Chanel Les Ombres Quadra - Eye Shadow Quad

I have always been obsessed with the Chanel skincare line and their foundations, because pairing their great skin care products and smooth foundation just gives me a great base to work with on my face.  Every time I pass the Chanel counter I would take a look at their other make up products, but other than stocking up on the basics (such as cleansers, tones, or foundation), I was never really drawn to anything else from their make up line, until now.

I was talking to one of my favorite sales associates, and while I was at the counter I saw the new Chanel eye shadow quad for their Fall 2012 collection.  I have seen their eye shadow quads before and didn't really think much of them.  Most of the time I would only be drawn to one or two of the colors in the quad, so purchasing the entire quad for such a high price without using all of the shadows never sounded reasonable.  However, the quad 38 Premier Regard was different.

In my mind, 38 Premier Regard is the perfect neutral, and wearable eye shadow quad that I have ever seen from Chanel.  Just by swatching the colors I knew I would use all four colors daily.  So when the girls saw me swatching the colors, they decided to have some fun and do a quick makeup look on me using this quad.  I fell in love with all of the colors and just had to have it for day to day use.

The shades included int he palette are the following:

Pale Pink - Is a satin pale pink that works beautifully as an inner corner highlight to really brighten up your eyes.

Nude - This has to be the perfect matte nude shadow.  Blend this all over your lids to even out the the coloring and it will create a nice base color for the rest of your shadows.

Medium Brown - A great medium brown with very tiny multi-colored shimmers.  The shadow and shimmers are so finely milled that you get barely, if any, fall out.  This works as a great all of the lid color or just a crease color depending on the intensity you are going for.

Black - A matte black is a must in ever eye shadow palette and this works beautifully with blended into the lashline for that thicker lash effect.

I can explain how impressed I am with the quality of these shadows.  The girls applied the shadows on my at 10:00am (with a primer) and when I went to wash off my makeup at around 8:00pm that night the shadows had not budged or faded.  I tried removing the eye makeup with just water, but ended up having to use a gentle eye makeup remover instead.

When I applied the shadows myself the next day I really got a feel for the texture of the shadows.  They feel so velvety smooth (almost like butter) and the pigmentation is amazing when used with a primer.  The shades can definitely be toned down just by using a light hand and a fluffy brush, but if you want to create a more intense look just slowly build up the color using light layers and you'll get a great long wearing look that will stay on all night.

Although I can't say spending this amount of money on a quad is reasonable because there will always be cheaper alternatives on the market (i.e. Urban Decay shadows).  However, because I knew I would use all of these shades, and the compactness of this quad makes it the perfect choice for traveling, I thought it would be a nice treat to myself.

When purchasing higher end makeup, make sure you're practical and getting your moneys worth.  If you know you will get great use out of it, then give it a go and it'll be a great investment.  But if it's kind of a random purchase that looks great but might not be a daily essential, definitely just save your money.

xoxo,

Eve