Summer Preview: Dior Crush Glow (659) Eyeshadow Palette

Dior’s Addicted to Dior Collection is a short and sweet collection of a mere eight pieces (that’s only $365 to own it all–the fact that I say “that’s only” indicates how deeply addicted I am to beauty!).  It includes two “luggage” tags that slide open and reveal lipgloss inside, available in Coral and Pink for $60, two Eyeshadow Quints in Ready-to-Glow (649) and Crush Glow (659) for $58, Golden Spotlight Extreme Eyeshadow for $28, Rose Trendsetter (574) High Shine Lipgloss for $28, Crystal Gloss (001) for $26.50, and Nude Glow, a Bergdorf Goodman’s exclusive, for $46.

While Ready-to-Glow looks like a slightly cooler variation of Crush Glow, Crush Glow is fabulously warm. This is excellent news for those warm-toned beauties, but cooler skin tones may want to swatch in person before deciding. I personally think that cooler skin tones can still wear this palette, and I’d recommend pairing the eyeshadows with a cooler cheek and/or lip to bring everything together.

There are five shades in the Crush Glow palette: a peachy-gold with a frosty finish; lightly iced pink with champagne shimmer; muted mostly pink coral with a low frost finish; plummy-mauve with brown with a light frost finish; and ambered bronze with more of a pearly sheen than frost finish. All five shades were well-pigmented, smooth to the touch, and easy to use.

I don’t always have good luck with Dior’s Quints, but Crush Glow is definitely a palette that appeals to me, on a personal level (I am a fiend for golds and coppers!). It’s a fitting color palette for summer, because it’s warm and shimmering.  I love that all five shades coordinate really well with each other.  Sometimes you find palettes that look lovely and swatch beautifully, but you’re not always sure how you’ll make them work together. It’s a very travel-friendly palette, because you can create easy daytime looks or smoke it up with the plummy or bronzy shades in the palette for a more sultry evening look.

I think this is one of Dior’s better palettes in the past few years that I’ve followed the brand.  The eyeshadows are high-quality with good color pay off, a smooth, buttery texture, and they work exceptionally well together.  This is a palette you can take with you on your summer travels or enjoy at home.

Though the official details indicated April 2010 as a release date, I already saw the “luggage tags” available on Nordstrom.com — so I think it’s safe to say we’ll be seeing Dior’s summer collection launch in full quite soon!

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• Product: 29/30
• Value: 8/10
• Ease of Use: 5/5
• Packaging: 4/5

Recommendation: All five shades do have a shimmery appearance, so those who prefer a mix of shimmers and mattes may find themselves wanting with this palette. If you say “No thanks!” to shimmer typically, I don’t see this palette changing your mind. On the other hand, if you say “Yes, please!” to shimmer and are looking to add some warmer toned eyeshadows to your collection, this is a nice palette to own.

Availability: April 2010