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Giorgio Armani: Eye Shadow Quads

November 12, 2009

Back in September, I was planning to do a full series on Giorgio Armani, but have been slacking. I will feature Armani more frequently since I know a lot of you are interested in the line, although I can’t promise to get fully back on track since there are so many other brands that I want to write about.

Giorgio Armani released 4 eyeshadow quads (Numbers 01, 02, 03, 04) in 2005 back when Armani hard to find since it was only available at a few Saks locations and various Giorgio Armani Boutiques. They have since reformulated the quads in their Maestro Eye Shadow Formula and the pigment is much better.

In addition to the original 4, they have released a number of limited edition eyeshadow palettes with various seasonal collection. The two newer colors 05 Desert and 06 Mineral were released as part of the regular line.

The quads I still have with swatches:

Top: 02 Floral (original formula) , 03 Earth (original formula)
Bottom: 04 Stone (original formula), 05 Desert (new formula)


#02 Original Formula:


#03 Original Formula:


#04 Original Formula:


#05 New Maestro Formula:


Limited Edition Quads, L to R: Midnight Eye Mania, #10 Leather, Pink Light


Midnight Eye Mania:


#10 Leather Collection:


Pink Light:


All of mine were purchased at Saks over the years. Today, they retail for $58 US each which I feel is fairly steep. I tend to wait for Saks events when they have GWPs or Triple Points. I believe Armani recently did a 20% discount online, perhaps they will do another promotion soon.

I have not repurchased the shades I already own in the new formula because I am happy with the consistency, although I have tried the newer formula instore and can confirm it is much better than the original.

The newest eyeshadow palettes they released were the Eyes to Kill & the holiday double-tiered palette. Check out Giorgio Armani Eyes to Kill Palettes 1, 2 & 3 and also Giorgio Armani Holiday 2009 for more pictures.


For more Armani photos and swatches, click on this Giorgio Armani label. I’ve done a full feature on the New Maestro Eyeshadows and Blushes and Bronzers. There are bits and pieces of other items scattered among other articles.

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Giorgio Armani Holiday 2009: Crystal Palette and Silk 94 Lipstick

October 25, 2009

Giorgio Armani’s Holiday collection has been arriving in stores in limited quantities, so if you like anything, I suggest you grab them fast! I called Saks today to find that they had sold out most of their palettes and had only one left which the SA was kind enough to hold for me.

I came home with the Crystal Palette and Silk 94 Lipstick:



Silk Lipstick #94:


The top layer of the Crystal Palette 2009 and Silk 94 (the embossed parts of the palette are overspray):


The bottom tier of the Crystal Palette:


One more view:


I wish they had released an eyeshadow the same shade as the lipgloss, it would have made a gorgeous eye color! No swatches yet since it’s too pretty to touch!

I don’t remember all the shade names/numbers but this is what I saw:

* Crystal Palette – two tiered compact with crystals that contains a highlight powder oversprayed with silver sparkle, and 4 eyeshadows in shimmery cool charcoal, shimmery multi-dimensional teal, light silvery-blue, cool taupe grey
* Silk 94 Lipstick – sparkley (more shimmery than most armani lipsticks) golden-taupe
* Silk ?? Lipstick – shimmery warm red
* Lipshimmer 61 – matches the gold lipstick, but looks a bit more metallic/brassy
* Sheer Shimmer Powder #5 – I believe Armani had shimmer powders before, I can’t remember how many there used to be, but they are the same size as the blushes/bronzers, this one is a pale iridescent light pink (similar to Chanel Rosee Poudre Douce)
* Mascara Top Coat in a glittery bronze/gold

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Laura Mercier Baked Eye Colour Palette for Holiday 2009

October 22, 2009

I normally get excited about all the holiday palettes and kits that come out every year, but felt this year there were too many palettes and not enough individual products to choose from. Laura Mercier has some gorgeous palettes which are nice if you don’t have a lot of products from her line. But if you’re like me and are looking for something you don’t already have in your collection, then you might be more inclined to wait and see what comes out for spring.

She does have quite a few bath & body kits that look interesting, but for her color items, the only thing that really caught my eye was her Baked Eye Colour Palette which retails for $48 and has 5 colors with a double-sided brush.

