Giorgio Armani Fall 2010 Picks For Me

When I saw that the fall collection from Armani had launched online, I knew I had to get the new Eyes to Kill Mascara in #5 Blue Grey Night ($30) and the Powder Blush Duo ($49). I’ve loved every single powder blush released by Armani and the new one for fall is exquisite. The Fall Quad ($59) purchase, I credit to Gaia from The Non-Blonde (see her sneak peek here) who has a way of creating major lemmings for me.

My sales associate called me as soon as they came in, which I highly appreciate (it pays to be a loyal customer). For some reason, Armani has been distributing extremely limited quantities of stock to the counters near me. For the past year they have received extremely limited stock and usually don’t get testers until months after they receive the product to sell. For this collection, she only received 3 blush duos and 3 quads. There were no testers, but being familiar with the quality of their eyeshadow quads and blushes, I didn’t need to test these before purchasing.

Eyes to Kill Mascara #5 (not swatched) – For this one they had a brand new tester so I eagerly tried this one out with a tester mascara wand. In the tube it’s a metallic smokey blue-grey. It goes on darker than it appears in the tube and looks lovely on the eyes. This is my first non-black mascara purchase. There are a number of gorgeous shades by Chanel (plum, bronze, aubergine, etc.) however, the formulas cannot compare to Armani’s Eyes to Kill (my all time favorite mascara). The Eyes to Kill Mascaras defines the lashes, thickens, lengthens and holds the curl. All without flaking or smudging or making the lashes feel brittle. It’s pure love and worth every single penny.

Maestro Eyeshadow Quad Fall 2010 – The pigment on this is incredible. The colors however are definitely out of my personal comfort zone. I think the combination of colors are odd for use all at one time. I really have no idea how I will be able to pull off all shades at once. I’m not sure that I think “fall” when I see it. The blue and navy makes me thing “nautical” which is not something I really associate with fall. Still the colors in the palette are stunning and unique to Armani (see comparisons to Maestro Singles 6, 21 and 33 below). In it there is a denim-colored shimmery bright navy, smokey deep brown with plum, pale silvery blue, shimmery olive almost khaki colored brown. The artist suggested mixing the navy and dark brown together for a smokey eye.

Blush Duo Fall 2010 – Lovely fresh hot pink with a soft pale pink. In typical Armani Blush style, soft texture/finish, natural semi-sheer finish, makes the cheeks just glow. The pale side has more color and is more pink than Blush #12. I used this blush duo as soon as I got home mixed together. It’s just so pretty. I’ve compared it below to some other pinks from D&G, Bobbi Brown, Paul & Joe and Armani. No swatch comparisons as blush shades are extremely hard for me to swatch accurately. *Note* someone mentioned this is $80+ on the armani website and is also listed under the cream-blush duo, I think this an error but I’m not certain. Mine was $49 US (before tax) and it’s definitely powder on both sides. The price can be confirmed on Nordstrom.com.

More photos.

I passed on the new Purple Eyes to Kill #7 (simply too purple for me, just as Gaia described). I didn’t see the new lipsticks, but they seem a bit dark for my taste.