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Dolce & Gabbana Eden Eyeshadow Quad Review, Photos, Swatches

Dolce & Gabbana Eden Eyeshadow Quad
Dolce & Gabbana Eden Eyeshadow Quad

Maybe Some Secrets are Best Left Alone

From Dolce & Gabbana’s Secret Garden Collection emerges a new eyeshadow quad, Eden ($59.00 for 0.16 oz.), and it seems to be somewhat of a mystery, because it swatches well enough, but I really couldn’t make it work on the eyes. The palette includes: an icy white with pink and blue shimmer-sheen; petal pink with yellow undertones; seafoam aqua with a matte finish; and a dove gray with a satin-matte finish.

The most difficult shade to work with in the palette was the aqua, which was worse wet than dry–when used wet, the product would ball up and apply patchy. The easiest shade to work with was the gray, but it didn’t work well wet either. The white shade is a little powdery and sheer, and your lid better be primed to perfection with nary a dry spot, because it emphasizes every imperfection . The pink shade was sheer when used dry but came together better wet.

I actually like the pastel hues of spring, and I think the mix of these four shades is striking but workable, so I was hopeful they would come together well in a look. They didn’t–these shades applied so sheerly when used dry but were even worse when used wet, because it made the whole look patchy. The colors applied so unevenly, and I really had to pack on the color to get anything resembling the shades in the pan. I was so desperate for color that I had to resort to using the included sponge-tip applicators and only then did I get anything significant.

Pale colors are lighter, and sheer can be OK, but when getting an even, sheer wash is troublesome, I’m concerned. When products can’t be layered for an opaque look, I’m more concerned. When the product swatches decently and even opaque in places, but then we end up with ultra sheer colors on the lid–I’m disappointed.

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  • Product: 15/30
  • Value: 7/10
  • Ease of Use: 4/5
  • Packaging: 4/5

FINAL THOUGHTS: I think this palette would work best on paler skin tones, because of the powderiness and slight chalkiness of the pastel shades. I think on darker skin tones it may come across ashy and chalky, rather than soft and spring-y. The quality seemed rather mediocre across the board, but it was the lack of quality was discovered upon application and use rather than purely on swatches.

WHERE TO BUY: Late January/early February @ Saks

Dolce & Gabbana Eden Eyeshadow Quad
Dolce & Gabbana Eden Eyeshadow Quad

Dolce & Gabbana Eden Eyeshadow Quad
Dolce & Gabbana Eden Eyeshadow Quad

Dolce & Gabbana Eden Eyeshadow Quad
Dolce & Gabbana Eden Eyeshadow Quad

Dolce & Gabbana Eden Eyeshadow Quad
Dolce & Gabbana Eden Eyeshadow Quad

Dolce & Gabbana Eden Eyeshadow Quad
Dolce & Gabbana Eden Eyeshadow Quad

Dolce & Gabbana Eden Eyeshadow Quad
Dolce & Gabbana Eden Eyeshadow Quad

Dolce & Gabbana Eden Eyeshadow Quad
Dolce & Gabbana Eden Eyeshadow Quad

Dolce & Gabbana Eden Eyeshadow Quad
Dolce & Gabbana Eden Eyeshadow Quad

Dolce & Gabbana Eden Eyeshadow Quad
An attempt at a look — I gave up and didn’t bother to finish.

48 Comments

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annie Avatar

Cheistine,I like those colours very much.I would like to ask if u can swatches the dupes comparing to thos palette?& would be great if u can share yr idea how to wear these colours by creating the look u earlier planned but w the dupes (n_n)
PS:u look much younger & even cuter on youtube 🙂
Annie <3

annie Avatar

Too bad coz I think the combi for this one will be very girly girl which is not what I’m good at (n_n;)I would love to hva nice spring look from yr suggestion,christine (n_n)

kayleigh Avatar

I think the look you started was pretty. A light, soft look for spring-time. Maybe the sheerness in the product was to create subtle looks for spring.

condesa Avatar

Another letdown from the D&G line.
The ads and the marketing are great, and I guess that’s exactly where ALL the money went… they did not invest in the quality of the products. I wonder if they are really produced in Italy as they state. Most of their fashion line is made in China and then they comlpete the garments with a couple of details in Italy and label “made in Italy” when it’s not entirely true. (there was a case recently about that). Who knows – seen the sub-par quality of the D&G makeup line – if this is the same case….

ak Avatar

Yeah the marketing is pretty good because Scarlett does look pretty hot in all of those ads, as usual. But the rest of their shadows don’t look this bad at first sight; they mostly look OK to good, but truthfully I haven’t swatched any of them ever.

anonymous Avatar

*giggling*

true though, they look incredibly harsh & chalky. if that was a drugstore by for a buck I’d be annoyed but for that price & they’re going to put their name on it, it should count for something.

