Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Lancôme Color Design Eye Brightening All-In-One 5 Shadow & Liner Palette - The Greens

Earlier in the month, I featured two of Lancôme's Color Design Eye Brightening All-In-One 5 Shadow & Liner Palettes ($48). You can see those features here and here. I promised to show you more, so today, let's look at Teal Fury and Jade Fever. Seems fitting, with St. Patrick's Day coming up tomorrow, and I had a special request from Annette.

To recap, each palette has a schematic on the box and on a plastic overlay within the compact to ensure you know how Lancôme intended the colors to be used. At the top, there is an all-over-base. Below, there are three color blocks, from left to right: lid color, crease color, and highlighter. At the bottom of each palette, there's a liner shade that coordinates with the other colors. I don't think you should feel constrained to use the colors the way Lancôme suggests. I'll suggest why below.

Lancôme says its new palettes provide five simple steps to contour, sculpt, and brighten your eyes. "From day to night, or soft to dramatic," you'll have what you need to customize your perfect eye look. These shadows present Lancôme's newest generation of silky luster powders for smooth application and pure, luminous color. They are said to wear for eight hours, without creasing or fading. I found that to be true.

At right are the swatch photos of Teal Fury shadows, with the liner photo below. These blue-greens are gorgeous colors. All of my photos were taken in full sun, and the shadows and liners were applied with a sponge-tipped applicator. The pink base shade, shown at the top of my arm, is a pretty, icy pink, a perfect complement to the green and blue shades that fill Teal Fury. You could use this base shade as a highlighter. The other photos were swatched left to right. There are two teal shades - a lid shade that pops and a crease shade that's subtle - basically one for every mood. The crease shade is gorgeous on the complete lower lid. It paints a teal smoky eye - love it! Why restrict its use to the crease? The blue highlighter is icy. It's a pretty shade and can be combined with the greens for a teal look on the lid. I would have to use it carefully as a highlighter, perhaps only on the center of my eyelid. I can see it applied evenly on the lower lid under the crease for a wash of shimmering blue.

Somehow I managed to forget to swatch the liner shade from Teal Fury when I took my original photo, so I went back and got a second photo to show you that the charcoal liner is very subtly shaded by teal. It's a pretty color that coordinates perfectly with the shadows in the palette. You can go "everyday" with the subtle teal and liner, or play up a snazzy look with one or more of the blue-green shades and pop your eyes with the liner. This compact allows you to create many looks.

Swinging to a more neutral, but still colorful look, Jade Fever was designed for the green lover who doesn't want to shout. I fall into that category! The top shade is a neutral golden beige. My swatch photo shows it at the top of my arm. It's a perfect base shade for the rest of the shadows in the palette. I am enormously impressed with the base shades in the Color Design palettes I purchased. They are all gorgeous and will be useful no matter what colors I layer with them.

From left to right in my swatch photo, there is a celery green lid color, a muted khaki crease shade, and a yellow gold highlighter. The liner is a deep brown to my eye. Aren't these pretty? If you wanted to get a look for St. Patrick's Day (and be able to wear it to work), this is your Lancôme Color Design palette.

Now, I have shared photos of Teal Fury, Jade Fever, Bronze Amour, and Taupe Craze. I also purchased Midnight Rush (a palette that's based on blues and greys - probably my least favorite of the bunch, even though it's very pretty). I think Lancôme has a hit on its hands. These are beautifully crafted palettes.

You can purchase these lovely new palettes from Lancôme's Web site, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, Sephora (where I bought these two), and, I assume, any other Lancôme counter.

Palette photos courtesy of Nordstrom