I take issue with palettes.

They seem like such a great idea at the start - everything you need for the perfect face, all neatly organized with a little mirror. But then, after admiring this seemingly genius invention, you find yourself toting the whole thing around but only reaching for that one shadow, one shade of lip gloss, or the bronzer.

Never, ever the whole shebang. There's always a flaw - the eyeshadows are too bland, or too dark, or don't really go together; the lip colors are too heavy or too dark; the cheek color is just blah.

Laura Mercier's Bronzing Books changed all of that for me. I started with Bronzed (there are two of them, the other being Gilded) and immediately fell in love. The Bronzed book (pictured) houses the following goodies:

2 Bronzing powders, in Bronzed (golden suntan) and Matte Bronze (similar, just no shimmer)
3 sheer, creamy Illuminators, in Golden Glow, Rose Glow, and Honey Glow
2 eye shadows, in Oyster (iridescent ivory sheen) and Temptation (shimmering bronze)
2 lip colors, in Golden Gleam (bronze) and Peony (sheer shimmery burgundy)

The best part is that all these colors really do work together and are quite wearable. Bronzed is the darker palette of the two, and all the shades still looked great on me, even with my paleness. The first time I tried it - just for testing purposes - I used every single item in the book, and loved the results! Golden Glow is a great highlighter for browbones and inner corners of eyes; Rose Glow works as a blush; and a little Honey Glow dabbed on the eyelids makes them look dewy and gorgeous. The bronzers have a great texture and NO orange; the eyeshadows look great when layered together; and the lip colors, while a little heavy for those who usually wear gloss (like me) are perfect and sheer when mixed with a little lip balm or clear gloss.

This is the perfect palette to take with you on summer vacation - it's utilitarian, compact, and creates a gorgeous summery look. Plus, it has a good-sized mirror and closes magnetically, so it won't ruin the inside of your makeup bag.

So after becoming so enamored of the Bronzed book, I had to go back to check out Gilded. In this lighter version, the two bronzers are more apricot than brown, the Peony lip color is replaced by Baked Earth (burnt red), and the eye shadows are Dew (pinky beige shimmer) and Topaz (pink bronze taupe). The Illuminators are the same, and Golden Gleam lip color is there, too.

With the emphasis on pink and apricot, Gilded creates a different look than Bronzed, although they do share some shades. The fact that I couldn't find Dew eye shadow (which is gorgeous) on its own, sealed the deal for me. I am now the owner of both palettes and they barely take up any room in my makeup bag! For my next weekend vacation, the only items that are coming with me besides these two little books are tinted moisturizer, mascara, eyeliner and lipliner. I like to think I am economizing (right!).