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Tom Ford Cocoa Mirage Eye Color Quad

April 8, 2013

I’ve been eyeing Tom Ford’s Cocoa Mirage Eye Color Quad ($75 for 10g/0.35 oz)
for quite some time. It’s one of the few in his line that don’t have the glitter/sparkle finish. However the high price and borderline boring color combination prevented me from ordering sooner. A trip to Neiman Marcus Beverly Hills last month
pushed me over the edge after a few minutes of swatching.

A quick peek at the Tom Ford Beauty counter at Neiman Marcus Beverly Hills (photos by me):

Cocoa Mirage‘s palette is very basic but the pigment is phenomenal for a powder shadow. The texture of the powder is smooth and finely milled. Any brush picks up an impressive amount of pigment and they blend beautifully on the lids for a natural but nicely defined/contoured look. The colors in the palette include a rich matte vanilla, a soft neutral tan, a warm chocolate shimmer, a dark bark matte brown.

The colors will shift from neutral to warm depending on the light. With any kind of flash the swatches turn significantly warmer. On the skin these apply more neutral than red/warm. I have two sets of swatches to help show you the difference. First is with flash:

In direct sunlight:

Tom Ford Cocoa Mirage contains a basic cream and three neutral browns. It’s quite likely you will find dupes out there. I pulled a few neutral palettes to compare but did not have time to search through all my singles. I hope this will help for now. Below is Edward Bess Island Escape and Burberry Mocha.

$75 for an eyeshadow palette is insanely expensive however Tom Ford does provide quite a bit of product in the mirrored quad. At $75 for 10 g for four shadows, the price breaks down to $18.75 per shadow which is 2.5g. Compare this to a few others and the price seems to be similar to put together a quad:
  • MAC singles are $12 to $15 for 1.5g each (a quad with compact will be around $57 for 6 g)
  • Bobbi Brown singles are $21 for 2.5g to 2.8g each (a quad with compact will be around $94)
I’m overall thrilled with Cocoa Mirage. It’s basic but the colors are high quality shadows. This is a wear-to-the-pan kind of quad although I do suspect most will find it too basic. I’m not happy about the high price but given the prices of other brands and singles, Tom Ford doesn’t seem to be too out of line with his eye shadows (still would love the quads to be in the low $60ish range). Out of his whole entire line the strong points still seem to be his lipsticks, blushes and brush range.
I purchased my quad from Neiman Marcus. Also available at Nordstrom, Bloomingdales and Saks. Have you tried Tom Ford Eye Shadow Quads? Which is your favorite? (Mine is Enchanted which was limited-edition.)
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Dior Iridescent Leather #539

March 25, 2013

Dior Iridescent Leather (#539) 5 Couleurs Eyeshadow Palette was released as a limited-edition item for fall 2008 with the Dandy Lady collection. It is possibly one of the most glorious beautiful palette of shimmery neutrals that has ever been released. I know many have pined over this one if they missed out. The good news is that this is back for a limited time in very limited quantities. It’s available now in the US as an exclusive to the Dior Boutique in Vegas at the Palazzo, Saks stores and Saks.com (check the drop-down function online).
The palette now retails for $60 for 6g/0.21 oz (back in 2008, it retailed for $54). All the shades are highly metallic but still easy to wear. On me it’s a warmer neutral, but on darker skins this pulls more cool-toned. I haven’t done a side-by-side swatch comparison of the original versus the new, but the shades do appear to be identical (they also have the same number).

Since I’ve already featured this before, I won’t be re-doing detailed swatches. I did however try to pull a few comparisons to shades from Urban Decay’s Naked palettes. I could not find any dupes but you can probably get a similar effect with Urban Decay Sin, Virgin, Suspect, YDK and Darkhorse.

For additional reference, here are some prior posts that might help along with some swatches/photos from other blogs/sites:

  • Here is Iridescent Leather compared to Edward Bess Cosmic Bliss
  • Here is Iridescent Leather compared to Dior Earth Reflection and Dior Rosy Tan
  • Swatches are featured on Karla Sugar
  • Swatched on darker skin at Makeup and Beauty Blog
  • Additional reviews on Makeupalley
Quantities are very limited to (I recommend you buy sooner than later):
  • The Dior Boutique in Vegas at the Palazzo ask for Massiel at (702)-734-1102
  • Saks stores and Saks.com (check the drop-down function online) 

Happy shopping/hunting!

