As I travel quite frequently I have been making an effort to ensure I pack new things to try whilst I am away. Sometimes this scares me a little because what if what I pack is terrible then I have a week away with awful makeup?
I have so so many eyeshadow palettes. I am a little obsessed with buying them and know that with most of them I will barely even scratch the surface never mind hit pan. I kid myself that I am a collector but I think an addict would be a more accurate description.
Last time I was in Cairo I packed two new eyeshadow palettes to test-the Dior Eye Reviver palette that James got me for my birthday (reviewed here) and the Gucci magnetic color quad in Tuscan Storm. I've owned this quad since November and never touched it (hangs head in shame). To be fair I bought it for two of my friends for Christmas so I didn't want to review it before then but to wait another 4 months is a bit ridiculous especially when this quad is fricking amazing.
Oh man I love it. I thought the Dior palette was ok but it was not something that I went 'OMG this is fabulous' when I used it. Tuscan Storm was.
A brief word on the packaging. I like it. It's a solid perspex black and gold compact with the two gold GG's embossed on the lid, a large mirror and a gold border round the rim. It also has a magnetic clasp which I really like. It's not as luxurious/heavy as something like the way Burberry eyeshadows are housed in my opinion but more luxurious than say your average black plastic Chanel quad. There is a small niggle, it's nothing major but it shouldn't be happening in a product this expensive-the pans are not straight in the compact. If you look at the photos above closely you can see the bottom right shade is off centre-almost like the glue underneath has melted and the pan has come loose. It's even more noticeable in real life and 3 of the 4 shades are all slightly amiss. I understand this is actually a common 'fault' with these quads but it's slightly annoying given the price point.
Tuscan Storm is by far the most neutral offering from the range and this plus Serpentine Envy were the only two that stood out to me as 'must haves'. They're very pricey. I try not to think how much I pay for things in Dubai but these are £48 in the UK. Not as pricy as Tom Ford but definitely getting up towards that end. However you do get some very very nice Gucci embossing on each pan....
The top left cream shade I was sure was going to be the worst but I absolutely adore it. It's quite unusual even in my vast stash-a slightly golden/peachy/creamy colour and I thought the colour payoff was going to be very insipid. But it is so pigmented and easy to work with, it goes on and stays on like a dream. Zero fallout. It really brightens the eyes and has a satin, almost iridescent finish. I'm really surprised how much I love it. It's much better than the lighter tones in the Dior palette.
I didn't actually expect to like the warm matte mid brown shade either-mattes just aren't my thing. I find them chalky and lacking pigment (although admittedly I don't own that many) but this is an amazing 'adding definition to the crease/blending out/base' shadow. It reminds me of MAC Kid which I quite often use in the crease to balance out the eyes as it's only a couple of shades darker than my own skintone but it's so so easy to blend and again there is no fallout. To be impressed by a matte shadow is quite a big thing for me.
The grey in the top left is a simple mushroomy griege (do people still say griege?) It's very smooth and nicely pigmented and lacks any obvious shimmer. It's very versatile and can be used anywhere on the lid. I like applying it on the lid then using the dark brown on the outer corner and then using 'Virgin' from the UD Naked One palette over the crease and blended out to tie it all together. I guess in a perfect world this colour would have had a little more shimmer in it but that's my own personal preference.
The dark brown shade again has that satin/iridescent finish and I can see teeny teeny tiny flecks of red glitter in it when I swatch it. This shade is very easy to blend and I mainly use it to add depth/definition to the outer corner but there is definitely a little fallout with this shade. It's easily swept away but y'know #justsaying. It does make for a really nice complimentary 'dark' tone that works well with the three other shades.
I'm really really happy with this compact-everything just works together and blends so seamlessly. In my opinion I would pick this over the Dior even though the Dior contains more shadows. I hope the second quad I purchased, Serpentine Envy is as good!
