Guerlain Les Nuees (18) Eyeshadow Palette Review, Photos, Swatches
Guerlain Les Nuees (18) Eyeshadow Palette
Guerlain Les Nuees (18) Eyeshadow Palette ($65.00 for 0.25 oz.) is a new, limited edition cooler-toned set of shades. I felt like the color combination really needed another mid-tone or medium-dark shade, because the three lighter shades tended to muddy together, while the navy blue was almost too dark and harsh in comparison. The color payoff varied from shade to shade, and none of the shades wore particularly well on me as most were prone to fading.
Les Nuees #1 is described as a “shimmering navy.” It’s a blackened navy blue with very fine, lighter navy blue shimmer. The shimmer is fine enough that when applied, the eyeshadow takes on a more satin-like finish. It had decent color payoff with a soft, but dry, texture, which made it harder to blend on the lid. I found it looked patchy the more I blended it, so it’s an eyeshadow that would definitely benefit from primer. On me, the color lasted for seven hours before fading. Urban Decay Heroine (LE, $18.00) is lighter. Too Faced De La Mer (P, $16.00) is similar. Wet ‘n’ Wild I Don’t Do Camouflage #2 (LE, $2.29) is darker. Disney by Sephora Midnight (LE) is more muted. MAC Shop & Drop (LE, $15.00) is similar. bareMinerals Shaken Not Stirred (P) is similar. See comparison swatches / view dupes.
Les Nuees #2 is described as a “white.” It’s a bright, cool-toned white with a frosted, metallic finish. The texture was very soft but a little crumbly, so it didn’t apply as evenly as you might expect. It had fairly good color payoff but could have been more intense. It lasted for seven and a half hours on me. This type of shade is easily duped. See comparison swatches / view dupes.
Les Nuees #3 is described as a “soft sky blue.” It’s a cool-toned, light lavender–an almost iridescent white rather than a sky blue–with a pearly sheen. The color payoff was decent, but it didn’t apply evenly on the lid and required layering to achieve decent intensity. The shade seemed prone to fading and only lasted for seven hours when I tested it. Kat Von D Gravitron (LE) is darker, warmer. Chanel Oiseaux de Nuit #1 (LE) is lighter. theBalm A3 (LE, $16.00) is cooler-toned. Tom Ford Beauty Cobalt Rush #1 (P) is similar. Urban Decay Aura #2 (LE, $18.00) is similar. MAC Dynamic Duo 2 #1 (LE, $15.00) is darker. MAC Fresh Ice (LE, $21.00) is similar. MAC Crystal (DC, $15.00) is darker. See comparison swatches / view dupes.
Les Nuees #4 is described as a “delicate pink.” It’s a light beige with warm undertones, even though it may look pink in the pan, it seems to have a very strong white base. As a result, it loses a lot of the color. The finish is more pearly to frost, while the color payoff was semi-sheer. Unfortunately, this shade is too similar to the white shade, which made it hard to get a variety of looks out of the palette as there wasn’t enough contrast. Chanel Tisse Paris #2 (P) is less shimmery, warmer. ColourPop Onai (P, $5.00) is a cream product. LORAC Vanilla (LE) is more shimmery. Milani Bella Ivory (01) (P, $3.99) is warmer. Too Faced All American Girl (P, $16.00) is similar. Too Faced Famous in a Small Town (P, $16.00) is similar. Too Faced Champagne Truffle (LE, $16.00) is warmer. See comparison swatches / view dupes.
Les Nuees (18)
LELimited Edition. $65.00.
Les Nuees #1
LELimited Edition.
Les Nuees #2
LELimited Edition.
Les Nuees #3
LELimited Edition.
Les Nuees #4
LELimited Edition.
Guerlain Les Nuees (18) Eyeshadow Palette
Guerlain Les Nuees (18) Eyeshadow Palette
Guerlain Les Nuees (18) Eyeshadow Palette
Guerlain Les Nuees (18) Eyeshadow Palette
Guerlain Les Nuees #1 Eyeshadow
Guerlain Les Nuees #1 Eyeshadow
Guerlain Les Nuees #2 Eyeshadow
Guerlain Les Nuees #2 Eyeshadow
Guerlain Les Nuees #3 Eyeshadow
Guerlain Les Nuees #3 Eyeshadow
Guerlain Les Nuees #4 Eyeshadow
Guerlain Les Nuees #4 Eyeshadow
Guerlain Les Nuees (18) Eyeshadow Palette (No primer as usual, and this palette desperately needs primer.)
Guerlain Les Nuees (18) Eyeshadow Palette (No primer as usual, and this palette desperately needs primer.)
Yeah… Those three shades would look the same on me. They would look amazing over some colored primers, but at this price point, they better perform on their own, you know..?
Christine, random question; will you be reviewing any of the Tom Ford Spring 2015 stuff?
Hi Estefania,
Sorry, I don’t have any info or product from Tom Ford spring right now. Tom Ford usually is a later launch, so I doubt they would give me info at this time!
What an odd palette! It’s like three highlight shades and one crease color. I often wonder how many people sign off on makeup collections. Because sometimes you see things like this… things that look like they were designed by someone who’s never warn or applied makeup before.
It is true – sometimes you wonder if it was just a certain look in the pan they were going for vs. actual use!
Crap. I was really hoping that this would be more delicate pastels with a smokier blue and not 50 shades of white. Strange too that the textures are sub-par. Guerlain are usually pretty reliable on that front.
LOL! Yeah, the shades felt soft, but they were fussier to apply than I expected.
Too bad about the texture of #1 I really liked the shade!