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Burberry Gold Pearl No. 26 Eye Shadow

January 27, 2013

Burberry Beauty has released one new eye shadow for spring called Gold Pearl No. 26 ($29 for 2.5 g/0.088 oz, made in Italy). It’s a pale yellow gold that is different from any other Burberry shadow I’ve tried. Gold Pearl is a super-sheer gold. The base is a pale yellow but barely shows up on the skin. When applied, all you really see is gold shimmer. This color requires a moist base to prevent it from looking chalky. Applying this with a brush results in a soft dusting of gold micro-glitters. I’ve played with this color for about a week now – I don’t really like it but I don’t hate it. It’s a pretty gold shade for a dusting of shimmer and very different from Burberry shadows in general. I like variety of textures, pigments and finishes – it’s just not quite what I expected. At this point, I’m still undecided.

Here it is swatched several ways, it was really hard to photograph due to the sheer/sparkly nature. Do check out other blogs for other views – on the arm here it just looks all chalky and sparkly. Over a base and applied heavy the pale yellow base shows up more but it looks chalky.
Comparisons by request to a few others: Burberry Trench, Gold Trench, Pale Nude Quad (*second yellowy shade swatched only), Chanel Eclaire and MAC Gold Dusk Pigment (discontinued):
Have you tried Burberry’s Gold Pearl Eyeshadow? What did you think? Did it work for your skintone? Burberry’s spring line is now available at select Nordstrom counters and Nordstrom online. I ordered my items from Nordstrom San Francisco.
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Chanel Raffinement vs. Edward Bess Cosmic Bliss

January 15, 2013
Per request, here is a comparison post of Chanel’s Raffinement Quad ($58) and Edward Bess’s Cosmic Bliss ($68). Both are glorious neutrals. To me they are different enough to justify owning both. The differences:
  • Chanel Raffinement has shimmer that is more frosted than the colors in Edward’s quad. The pales are also quite a bit lighter. Overall the quad pulls a bit warmer and slightly more pinkish/plum on the eyes. The darkest shade is also a matte.
  • Edward Bess Cosmic Bliss is more of a neutral/satiny palette. The colors are a bit darker and more neutral. The shimmer factor is not quite as high as with Chanel.

Both are equally good in pigment, texture and lasting power. I cannot choose between the two – I love them both.

One more view, not in direct sunlight:

Swatches:

Hope this helps!

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Edward Bess Cosmic Bliss Prismette Eyeshadow Quad

January 6, 2013

Edward Bess Cosmic Bliss Prismette Eyeshadow Quad is every taupe-lover’s dream come true ($68 for 0.25 oz/7g). Some have chosen this one as their favorite of the three quads that Edward has released (I agree too). I particularly loved the reviews, reader comments and swatches on Best Things in Beauty and Café Makeup.
Cosmic Bliss has four beautiful neutrals: a creamy all-over-base shade, a soft shimmery beige taupe (same as his Intimate single shadow), a darker taupe shimmer with a very slight hint of mauve, and a dark chocolatey taupe shimmer with reddish tones. The palette is effortless and gives a gorgeous polished look. The shades are shimmery but on the eyes it applied more subtle – it has a luminous glow rather than a shimmery frost. Those who are scared of shimmer need not worry about this one. It’s very natural (but not too natural).

I love that it’s extremely versatile. The texture of the shades is amazing. The colors themselves are very pigmented but texture is soft and easy to blend. Each color is layerable and easy to control so you can create a soft subtle look or a more intense neutral smokey eye.
At first glance it reminded me of a less-frosty version of Dior’s long-discontinued Iridescent Leather (at least discontinued in the US). I pulled it out to compare along with Intimate and Burberry’s Pale Barley. You can see below some similar qualities but that the Edward Bess Cosmic Bliss has a more subdued finish.

Swatches, two views: top without flash, bottom with flash + sunlight

I find Edward Bess’s Cosmic Bliss beautiful and a must-have staple. It’s easy to apply and versatile enough to incorporate into any look. I used it with the following items recently:

I purchased mine from Bergdorf Goodman. It is also available online at Bergdorfs, Neimans and Sephora.com along with a few select locations such as Sephora in NYC and Neiman Marcus Beverly Hills.
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Le Métier de Beauté Bauhaus Kaleidoscope Eye Kit

December 30, 2012

Le Métier de Beauté’s latest is the Bauhaus Kaleidoscope Eye Kit ($95, limited-edition). It’s a stunning palette of rich shimmers in both warm and cool shades. Initial thoughts were that this was an odd combination, but knowing the genius of Le Métier de Beauté’s creations, I decided to order anyways. I ordered sight unseen from Neiman Marcus Beverly Hills thanks to a tutorial/preview featured online at Zuneta (thanks Café Makeup for sending the link).

