Give the Chanel Road Movie eyeshadow palette space in your Travel Diary

The first time I set eyes on the Chanel Travel Diary collection was at the #MWS10 event. I was however, too busy running round to really pay attention. I did however, file one eyeshadow palette away in my head as one “to check out”. It was, without surprise, the very neutral City Lights eyeshadow palette.

During the event however, I noticed many of the girls trying out the new Chanel Road Movie eyeshadow palette, and they looked stunning! However, when I was actually faced with the palette at first, I was a little taken aback.

The bright teal in the top left corner was throwing me for a loop. Having shied away from using colours like these for a while (I’m playing very safe in my dotage 😛 ) I was not sure if I was brave enough to try it. However, when I eventually did dip my brush into the palette, I realised that it was, at its heart, a neutral coloured palette. The teal adds a pop of colour, or shade, but for the most part, it is supremely wearable, and quickly entered daily rotation.

While the Chanel Travel Diary collection puts at forefront the Palette Essentialle face palette, with the concealer, highlighter and blush, I’m unfortunately not sold on that one. It’s a good concept, if you like carrying your makeup around, and if you can find a shade that suits you, that you might like. While the concept fits right in with a collection conceptualised around travel, it is, I feel, not a product that will appeal to many.

My pick from the Chanel Travel Diary collection therefore, is this eyeshadow palette, because I think it’s unique enough, yet practical enough to serve you well with different looks.

In the Chanel Road Movie eyeshadow palette are 2 shimmer shades, and 2 matte satin shades. I feel that it is the matte satin colours that really make this palette what it is – a very wearable and easy to wear palette.

The top two shades are shimmer shades, with a very fine textured shimmer without a hint of glitter. All they do is add that touch of shine to your lid, to give it a lovely 3D effect. The 2 shades at the bottom are satin matte and feel drier when swatched with fingers, but when you use a brush, they apply and blend beautifully on the lid.

In case anyone missed it, this is the post-2014 Chanel eyeshadow formula, which has blown me away every single time. Previous formulas were crap. I owned 2 palettes and they were so bad with no colour pay off and chunky glitter all over the place. But post 2014, they are now well pigmented, blend beautifully and have graduated to a finely textured shimmer. I’ve loved every palette since. Well, most of them anyway LOL 😀 And I freely admit to being a little biased in their favour unless proven wrong.

These are the swatches I’ve done with my fingers.

• Teal (shimmer) – The deep teal has shimmer, as you can see, and comes off on my skin a little more green. If you like, you can use this colour all over your lid, to really make your eyes pop. Or use it for a smokey eye look with a difference.
• Bronze (shimmer) – This is a light bronze with fine shimmer, that makes it a pretty stand-alone lid colour, or if you like, as an accent colour in the middle of your lid, or as a base shade. It blends out smoothly and easily.
• Beige-brown (satin matte) – Applied with a brush, colour is easily picked up and it blends out easily on the skin. I use this as a base colour, or as a blending colour to blend out any deeper colours along the eye socket
• Dark Blue (satin matte) – This feels fine, but applies with fingers more patchily than with a brush. I recommend using a brush because it picks up colour easily and blends it out very smoothly. I find that the pigments are easy to blend out, and they aren’t patchy, but smooth. This makes a good shading colour, which I usually use along the lash line to create shadow.

Here’s a look I did using these shadows, just to give you an idea of how I’d use them. I skipped the Teal shade in this one.

In this, I used the bronze as an all over lid shade. Then, I used the dark blue along the lash line, and then lightly smudged upwards at the outer corner (This is how I do my eyeshadow most of the time, as I find it most flattering for my eye shape) Then, I used the beige-brown to blend out the outside edges along the eye socket and “crease” where the lid folds.

Believe you me when I say that this has to be one of the most effortless eye makeup I’ve done, and I was so surprised at how flattering it was, and how quickly it all came together! It was as if the colours literally melded into each other on their own. I loved it, and I love this palette, and I think that you will too! 😀

IN A NUTSHELL

The Chanel Road Move eyeshadow palette (288) is rather bold looking eyeshadow palette but which is very wearable. The colours are easy to pick up with a brush, and apply smoothly and evenly on the skin. They are very easy to blend, and come together very well and very quickly. I love how easy it is to use, and how the teal can easily add a pop of colour to liven up a look. Truly, this is one of those palettes that you don’t think much about at first, but which surprises you so much, it ends up being a permanent fixture in your makeup kit!

PROS: Smooth pigment, Easy to blend, Bold colours, Compact palette, Beautiful colours

CONS: Pricey, The teal colour can be intimidating, The sponge applicators are useless

WHO WILL LIKE THIS: Anyone who wants a neutral palette with deeper tones, Anyone who wants a palette that can function both as a neutral palette and with some fun colour as well

PRICE: RM210 | US$61

WHERE TO BUY: Chanel counters and boutiques, Chanel online

I wanted to also show you a couple of the Fall-Winter Chanel Travel Diary lip products which I was gifted.

There is one from each of the lip categories that Chanel currently has. In the big scheme of things, considering prices of makeup these days, I think that at RM120 | US$37, they are pretty decent for an entry into the brand :-

• Chanel Rouge Allure Ink – Chanel’s Rouge Allure Ink is their answer to the soft matte liquid lipstick trend and this is the only one that I can safely say I like. In this collection, there are 2 – 156 Lost (a very nude beige) and 158 Highway (LE) (a bright neon coral). The one pictured here is Highway, which looks like a pale pink in the matte frosted tube, but which swatches a neon coral, as you’ll see below. It’s so mind boggling LOL
• Chanel Rouge Coco – This is the regular lipstick in bullet form, in the moisturising formula. In this collection are 2 shades – 472 Experimental (a bright red) and 474 Daylight (a nude). I have it in Daylight, which you see in the lower tube, looks like a warm beige. However, it swatches a much more wearable beige with very slight pink undertones. Another surprise.
• Chanel Rouge Allure Velvet – This is Chanel’s answer to the matte solid lipstick, and again, the only one I am very happy to wear. 2 shades are available – 63 Nightfall (a deep red) and 64 First Light (a warm bright orange-red). In tube, it looks vermillion. I am quite scared of wearing orange on my lips. It doesn’t flatter my complexion. However, this one has more red tones in it, enough to allow me to wear it quite easily. Another mind boggling difference between the colour in tube and the colour on skin.

The colours look a tad more muted in the photo than in real life. In real life, that swatch of Rouge Allure Ink in Highway on the right is neon coral! Not a colour I’d wear, but if you are young and carefree, you’ll embrace it. In fact, if it’s a colour you think you might wear, leave a comment below and mention it in passing so I know you’re interested, and if there’s more than one of you, I’ll just do a quick draw (I’ll send within Malaysia only, sorry). I had a suspicion I wasn’t going to like the colour (I don’t wear pale pinks either) so I used a cotton bud to swatch 🙂

Did you pick up anything from Chanel’s Travel Diary collection? Does Road Movie eyeshadow catch your eye?

I was very pleasantly surprised at how Road Movie turned out on me, so I’m very happy with it. Definitely a palette I can travel with, and make my own travel diary with! 😀

Paris B