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Choosing one palette for both your eyes and face can save space, but only if the shades and formulas cover enough of your routine. The LAURA GELLER NEW YORK Best of the Best Baked Palette in Tuscan Dreams combines six eyeshadows with a bronzer, blush, and highlighter in one travel-friendly format. Its biggest strength is the mix of matte and shimmer eye colors plus coordinated baked face powders, while its main limitation is that it does not include foundation, mascara, or lip color. This review breaks down exactly what you get, how to use it, and who is most likely to get good value from it.
Quick Verdict
Rating: 8.5/10
Best For: You if you want coordinated neutral eye and face powders in one compact, especially for everyday makeup or travel.
Bottom Line: Tuscan Dreams gives you nine baked color products, including six eyeshadows and three face essentials, with a useful balance of matte and shimmer finishes. It is less suitable if you need foundation included or prefer cream and liquid makeup.
| Specification | Detail |
|---|---|
| Brand | LAURA GELLER NEW YORK |
| Product | The Best of the Best Baked Palette, Tuscan Dreams |
| Product Type | Baked eye and face makeup palette |
| Total Color Products | 9: six eyeshadows, one bronzer, one blush, and one highlighter |
| Matte Eyeshadows | Terrosa, Gusto, Luna |
| Shimmer Eyeshadows | Sabbia, Alba, Perla |
| Bronzer | Baked Bronze-n-Brighten in Roman Holiday |
| Blush | Baked Blush-n-Brighten in Starfish Island |
| Highlighter | Baked Natural Glow Highlighter in French Vanilla |
| Finish Mix | Matte and shimmer eyeshadows with baked face powders |
| Baked Process | Cream pigments artisan-baked in Italy on terracotta tiles for 24 hours |
| Product Size | Manufacturer describes the included products as full size |
| Foundation Included | No |
| Best Use | Everyday neutral looks, day-to-evening makeup, and travel |
What Is the LAURA GELLER Tuscan Dreams Palette?
The Tuscan Dreams palette is an all-in-one color palette for your eyes and face. It combines six baked eyeshadows with Laura Geller’s Baked Bronze-n-Brighten bronzer, Baked Blush-n-Brighten blush, and Baked Natural Glow highlighter.
The eye section gives you three matte shades, Terrosa, Gusto, and Luna, plus three shimmer shades, Sabbia, Alba, and Perla. The face shades are Roman Holiday bronzer, Starfish Island blush, and French Vanilla highlighter. That arrangement gives you more eye-color choice than many compact face palettes while still covering the basic blush, bronze, and highlight steps.
Laura Geller makes its signature baked formulas by starting with cream pigments and artisan-baking them in Italy on terracotta tiles for 24 hours. The finished product has the feel and convenience of powder, making the palette particularly useful when you want several coordinated products without carrying separate compacts.
Before You Buy: This is not a complete makeup kit. Foundation, concealer, mascara, eyeliner, lip products, and application brushes are not part of the Amazon palette reviewed here, so plan to carry those separately if you use them.
Colors and Finishes
Six Eyeshadows Give You More Flexibility
The strongest part of the palette is its six-shadow layout. Terrosa, Gusto, and Luna provide matte options, while Sabbia, Alba, and Perla add shimmer. That gives you enough variety to use a lighter shade across the lid, deepen the crease, brighten the inner corner, or add shimmer without reaching for a second eye palette.
The shades lean toward wearable neutral and warm tones instead of dramatic brights. This makes the palette easier to use for office makeup, daytime events, dinners, and travel, but it also means you may find it limiting if you mainly wear colorful blue, green, purple, or highly graphic eye looks.
Bronzer, Blush, and Highlighter
The face section uses three established Laura Geller baked formulas. Roman Holiday is the Baked Bronze-n-Brighten shade, Starfish Island is the Baked Blush-n-Brighten shade, and French Vanilla is the Baked Natural Glow Highlighter.
Having one of each keeps the palette simple. You do not have to decide between several nearly identical cheek shades when getting ready. The tradeoff is that each category gives you only one color, so your satisfaction depends on how those fixed tones work with your complexion and preferred makeup style.
