Will Dior High Fidelity Eyeshadow palettes Inflame, Expose, Electrify and Magnify my love for Dior eyeshadow?

Barring the odd release, Dior 5 Colour eyeshadow palettes have never quite captured the imagination of most. Often, bloggers are just, well, kind to the brand. But I’ve actually been a fan of Dior eyeshadow quints for quite many years. I bought my first before I began blogging (because 5 colours in a palette – bargain right? LOL!) and I’d been working with the brand on and off since 2008 (now mostly off). So I’ve been exposed to quite a few iterations of the Dior quints and have built up quite a collection.

For the most part, although most complaints are about how sheer or unpigmented or shimmery Dior eyeshadows are, I’ve been quite a fan. The reason I believe, is because I cut my teeth on Japanese brand eyeshadows. Once you’ve gone there, nothing else feels half as sheer, unpigmented or shimmery! LOL!

But it’s 2017, and with Peter Philips at Dior’s helm, they’ve taken a step to reformulate the famous 5 Couleur eyeshadow palettes with what they say offers better pigmentation and better staying power. I’m going to note however, that back in 2014, they went through one round of reformulation, with the same boasts, and my thoughts then and now remain the same.

You see, the thing is, I never really had a problem with the Dior quints, and I personally thought that the ones released in the most recent 2-3 years were really good. So, for them to promise for it to be better was, in my books, a bold claim.

But reformulate they did. Enter the Dior 5 Couleur High Fidelity Colours & Effects Eyeshadow Palette. They kept the signature cannage print and CD logo, as well as the now familiar layout of the eyeshadow quints. They did move the applicators to one side, but I’d have preferred for them to do away with the applicators altogether, and make the compact even more compact in size. They may have improved on the quality of the shadows, but they did nothing with the applicators, which are a waste of space.

But are these new Dior High Fidelity eyeshadow palettes a significant improvement over what they used to be?

I’d say no. Before I read about the alleged improvements, I had already started playing around with the shadows, and to my mind, there was little to no difference in quality. I wasn’t even quite sure what was new. Even the palettes looked familiar to me (but I’ve been looking at various permutations of Dior quints for over 10 years – things will eventually start to look familiar LOL! 😀 )

I will allow, that most of the textures are now smoother. Some of the older palettes had the odd gritty textured shadow. In the 4 palettes that Dior kindly sent me, I found none to have this gritty texture. I did however find that the texture felt hard to the touch. The matte shades in particular, were hard and if swatched with fingers, appeared patchy on the skin. However, if you use a brush (and I recommend that you use a brush with these palettes), the colours are picked up easily and they blend easily too. You just need a little patience to get it just so.

In terms of pigment, I hesitate to agree that the pigment is any better in these new Dior High Fidelity eyeshadow palettes. For the most part, the colours have a medium opacity, and they are light. I will not use the word sheer, because they aren’t, but the colours are light and shimmery.

Staying power isn’t much longer than it used to be (unless you use a primer) and I had no trouble working with these, in terms of texture. In a nutshell therefore, what I’d say is that they are nice, and blend very nicely to a beautiful eyeshadow, but I’m not exactly blown away by these new Dior High Fidelity eyeshadow palettes as I should be.

Unlike the reformulation of Chanel eyeshadow palettes, which really dragged Chanel into the spotlight, these Dior High Fidelity eyeshadow palettes are more like a gentle reminder that the Dior quints exist.

Of the 4 eyeshadow palettes I have, I did notice some slight differences in quality in each of them, so I’d quickly run through them.

Dior Expose High Fidelity Eyeshadow Palette

At first glance, I thought it was a Khaki palette. But it turns out that it isn’t quite as khaki as I thought. I have to say that this Dior brown toned palette is one of my favourites and the texture is very good. Expose is more of a pale gold palette. You will see the swatches below, where 4 out of 5 colours are actually quite light and shimmery, with only the matte warm reddish brown in the lower left corner to ground the colours.

For the most part, the textures were smooth, except for the matte brown which was harder to pick up colour. Fingers don’t pick up colours well, so don’t use your fingers with these palettes. Use a brush. It works better.

I initially thought this would be a personal favourite, as I like using khaki shades. But it became a “It’s alright, I can work with it but I’m not in love with it” sort of palette.

Dior Inflame High Fidelity Eyeshadow Palette

Inflame is a very warm reddish toned palette, which makes me run crying at the sight of it. On warm skin tones, this will be lovely. On my skintone, less so. Texture-wise, there are 3 shimmer shades and 2 matte ones. The 2 matte ones are hard to the touch and fingers do not pick up colour well. Brushes work better to apply.

However, I did find the colours easy to blend, and they are not as pigmented as what you see in the pan, so it is actually easier to work with. I did try to use it, as you will see below. But this is not a palette I will reach for often or at all, and will likely rehome.

Dior Electrify High Fidelity Eyeshadow Palette

Electrify is such a bright palette, that I was initially quite scared of it. I’m at the stage where I eschew bright eye colours, preferring to wear something more neutral. However, when swatched, it is not as it seems.

