Dior 5 Couleurs in #734 Grège.

"this is my last Dior palette!" is what i say after each Dior palette, but it's never the last. it's no secret that i'm not a fan of their "5 Couleurs Iridescents" palettes, the eyeshadows contained are usually all too frosty and end up looking like a muddy mess of frost on the lids and not like a 55€ investment. but they always lure me in with their pretty looks.
this time, i'm glad that i still caved in and purchased another eyeshadow palette by Christian Dior. the 5 Couleurs in #734 Grège was launched in february with their New Look collection consisting 3 other Couture Colour Eyeshadow Palettes (Royal Khaki, Rose Porcelain and Bleu de Paris). and since it's a plain 5 Couleurs palette without the "Iridescents", it's one of the better.

there's not much to say about the packaging, it's sturdy and nice but looks a bit unmodern. it contains a total of 6g of eyeshadow and the obligatory sponge tip applicators (they're not too bad).

swatched in sunlight, clockwise from upper left corner, center shade as last.

the colours:

• a warm clay brown with satin finish, its texture is rather soft and powdery and tends to dust up but applies evenly with little fallout only. this is a good blending/transition colour but also suitable as crease contour shade for a natural look.
• a white with soft shimmer finish, appears uneven and slightly chalky at first but needs only little work to smooth out. me likey as inner corner highlight.
• in the center a pearly light grey with the slightest lavender tinge, very nice quality soft and subtle lid shade.
• a matte dark plum with grey tones - has the best texture in the palette. very refined and silky smooth, applies evenly and is easy to blend. good for a smokey look, as crease colour or also as a liner shade.
• a soft shimmery graphite grey. same slightly chalky texture as the white shade but easy to work on. versatile medium dark colour for the lids, crease or as soft eyeliner.

the shadows are not frosty so they stay distinct and i love the mix of different finishes in there which brings more variety and dimension into achievable looks. the medium shades make for a great everyday palette that can be amped up for the evening as well thanks to the deep plummy brown or graphite silver. you don't need additional shadows to create diverse eye makeups and have your basic neutral palette right there.
the texture quality of these shadows varies, they start out sheer but are buildable in intensity. staying power is no problem as i use an eyeshadow primer underneath.
all in all this is a good one. nothing exciting but a solid staple.

Sabrina has a detailed review and swatches of this palette on The Beauty Look Book, don't miss it!

tihilw

look #1

a soft daytime look. white in the inner corners, pearl grey on the lid, graphite silver on the outer V. clay brown on the lower lashline and as transition colour blended over the edges of the grey. plummy brown as a liner along the upper lashline and on the outer edge of the lower lashline.

look #2

a bit darker. white in the inner corners, plummy brown on the lids (somehow it doesn't look well blended on the photograph :I ) with clay brown as transition colour again. graphite silver on the lower lashline.

Dior Impression Cuir.

that is one marvellous palette, isn't it? i finally caved in and bought the Dior Impression Cuir eyeshadow palette which was part of Dior's fall collection in 2008.
that was before i started to obsess over makeup, so of course i missed out on it. but this collection and palette seemed to be so popular that even years after its launch lemmings and praises still popped up regularly around me on beauty blogs and created a lemming for my own. and when i went back and watched the All Time Favourites video by Lisa Eldridge few months ago i saw her mentioning the Impression Cuir palette again, it pushed the right triggers. luckily there were a few of these offered on ebay (they still are), so i still got a chance to enjoy it. i think i paid something around 45€ for this beauty.
it comes in the same packaging as a quint (also sizewise), unless the interior is more harmoniously arranged. the compact with the silver brand name embedded over the holographic initials holds a full sized mirror and the stunning eyeshadow pan which contains 10g (!) of product.

the crocodile leather pattern embossed deeply into the surface just looks amazing.
the pan houses 3 eyeshadow colours of shimmery warm browns fading from a darker chocolate brown to a bronze with golden sheen and iridescent overspray in the center and a fawn colour to the right.
the eyeshadows have a smooth silky texture with good colour-pay off, i'm positively surprised that the colours are not packed full of dioresque frostiness that blends together to an undefinable frosty mess. applied to the lids the colours blend very well but look distinctive, with a satin finish (esp. the fawn colour and chocolate brown shade) and soft shimmer. i didn't experience lots of fall out and since i used a decent primer underneath, there also was no creasing or fading over the whole day.
the colours are warm but very wearable for different skintones as they don't contain lots of orange, i think this is the ideal versatile everyday palette and for fans of soft smokey eyes, the Impression Cuir can easily serve as night time palette as well (for me, it still needs a super dark brown to combine with for a smokey eye). this palette surely is one of the better LE-launches by Dior and actually one that i -with no hesitation- feel is really worth the money.

Dior Impression Cuir palette swatched in natural light

with flash

tihilw

for the following look i applied the fawny shade on the inner 1/3 of the lid and the inner corners, the shimmery bronze to the center of the lid and along the lower lashline and the chocolate brown on the outer corner blended into the crease

comparison

Dior Impression Cuir - MAC Mulch - MAC Tempting - Benefit Fawn Over Me
 

Dior Impression Cuir - MAC Mulch - MAC Tempting - Benefit Fawn Over Me

as you can see, i've found quite good dupes for this palette, even though they're not spot on:

MAC Mulch is lighter, more reddish and more shimmery than the Dior shade, MAC Tempting is more bronze and less gold than Dior but even more shimmery and Benefit Fawn Over Me is more rosy than Dior.

if you have these 3 though, you wouldn't need the Impression Cuir palette.

