Clarins goes for the gold for the holidays this year with the Palazzo d’Oro Collection inspired by golden palaces in Venice. The colors and finishes are very wearable with a touch of elegant, holiday glamour.

I’ve been trying out the Gold Attraction Eye Quartet and Liner Palette ($66) and the Gold Attraction Face Palette ($57) from the collection. I don’t have much in the way of gold makeup so this has been a nice change of pace for me. I love the way light bounces off the gold so I took these photos in the afternoon sun. I’m sure they would also look very pretty by candlelight.

Each palette comes in a wonderful weighty, textured, gold metal compact protected by a white gold sleeve. They’re the kind of compacts that beg to be seen without being ostentatious.

The Eye Palette

The Gold Attraction Eye Quartet and Liner Palette is an essential, versatile set of shadows with a cream liner in  colors most anyone can wear. The shadows include a silvery pink, pearly yellow gold, taupe, and rich, golden brown. The liner is a dark, chocolate brown. This set can easily take you from day to evening any time of year. Just layer on more of the shimmery shades and intensify the liner when you want more glamour.

I love that they’ve included a cream liner. It’s a welcome change from eye palettes that usually just have powder shadows – so much more convenient than wetting a powder shadow to use as a liner. The taupe shade can also be used to fill in the brows.

In the photo, I’m wearing:

• a light dusting of the gold and pink mixed together on the brow bone
• the gold shadow on the inner third of my eyelid and in the tear duct area
• the taupe in the crease and to fill in my brows
• the dark brown on the outer two-thirds of my eyelid and in the crease
• the cream liner all the way across the top lashline, two-thirds of the way along the bottom lashline, and in the waterline
• the dark brown shadow on top of the cream liner along the upper and bottom lashline to make the line smokier
• a bit of the gold shadow on top of that to give the line a golden sheen

The Face Palette

The Gold Attraction Face Palette is a golden beige powder that adds sparkle and subtle shimmer. It’s ideal along the cheekbones and on the décolleté and shoulders. Skin looks like it’s been dusted with tiny, gold diamonds. I have it dusted on my cheekbones. Unfortunately, you can’t see it very well in the photos so you’ll have to trust me when I say it’s quite lovely.

The collection also includes Sparkling Wonder Volume Mascara in Black Reflections ($23.50), a black, shimmery mascara, and Joli Rouge Sheer Lipstick in Gold Reflections ($23.50), a sheer gold.

Everything will be available at Clarins counters in November and is available now online at Clarins.com and Macys.com.

Do Tell

What do you think of the collection? Do you ever wear gold or golden makeup? Do tell.

P.S. Check out the Beauty Resources page for some amazing beauty deals from amazon.com, beauty.com, Sephora, and more.