Left to right: Champagne, Sepia, Mink, Malt and Sterling

Overall thoughts: Champagne, Malt and Sterling are very sparkley and light. If you remember those Diamond Dust Eyeshadows from Bobbi Brown years ago, these are similar in concept. Light base color with loads of silver sparkle. These are nice and not over the top, but since they are so sheer, all three colors look the same on me.

Sepia and Mink are gorgeous shades, but feel a bit “over baked” making the pigment so-so. It’s still workable and they show up if you apply them with a brush that is slightly damp or over a cream base.

The Laura Mercier website states this is a $108 retail value which I am completely at odds on how they calculated this.

If you like Baked Shadows but want more pigmented and fun colors, check out the Gemstone Eye Collection which is exclusive to Saks. I actually never used the kit and ended up returning that kit soon after I received it in the mail because I couldn’t justify the price – but have to say the colors were stunning and if you don’t mind a splurge the brushes are fantastic and colors cute.

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Bobbi Brown Pewter Chrome Eyeshadow & Earth Metal Palette

October 1, 2009

These were found at Neimans yesterday – they had all the first round of holiday sets out for Bobbi Brown including the full-size tube tint set, full-size lip gloss set, velvet plum eyeshadow palette etc. They also had the rich color glosses (I passed on all of these because I couldn’t find a single color I unique enough or pretty enough). They also had their exclusive Black Plum Deluxe Brush Collection with the full size brushes. No sightings of those cute mini shimmer bricks yet – I believe the ship date for those was in November.

Came home with the Chrome Eyeshadow in Pewter $22 (Saks.com) and Earth Metal Palette $60 (on Saks.com and Bobbibrowncosmetics.com) even though there are several events I should have waited for happening on the 15th of this month (my local Nordies is having their fall event at all the counters with GWPs, Saks has their friends and family starting around that time, and Neimans will have their Incircle event with GWPs too).

Hopefully these pictures will help! In response to the request for “more picture views without flash” I’ve tried to include a lot more different shots this time. So be warned this is picture heavy!



Size comparisons:

Top close up:

Swatches of the Pewter Eyeshadows and Earth Metal Palette over bare skin, no base:

L to R: Pewter Metallic, Pewter Chrome, Autumn SW, Earth Metal Metallic, Zinc Metallic, Black Spruce Metallic, Sunset Gold Metallic, Antique Gold Metallic, Paisley Rose Creamy, Rose Garden Creamy, Rose Bud Creamy, Barefoot Shimmer Creamy

Pewter Metallic (left) and Pewter Chrome (right):

Pewter Metallic (left) and Pewter Chrome (right) in natural sunlight:

I posted about the exclusive Pewter Metallic Eye Set at Nordstrom in August and many of you have inquired “is the Pewter Metallic going to be the same as Pewter Chrome?” My answer is that they are very similar but not the same. I prefer the metallic version, the chrome is slightly harder in formula, more shiny (hence the chrome aspect), and more silver-cool.

Overall thoughts about the Earth Metal Palette – feelings are mixed. For $60 the palette is pretty tiny and not worth the price. Products should have been larger and the brushes in the set are the worst I have ever seen. Pigmentation of the eyeshadows is also mixed, some are less pigmented than others.

I really liked her format of her most recent Nudes Eyeshadow Palette and felt it was worth the $60 price tag. If she had released an eyeshadow palette like this with the Earth Metal Colors I would have felt it a better buy.

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Nars Pleasure of Paris Eyeshadow Palette

September 24, 2009

This is the newest palette from Nars which is currently a Saks Exclusive in the US and available to Narscosmetics.com. The palette was sold out on the Nars website for a couple weeks, so I called the Saks Locator to track one down from store stock and had them order it for me. I did speak with Nars Customer Service a couple weeks ago and they said they were expecting another shipment of this palette by today. So check back online shortly!

Top Row: Nepal, Violetta, Demon Lover
Bottom Row: Fez, Abyssinia, Cordura

I don’t have a lot of purples in my eyeshadow stash, so these comparison photos aren’t necessarily dupes, but comparisons.