It SO needed more blendability!
Love the dark shade but the others are too light for me, they’d all look similar.
Pretty much 🙁 Only a few skin tones could get more nuances out of the shades, I think.
Navy and three shades of white. Uh, no.
lol!
The only one thing I liked in this palette is #1 (not its performance, of course – shameful)! It would be nice if Guerlain replaced “Les Ombres de Nuit”. Love that palette!!!
Thanks so much for your job, dear Christine!
My pleasure! 🙂
Even in the palette, these just look so BLAH….milky, washed out blah-ness.
The color combination could have better executed!
So disappointing! I looked at this..but it looked too cool toned for me. So glad I skipped. At that price point I expect better (the four shades need to come together somehow..not here).
If they had at least done one mid-tone shade, at least the combo might have worked better!
Yes, it desperately does need primer. One less palette for me to be lusting after 😉
Desperately!!
Aww, nuts! I really wanted this to be awesome when I first saw the picture, but even a second glance (before reading the review) had me a bit apprehensive about those three super light shades. I didn’t think they’d actually turn out nearly identical though! Even on me they’d probably be fairly similar. The navy is quite nice, but I agree it seems jarring with the other shades in the palette. And I got so excited too (actually cool toned! not a nude palette!), LOL! I guess my wallet is happy 😉
They’re SO similar. I was like, “Yeah, this isn’t going to work well,” as soon as I started applying, lol!
Love your eyeliner! What is it?
Estee Lauder Cobalt!
I must say I like the navyblue, but the other ones, well, if I was looking for a highlighter palette, maybe.
On my no buy quest I’ve avoided coming by any makeup blogs, but today I noticed how much I missed hanging out here, so I’ll check the older posts and get active here again. Reading and writing id free, after all 🙂
I saw there were some no buy and spend less topics, I will read them carefully. Sorry for going off topic, but with a sub par palette I hope it is OK to do so.
Maybe you should make it a challenge that if you do come across something that tempts you… to make it a point to find a way to dupe it with what you own 😀
I bought their 5 color gray shadow palette online (The Aciers) and had to return it. In the pan, the colors were so pretty, but 2 of the grays looked exactly the same on my eye, the light shadow was really frosty, the dark gray was kind of dry, and all of the colors creased and faded, no matter which primer I used! It was my first Guerlain purchase $63, and I was so disappointed 🙁
How sad! 🙁 Sorry to hear you had a bad experience with it! I haven’t been keen on the newer, patterned formula (like this one). I have loved some of their palettes but not all.
It’s too bad the quality isn’t there – the colours are quite unique!
Agreed!
I don’t know, Guerlain’s eyeshadow palettes always seem underwhelming to me. Except that one that you’ve worn several times that is like…sunset colors (I forget the name), the rest of them, the color combos are eh, and the performance scores always seem to be mediocre.
The palette is a bummer with 3 out of 4 as light shades that would barely show on me and would look similar… I would have liked some more blues in the quad! 🙂
I think if the sky blue were “bluer”, or had more of an opalescent/duochrome effect, and the pink were “pinker”, this would be a nice color scheme.
I so wanted to like this. At least it was not my imagination. The powder literally crumble upon the disposable tester touching it. I bought the blush balls instead.
Nooooooo – Guerlain how can you do this to me? The only blue, cool toned palette to come out this spring and it’s a DUD.
I agree with you Christine – there needs to be a mid shade to make the quad workable. That pale blue should have been a bit more bluer (NOT cobalt blue!) and there was no need for a pink either. It should have been a silvery grey. I guess I am back to lusting after Guerlain’s Les Gris – 2-3 years old and better. The last thing I need is ANOTHER dud navy……
I wonder what were they trying to accomplish with this… Looks unappealing and just… Odd?
I hate the white+ whatever dark shade look so much xD Shame, Guerlain is such a favorite brand of mine -.-
I actually enjoy this. 🙂
if that pink were..pinker? it would balance out a lot better.
The color selection is odd and the quality sounds way too iffy for the price. Sometimes I wonder how certain products even make it through testing. The lighter shades all look identical swatched
I think the idea of the combo is nice, too bad about the execution. Maybe I’ll try it with what I already have. I do think it could have used a darker pink perhaps, and maybe not such a frosty white….
#3 is a color i’ve never seen in an eyeshadow! guerlain’s choice of colors in this palette is a miss i think ;(
I just tried this on at Bloomingdale’s today and absolutely loved it. I like the way you applied the dark blue under your eyes. I wore the white shade on my lids and it came out looking a bit like a champagne color to me with a tiny hint of yellow (I probably have different undertones in my skin), and put the iridescent baby blue all over the crease of my eye, and the white under my eyebrows. I wear eye glasses so the iridescent-ness of the colors helped my eyes pop, whereas other colors just look too dark or don’t show up at all, which feels like wasted effort in the end. I usually hate “shimmer” shadow but this was shimmer+iridescence which I’ve never tried before and really loved it, so this was a huge hit with me. I also have blue eyes, so I usually don’t look good in blue eye shadow but because this went holographic blue (I wouldn’t go so far as to say purple at all) it made my blue eyes pop. I’ve seen this iridescent pastel trend with young Asian women and it looks gorgeous on them (no dark shading in the crease). Shu Uemura had a color like this when they were around in the US and I’ve never seen anything like it since. I was able to get it to spread out evenly without any base and it didn’t crumble on me at all. It also didn’t fall under my eyes like so many shadows do when you apply it on. I even wore it in the rain and its still going strong 5 hours later, yay!
Happy you’re enjoying your new palette, Kate!