Baked Formula and Build Quality
Laura Geller’s baking process is more specific than the term “baked makeup” might suggest. The brand says its formulas begin as soft cream pigments and are then artisan-baked in Italy on terracotta tiles for 24 hours. This converts them into powders designed to blend with a softer feel than a conventional hard-pressed powder.
The palette also uses marbleized pigments in several of the face products. Because those pans contain blended tones rather than a single flat color, your brush picks up a mix of pigment with each pass. The practical benefit is a more blended-looking finish, although the exact result still depends on your skin tone, brush, base makeup, and application pressure.
The manufacturer specifically positions its baked range for mature skin and shoppers concerned about makeup looking heavy around texture. That does not guarantee identical results for every person, but it helps explain why the palette favors soft neutral tones and powder formulas intended to be blended rather than applied in thick layers.
How to Apply the Tuscan Dreams Palette
Start With the Eyes
Apply a lighter matte shadow across your lid as a base. Blend a deeper matte shade through the crease for definition, then use a lighter shimmer on the inner corner or below the brow bone. Starting with eye makeup also makes it easier to clean away any loose shadow before applying the rest of your face makeup.
Apply Bronzer Where You Want Warmth
Sweep Roman Holiday lightly around areas where you normally add warmth, such as the temples and outer cheeks. If you prefer more definition, use a smaller brush and concentrate the product around the temples, beneath the cheekbone area, and along the jawline rather than applying a heavy layer everywhere.
Add Blush and Highlighter Last
Apply Starfish Island to the apples of your cheeks and blend outward. Use French Vanilla more selectively on areas where you want brightness, such as the tops of the cheekbones. A lighter application is easier to build than a heavy first pass.
Pro Tip: Use separate clean brushes for bronzer, blush, highlighter, and eyeshadow when possible. This reduces accidental color mixing and helps the lighter shades stay cleaner inside the palette.
How It Performs in Real Use
For an Everyday Makeup Routine
The nine-product layout makes the most sense when you prefer a repeatable neutral routine. You can build a simple eye with two or three shadows, add warmth with Roman Holiday, apply Starfish Island to your cheeks, and finish with French Vanilla without opening several separate palettes.
For Day-to-Evening Makeup
The matte and shimmer split also gives you a practical way to adjust your look later in the day. Keep the eye makeup softer during daytime hours, then deepen the crease and add one of the shimmer shades for an evening look. You are still working within a neutral color family, so the transition is easier than starting over with a different palette.
For Travel
Tuscan Dreams earns its travel-friendly description because it consolidates eyeshadow, bronzer, blush, and highlighter. That can reduce the number of powder compacts in your makeup bag. You will still need any foundation, concealer, mascara, lip color, and brushes that form part of your normal routine.
For a Minimal Makeup Collection
If you prefer owning fewer products, this palette can cover several color categories at once. If you enjoy changing blush, bronzer, and highlighter shades frequently, however, a fixed all-in-one palette may feel less flexible than buying individual products.
Ingredients and Skin-Contact Considerations
The current ingredient information for the palette lists ingredients such as talc, mica, jojoba seed oil, sunflower seed oil, Centella asiatica extract, green tea extract, tocopherol, and phenoxyethanol, with formulas varying between individual shades. Some shades also contain pigments and effect ingredients that differ by color.
Because cosmetic formulas and individual sensitivities can vary, check the ingredient list printed on the product you receive if you have known cosmetic allergies or sensitivities. Stop using a product if it causes irritation, and avoid applying eye makeup to irritated or injured skin.
Keep brushes reasonably clean and avoid sharing eye products when hygiene is a concern. The manufacturer’s current instructions describe standard dry powder application. This review does not recommend wetting the shadows because wet application was not confirmed for this specific palette in the product guidance reviewed.
Who Should Buy It?
Best For
- You want six neutral eyeshadows plus bronzer, blush, and highlighter in one palette.
- You prefer baked powder formulas and a mix of matte and shimmer eye finishes.
- You want to reduce the number of separate powder compacts you carry for travel or everyday use.
Skip If
- You need foundation or a truly complete makeup kit in the same palette.
- You mainly prefer cream or liquid cheek and eye products.
- You want bold, colorful eyeshadows rather than warm and neutral shades.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Includes six eyeshadows rather than limiting you to one or two eye shades.
- Combines matte and shimmer finishes for more varied eye looks.