1. Laura Mercier Primrose
2. MAC Seedy Pearl
3. Nars Charade Duo (darker side)
4. Trish McEvoy Haze
5. MAC Fertile
6. MAC Blackberry
7. Laura Mercier Bordeaux (old version)
8. MAC Velour (discontinued)
9. MAC Shroom
10. Chanel Lotus
11. MAC Bronze
12. Chantecaille Jasper
13. Trish McEvoy Rose Quartz

See my other Nars Palettes, Nars Best, Modern Love, and Essential Eyes here: Nars Palettes = Pure Love

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Laura Mercier Essential Organizer (Neiman Marcus Exclusive)

September 11, 2009

I picked up the Laura Mercier Essential Orgainzer from Neimans yesterday for their Fall Beauty Event yesterday. The department store gift was fairly disappointing in my opinion, which is usually the case but I still manage to get sucked in because of the gifts within each individual line. The store was packed with lots of customers which I always find suprising because the gifts aren’t really that great yet always manage to draw in a lot of sales.

Anyways, here are pictures of the set and some close ups.

To recap from my previous post, the set retails for $125 and is a Neiman Marcus Exclusive. It contains:

* 12 eyeshadows in the following colors:

Celestial, African Violet and Bamboo Luster Eye Colours
Black Plum, Buttercream, Cashmere and Coffee Ground Matte Eye Colours
Sandstone, Baroque, Haze, Stellar and Sable Sateen Eye Colours

(The box says that the weight of each shade is .09oz/.2.6g which I find questionable because that is the size/weight of a full sized eyeshadow from Laura Mercier – perhaps the colors in this set are deeper than wide?)

* 3 double ended brushes:

Double-ended Eye Color and All Over Eye Color Brush
Double-ended Eye Crease and Ponytail Brush
Double-ended Smudge and Corner Eye Color Brush

Close up of the top half:

Close up of the bottom half:

Whole set compared to a full sized Laura Mercier Eyeshadow (Primrose shown):

Size comparison of case to a Trish McEvoy Petite Planner & Louis Vuitton Small Agenda:

Neimans gift with purchase: Full sized Mulberry Lip Stain, minis of Flawless Cream, Pistache Cream, lip brush and Candlelight Mineral Shimmer Powder

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Giorgio Armani Eyes to Kill Palettes: 1, 2 & 3

September 10, 2009


Left to right: #1 Steel Black, #2 Brown Copper, #3 Gunmetal Grey

The Eyes to Kill Palettes have finally arrived at my local Saks and Neimans and have been selling fast because of Saks Double Points & Neimans’s Beauty Week. Luckily my favorite Saks associate knew I had been asking about these since June so she and the Armani reps put one of each aside for me as soon as they came in.

These should be trickling in online very soon, but so far are currently available at GiorgioArmaniBeauty.com. Here are the product & color descriptions, each palette retails for $58 (for 8 g/.28 oz):

For more pictures and scans from magazines, check out this post Giorgio Armani Eyes to Kill Preview. I have yet to try the Eyes to Kill Mascara, but am planning to pick one up soon so I should be able to report back within the next few weeks about it!

I came home with #1 (taupe/ivory/black), #2 (coppery brown/gold/chocolate), and #3 (dark violet/cool grey/charcoal).

Here are the pictures and swatches:

Close up of #1:

Close up of #2:

Close up of #3:

Overall thoughts: My counter didn’t have testers of these so I had to buy them without trying. Luckily thanks to some other boards, I was able to see swatches before buying. Before I write the rest of my review, I have to say that in addition to being a die-hard Chanel fan, I am also a huge fan of Armani.

I haven’t been able to try these out on the eyes yet, but so far, the pigmentation seems on par with other armani shadows and palettes. Each palette has a good range of finish in the eyeshadow ranging from a high shimmer finish to satin/finish. Those looking for a matte eyeshadow palette might not like these, but the shades aren’t too shimmery or frosty (with the exception of #1). The middle darkest shades are the least shimmery but not completely matte – these seem to be on the sheerer side.

Overall I’m really happy with the palettes. I have been into a major shimmer eyeshadow kick but these are nice because they aren’t overly shimmery or matte. Pigmentation is decent in my opinion. Even though $58 is steep, I am happy with my purchases.

With the exception of the middle shades which are basic black, chocolate and charcoals, the palettes were unique enough that I don’t think I have comparable shades in my current collection.

I highly recommend you call your local Neimans to take advantage of their gift with purchase. The qualifier isn’t too high. Check the neimanmarcus.com website for a picture of their gift which includes a full size shine lipstick, a mini eyes to kill mascara and more. Even if your local neimans doesn’t have these palettes, there are plenty of other fabulous things to try out!

P.S. I’ve also scanned the list of Neimans Beauty Gifts HERE.

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