Lancome Color Design Palette in Plum Splendor review, photos, swatches

 Infinitely luminous. Sensationally smooth. All-in-one 5 shadow palette to brighten eyes.

Lancôme’s versatile, all-in-one palette conveniently creates a full eye look for day or night.

Experience the newest generation of luminosity as silky lustrous powders transparently wrap the skin, allowing a seamless layering of pure color for a silky sheen and radiant finish.

Build with absolute precision and apply the shades in 5 simple steps (all over, lid, crease, highlighter and liner) to design your customized eye look. Contour, sculpt and lift in soft day colors or intensify with dramatic evening hues for smoldering smoky effects.

Long wear, 8-hour formula.
Color does not fade, continues to stay true.

Purple eyeshadows are one of my favorites both cool and warm toned ones. I prefer shimmery purple shades more than matte ones (easier to work with) and that's why I was very pleased with this palette. It contains enough both warm and cool toned purples and plums , soft enough for day but shimmery and bright enough to be worn as night time/going out makeup.

Nice thing about these Lancome palettes is that it comes with a little booklet/ guide on how to apply eyeshadows and how to achieve certain looks as well as clear plastic cover over the eyeshadows that clearly mark which color goes where.

All over base color is pearly soft pink. It's mostly satin , leaning to matte and has decent enough pigment to cover the lid or for eyebrow highlight.

Lid color is shimmery smokey plum. This one is probably the most unique color in the palette. It is warm plum with the golden shimmer.

Crease color is shimmery purple grey. It is more cool toned and has great pigment. Blends very nicely and it probably has the smoothest texture in the palette.

Highlighter color is shimmery light purple, more of a lavender color. I am not sure I would really use this as a highlighter but it can be nice in the inner corner of the eye, or all over the eyelid if you want softer lighter look.

Eyeliner color is matte black that's super pigmented and almost creamy. Very soft and smooth texture. This doesn't really have to be used only as an eyeliner color, I would gladly use it in the outer corner to make the whole look a little bit darker.

Clearly this guide on color placement doesn't mean you can't use and place eyeshadows where you prefer. But it's a nice guide for beginners. Many many women do not know where and how to apply eyeshadows. You would be surprised how many. I often here "Oh I love this palette but I wouldn't know how to use it."

NARSissist eyeshadow palette

Are you a NARSissist? Cause' I am! When I saw preview of this palette I could not wait to get my hands on it! What else could you ask for if you are eyeshadow fan and NARS fan? This is your dream come true - and mine too! 15 iconic shades in one palette is a great choice for someone who does not own any NARS eyeshadow or for someone who might have almost all of them but needs something more compact , purse or travel friendly. 

This palette contains:

All about Eve 1 - flesh toned neutral

Madrague 2 - matte caramel 

Fez- velvety cocoa

Bali - neutral 

Coconut grove -deep brown infused with reflections

Madrague 1 - matte cream

Nepal - soft sheer rose

Ashes to ashes - shimmery violet based brown

Brousse 2 - black violet

Mekong - espresso infused with gold

Belissima 1 - shimmering beige with subtle glitter

Lhasa - lavender gray

Bad behavior - deep pewter

Dogon 2 - charcoal black

Pandora 2 - matte black

I have read so many different reviews on this palette that makes me wonder if some women even know how to use makeup... anyway here are my thoughts.

All about eve - soft, neutral, so light that blends right into my skin tone. Great for all over base color or for the inner corner/ brow bone. Good pigmentation and easy to work with.

Madrague 2 - much lighter in the pan than when applied on skin. On me it shows up much darker, which surprised me. Great transition color for above the crease. Even though it's matte it's easy to work with (some NARS mattes are little bit tricky and takes time and patience to figure out the best way to apply them).

Fez- serious stunner. One of the best colors in the palette. In the swatch below I used only one swipe with the brush. Please note how much pigmentation it has, it is super opaque and almost feels creamy. My top 3 from this palette for sure.

Bali - super wearable, soft, easy to blend such a staple color. It has been on my wishlist for a while and I am glad it came with this palette. I love using shades like this one for the outer corner.

