Every year, at about this time, we start hearing the distant jingle jingle of sleigh bells, and seeing fairy glitter fall over the seasonal makeup collections, for it is about this time every year that the Christmas collections are revealed. Expect sparkles and shimmer and shine and glitter and gold and everything that shiny, pretty and sparkly.
The Christmas collection from Dior is no different. Themed Grand Bal and inspired by balls and ballgowns and an age of glamour, the items in the collection come in elegant gold boxes. But today, let me show you the star item in the Grand Bal collection – Grand Bal Carnet de Maquillage Makeup Palette for Glowing Eyes & Lips.
Last year, if I recall correctly, there was no one special item in the Dior Christmas collection. I picked up instead the Couture Golds eyeshadow palette which I absolutely adore. The previous year, Dior did a Minaudiere clutch. Beautiful to look at, but ultimately I felt the quality of the product was a bit lacking. That seems to be a bit of a problem with these special palettes. They are gorgeous to look at but sometimes, the contents aren’t up to par.
So, the very first time I saw pictures of the Dior Grand Bal palette, I confess to feeling a bit meh about it. Actually no. I was a lot meh about it. The whole compact is solid gold (not literally of course. Have you seen the price of gold lately? Its horrifying!) in colour which I thought looked a bit tacky.
But somehow, it nagged at me, and sometimes, you just have to see something in person to appreciate it better 🙂
Gold on gold tone packaging to suit the season. The Grand Bal compact is elegant in its simplicity. Its also a fingerprint magnet but with that highly polished surface, its almost to be expected. The base is metal but the lid isn’t, so there is some heft, but its not that heavy. Don’t drop it on your toes though – it’d still hurt.
Its not all that large as you can see. Quite a nice size to fit in your hand and bag. You maybe wondering what that bar is at the front of the palette. Its quite an ingenious touch, because that is actually an eyeliner pencil that holds the palette shut!
Thread it through the clasp, and your palette stays closed. Slide it out, and you can open up the palette to reveal the contents – metallic eyeshadow and lipgloss.
I do have one little gripe about the eyeliner pencil. It is coated in shiny gold and you almost expect to have a little heft to it, but there isn’t any. Its very light, as the body is plastic. I was a little disappointed in the body, but the content is good stuff. The eyeliner is a retractable pencil so you never have to sharpen it and I quite liked how very dark black it was. Very good for lining the eyes and for vamping up your eyeshadow by using it as a base.
Inside, you get a split pan of patterned eyeshadow in metallic gold and silver, and 2 lipglosses in a white shimmer and peach-pink. Again, little touches wow me – note the cover over the lipglosses. I love this little touch in Dior all in one palettes because I absolutely abhor it when powder and cream products mix, and evidently someone in Dior does too!
I still don’t know why other brands haven’t cottoned onto this fact – put a cover over your cream products and maybe the palettes will sell better. I for sure will then start paying more attention to the palettes!
The eyeshadows are quite different from what I’m used to from Dior. When swatched, the texture is almost creamy in its consistency, and it applies on skin evenly, with beautiful shimmer. It reminds me almost of the gelee texture colour items found in the Estee Lauder makeup line. Almost creamy to touch, but is a powder. Both colours are almost metallic, which I forsee some people wrestling with. Its not something you will expect to wear daily and especially not in a conservative work environment.
I personally however, do not find it overly shimmery. It is shimmery, that is certain, but on skin, I find that if you blend it a little, it becomes more wearable. Layer it over the black liner, and the colour is beautiful! Both the gold and silver tend to be quite neutral and you’d be surprised at how well they go together. At a pinch, use the eyeshadows as highlight on your cheeks – very lovely!
The lipgloss was another surprise. I thought it was white shimmer, but when I swatched it on skin, it turned out to be a pale gold shimmer. Layer it over a lip colour to add a touch of glow. And that’s what I eventually took away from the Grand Bal palette – it adds glow to the skin without being overly shiny and shimmery.
Left-Right: Gold eyeshadow, Silver eyeshadow, Pale Gold lip gloss, Peach-pink lipgloss, Black pencil eyeliner all swatched once
I have to say that I wasn’t impressed with the photos I saw of this palette, but the actual product stuns me in its simplicity and wearability. I would be interested to know if these eyeshadow textures herald the start of a new line of eyeshadows in Dior. It would be amazing if they could make these permanent.
Is it a must have? Let’s face it. Nothing is a must have. But it almost certainly is nice to have, if the colours appeal to you 🙂
Does the Grand Bal palette appeal to you then? 😉
I found it interesting that the palette was supposed to be inspired by the dance cards held by young women in the 18th century to remind them of their dance partners. This is such a foreign, formal concept to me that I just can’t relate! But I appreciate the simple and elegant packaging because the magic happens not from without but from within.
Paris B
In a nutshell
The Dior Grand Bal Makeup Palette for Glowing Eyes & Lips is a limited edition offering in the Dior Christmas 2012 collection. It comprises eyeshadows, lipglosses and an ingenious inclusion of an eyeliner crayon that holds the palette shut. While pretty to look at, I thought this was one of the better limited edition offerings I’ve experienced from Dior. The quality of the products within the palette are impressive and I am particularly taken by the eyeshadows, which I hope will be made permanent one day. The texture is creamy to the touch and adheres well to the skin, yet it is a powder product. The shimmer level is high, so I hesitate to tell you that you can wear this one everyday, because realistically, few of us can. I think that this is a palette that looks better in person and which I find far more impressive in person than when viewing it online. It is not a must have, but it is nice to have.
