I popped by Dior the same time that I saw the Estee Lauder Chocolate Decadence collection. This time, I was able to swipe swatches of the Fall 2008 collection and get away with it. Make me sound like a nefarious robber eh? :P
Anyway, I’d read quite a lot of hype on the online community about the Dior Fall 2008 Collection. The primary product raved about being the Iridescent Leather limited edition eyeshadow palette and the Impression Cuir eyeshadow palette with its lizard/alligator print. Here are my thoughts accompanied with swatches of some of the products.
I only checked out the eye products. First off, on an overall view my perception was “What? Its all so dull and brown!” And yes, it is. The much raved about Iridescent Leather Limited Edition palette is just a palette of 5 neutral shades that you can easily duplicate in your stash. The darkest shade had reddish tones in it which was an instant no-no for me although the other 4 shades were very pretty neutrals. I haven’t gotten any Dior Iridescent eyeshadow palette yet because something about the texture and tone of the shadows bug me. I can’t quite pinpoint what it is yet though.
Still, Iridescent Leather is a good neutral palette to have if you don’t already have one. The colours are iridescent which means slight shimmer. It feels soft to the touch, which is a plus point, but as it did not excite me, I skipped it.
Earth Tones is if I’m not mistaken a regular line palette. The colours in this palette are richer if you prefer something with more pigment in it. However, I found the colours too dark (in terms of tone) and matte for something that was supposed to be iridescent, and blending was not easy.
The much raved about Cuir Impression palette left no impression on me for some reason. The 3 brown shades of eyeshadow simply merge into one bronze brown shade which for me, isn’t flattering. Again, on someone else it might be just what they are looking for. After all, our skins are all different. The alligator skin surface bugs me though. I’d want to scrub it all off so it doesn’t make my skin crawl everytime I look at it :P
I don’t know what it is about Fall 2008 that is making all the makeup houses come up with brown tones. Fall used to be all about jewel tones and emeralds and purples. Why browns? Is it a reflection of the dull world economy? Rethorics aside, I wasn’t impressed by Dior’s offering for Fall 2008. Better luck next time.
thanks for the swatches, as I would just be in the counter..looking..swatching but not really swatching the way you do! so neat ! :) thanks Parisb!
Nikki: hehe… I have to do it this way or forget what I’m swatching! :O Plus I have to make a quick exit and snap a picture before the sales people come after me with a piece of tissue
I KNOW!!!! You are so right! But when it’s time you needed the piece of tissue, they don’t have it! LOL that’s why I always carry around my own packs of tissue and alcohol! :)
Hehehe… I don’t know how you do it, PB! I’m normally too shy to go hang around the cosmetics counters swatching and testing. :P
@Nikki : Haha… I should be doing this too but always forget to carry tissues with me and have to look around for help.
@rinnah: All it takes is a huge dose of confidence and a bit of interest in the products. ;)
I am sorry but I LOVE LOVE LOE IR Quints and I LOVE IR Leather! It is one of the best eye shadow formulas that I have tried. the colours stay on put without crease all day. and i am not wearing any base. I have 4 IR Quints so far and I think I will not stop at 4. :P
but like you, I don’t like the other two palettes either.
by the way, some Dior counters are OK with swatching. And I only go to those to ask for swatches. you don’t have to sneak around, seriously! :)
Jojoba:Nothing to be sorry about! One woman’s love is another’s blah hehe… I’ve been trying to test the IR properly to see if I really like them, but so far not much luck. I know most counters are ok with swatching but its the sales pitch I want to escape ;)
hey girl, you know what i always do about swatching colours? i always tell the SA first before I do it. if they are ok, then i proceed. if not, then i don’t. i tell them i blog and i would like to add the pictures on so more people can read about them. you’d be surprised how cooperative they are! shu, for instance, wants me to do more so i could spread the words. the SA told me she didn’t know if it was because of me as few days after i took the pictures, all the birthday e/s palettes (the two i rave) were OOS. :)
oh, IR quints are weird like that. i didn’t like it at first and thought i wasted my money. but the more i wore my first IR, the more it became a must-have. so i started scouting for more. (you know me!) I am warmer so IR leather is great. it’s one of the cool taupe that is warm. make sense? guess i sound contradicting!
by cool taupe i only meant how it looked in the pan. it’s actually warm as a chocolate. somehow, it does appear cool in the pan. i hope i word it properly. or else you can erase my last words. too confusing i think. it’s a much warmer palette compared to Earth Reflection for sure.
wow, i didn’t know that some counters weren’t ok with swatching. i do it all the time and never bother to ask. do they actually stop you from doing it??