Clarins Enchanted Summer Color Quartet & Liner Palette

Clarins Enchanted Summer Color Quartet & Liner Palette

Clarins Enchanted Summer Color Quartet & Liner Palette ($40.00 for 0.17 oz.) contains four eyeshadows and one eyeliner shade. Each eyeshadow has a subtle design on top, which does disappear with the first use. There are two dual-ended sponge-tipped applicators. The entire palette is encased in a “gold” plastic compact–it looks more luxe than it feels as a result. There is a full-sized mirror on the interior.

The first shade is a warm gold with strong orange tones and a metallic sheen. It had pretty good color payoff, and it applied very smoothly. Giorgio Armani #1 has a similar gold in the palette, though it doesn’t have as smooth of a finish. Dior Couture Gold is lighter. Bare Escentuals Golden Iris is darker, more orange.

Next to the gold shade is a violet purple with subtle red undertones and a blue-violet iridescence. It had decent pigmentation, but it was a little dry in texture. Make Up For Ever #26 has a stronger pink-red base. Tarina Tarantino Violet Storm is similar but doesn’t have any iridescence. MAC Violet is less pink-toned. Wet ‘n’ Wild Dancing in the Clouds is sheerer and less pink-toned.

The third eyeshadow is a warm, medium-dark bronze brown with orange and gold shimmer. This shade had excellent pigmentation and applied very smoothly. I thought this was the best performer in the palette. Buxom Golden Retriever was the closest shade, but it’s not quite as warm/golden. Urban Decay Baked isn’t as dark or as brown–it’s warmer/more golden!

To finish off the eyeshadows, the final shade is a pale silvery white shade–it looks warmer, almost peach/champagne in the pan, but it looks silver/white when swatched. It was very sheer, and it was mostly sparkle rather than a solid color; the texture reflected both things, as it wasn’t as smooth, and it was very prone to fall out both during application and later, as the day wore on. Chanel Fantasme is similar but more silver. Dolce & Gabbana Jewels is similar in color but has a less sparkly finish.

A deep, dark chocolate brown with gold and ruby shimmer eyeliner completes the palette; it’s essentially cream/gel eyeliner. The base color reminded me of CoverGirl Brown, which has a shimmer-free finish, while the overall color was closer to Urban Decay Corrupt. It applied only so-so–I really had to go over it a few times to build up the color.

I wasn’t thrilled with this palette, because the color payoff of all of the shades except the darker brown were just decent to good but not excellent.  I had a lot of fall out with the sparkly silver/white shade–it just didn’t want to stick around; there were tons of little sparkles underneath my eye and on my cheeks after a few hours of wearing the palette.  The eyeliner smudged and migrated within four hours, which was another let-down.  The whole palette wore about six hours without creasing, but it was a little faded at that point, and then I had some creasing after eight hours, along with additional fading.