Pros: Eyeshadows have a lovely texture, Whole palette is very complementary, Inclusion of eyeliner is genius, Simple elegant packaging, Cover for cream products is a clever move
Cons: Pricey, Colours maybe too shimmery for some
Who will like this: Collectors of pretty palettes, Anyone who likes something shimmery and an all in one palette
Price: RM240
Limited Edition: Yes, Grand Bal Collection Christmas 2012
Availability: All Dior counters from November 2012 onwards
I’m secretly happy that this does not attract me. 😛 Hohoho…
My Christmas and b’day wishlist is getting a bit out of hand at the moment. LOL. Not good.
Talking about dropping the palette and hurting your toe. I accidentally dropped my NARS TM one day, and it hit one of my toes and it hurt real bad. Real bad. Had to crouch on the floor for a long while (with tears) before I can straighten myself up. The lesson? Beauty products can be lethal too. 😀
Oh yes. Never let anything with an edge drop on any toe. It happened to me once and I, like you, was crouching on the floor bawling my eyes out at the pain. Turning the air blue with curses too of course 😉 So, what are you eyeing for Christmas and your birthday then? 🙂
The notable ones on my (current) list are:
Chanel Rouge Coco Shine (got 3 shade candidates, haven’t really decided on which color yet. Definitely getting only one.)
Chanel Glossimer in Mystery (from the Holiday collection)
Estee Lauder ANR
Kiehl’s Rare Earth mask
MUST.CONTROL.MYSELF. 😀
It scares me a little bit to see it all written down. Hahaha.
Oooh nice list! 😀 I’d treat the Estee Lauder and Kiehl’s as necessities and the others as treats 😉
It’s hmm.. pretty.. love the gold/silver shades but it’s missing a dark shade that I tend to use for my eye make up. Not quite sure if I would be able to rely solely on the pencil for the dark/vamping bit. So I will still have to fall back on another palette as back up for a complete painting of the face. Does not have the ooph to get me rushing to the Dior counter.
Absent anything else which catches my eye from now till Christmas.. I may pick this up as a Christmas pressie for myself – or plant the idea in my husband’s head that him getting this for me for Christmas is his brilliant idea. ;-D
Psst! Point hubby in the direction of Guerlain’s lip/eye palette *cough* 😉 I think this palette works with eyes kept relatively simple. One wash of colour with black liner. Simple and elegant 🙂
When I first saw this I was ready to bet on how unpigmented everything will be, but I was SO wrong! I’ll have to see it to decide, but I keep thinking it’s SO cool to flip this out at one of those year-end parties :p
Its lovely that’s for sure. I was afraid of the eye colour being just sparkles but it was surprisingly nice to use as just 1 wash of colour 🙂
that’s a beautiful gold! and it looks too pretty to be destroyed >< i have to agree that all these palettes are 'nice to have', and for some reasons the lip section in my palettes are usually, and forever untouched.
Mine too! I tend to have my own lipstick on hand anyway so its not often I use what’s in the palette.
So beautiful–this is definitely one for all the makeup collectors out there! I however will pass on this. As pretty as it is, I don’t think it’s worth it (to me) to purchase. The gold and silver are a bit too metallic for my taste (metallic shadows seem to be all the new rage but I just don’t like how it looks on me. Too much shine closes my eyes off) and the lip gloss is pretty but from the swatches I’ve seen, just too sheer. Plus I doubt the eyeliner would wear for any extended amount of time on my oily lids, so pass pass pass. :/
I think this one works prettily on someone with lighter skin tone because there is a risk of it just looking like pure shimmer on darker skins. I like metallic shades – appeals to the magpie in me 😀 But I can understand that it doesn’t appeal to everyone.
Its so pretty! But yea, not good at how to wear gold or silver eyeshadow without looking like I’m about to be the extra in Cirque du Soliel lol!
hahaha Not the extra, the starring act in Cirque du Soleil maybe? 😉
I swatched this the other day and it’s so pretty! I agree-the shadows are so creamy to the touch! I like them better than the Estee Lauder ones actually. I don’t really care for those. I didn’t get it, but I keep thinking about it haha! And I actually think I can wear the gold because it’s more of a rose gold. Yellow golds and me don’t get along. 🙂
Yes! The gold grabs me too coz its not super warm like how most gold shadows are. Almost rose gold, as you have pointed out, and rose gold is so in right now 😀
wow! it’s beautiful! I love these kind of shadows, very shimmery!!
Smooth and buttery feel too!
Oh my…Gold and Silver in one palette. Whyyyyy…Miss Jen is both a moth and magpie. Must resist this lustrous masterpiece unless Santa drops one for me 🙂
Time to start dropping hints for Santa! 😉
The lip colour actually looks interesting to me!
How to wear the eyeshadow more often. . . I can only imagine myself wearing them at night for parties 😛
You can wear it as an accent colour over a matte colour to tone it down perhaps? In a less conservative environment its easy to pull it off just 1 colour on its own, with thick black liner 😀
The packaging is so luxurious and the shades look very pretty too. They’re simple and perfect for the upcoming holiday season. I prefer more colourful and bold eyeshadows though so I don’t think I’d use the palette enough to justify its price tag. But it’s definitely a lot prettier than I expected it to be.
You do colours very well, Gio! 🙂 And yes, its a lot more impressive in real life than it is in photos to me too
Tha packaging is gorgeous! And the colors are okay for me but I don’t think I’m gonna wear something this shiny! I have oily lids and I might look like a disco ball with this one. 🙂 I am interested with the white gloss though 🙂
The white gloss has lovely warm gold shimmer in it that is surprising and very pretty. Not sure if Dior has a similar one in their permanent range though.
i like the look of the eyeliner and the bar closure concept! the colors aren’t exciting enough for me to splurge on it though, especially with my never ending beauty shopping list!
This is a stunning palette! I love it.
I want, I want! Still not out here, maybe next week.