I expected Electrify to be well, electrifying. But this was about as electrifying as a static shock. The colours were not as bold as I thought they would be, and instead of a teal shade, on my skin colouring, it became more of a deep blue. The colourful palette turned out on me, to be shades of blue. How odd.

The pink, although scary and bright in pan, on the skin blends out into a good transition and blending colour. It was all very surprising and a palette that grew on me. It also makes for a very pretty smokey eye, so I was quite pleased with this one.

In terms of texture, the matte shade is the seafoam green in the middle, and the pink in the top left corner, both of which I would use as a blending shade, they being so pale. The other 3 shades have shimmer, but are mostly iridescent, so it isn’t blingy, but yet gives a nice shine to the eye area. If you wanted something electrifying, I’m sorry, but this isn’t it, but it is very pretty nonetheless.

Dior Magnify High Fidelity Eyeshadow Palette

Purples like these are colours I never wear, because they just do not go well on my skin. I found the matte aubergine shade on the lower left very dry and applied patchily to the skin. The other shades fared much better. If you like purples, then you may like this one. Just be aware that the matte colour will feel dry and need a little work. But it all blends quite easily.

What I find with these palettes, is that the matte shades need more work. I use them as blending and shading shades, so any patchiness is minimized. However, if you use it on its own, it might need more work.

To give you an idea of how these swatch, here are the swatches of all 4 palettes above. They are all swatched clockwise from top left, ending with the middle colour.

I did have to layer it on somewhat to get the colours to show up, and these swatches were done with fingers. The matte shades (primarily the deeper shades) needed more work and you can see how some of them look a little patchy. The palette with the best overall texture was Electrify.

In terms of the lighter shades, you may notice how on my skin tone (Dior foundation No. 010 – fair neutral) they all look fairly similar. Of the 4 I have here, my favourite turned out to be the one I was most afraid of – Electrify. The one I thought I’d like (Expose) turned out to not show up well on me, which just goes to show you that you should not judge an eyeshadow palette by how it looks but by how it wears 😀

IN A NUTSHELL

The Dior 5 Couleur High Fidelity Colour and Effect Eyeshadow palettes are new, permanent eyeshadow palettes which have been reformulated. They are supposed to now boast better staying power, and better pigment. I find that while the texture is hard to the touch, brushes pick up the colours more easily, and deposit them more easily on your skin. In that sense therefore, I find that brushes are the best way to use these shadows, and that the best way to apply them is by patting them on if you want better pigmentation. The colours blend easily. However, I am not blown away as others have been. It might be because I’ve never had an issue with Dior eyeshadows before this. I’ve always enjoyed using them, and these felt no different. Perhaps a little smoother, but otherwise, I didn’t think them far better than they used to be. Not bad, just not as innovative as people would make you believe.

PROS: Handy to have 5 shades in a compact, Easy to blend, Decent staying power, Pigmented if you pat them on but only for the deeper colours

CONS: Works best with brushes, Pricey, Light colours are very light with little definition, Matte shades have a hard texture and can apply patchily

WHO WILL LIKE THEM: Anyone who likes eyeshadow palettes, Anyone who is comfortable using lighter, less opaque eyeshadow textures

PRICE: RM260 | US$62 | £45

WHERE TO BUY: Dior counters and boutiques, Selfridges, Saks Fifth Avenue

I wasn’t going to share eye makeup looks (as my skills are too basic to be impressive), but I had already done a few, so I’ll share them here. I never know how helpful they are, as I thought swatches would be easier to get a handle on the colour. So, I might skip eye looks in the future if I don’t have the time – I’ll weather being called a “lazy blogger” if it means getting a post out vs not getting one out at all 🙂

This is Inflame on left and Expose on right. With Inflame, I used the colour on the lower left all over, and the darkest shade along the lashline, just to shade and define a little. Because I have hooded lids, when I open my eyes, you can barely see most of it 😛

With Expose, I did a more traditional method of khaki and gold all over, and the the dark brown on the outer part of the eye, blended inwards.

With Electrify, I found that the colour is quite strong, so I went with something a little heavier. The blue on the lower left all over, with the dark blue on the outer corner and along the lower lash line. I dusted the pink above the “crease” where my lid folds, to blend out the blue, and used one of the light shades to the brow.

I didn’t work with Magnify as I ran out of inspiration and energy LOL! 😀 But you get the idea. I have very little variation in how I do my eye makeup, so it is always one of these ways. Simple to execute and with the right tools, takes little time. I only use 3 brushes to do my eye makeup and it’s always the same 3 in terms of shape. They could be from different brands but the same 3 shapes always feature, which you’d likely see here.

Did you check out the new Dior eyeshadows? Do you generally like Dior shadows?

I generally have, so for me, these new shadows aren’t exactly earth-moving. I thought they were pretty decent before this, and I’d always liked them, so it’s hard to truly excite me since I’m predisposed to liking them LOL! 😀 They aren’t as strongly pigmented as brands like Urban Decay or Mac but it suits my makeup style. How about you? 🙂

Paris B