The shades are not individually named in the palette, although names are listed online:

  • Level 1 is called Axiom: sublime bronzed umber. It’s a warm bronzey-golden shimmer.
  • Level 2 is called Graphic: silver liquid metal. This is a frosted pale silver metallic.
  • Level 3 is called Crucible: rich pomegranate. This shade is a warm metallic wine.
  • Level 4 is called Genre: deep gunmetal. This a frosted silvery gunmetal.

Individual close ups of each layer below.

The only shade that really appealed to me was the top golden bronze, however using the Le Métier layering technique gives a truly stunning smokey eye. It’s perfect for a sultry night time look. Blending the shades will make it suitable for day as well, but to me, this has more of a night-time feel.

In comparing other shades and kits, I do believe you can achieve a similar effect with existing shades. There are very close similarities between Bauhaus and Bordeaux, Thunder, Silk Road kit, and Antiquite Poupee kit. I wouldn’t say there are exact dupes – but shades that are indeed very close.
  • Level 1, Axiom has more warmth/red than Spicy (which is more golden)
  • Level 2, Graphic, I suspect is similar to other silvers (I don’t own any silvers from Le Metier)
  • Level 3, Crucible is a mix between Silk Road’s Level 3 and Bordeaux
  • Level 4, Genre is a more intense/deeper/metallic version of Thunder (more satiny) and Antique Poupee (has more of a blueish/silvery sheen)

Le Métier de Beauté Bauhaus is a stunning palette. I have to say I’m very impressed with the color combinations since they aren’t anything I would have imagined to try on my own. Be sure to check out a few other reviews and eye looks:
Bauhaus is fairly versatile. I used it with a soft pink cheek (Chanel’s Rose Intiale) and nude-pink lips (Tom Ford Pink Dusk + Le Metier Sweet Creme Lip Gloss). On another occasion it worked well with a soft bronzey-nude blush (MAC Tenderling over Laguna Multiple) and nude-pink perle lips (Chanel Perle Rouge Coco). Bottom line love.
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Edward Bess Sun and Stars Prismette Eyeshadow Quad

December 28, 2012

Edward Bess has recently added three new palettes to his line called Prismette Eyeshadow Quads ($68 each for 0.25 oz/7g). These come cased in a black rectangular mirrored compact with a double-sided brush. According to Bergdorfs, these quads have Edward’s Classic Ultra Luminous Eyeshadow formula in a combination of some new shades and signature shades.
There are three sets right now: Cosmic Bliss (all taupe), Over the Moon (plummy greys) and Sun and Stars (day and night look). All quads include the same basic light all-over-base-shade. For the repeats of his singles, Cosmic Bliss includes Intimate + 2 new taupes. Over the Moon contains all new shades and Sun and Stars include Escape, Dusk and Night. I will review all three in the upcoming weeks. First up is Sun and Stars.

Sun and Stars contains three existing shades, Escape (a warm coppery bronze shimmer), Dusk (a metallic taupe, looks greenish/khaki in the photos but applies more neutral), and Night (a cool satiny black). The base/matte shade is new. It has a similar color to his single shadow in Nude but is slightly darker and more pigmented. It works well as an all over base to even the lid softly without looking chalky.

I’ve been using Sun and Stars over his illuminating eye primers (which I think are the best eye bases I’ve tried) and it has performed exceptionally well. The colors are well pigmented with just enough shimmer to add depth but not overly frosty. Compared to the singles, the Sun and Stars quad applies with the same pigment and smoothness. If you already own the individual shades, then purchasing the quad isn’t necessary. It is very convenient for travel and if you’re new to Edward Bess, this is a perfect introduction to his line.
Here it is swatched on my arm:
Comparison shot to the singles: Nude, Escape, Dusk and Night (no swatches since the shades swatch identical between the singles and quads, with the exception of Nude which is a lot lighter/sheerer)
Bottom line: excellent! For me it’s not a must-have simply because I already own the shades individually. I do like the sturdy packaging which is much easier to travel with (versus singles). Sun and Stars has performed very well. Lasting power with his eye bases is all day for me. It’s a palette that can be incorporated into any look and versatile enough for day or night. I believe it will suit a wide range of skintones. While I was at the Beverly Hills counter over a year ago, I saw Edward apply Night to lovely woman with a dark complexion – it gave her a stunning smokey eye.
I’m sure all Edward Bess fans have already seen reviews on other blogs, but in case you haven’t be sure to check out:
I purchased my Edward Bess quads from Bergdorf Goodman. They are also available online at Bergdorf Goodman, Neiman Marcus and Sephora. Right now there appears to be a limited-edition set exclusive to Neimans online called Private Eye which has the Sun and Stars, Dune Eye Base and his mascara for $100 (individual products added up total $128, I haven’t tried his mascara so I can’t report on it, but I do love his eye bases).

Have you tried Edward’s latest?

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