Eyeshadow

Wear your precious stones and have a bejewelled Christmas with the Dior Precious Rocks collection

Paris B 8 Comments

Hello peeps! I’m back with my nose to the blogging grindstone, and as happens as this time of year, we are going to be inundated with Christmas selections! So, whether you like it or not, you’re going to read about them, so better now than never eh?

I swear Christmas releases are launched earlier and earlier every year. Soon, we’ll literally see Christmas in July! (I’m old-fashioned. Most people call the year-end collections the “Holidays collections” but I call them the Christmas collections) I’ll kick off with Dior – because I must confess, I am quite enamoured with this year’s collection!

dior precious rocks christmas 2017

I have been quite critical of Dior collections of late, and if I’m to be honest, Dior was starting to get predictable. We expect a gold eyeshadow palette, and we expect to be inundated with sparkly golden offerings and red accents. It’s what Dior has been doing every year for many years. but this year, I have to say, that the Dior Precious Rocks Christmas 2017 collection really perked me up.

I have a small selection from the collection to show you, and I’ll break them down briefly for you below. There is one (maybe two) item in the collection that I am very taken with, that I think is absolutely worth checking out. I’ll tell you which it is (although you can hazard a guess and tell me later if you guessed right! 😉 )

Continue Reading

I indulged in the Charlotte Tilbury Instant Eye Palette but I’m in two minds about it

Paris B 12 Comments

One of the buzzier Holiday collection products to have hit social media was the Charlotte Tilbury Instant Eye Palette. Actually, that’s not quite right. I came across it entirely by chance from a Cult Beauty email, and I liked what I saw. So I put myself on the pre-sale list and when the time came, picked it up. Then, it sort of exploded on the internet LOL!

charlotte tilbury instant eye palette

I don’t own any Charlotte Tilbury eyeshadow, so I thought it was a decent deal. 12 eye colours in one handy palette. Deal right? Well, relatively speaking of course 😀

If this palette looks familiar, then know that you aren’t alone. Most people have likened this to the famed Urban Decay Naked palette, and if you are thinking that, you aren’t far from the mark. I personally feel it is a mesh between the UD Naked 1 and Naked 2 palettes, due to the presence of cooler tones in this one. But that’s really where the similarity ends. I had Naked 1 (which I lost) and I have Naked 2, so I can tell you that the colours may look similar to the naked eye (hur hur!) but aren’t the same at all. So, if you’re wondering, no, this is nothing like the UD Naked palettes whether in terms of colours or performance. The similarity ends at the fact that this is an eyeshadow palette with neutral colours.

Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, is this a palette you’d want to blow your holiday collection budget on?

Continue Reading

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

Paris B 14 Comments

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.

chanel road movie eyeshadow palette

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.

Continue Reading

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

Paris B 6 Comments

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!

dior high fidelity eyeshadow palette - inflame, magnify, electrify, expose

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?

Continue Reading

I tell stories on Instagram @parisbmws