Coconut grove - next to MAC's handwirtten the best matte brown eyeshadow I have ever tried. Very pigmented, can be used as an eyeliner too! I had no problem with application or blending. Matte texture but very "creamy" (what a wrong way to say it) meaning it is not dry or doesn't have any fallout.


From the first row I did not have any of the colors. Bingo! I usually avoid NARS palettes because for example - I already have 6 out of 9 colors they put in a palette.

Madrague 1 - it is so sheer that I can't see it being use for anything but highlighter. Which is ok, some of the colors have to be for that too. I had to make about 3 swipes with the brush to get anything to show up on my skin.

Nepal - very wearable soft pinkish color, great for all over the lid. Decent pigmentation, I won't say it's great but it's not bad either.

Ashes to ashes - one of the most popular shades from NARS. It's a nice taupey violet based brown. I can see this looking great on everyone. Good for a quick makeup all over the lid and with the eyeliner. Soft and wearable, office friendly. It could have been more pigmented. It does not have visible shimmer.

Brousse 2 - it is dark violet with some dark grey tones to it. No black in it really. It is on a drier side, and it takes couple of swipes to build the color. I think it compliments other colors in this row nicely.

Mekong - I do not see how this color fits into this row and an idea of taupey, rosey, violet colors. Mekong is dark chocolate brown infused with gold. Not that I am saying it has to be used with other colors from the row, but it's an odd choice. I already have single of this one and it is very pigmented and great color for brown/bronzey neutral smokey eyes. When swatched just with finger you will notice gold shimmer more, but when blended with the brush shimmer mostly disappears and you end up with very dark brown.

Belissima 1- one of the worst NARS eyeshadows I've tried. I already reviewed it here. Color is mostly non existing , it just offers golden shimmer. It is ok over other eyeshadows to give some shimmer or maybe for the outer corner but I find it hard to work with. Layering layering, patting the color on.... too much work for my taste.

Lhasa -  surprise number 2! I have swatched it a while ago and found that it's too dry and not really pigmented so I skipped even though I liked the color. Liv from blushnglow liked it and I should have listened to her. I am so glad it came in this palette! Great pigment, soft, easy to blend one swipe and it's completely opaque... I can go on and on how impressed I am with this color and it's texture.

Bad behavior - I am surprised they put an eyeshadow that's not from their regular line but Cinematic one - limited edition from Guy Bourdoin collection. I want to know how did I miss on Bad behavior?? How? I only got Mississippi mermaid which I loved. I wish all the NARS shadows have this specific texture. I am blown away by Bad behavior. It's such a complex color - deep pewter but it has tiny shimmer that's pink, silver, blue etc... Pictures don't really do justice. I tried to capture but I am not sure how successful I was.

Dogon 2 - great for outer corner if you do not want to go with something as bold as black. Slightly dry texture, and sheer pigment but buildable. I have Dogon from the first release but do not use it often.

Pandora 2- great matte deep black. Very pigmented and easy to work with. Probably the best
matte black eyeshadow I have tried.

Size comparison with NARS blush or eyeshadow duo (their compacts are the same size) and NARS single eyeshadow 

Photos taken with flash:

L-R : All about eve, Madrague 2, Fez, Bali, Coconut grove

L-R : Madrague 1, Nepal, Ashes to Ashes, Brousse 2 , Mekong

L-R : Belissima 1, Lhasa, Bad behavior, Dogon 2, Pandora 2

Check out the beautiful shimmer in the Bad behavior <3

What I have read out there  - pigment and quality is not the same as their single and duo eyeshadows. I have to disagree. I wonder if people who claim that actually do have their single and duo eyeshadows? I would say no. Yes quality can be different across the line and NARS does have some hits and some misses when it comes to their eyeshadows but this palette pretty much represents how NARS eyeshadows are. They are not as soft and "creamy" as for example Urban Decay. I would say they are on the same page as MAC. 

Others claim that darker shades are hard to work with. Whaaat? Darker shades in this palette are absolute winners! They are so pigmented and smooth and much better than the light ones. 

Thank you NARS for making this wonderful palette for all of us who already have a lot eyeshadows but also for those ones who are just being introduces to your brand. 