- Includes dedicated bronzer, blush, and highlighter pans.
- Uses Laura Geller’s Italian artisan-baked powder process.
- Consolidates several everyday makeup products into one travel-friendly palette.
Cons
- Foundation is not included, despite the palette covering most other powder color steps.
- The fixed bronzer, blush, and highlighter shades may not suit every preference equally.
- The neutral color story is less useful if you mainly want bright or unconventional eye colors.
Is It Worth the Price?
Tuscan Dreams sits in the mid-range full-face palette category rather than competing with basic drugstore eye palettes. Its value comes from combining nine baked color products in one place, especially because six of those pans are eyeshadows rather than giving you only a token eye shade or two.
You are likely to get the most value if you regularly use bronzer, blush, highlighter, and neutral eye makeup and would otherwise buy or carry those products separately. It is less compelling if you only want eyeshadow, rarely wear cheek products, or need foundation included.
Value also depends on how well the fixed face shades work for you. An all-in-one palette saves space only when you actually use most of its pans, so consider your normal color preferences rather than buying it solely for convenience.
How It Compares to Alternatives
Laura Geller’s Best of the Best Baked Face Palette is a better comparison if you prefer a simpler eye section. It includes three eyeshadows, two highlighters, a blush, and a bronzer. Tuscan Dreams shifts that balance toward eye makeup by giving you six eyeshadows and one highlighter.
The Baked Icons Complete Full Face Palette makes more sense if foundation coverage is your priority because it includes two foundations along with bronzer, blush, highlighter, and two eyeshadows. Tuscan Dreams is the stronger choice of the three when you want more eyeshadow variety without adding foundation pans.
Frequently Asked Questions
What exactly is included in the Tuscan Dreams palette?
You get six baked eyeshadows, one Baked Bronze-n-Brighten bronzer in Roman Holiday, one Baked Blush-n-Brighten blush in Starfish Island, and one Baked Natural Glow Highlighter in French Vanilla. The manufacturer describes the included color products as full size.
What are the six eyeshadow shades?
The three matte eyeshadows are Terrosa, Gusto, and Luna. The three shimmer eyeshadows are Sabbia, Alba, and Perla, giving you six coordinated neutral shades for lighter and deeper eye looks.
Does the Tuscan Dreams palette include foundation?
No. The palette includes eye color, bronzer, blush, and highlighter, but foundation is not part of this product. Laura Geller sells separate starter kits that pair Tuscan Dreams with foundation if you want both.
Can you use the eyeshadows wet?
The current product instructions reviewed for this palette describe conventional powder application and do not specifically instruct you to wet the eyeshadows. Use them dry unless the instructions on your product or current manufacturer guidance say otherwise.
Is this palette suitable for mature skin?
Laura Geller specifically markets its baked palettes toward mature skin and shoppers concerned about visible texture. Your result will still depend on skin condition, preparation, brush choice, and how much powder you apply, so start with a light layer and build only where needed.
Is the Tuscan Dreams palette vegan and cruelty-free?
Cruelty-free labeling is associated with Laura Geller products through major retail listings, but vegan status was not confirmed for this specific Tuscan Dreams palette in the current manufacturer information reviewed. If avoiding animal-derived ingredients is essential for you, confirm the current formula directly with the brand before purchasing.
Is the palette practical for travel?
Yes, its main travel advantage is consolidation. You can carry six eyeshadows, bronzer, blush, and highlighter in one palette, though you still need separate foundation, mascara, lip products, and brushes if those are part of your routine.
Who should skip the Tuscan Dreams palette?
Skip it if you want a palette with foundation, strongly prefer cream or liquid formulas, or mainly wear colorful eyeshadows. It also offers less flexibility if you regularly switch between several bronzer, blush, or highlighter shades.
The Bottom Line
The LAURA GELLER Best of the Best Tuscan Dreams Palette is easy to recommend if you want a coordinated baked-powder routine with six neutral eyeshadows plus bronzer, blush, and highlighter. Its strongest advantage is how much eye-and-face color it puts into one palette, while its main limitation is the absence of foundation and the fixed selection of face shades.
If those shades fit your routine and you value compact organization, Tuscan Dreams is a practical mid-range choice. If you need foundation included, prefer creams, or want vivid eye colors, another palette will suit you better.
