Guerlain Coup de Foudre Quad Swatches and Comparisons

Guerlain's limited edition Coup de Foudre quad is one of my first spring collection purchases this year. And based on Sonia's latest sweet makeup temptation, it definitely won't be my last.

But in the meantime, in line with my "one in, one out" policy, it's time to say goodbye to Shiseido Jungle and Addiction Thriller. Both of which I do like (I like everything I own) but Coup de Foudre turned out to be just too aptly named to resist.

Love at first swatch, anyone?

I had read some complaints in early reviews (from American bloggers like Messy Wands) that the grey shade was hard and lacked pigment, but mine was buttery and dense; the olive-bronze was the pan which gave me a little trouble at first, but after a few uses, it softened up beautifully. Overall I thought all four shades had excellent pigmentation (these are one-swipe swatches made with a sponge applicator) and superior textures (more buttery and blendable) to the permanent Guerlain quads.

natural light

Under bright lights / certain angles, the textural nuances come through: the coral is a refined satin, the mint a shimmer with very subtle duochrome metallic flash (alternately gold and silver, depending on angle) and the gunmetal and olive-bronze both imbed microshimmer in satin and metallic bases, respectively.

flash

Comparison swatches

The coral with Illamasqua Rude cream blush, Fyrinnae Picture It: Sicily and Catrice Dalai Drama

The mint with Addiction Silent Scream, Fyrinnae Ethereal Eire, and a mixture of Rouge Bunny Rouge Resplendent Quetzal and Periwinkle Cardinal 

The grey with Shu Uemura ME 471 (2nd gen, discontinued) and Addiction Thriller

The olive-bronze with RBR Abyssinian Catbird, Sue Devitt Golden Triangle Eye Intensifier Pencil and the olive from Shiseido Jungle

The olive-bronze and coral had unusually balanced undertones which turned out to be difficult to duplicate; even for a green and grey eyeshadow addict like me, the mint and gunmetal proved to be surprisingly tricky too. In combination, the most similar palette I own is Suqqu 07 Komorebi, and I've swatched the three main shades from that (skipping the bottom left primer/base pan), as well as Shiseido Jungle trio, to show how Coup de Foudre differs.

Overall, in mood and with its fusion of bold contrasts with soft freshness, Coup de Foudre has become my go-to palette for this transitional season, when I need colours with enough heft to withstand the January blahs but crave the lightness 'n' brightness of spring. Expect lots of face spam over the coming weeks. :)

Two Looks with Kiko Water Eyeshadows and Long-Lasting Stick Eyeshadows

My choices of jewelled shades of Water Eyeshadow (swatch/review) seemed to pair naturally with the warmer metallics from the Long-Lasting Eyeshadow Sticks (swatch/review), so here are two looks highlighting each aspect.

1. Kiko Long-Lasting Eyeshadow Stick in 04 Golden Brown taken up to the socket and 06 Golden Chocolate to line upper lashline and outer third of lower lashline, smoked outwards. Water Eyeshadow 225 Indigo Blue, used dry, over the inner two-thirds of the eye. RBR Eye Kohl in Salome to line, Fasio Ultra Curl Lock Volume mascara.

Paired with unobtrusive blush and gloss: Rouge Bunny Rouge Gracilis and Korres Cherry Oil Natural Purple.

2. Kiko Water Eyeshadow 225 Indigo Blue foiled (used wet) over the lid, and 223 Eggplant Purple (also used wet) blended onto the outer third of the lid and to line to outer third of the lower lashline. Eyeshadow Stick 06 Golden Brown to accent lower lashline. Slight flick with KATE Super Sharp Liquid Liner S in BK-1.

Again with the understated cheeks and lips; Gracilis again, but the lips taken down a notch to counterbalance the metallic eye: Addiction Day Trip, a sheer jelly peach.

Kiko Water Eyeshadows: Swatch and Review

Kiko Water Eyeshadows are pressed, embossed powders designed to be used both wet and dry -- and for these I lay the blame firmly at the door of Ms Naz of Mascara Magic.

Okay, and also because they seemed similar to the Estée Lauder Cyber formula (also made in Italy; swatches here) of which I am a fan.

Kiko Water Eyeshadow 223 Eggplant Purple and 225 Indigo Blue

Approximately two seconds after taking that picture, this happened:

Spontaneous self-depotting? Um, way to jump straight into my good books, little Eggplant! Unfortunately, as these don't have a separate pan holding the pigment together (nor do the Estée Lauders, btw), I had to rehouse it. Here's how the surfaces look after being used wet -- as you can see, no hardening. But Eggplant Purple is prone to cracking :(

Patted-on swatches, dry (top) and wet (below):

(is it just me or is this post getting seedier by the scroll?)

(....slant rhyme!)

Pretty self-explanatory, eh? Used dry, these are DRY and drab and sheer and chalky and just extremely disappointing. Used wet, they swatch very nicely indeed (check out the multitonal shimmery complexity in Eggplant Purple and the strong iridescent metallic flash in Indigo Blue), but on my dry lids they were difficult to blend and once set, tended to look patchy and emphasise skin texture. You can see this beginning at the edge of the wet swatches, but for the full effect, here's Indigo Blue over the lid with Eggplant Purple in the outer third, both used wet.

Rest of the look here.

These are not issues I'd experienced with even the driest of the Estée Lauder shades (Cyber Green and Cyber Copper).

Kiko Water Eyeshadow Ingredients:

Kiko Long-Lasting Stick Eyeshadows: Swatch and Review

Kiko is an Italian drugstore brand available in several European countries; in the UK they have an eshop as well as b&m locations in Westfield, London.

Last year Claire of Aucuparia Brumalis got me hooked on their nail polish and for my first foray into their makeup range I chose eye products, as many of my favourite high end eyeshadows and liners are manufactured in Italy. This post will focus on the Long-Lasting Stick Eyeshadows -- cream eyeshadows in twist-up chubby stick form.

As one of these made it onto my Top 12 of 2012 list, it should be no surprise that I really really love this formula. Because again, just like the By Terry Ombre Blackstar cream shadow sticks, these are unctuously creamy, pigmented enough to line with yet effortlessly blendable to wear all over the lid, so lightweight they can work as a base under other formulas, and imbued with varying degrees of complex shimmer to add dimension while bouncing light away from textural issues -- which as a very dry-lidded person, I need -- and they reportedly wear like iron on my oily-lidded friends.
As Topshop Mystical fills the taupey neutral niche so well, I opted for warmer Kiko shades to gild my holiday wardrobe: 04 Golden Chocolate (top) and 06 Golden Brown (bottom):

One-swipe swatches

natural light

natural light, slightly angled

The two Kiko shades differ slightly in finish: 06 Golden Brown is a smoother shimmer with tonal sparkle, similar to Topshop Mystical, while 04 Golden Chocolate contrasts lime, red and several tones and sizes of gold sparkle against a brown satin base, in a similar style to (but with stronger contrasts than) By Terry Misty Rock.

fuzzy flash

The Kiko version retails for £4.90, as opposed to By Terry's £27.50 and Topshop's £7.50, and comes in a wider range of shades to boot (currently 16 in the core line). All three are made in Italy, in superficially differing packaging [actually, colouring aside, the Kiko and Topshop packaging is identical], and include 1.64g of product.

Kiko Long-Lasting Stick Eyeshadow Ingredients

For the highly similar Topshop and ByTerry ingredients, see here.

For two looks featuring these sticks, click through.