Dolce & Gabbana Smooth Eye Color Quad ($59) is new for summer 2011. It consists of a warm yellow-beige shimmer, a warm chocolate with reddish undertones, a berry shimmer, and a deep blackened purple shimmer. The consistency is soft and velvety like all Dolce & Gabbana quads with finely milled powder and sophisticated shimmer. I personally find the colors rich and smooth, but they do require a more careful application to maintain the pigment. If you apply these like MAC or Chanel, blending can make the colors disappear as they blend into one another. I recommend using separate brushes for the dark and light colors. Sponge applicators work too.
I couldn’t find any dupes, but I did a MAC attempt. The MAC colors are wonderful, but do not compare at all to the soft velvety texture of Dolce & Gabbana. If you see and touch a Dolce & Gabbana quad in person you will be able to notice immediately the powders are finely milled and very high quality.
Compared to MAC Ricepaper, Swiss Chocolate, Trax and Smut
For a cost per product comparison:
- MAC 4 pro palette pans = 6.0 g for $44 (1.5 g at $11 each) + $6 for compact = $50
- Dolce & Gabbana quad = 4.8 g for $59 (this includes the compact, mirror and sponge applicators)
I’ll let you decide on the value. For me, cost doesn’t just account for the amount of product, but also quality, packaging, where the product is made (Dolce & Gabbana quads are made in Italy). Do I prefer Dolce & Gabbana over MAC? Hard to say – I see them as apples and oranges. Both are great brands, but they represent different things for me. Their products are uniquely designed for different looks, effects and occasions – in my opinion.
Back to Vulcano – it was a tricky one for me to apply. Since the reddish shades (brown and plum berry) go on very red on me, I decided it was ok to wash them out with blending and layering. I tried applying this a couple ways and found that the method used in my recent Chanel Makeover at Nordstrom (here) was a good method to use for this quad:
- Step 1: Apply a sheer base like LM’s Gold Metallic Creme
- Step 2: Take a dense brush and pack on the berry shade (bottom left) in a messy smudge above the lash line
- Step 3: Take the warm chocolate with a corner brush and blend from outer corners to about the middle of the eye, just above the lash line as well
- Step 4: Use a fluffy brush to apply the lightest shade on top blending all over
- Step 5: Apply the darkest plum shade with a sponge applicator to apply a defined line along upper lashes and bottom outer corners
- Step 6: Take that berry shade and mix it with the brown, with any brush that has dark color on it already and retrace over the darkest shade blending just a bit upwards
For me, this isn’t an easy throw-it-on kind of quad to use. I think it would be better for deepset eyes or women who are used to wearing very warm colors (ie NARS Kuala Lumpur). Still it is beautiful and I don’t have any regrets buying it. It will just take more time and care to apply without overdoing the reds.
The promotional image with Scarlett Johansson is beautiful! For the accuracy of the promo photo, the nail color is more pink on me, but same purple undertone. The quad appears very accurate and the lip color appears to be the new Mandorla.
