Clear, Translucent, Radiant, Glowing – Words to describe the Diorsnow Makeup and Frost Bloom palette

The whitening skincare phenomenon is so huge these days that brands now have a whole collection just specially for them. They don’t stop at just skincare though. Oh no, makeup too gets a look in and often, they are sold only in Asia where we likely will see this trend continue to grow in popularity.

Every year, Dior launches a little capsule collection in the Diorsnow range for colour makeup, usually available only in Asia. They don’t shout about it a lot, and it tends to get a little lost, coming in so quickly after the Spring and just before Summer collections roll out. I like keeping an eye out for this little collection because I find it interesting.

I usually look to it, not for the colour which tends to be light and sheer, but more for the base products. Whitening skincare as is also reflected in Diorsnow, is all about making skin look brighter, more transparent, and more radiant. The base products tend to help you along in that department.

I have here some items from the Diorsnow Frost Bloom makeup collection and also some of the Diorsnow base products. The base products are permanent while the colour ones are usually limited edition. So here’s a quick overview of the collection (with more than a few photos) and what I think of it in brief. If you have a specific request for a specific product, please pipe up and I’ll shuttle it up the list. I sometimes forget or overlook it so its good to know what you want to see more of :)

Dior 5 Couleurs Eyeshadow palette in 334 Frost Bloom (RM210) and Vernis in Nymphea 307 (RM75)

Last year saw Dior go for the ice princess look with their Icy Lights eyeshadow palette. This year, the name Frost Bloom keeps to the snow theme but the colours in the palette look brighter and more vibrant without the icy shimmer. It looks almost like a typical spring colour palette – pastel blues, pinks, mint greens – all quite ready to welcome flowers and Spring.

Being part of the Diorsnow line, do not expect strong pigment. In fact, do not even expect to see the same sort of colour intensity on skin as you see in the pan. The texture is sheer and iridescent. Barely there yet giving lids a hint of colour. Not for everyone, I’ll warrant. On fair skintones, I can imagine this will be a sweet little palette without too much colour but on deeper skintones, I’d imagine seeing just shimmer. Layer the colours over a dark base and they look much better (beautiful, really) but on their own, I know most people will just skip it. I’m not in love with this, but its wearable.

Nymphea nail polish is a pastel pale blue shade that I found took a little bit of work to get it opaque. Then again, I’m generally not very good at painting my nails so maybe its me, not the polish. There are another 2 colours – Peony (pink) and Crystal (white) – so if candy pastel shades on nails appeal to you then its worth taking a look.

Diorsnow BB Creme White Reveal UV Protection SPF50 PA +++ (RM185) and Diorsnow Fresh Transparency Liquid Foundation SPF30 PA+++ (RM170)

The Diorsnow BB Creme (which happens to be a personal fave) gets a reformulation and new packaging, and the 2 shades available locally now have numbers! It now comes in BB Creme 010 and 020. I used to use both the original and light shade, but soon realised that the light shade works much better for me. It is less pink and brightens my skin. The 010 is the lighter shade, so what I’ll do is compare this new one to the previous formula and let you know what I think once I’ve had a go at them. I do use the Diorsnow BB Creme quite often because it works for me almost like a light, sheer foundation, so it might be why I take better to it.

The Diorsnow liquid foundation similarly gets a reformulation. Both products now contain the Icelandic Glacial Water which is also one of the key ingredients in the Diorsnow skincare range,introduced last year. I used to find the Diorsnow liquid foundation texture a bit thicker than their Diorskin Nude foundation which is why I never quite bothered looking at it. The texture of this one however, feels a lot lighter and promises to provide a flawless transparency and stunning freshness to the skin. Quite intriguing I find 

Here are the swatches of the above products for your consideration

Left-Right: Frost Bloom eyeshadow palette clockwise from top left – light iridescent pastel plue, light iridescent pastel green, satin light blue, iridescent light green, iridescent pink | Diorsnow BB Creme 010 | Diorsnow White Reveal Fresh Transparency Liquid foundation 010 Ivory

As you can see, the eyeshadow won’t be for everyone, yet if you like pale iridescent shades and customarily wear black liner, it can look very fresh, effortless and pretty. The BB Creme surprised me a little because its thicker in consistency and deeper in colour compared to the liquid foundation. In fact, it looks deeper in shade than the existing Light BB Creme which still has some pink tones to it. This one looks downright yellow! I find the liquid foundation promising though. It’ll be interesting to try them and see how they fare.

Diorsnow White Reveal Pure Transparency Loose Powder 001 Crystal Lilac (RM175)

Similarly containing Icelandic Glacial Water, this lilac tinted loose powder has a very light, airy texture. The lilac shade is to brighten skin and counteract sallowness and provide a fresh glow. I have a couple of other Dior loose powders that I’d indulged in before this and I have to tell you that the texture is quite sublime. You don’t hear a lot about them, but they really deliver because skin feels so lovely and velvety after you brush it over your skin. My personal fave is the Capture Totale loose powder but then I’m pretty much a sucker for anything under the Capture Totale range, since its the main skincare range from Dior that’s worked best for me so far!

Diorsnow  Fresh Reveal Light Reveal Colour Correcting Powder 003 Crystal Blue (RM198)

If this one looks familiar, its because there are 2 existing powders. 001 Crystal Rose (pink) is for a healthy luminous complexion and 002 Crystal Beige is for reducing redness. This year, Dior introduces 003 Crystal Blue – a new addition for anti-dullness and to help brighten sallow skin. This is a colour correcting powder with 3 in one functions – blue to correct and brighten sallow skintone and tone down redness, white shimmer to provide iridescence and radiance and a translucent powder. This reminds me very much of the RMK Pressed Powder I’ve been using, which has similar shades and a similar function. I’ve almost hit pan on that one so this is timely 

Overall Thoughts

Overall, I’m most interested in the base products. I am all about getting a good base product and I personally have had luck with Dior’s bases. Then again I must note that part of the reason I do well with Dior bases is because they have a pink tint to them that suit my skin. I don’t play well with foundations that have too much yellow in them because it makes my skin look sallow. Yet, I notice that the Diorsnow foundation does tend to be a bit more yellow than Diorskin Nude. So its going to be interesting to see how it fares.

Colour-wise, I’d say the Diorsnow Frost Bloom makeup range isn’t for everyone. The colours do reflect the collection, being light, sheer and iridescent but I can tell its not going to be very popular because what people want, is colour. Still, I have to hand it to Dior for being consistent. They come up with similar looking palettes yearly and it doesn’t seem to be doing any worse so I guess there are enough people out there who like it 

 Oh, and I uh, forgot to include the Sparkling Lip Maximizer  Sorry, it’ll come on its own in time I guess 

One note about the packaging. I noticed that this year, Dior has made the white plastic parts of the packaging a matte texture with an iridescent sort of shimmer to it. I really like that, and I really like the new packaging of the BB Creme. It now looks much more luxe than it did before 

Have you seen or tried anything from the Diorsnow makeup range previously?

I believe the base makeup collection – powders and foundations – are permanent items. The colour items are limited edition. The base items have been around but they’ve recently been reformulated and based on my recollection, for the better. I really did feel that the liquid foundation was too thick before but it does feel more comfortable now 

Paris B

Diorsnow base makeup and Frost Bloom Spring 2013 makeup collection is available at all Dior counters. Prices are as set out above