FOTD with Sisley, Guerlain and Catrice.

one of the most recent FOTDs where i implemented a "more asian" eyeshadow technique but used a bolder colour to avoid it looking too nice. just tightlining the upper waterline and more black on the outer corners but less colour on the lids and the crease actually. i find that it creates a quite soft but still sultry effect. i also used the BeautyQQ-false-lash-application-technique that i have showed you here.
what do you think? do my eyes look bigger than normal at all? as this might be one of the most important goals in popular asian make up application: fair and even skin, big eyes, dolly cheeks & lips.


for the face - quite spartan ;)

foundation: Sisley Phyto Teint Éclat in #1 Ivory (1 - review) applied with the fingers (!) - not on the pic ;)

concealer: Giorgio Armani Master Corrector in #2 (2) applied with the fingers again (!) ;)

powder & blush: Guerlain Parure de Nuit (3) applied with SUQQU Face Brush (4)


for the eyes:

brows: Shiseido Brow Pencil in GY901 Natural Black (not on the pic, sorry)

lips: Dior Rouge Dior in #298 Beige Indécise (11 - lip swatch)

eye make up:

• tightlining the upper waterline with matte black liner shade in Guerlain's #68 Champs-Élysées palette (1 - review) and MakeUpShow Small Shader Brush (2 - review), extending the line a bit on the outer corner of your eye and apply the left-over shadow to the outer part of the lower lashline.
• sweep a sheer wash of Catrice C'mon Chameleon eyeshadow (5 - review) with Hakuhodo S142 brush (3 - review) onto the lids, blend out with Edward Bess Luxury Eye Brush (4 - review). apply a bit onto the lower lashline.
• draw a relatively thick liner with Essence I Love NYC Gel Eyeliner (7 - review) along the upper lashline with For Your Beauty Lip Brush (6 - Rossmann brand), meet up with the black on the outer corner but no wing upwards.
• curl lashes with Koji Eyelash Curler (8), apply 1 coat of Shiseido The Perfect Mascara (9).
• apply false eyelashes (10) to the outer corners using this technique.

photos with flash.

Dior Holiday 2011: Couture Golds palette.

the 5 Couleurs Eyeshadow Palette in #554 Couture Golds from the holiday collection by Dior seemed so beautiful in the promotion pictures that i needed to have it - i mean, golds mixed with a deep brown and shimmer? i'm all in!
and because Dior didn't release this part of their holiday look in germany, i had to order it from the US (from Maureen).
the palette contains 6g of product in total and costs 59$. it comes in the usual velvet pouch and the compact is the usually boring and unmodern holographic CD one.

swatches & thoughts:

the colours are just wonderful to look at, different and unusual hues of gold and exciting finishes. but again, i'm completely underwhelmed by how this palette swatches and appears on my lids.
the colours are:

• a frosty, shimmery cream white. with the usual soft and buttery finish by Dior. high colour pay off and shine, perfect for the tear duct area but not as a brow bone highlighter at all.

• a shimmery peachy gold. again, the creamy soft texture. i'm glad that this colour is not too warm toned on me but i'm disappointed at how light and frosty with only minimal colour it comes out on my lids.

• a shimmery cool toned gold. also with a soft and fine texture. i expected this stunningly complex looking colour to be my personal star of the palette, but unfortunately it applies as a silvery, very frosty sand colour on me. no hint of complexity between taupe and gold transferred from the pan onto my eyelid. very disappointing.

• a dark matte brown with tons of pink and gold microglitter in the pan, seemed like a very promising colour and if it was in that soft creamy texture Dior is known for, it would be a fantastic colour. but it isn't. it's a much too sheer, dirty looking matte colour with a much too dry texture. the glitters feel gritty by touch, but since they don't really transfer onto the lids anyways (but to your cheeks and nose and everywhere), there is no gritty feeling eventually. it's just a sheer black on me, not even well buildable and the warmth of the brown hue is not visible anymore when i blend this colour. it lacks a lot of impact so it's not capable of contrasting the light shimmery shades in this quint.

• in the center you can find a pale, gold-beige shade that purely consists of chunky shimmer flakes. it's a very sheer colour, so it's suited as a top coat on other shadows to add even more glimmer and sparkle or used concentrated as a highlight in the inner corners or the center of the lid. the texture of this is very gritty and dry, so it's fall out city extreme. in the end, i find this shade to be unexpectedly lovely for it's effect, i will try to make it work and do my eye make up before the foundation.

with flash

a factor that turns me off is how muddy and undefined the colours look when they are blended. i find that this is a huge problem with Dior eyeshadows, they lack brilliance because the colours are covered in too much frost and pearl. makes Dior more and more unappealing to me, i should seriously stop to buy their palettes.
wholistically, this palette doesn't work for me. the colours are too frosty, too common. i will need to combine it with other shades.
if you craved for this palette but can't get it, i say you didn't miss out on anything special.

tihilw

#1

taupey gold on the lid and lower lashline, creamy white in the inner corner and blackish brown in the outer corner & crease.

with flash:

#2

peachy gold on the inner half and lower lashline, blackish brown on the outer parts and chunky shimmer shade on the center of the lid.

with flash:

comparison

dupe shades:
                       1 - Dior Earth Reflection palette (review) - cream white shade
                       2 - Giorgio Armani Mediterranean palette (review) - peachy gold shade
                       3 - NARS Rajasthan duo (swatches) - golden taupe
                       4 - L'Oreal HIP Gilded (review) - brownish black
                       5 - Chantecaille Sel (review)
                       6 - NARS Mekong (review)

i don't have a dupe shade for the flaky shimmery cream.