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Chanel Infini Ombre Essentielle / Soft Touch Eyeshadow Review, Photos, Swatches

Chanel Infini Ombre Essentielle / Soft Touch Eyeshadow
Chanel Infini Ombre Essentielle / Soft Touch Eyeshadow

Chanel Infini Ombre Essentielle / Soft Touch Eyeshadow ($28.50 for 0.05 oz.) is described as “silver.” It’s a light silver with a frosted, metallic finish. Guerlain Les Aquas is similar but more metallic, slightly darker. MAC Misty is very similar. MAC Filament is a bit darker. Bobbi Brown Tinsel is similar in color but chunkier in texture.

The color payoff was disappointing, and I absolutely had to use it wet in order to get a somewhat smooth finish. I tried to apply it to the lid, and it was sheer and patchy, despite trying to pack on the color. It feels so soft to the touch, but it just doesn’t come together for me. I still attempted to wear it, even if it did look awful from the get-go, and it was slightly creased after eight hours when worn alone or over a primer.  When I wore it over a primer, the pigmentation was better, but it still wasn’t great.  The texture, for as soft as it is, doesn’t seem to hold together, which is what causes sheerer color payoff and patchy application.

I was excited for my order to arrive, but this is a far cry from the excellence that was Complice.  It’s surprising to see a silver shade like Infini fall so flat, because I feel like there are so many silver eyeshadows on the market and plenty of them have rich pigmentation.  The metallic nature of silvers also means they often go on smoothly, too.

See more photos & swatches!

Chanel Infini Ombre Essentielle / Soft Touch Eyeshadow
Chanel Infini Ombre Essentielle / Soft Touch Eyeshadow

Chanel Infini Ombre Essentielle / Soft Touch Eyeshadow
Chanel Infini Ombre Essentielle / Soft Touch Eyeshadow

Chanel Infini Ombre Essentielle / Soft Touch Eyeshadow
Chanel Infini Ombre Essentielle / Soft Touch Eyeshadow

Chanel Infini Ombre Essentielle / Soft Touch Eyeshadow
Chanel Infini Ombre Essentielle / Soft Touch Eyeshadow

Chanel Infini Ombre Essentielle / Soft Touch Eyeshadow
Chanel Infini Ombre Essentielle / Soft Touch Eyeshadow

Chanel Infini Ombre Essentielle / Soft Touch Eyeshadow
Chanel Infini on inner half of lid, Chanel Furtif on outer half of lid (8 hours of wear)

16 Comments

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Veronica Avatar

Somewhere in Europe, Lagerfield’s dearest Choupette is pawing at her iPad touch screen in disdain at the sight of this disappointing eyeshadow.

wwendalynne Avatar

What a shame because in your photo, the two colours together look so darned pretty!  Incredible that the same product can earn an A+ for one colour and a D+ for another and this is why your reviews are so important, Christine!  I do not vouch for others, but frequently, if I find a formula for a product that works extremely well for me, I will reach for other colours in that same line assuming the same quality will be there.  I am definitely learning this is not always the case.  I’m very glad I did not pull a typical Wendy and buy in threesies on this eyeshadow!  

Christine-Temptalia Avatar

 @wwendalynne Me too 🙁 That’s why I’ve really started to review shades one by one, rather than as a group, as much as possible. (MAC with their 30 SKU collections makes it nearly impossible for much of their collections, LOL!)  I can get reviews out faster rather than waiting to test say 3-5 shades and be done with that, and then the rating reflects *one* product rather than a group. There’s no one product that will drag or hold up a score.  
 
It just doesn’t look right on the eye… even if it was supposed to be sheer (I don’t know about that). So sad!

MarioInvincible Avatar

Out of curiosity, do you give high end brands more of a ding in score in terms of pigmentation/texture/etc when they don’t perform as well? I mean, compared to say… if a drug store eyeshadow acted like this. Would you still give it a D+?

Christine-Temptalia Avatar

 @MarioInvincible The rating would be the same – that is my goal: you can compare products across price points by the grade. If I give something an A, it’s an A no matter what. It has nothing to do with price.  I absolutely will express my utmost disappointment with an expensive product that under-performs in the review – but it doesn’t mean it’s rated more severely.  Just like I might say, “This is a great value” or “They really ought to give you more product” – both are pieces of commentary but do not impact the rating.

Joyce Avatar

How strange! Even at the drugstore level I don’t think I’ve ever come across a bad silver eyeshadow, which is why I’m not usually impressed when higher end brands roll out excellent bronzes/browns/coppers/golds/silvers. It’s kind of hard to mess those up! 😛

Mariella Avatar

Is all that glitter in your upper lashes from fallout when you first applied the shadow(s) or from fallout that a occurred during the time you wore it (after it dried out, perhaps – I think you said you applied it wet at some point in your testing/swatching).

Christine-Temptalia Avatar

 @Mariella It was from trying to pack it on and on and on.  I already had makeup on previously (I try to test 2 products on the eyes per day – 8 hours each), so I didn’t reapply mascara (because applying mascara to lashes that you already applied mascara to 8 hours ago is usually not a good look).

Mariella Avatar

 @Christine (Temptalia) Wow!  All that testing of products must really take a toll!  Do you ever do one product/shadow on one eye and another product/shadow/colour, etc. on your other eye? It would streamline things a bit but what if you suddenly had an unexpected visitor!

Christine-Temptalia Avatar

 @Mariella It just depends 🙂 A lot of times I’m testing the same product with a primer and without a primer.  Other times I will test products without a primer and see if we’re good there, and depending on those results, see if it needs a dedicated test with a primer (or if I can use side-by-side another product as more of a “look”).

misscheriamor Avatar

I have a Rimmel color that is similar and is so so much cheaper and has no fallout. It is always disappointing when an expensive brand doesn’t live up to its price.

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