrivoliTEA and get Dressed to the tea


Feel free to post a FrivoliTEA fit in

The Fit, The Fab and The Face: Outfit and Inspo Thread

Week 1: Debu-Tea (Mar 9-15)

Imagine what you'd do if you wanted to redo your biggest day, whether that was a wedding, an anniversary, a graduation day and so on.  You're showing up for your first high tea!!!

 
Inspo: English Breakfast tea.  The makeup is bold, but yet an expected standard. 

Preliminary/Planning Party (Mar 2-Mar 😎 NOW

Pick and choose your favorite children palette!

On Thursday, I'll post a hint and subsequently the reveal. 

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[lmaster]

Week 3 second look with ABH x Jackie Aina

 

[lmaster]

Week 3 royal-tea 

First look with Natasha denona Mini starlette palette 

 

 

 

[lmaster]

Week 3 Royal-Tea 

First look with ABH x Jackie Aina

 

 

 

 

 

 

[lmaster]

Last look for week 2 Mini Natasha denona coral palette 

I wasn't impressed with this look,  maybe I rushed it,  out could be better.

The winner for week 2 has to be the Viseart violette vespertine 

[danielledanielle]

Okay, we're at the final showdown....

And the theme is..... IDENTI-TEA

You debutante, you royal, you persona... It's only logical for this week to be the coup de gras, the signature look of who you are.  Which palette speaks to you the most + theme that spoke to you the most.

Inspo: Jasmine Green or Matcha

[lmaster]

Week 2 second look with Viseart violette vespertine 

 

 

 

[danielledanielle]

You look gorgeous @lmaster 

[lmaster]

Thank you truly! @danielledanielle 

[danielledanielle]

Battle 6: Tea: Duali-TEA 

That's right, this is the dual of the decades, this week is straight from the 2016 vs 2026 makeup challenge trend earlier this year. 

So.....

Are you more about the 2016 YT/Instaglam or you a clean girlie from 2026? Do you think your semifinalists can do BOTH?  

credit to Christen Dominique YT

Tea: Earl Grey

[danielledanielle]

I'm always going to be 2016 girly

ND Bronze 

Juvia's Place 

Juvia's Place 

ND Bronze 

[PDXXXX]

WEEK V: PERSONALI-TEA!:

I love everything about this weeks theme! Because to me, personality goes hand in hand with one of my favorite qualities...authenticity! It's been fun to play dress up these weeks as someone who truly does love any excuse to throw on a tweedy-tea jacket. But this week presented the opportunity to truly style my tweed more casually as I usually do in real life.

With that in mind, I gave myself a couple of rules. First, all of my face makeup excepting my eyeshadow would stay the same in both looks and true to my day-to-day look. Second, I decided to pair both palettes with the same outfit. I wanted to keep all the variables except my eye palettes the same so I could really feel out which one truly is more true to me. This is truly a look and makeup I'd wear to meet a bud for tea (okay - in the name of authenticity more likely cappuccino). And though both are great palettes one definitely felt like it gave me the confidence needed to feel like my authentic personality shined through the product.

Blah, blah, blah - on with the products: my first week winner HUNG VANNGO BEAUTY Color Story Eyeshadow Palette and second week Yves Saint Laurent Couture Mini Clutch Eyeshadow Palette 720 Captivating Dunes . Here's a pic of the two. The yellow squares show the shades used in these looks:

Spoiler

The Nerd Out Product Comparison:

Both palettes (in the shades I used) have very similar shades and qualities. Some differences? The HV has a nice base shade that works with my skin tone. Also, the HV shades run more glittery whereas the YSL run more shimmery with smaller particles. Both include a similar mid-tone matte brown: the HV is far more pigmented than the YSL. Both also include a very similar dark brown: in this case (at least using both my preferred way as a liner applied with a liner brush) the YSL was more pigmented and worked better for my purpose.

I applied both in a similar manner with the lighter/more golden shimmers from my inner eye to mid-eye, the medium matte browns from my outer eye to define the crease, the cooler/darker shimmers blended from outer eye into the lighter shimmers and finally the dark browns applied with a liner brush from my outer eye to about 3/4 of the way towards my inner eye.

Contestent #1: HV:

Contestent #2: YSL:

I like them both but one definitely felt more..."me."

[danielledanielle]

@PDXXXX , also OoooOoooooOoooo 

I enjoyed the thoughtwalk and the 🤓 in me was nodding along in the comparison.  Thank you for all the thought put into this and THAT FIT 🤌🏽🤌🏽🙌🏽

[PDXXXX]

Thank you, thank you lovely lady! A fit compliment from you makes my day @danielledanielle  🙂

[danielledanielle]

Here's your penultimate hint

 

[lmaster]

Week 2 ND Mini coral palette 

 

 

 

 I used the last 4 shades and I'm obsessed! 

[danielledanielle]

OoooOoooooOoooo

I love how the shade is just so beautifully blended into one another @lmaster 

[lmaster]

Thank you so very much @danielledanielle 

[lmaster]

Week 2 FrivoliTea baby!

 Viseart violette vespertine 

 

 

 

[lmaster]

Finally week 1 and done! 

 

 

 

While these two palettes were totally different in color stories and formula,  I choose the Viseart paris palette!!

[JKnowsScents]

If you have any questions about what fragrance you should wear, don’t hesitate to ask me.