Devorah Cosmetics Tel Aviv Beach & Eilat Summer Palettes

When I first moved to Israel five years ago I had dreams of pursuing a career as a makeup artist. I even purchased a few items to bring with me on the move that I wanted for my future makeup kit for use on hypothetical clients.

Upon my arrival in Israel, I set out on my job search and connected with Devorah of Devorah Cosmetics. She welcomed me into her business with open arms as we sat in her garden and discussed her dreams and vision for expanding her cosmetics brand in Israel.

My first gig after my big move and I was doing exactly what I loved. I teamed up with her and joined her on Makeup Meetups where we educated women on how to properly apply makeup and helped showcase how Devorah Cosmetics products are best utilized. Those few months of working with Devorah were the most fun as I acclimated to life in Israel. I was doing what I loved with someone who was just as passionate about the trade.

So much has happened for me in the five years since; a few jobs, another degree, and a makeup certification course, but I religiously followed all of Devorah Cosmetics' growth. While I moved into different corporate jobs and began beauty blogging, Devorah shifted her product production to manufacturing everything in Israel, opened her beloved shop in Jerusalem, and grew her business to the stunning brand it is today.

But with the current climate, Devorah was forced to close her store, and her beauty business has pivoted to pop up shops and home visits where customers can still experience her quality products and learn how to apply them expertly.

And so, Devorah and I sat together at the same table in her house a few weeks ago, just as we did five years prior, discussing our love of makeup and the beauty world and helping women achieve their best natural glow. Today, having moved her product production to 100% made in Israel, Devorah curates her palettes and shade names fittingly after her favorite features and places in the Holy Land. Her latest palettes that I have the honor of trying and reviewing are the Eilat Summer palette and Tel Aviv Beach palette.

Let’s talk about the Tel Aviv Beach palette first, because who doesn’t love the Tel Aviv beaches? The shades and shimmers in this palette are all inspired by the colors and hues of the Tel Aviv beach; a beach that is a mixture of fun and tranquility, movement and peacefulness, and so much shimmer! This is what Devorah attempted to transcribe into each shade in this gorgeous palette, and she did so (in my opinion) exquisitely.

When discussing the tones in the palette's shade range, Devorah said "to me, these are the most neutral and universal colors for creating a non-makeup, makeup look. In the summer we like to wear makeup that blends with our tan and our summer glow, so I wanted to work with that! That is what this palette is all about. The colors are inspired by the color of the seashells, the shimmery sand, and the deep water.”

Before I dive in, please note that my opinions and review of the palette are authentically my own, and while the items were gifted I take pride in my honest reviews of them.

While be it they were curated for the love of the Tel Aviv beach and achieving that effortless summer glow, the colors in this particular palette excited me the most because they absolutely should be used all year round. I am a completely neutral eyeshadow loving girl, so this palette does the trick for me.

Individually, each shade blends out sheerly and can be used on its own to create a simple warm shimmery look. Collectively they can be used to create a glamourous evening smokey eye. Thus, it is the best of both worlds in one.

I put this palette to the test on a super sweaty summer day. Using Devorahs soft versatile brushes (it could not be easier to apply any eyeshadow and eyeliner with her double-sided eye makeup brush!), I used the shades to create a subtle summer day look – one where when face timing with my sister she asked what eyeshadows I was wearing because my eyes looked fancy and my skin was glowy.

The shades are very pigmented which is perfect for really making your eyes pop. Unlike some eyeshadow palettes that I find myself working to transfer the product from palette to brush to skin, these shadows transferred onto the brush incredibly well – albeit a bit too well. When I first used them, there was product fallout so I realized I had to be careful not to press too hard with my brush on the palette.

I then moved on to the highlighter and bronzer included in the palette – both so reminiscent of the Tel Aviv beach sunset (pictured below) we chase after every night.

Like the eyeshadow, these two products are super pigmented and give the best bronzey summer glow. I wear SPF every day with a hat to protect my skin, but with this bronzer my face truly 'matched the summer' as I like to call it. The highlighter in the Tel Aviv palette, which is suitably named sunrise, has a pinky glow like the Tel Aviv sunrise and enhances the features on the high points of a blushed cheek stunningly. Just take a look at that glow!

As for their wearability in warmer climates (like that of Israel’s summer), I did a full day wear test to see for myself how it would hold up. After applying the palette in the morning I checked in at around 5:00 PM and it had not shifted.

Then I did something I never do – I wore it during my evening run. I wanted to see how it would last if I was super sweaty like I would be on a night out in the summer and if it would disappear. Here are the results:

As you can see, it wore beautifully; the highlighter and bronzer wore off only slightly from my sweaty face, but the eyeshadow and liner barely budged!

The Eilat Summer palette includes the same shades of eyeshadow but has a deeper bronze shade for those with deeper skin tones and darker tans, and a gorgeous peachy highlighter. I found that the bronze was a bit too dark for me since I have no tan on my face currently, but a gorgeous option nonetheless. The highlighter included in the Eilat Summer palette, however, is perfect for all skin tones and melts beautifully into the skin. As Devorah likes to say it is “like a sunset reflecting on your face." Absolutely true!

While I love reviewing and writing about products that work, this blog post in particular is special to me. On the one hand, I get the opportunity to work again with Devorah, and on the other I get to help promote an incredible female-led business in Israel that was hurt by the current pandemic and encourage you, my readers, to support this brand and try out these lovely and worthwhile products.