Chanel Taupe Grisé 87 Soft Touch Eyeshadow

Taupe + Shimmer + Chanel = must buy. If there’s a taupe Chanel makes, it’s instantly a must have for me. I am taupe-obsessed much like Elvira and Josie, and there’s no stopping us, ever. Taupe Grisé 87 is the newest taupe released by Chanel for their Fall 2010 collection. My makeup-twin Amy at Café Makeup has given a lovely review here (I call her my twin because we love the same things, although she has fairer skintone = Chanel Cameo/NC15 while I am Chanel Shell/NC30-35).

There a number of other great reviews, photos and swatches out there so the focus of this post will be on comparisons to similar shades.

There are a million other taupes out there (click on the Taupe Label below this post to see the other ones I have obsessed over) but I picked out the ones in my mind I thought, “Could this one be a dupe?” I personally could not find a dupe for this lovely color. There are similar shades, but from what I have, no dupe.

Compared to: Chanel Silvery, Chanel Safari, Chanel Vega (d/c), MAC Moth Brown (l/e), MAC Sweet Sienna (l/e), MAC Smoke & Diamonds (l/e), MAC Clue (l/e), Stila Dapple (d/c), Chanetcaille Meteorite, Laura Mercier Sable

In natural light (still cloudy weather):

Swatched over bare skin:

One more view with different lighting:

Is it a must-have? For me it was being a Chanel fan and a taupe fan. I have no willpower when it comes to Chanel. I played around with it on the eyes today, it works better when applied over a cream base, otherwise it just ended up looking bruisey on my eyes. I would describe it as having a subtle sheen. It looks shimmery in the container but when applied on the eyes, it looks more satin-matte rather than shimmery.

*Update* Upon reviewing my swatches and those on other websites, I thought Taupe Grise looked extremely brown on me compared to other girls. Much more brown than it appears in the container. I swatched it again alone, and then next to MAC Moth Brown to see if perhaps I made a mistake – but no. For some reason, it looks cool in the container, but on my skin, it’s not quite as cool. Here is another swatch comparison. Note that I have olive medium skin. This may look different on you. It’s still a cool colored taupe in my opinion, but next to Moth Brown it just looks warm perhaps because Moth Brown is overwhelmingly cool with an almost blueish sheen.

Hope this helps give you a better idea!