My top 3 from the palette : Fez, Lhasa and Bad behavior 

3 most disappointing: Belissima, Dogon 2, Brousse 2

NARS Kauai eyeshadow duo spring 2014 collection

NARS Spring 2014 collection is inspired by exotic places like Hawaii and Bahamas. Inlcudes some bold and electric colors. I only picked up two items from this collection - Kauai eyeshadow duo and Bimini lipgloss. I love how NARS combines colors that I would never think that could go together - electric purple eyes and guava orange lips? Yes why not.  To quote Francois "Rules are boring". Both items I picked up are now part of NARS permanent range. 

Kauai is really unique and breath taking. I can't think of any dupes especially for the lighter color.

Lighter shade is described as "gold lame".It is very light gold, almost antiqued and more wearable than some bright yellow golds. It has very metallic finish with the same color shimmer that can become almost multi-colored depending on the light (I loved it the most under the artificial store lights). Texture is beyond amazing. I can easily say this is the best NARS eyeshadow duo texture wise. It is such a smooth silky and soft powder that will make you think it's a cream. Incredibly pigmented. 

Darker shade in this duo is described as "iridescent smokey orchid" . I had to google orchid pictures, especially Hawaiian orchid and honestly that color has nothing to do with this. There might be some orchids that I managed to find pictures of that are very dark purple and do fit in this description but most of the orchids are much lighter and warmer toned. This eyeshadow does have some orchid color undertones but mainly it is medium-dark purple with shimmery finish. Though you want see shimmer itself it has very iridescent finish as well as lighter shade. This duo is not really work appropriate if you work in corporate worlds, it's just too much for the office. Darker shade could be used as eyeliner - I think that might look beautiful even for everyday makeup. But both of these shades together will make anyone look more like a disco ball. 

Purple side of the duo is also very smooth and soft but not as pigmented as the gold side. It is not bad, but I had to make three swipes of the purple side to achieve the same opacity that I got with only one swipe of the gold side.

Indoor photos taken with flash:

Outdoors direct sunlight:

Indoors daylight:

Indoors with flash:

I am still trying to figure out how to wear this duo - both shades together or to combine it with something more matte and not as bright. I will post some eye look separately.  I often find that I can't wear NARS duos the way they were supposed to - by itself. I have better luck when I combine them with other NARS eyeshadows I have.

Francois NARS named this duo by Hawaiian island of Kauai:

http://www.gohawaii.com/kauai

Experiencing Hawaii is something that you should put on you bucket list... It is wonderful experience and I was lucky enough to be able to visit Hawaii 4 years ago. Hopefully it's not the last time. It is world for itself. Pictures and descriptions can do justice to this magical piece of land in the middle of the ocean. It is heaven.

ALOHA!

Lancome Hypnotic eyes collection

In honor of celebrating 10 years of Hypnose Lancome released mini collection of mostly permanent items like - Hypnose drama, Hypnose, Hypnose star, Hypnose doll mascaras, Eyebrow pencils and some single eyshadows but also included three new Color design eyeshadow palettes. I can easily say the best ones so far. 

First up Beige brule - my favorite of three. It includes 4 matte shades - finally a palette with matte shades and one shimmery shade for highlight - this one could easily be matte too but it still nicely combines with the other ones. Texture is superb! Smooth, very pigmented, silky, blends easily. Lancome definitely jumped on a "naked palette" bandwagon and this one reminds me a lot of Urban Decay Naked basics (reviewed here ) . 

Chocolate amande is more on a golden side with all 4 shimmery shades. They all have some slight golden shimmer to them. Only top lighter shade had not so much pigment but it's ok for all over the lid as a base or a as highlight. Unforutanetely I took pictures with my phone and I could not capture how amazing taupe color is (second row first one on the left). It has beautiful shimmer to it, silver but not big or gritty it's just perfect. I wish they make this color as a single. 

French Nude is probably the warmest of all the palettes and has combination of matte/satin and one shimmery shade. There is such a nice peachy nude shade for all over the lid and all the brown shades in the palette have really good pigment. This is probably the softest one , colors are light and nude for someone who wants very easy "office friendly" eye makeup. 

All three palettes are limited edition. I would love to see Beige brule being added to permanent line - it makes no sense having dozens of shimmery palettes and none completely matte especially with this huge trend of nude/naked eye makeup.