If you are looking for a multi-purpose eyeshadow palette that nails all this Spring's key trends (pastels, silver, orchid and grey) then look no further than Clarins Vibrant Light Eyeshadow Palette.
I am forever admiring the packaging of Clarins products, they are beautifully presented particularly the powder formulas, all contained within light gold metal casings that is simple, elegant, classic and yet beautiful. They feel and look luxurious due to the weight and high polish finish of the casing, each item is delicately embossed with a "C" on the outer shell and come complete with a great quality mirror inside the compact as well as featuring the appropriate applicators dependent on the product housed inside.
The Clarins Eye Quartet Mineral Palette in 12 Vibrant Light Forest is Spring personified in make-up form, four sweet pastels that can easily be worn on a daily basis. There is also a deep shade that is perfect for smoking out to take you through to the evening with ease. The Vibrant Light palette features a light sugary pink, a bright and glitter loaded silver hue, a deep pink tinged orchid which of course is Pantone's colour of the year for 2014 and lastly a light blue toned grey. You can use the four shades wet or dry, depending on the colour intensiveness you require and in the case of the deeper shades they could double up as an eyeliner.
A quick colour description run down (top row to bottom row, left to right):
Shade 1 - A pale pastel baby pink that is metallic in formulation with moderate pigmentation.
Shade 2 - A brighter than bright silver glitter shadow that is pretty sheer when applied dry but comes to life when foiled (applied wet) or combined with a mixing medium.
Shade 3 - A deep duo chrome metallic orchid shade - in some lights this is more purple than pink and vice versa not as pigmentation as you might anticipate.
Shade 4 - A light blue laced grey (it reminds me of the colour of elephants oddly), satin in formula with good colour pay off.
The formula of the Clarins Vibrant Light Quad eyeshadow's are firm and can be a little dry on occasion but on the whole they deliver a high colour pay off per shade. That is of course with the exception of the silver shade, which I found to be a little temperamental and worked best wet. The other shadows were a breeze to use, they swatch and apply well - both wet and dry,
easy to blend and had next to no fall out again with the silver shade being the exception. The shade choices in my opinion are neutral in that all skin tones should find them to be wearable and can be used to create a great everyday eye look as well as a smoky look thanks to the deep shade present within the palette. Without a primer these shadows wore around six hours before I encountered creasing but this is mainly my problem (oily skin) and not the actual product. With a primer these lasted eight hours with ease.
The Clarins Vibrant Light Eyeshadow Palette will launch in February and cost £31.
- This post contains a press sample.
