Marsala is a bold pop of #TheNewNeutral 

For those of you who don’t know what the Pantone colour of the year is, it’s basically an “it” colour that’s released each year from Pantone. It creates huge opportunities for people in the fashion, beauty and lifestyle industry to release new designs and products. This year, the colour is Marsala Pantone 18-1438, which is a versatile colour that’s appealing, sophisticated and equally flattering on any skin tone. Sephora has teamed up with Pantone for the past 4 years to release a limited edition collection focused around the colour of the year. SEPHORA + PANTONE UNIVERSE 2015 Colour of the Year Marsala 18-1438 Capsule Collection features an assortment of cosmetics for both the eyes, lips and cheeks in this new beautiful nude shade in innovated textures and finishes. Of course, each product features Sephora’s high performance formula that offers rich colour payoff and a luxurious feel during wear, with refined finishes like matte, pearl, metallic, and shimmer.

“A naturally robust and earthy wine red, Marsala enriches our mind, body and soul, exuding confidence and stability,” noted Leatrice Eiseman, Executive Director of the Pantone Colour Institute™. “Much like the fortified wine that gives Marsala its name, this tasteful hue embodies the satisfying richness of a fulfilling meal while it’s grounding red-brown roots emanate a sophisticated, natural earthiness.”

Sephora Shimmering Marsala Cheek Trio comes in a sleek, captivating ombre effect box with a rose gold palette within. This chic compact contains 2 matte blushes, Coral Pink and Marsala and a cream highlighter, Spanish Villa. It features a triple jet, finely milled process that allows for intense colour payoff, but with a luxe and velvety cream texture. It’s unique blend of naturally-derived oils and powders help to enhance the skin’s overall appearance for a flawless application each and every time.

Sephora Shimmering Marsala Cheek Trio is an excellent palette for the price. Each shade is incredibly soft and smooth, blends into the skin like a dream and has excellent colour payoff. Its warm tone shades are perfect for this time of year, adding a little warmth to the skin with a healthy glow. I had no problem getting a good 8 hours’ worth of wear time from each shade without fading. Spanish Villa is a beautiful golden beige with a subtle frosted finish that helps you achieve a stunning luminous glow. It has excellent pigmentation, but can emphasize pores, since it is fairly frosty. Coral Pink is a pretty light peach with a satin, almost matte finish. It does have somewhat of a powdery consistency to it, that can show up a little chalky, so just make sure to really buff it into the skin. It provides semi-opaque pigmentation that also seems to last throughout the day without fading. Last, but not least, Marsala is a stunning rose brown with a satin finish. This is my favourite out of the three. It gives intense colour payoff that’s extremely buildable and blendable, so you’re going to want to use a light hand. This is the perfect palette for those days when you want a girly, dainty and feminine flush to the cheeks. It retails for $35.

Sephora Marsala Pro Angled Blush Brush #49 features a slanted-bristle design that easily hugs the contours of the face for an even, precise application in a single swipe. It’s a medium to large, rounded, angle brush that not only works beautifully at applying blush, but effortlessly applies bronzer as well. It fits perfectly into the hollows of the cheeks and along the jaw line for easy contouring. It has a slightly pinched, metal rose gold ferrule that holds the bristles tightly together, so you’ll never have to worry about sheading. It has a beautiful Marsala handle that has a good weight to it and allows for easy application. It has incredibly soft and smooth bristles that pick up just the right amount of product and evenly distributes it onto the skin. This is the perfect brush to use with the Sephora Shimmering Marsala Cheek Trio to help to achieve an effortlessly, dazzling colour of the year look. It retails for $40.

Sephora Marsala Layering Lip Collection features 5 ombre nude pencils that provide sheer coverage with a dewy finish. You can easily mix and match and layers these tones of Marsala shades to create your own unique look or wear them on their own. Each shade has a rich and creamy texture with a buttery formula that contains hyaluronic filling spheres to keep lips juicy and plump. It’s also formulated with resveratrol, an antioxidant derived from red wine grapes to help keep lips hydrated and moisturized with incredible shine.

Sephora Marsala Layering Lip Collection comes packaged in a beautiful transparent Marsala ombre box with mini, rose gold, twist-up chubby lip crayons within. It has a large selection of both pale and mid-tone nudes in variations of both brown and pink. It has both sheer, glossy, creamy and matte finishes. It has a balm like texture that brings soft pigmentation that, although fairly sheer, can be built up to stronger colour payoff. Although not as moisturizing as I thought, these are pretty comfortable to wear and last a few hours, before wanting to reapply. Marsala is beautiful translucent brick shade with a slightly glossy finish, Dusty Cedar is…. You guessed it, a dusty rose with a semi-matte finish, Canyon Clay is a gorgeous pale peachy, almost beige with a satin finish, Rose Dawn is a pale nude with a matte finish and Muted Clay is a stunning, everyday nude with a satin finish. It retails for $35.

Sephora Pure Marsala Matte Lip Crème is formulated with extracts, oils and Resveratrol, an anti-aging ingredient derived from red grapes, to help provide rich, long-lasting, natural satin finish.

Sephora Pure Marsala Matte Lip Crème comes in a gorgeous exclusive transparent ombre Marsala case with a gold, square lipstick within. The lipstick looks like it’s almost floating in air, as it’s sandwiched between two pieces of cling wrap in the box. Super unique. Although not completely lightweight, more of a medium weight consistency, it is fairly comfortable to wear the entire day. It’s provides opaque coverage, glides onto the skin with ease, but could tend to be a little creamier, for easier application. The colour did distributed evenly, and looked smooth and even on though. It lasts about 5 hours, before fading into somewhat of a stain. Although it claims to be moisturizing, my lips didn’t feel hydrated at all, and actually felt slightly drier after the first hour. This stunning muted, plummy red with warm undertones and satin matte finish, is the perfect every day lippie. It retails for $23.

Marsala Metalshine Liquid Liner is a long-wearing liquid liner that provides a bold swipe of Marsala at the lash line with a metallic finish. It has a fine, soft, flexible brush for easy and effortless application. Its precise tip provides an opaque metallic pop of colour for high-impact eyes. It stays put the entire day without flaking or smudging.  

Marsala Metalshine Liquid Liner sadly to say, was probably my least favourite in the collection. I found it didn’t show up that well when paired with other eyeshadows, although its metallic finish really pops on bare lids. It’s not the most practical shade to wear either, it tends to make the eye area look irritated and inflamed. It’s also fairly difficult to remove at the end of the day, and I found myself tugging and pulling on my lash line. I think it may be fun for those that don’t wear a lot of makeup, or are looking for a little extra sparkle and shine for a night out. It retails for $23.

Also in the collection, Facets of Marsala Multi-Finish Eye Palette for $49 and Cooling Marsala Multi Stick for $32.