& seriously, I can get 3 of the shades but red anywhere near the eyes risks looking seriously overtired or sick, only someone with dark eyes/skin really. & the quad is def not going to work for them either.

to bad because I do really like the shade of blue. I’m positive I can find a dupe for less than that price. I expect makeup to provide value in relation to cost.

anonymous Avatar

I have to say that quad looks pretty bad for pale skintones too. Who can pull off cool bird’s eye-aqua blue, cream, gove gray and that orangy red in the eye area? maybe if the red was secretly a lip tint…

What were they thinking?

Ru Avatar

Are these meant to be used wet?
I agree this would look better on fairer skintones, but the lack of color or uniformity like you said in your post makes it a waste- especially at that price.

Christine Avatar

Dolce & Gabbana eyeshadows, though a hidden gem of information (buried on their website and only listed as a tip for their duos, I believe), can be used wet/dry. I only ventured to use them wet because they performed poorly dry, though I didn’t expect the more matte shades to fare better, as mattes don’t usually work great dry (since they darken).

Jennifer Avatar

Wow. I was going to ask whether they could be used wet too, assuming that they couldn’t since the result was so disappointing.

That’s quite a quality boo-boo for such a high-end brand.

shortie Avatar

lol i think D& G should stop making makeup. almost everything of theirs that u’ve reviewed have been pathetic and poor quality. and to be so expensive for such poor quality is inexcusable. i bet their cosmetics line is doing really bad

ak Avatar

In London, their makeup was in a very good dept. store called Selfridges but now it’s only or mostly found in the famous dept. store Harrods which isn’t exactly what you’d call a demotion but still. Now I have to go to Harrods just to check out the Cosmopolitan lipstick that Christine reviewed which looked so good.

penelope Avatar

The product weight is pretty small also compare to many brands such as Chanel quad would contains about 0.24 oz compare to 0.16 oz for almost the same price.

Kelsey Avatar

I feel the colours in this are eerily similar to the Too Dolly palette from the Hello Kitty 2009 collection MAC put out… The only difference seems to be the finishes.

melissa Avatar

Wowza!! That unfinish eye made me shutter!! What were they thinking!! I think if you REALLY blended the white in the inner corner added a little black to the grey and put on some serious winged liner, you might have a look (kinda 60’sish). But… all those pale colors together in that pallete are crazy, they are very jr. high.
Also the name shuld not be secret garden.. Secret Garden evokes thoughts of lush green and dark violets not washed out “bleached” colors.

ak Avatar

If Christine added lots of black liquid liner and really long spidery fake lashes it could look like a really hot 60s Edie Sedgwick Factory Girl look, maybe.

ak Avatar

Eww on your eye Christine it looks too much like the BAD 70s, not like the hot ‘Studio 54’-looking 70s. In the palette, which is a a pretty gold luxe looking number the colors still look like little kids makeup from Barbie that came with a doll.

Leticia Avatar

D&G should be more careful about their makeup products – I would not even consider buying this, not only for the price tag, but because I find the colors boring. I really prefer to buy makeup from companies who are devoted to makeup or skin care, not fashion designers.

Vale Avatar

I would like to point out a fact. Not an opinion, a fact. I am pale. Really pale, a NW10 or 15 (I buy NW20 because I am unable to find the lighter shade throughout the year) and I can assure you that light colours are more visible on DARKER skintones. Maybe because they pop out more, I don’t know, but in the shop, I try the e/s, a sales girl try it too on her arm and… the colour is visible on her dark skintone and totally invisible on mine.
This mean that the paler you are, the bigger amount of colour you have to put on your eyelids in order to make it visible (that means more chalkiness). So, please, keep this in mind when you suggest to try light colours for light skintones.
Thank you

Vale Avatar

I don’t think I’ve understood what you are meaning, but I can assure you that no light colour is visible on me :_( None of the above could be wearable by my skintone!

anonymous Avatar

light vs dark= white shirt vs black shirt
sheer vs opaque= see through shirt vs one you can only see the shirt whether it’s white or blue or black. a white shirt might not flatter as much on you but there’s still a difference between a thick white sweatshirt and a see through bra in terms of whether your skin shows

anonymous Avatar

I happen to be NW15. I find lighter shades tend to be more flattering and less harsh, but it’s also about how much contrast you have. I can wear totally white shadow and it shows up fine while a shade that matches my skin like a matte nude doesn’t. That’s for a heavily pigmented product. A poorly pigmented sheer product often won’t show up on anyone or may show up as patchy. There’s no reason to be rude about it though. You may need to find shadows with more contrast or pigmentation but why are you testing shades against the employees arm instead of your own anyway???

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