Tom Ford Plum Ombre Eye & Cheek Shadow Review, Photos, Swatches

Tom Ford Plum Ombre Eye & Cheek Shadow
Tom Ford Plum Ombre Eye & Cheek Shadow

Tom Ford Plum Ombre Eye & Cheek Shadow ($65.00 for 0.15 oz.) is a light-medium, pinky-plum with warm undertones and a mostly matte finish. Surratt Beauty La Vie En Rose (P, $32.00) is darker, cooler (90% similar). Tarte Unearthed (LE, $29.00) is darker (90% similar). Tarte Royal (LE, $29.00) is darker, cooler (90% similar). MAC Corol #2 (LE, $24.00)(90% similar). Tarte Exposed (P, $29.00) is cooler (90% similar). Tarte Seduce (P, $29.00) is darker (90% similar). MAC Animal Instincts (LE, $24.00) is more shimmery, darker, cooler (85% similar). Tom Ford Beauty Contour (Softcore) (LE, $60.00) is more shimmery, darker, brighter (85% similar). bareMinerals The Indecent Proposal (PiP, $22.00) is darker (80% similar). See comparison swatches / view dupes side-by-side.

Sadly, if you thought yesterday’s review of Pink Ombre was dismal, I fear today’s is even worse. In an attempt to swatch the lighter side of the powder, there’s almost no product transference onto my skin; I can see a very, very slight change in the “finish” of the area where I attempted to swatch the product. I had to use a metal spatula to scrape off layers of product–essentially converting it into a loose powder–in order to get coverage or any use out of it. The included applicator is worthless and doesn’t apply any color at all (though the bristles were tinted by the product, but the powder never left the bristles!). This powder had one of the stiffest textures I’ve encountered; it is pressed so firmly into the pan that it is difficult to get any color payoff, and it makes it challenging to apply to the skin as it doesn’t blend out well and require layer upon layer of dismal color to achieve noticeable coverage at all. On cheeks, the color lasted for six hours, and on eyes, five hours.

Tom Ford Plum Ombre Eye & Cheek Shadow
Tom Ford Plum Ombre Eye & Cheek Shadow

Tom Ford Plum Ombre Eye & Cheek Shadow
Tom Ford Plum Ombre Eye & Cheek Shadow

Tom Ford Plum Ombre Eye & Cheek Shadow
Tom Ford Plum Ombre Eye & Cheek Shadow

Tom Ford Plum Ombre Eye & Cheek Shadow
Tom Ford Plum Ombre Eye & Cheek Shadow

Tom Ford Plum Ombre Eye & Cheek Shadow
Tom Ford Pink Ombre Eye & Cheek Shadow (SCRAPED WITH METAL SPATULA TO GET PIGMENTATION!)

Tom Ford Plum Ombre Eye & Cheek Shadow
Tom Ford Plum Ombre Eye & Cheek Shadow

Tom Ford Plum Ombre Eye & Cheek Shadow
Tom Ford Plum Ombre Eye & Cheek Shadow

Tom Ford Plum Ombre Eye & Cheek Shadow
Tom Ford Plum Ombre Eye & Cheek Shadow (SEVEN LAYERS!)

Makeup Look
On face:
  • Guerlain Parure Gold
  • Urban Decay Naked Loose Setting Powder
On lips:
  • Kat Von D Cathedral Lipstick

75 Comments

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Megan Avatar

What a disappointment! It is really quite pretty in the pan, but it makes me angry when companies put out sub-par products, when they fully have the ability to do better. And it make it worse, it’s expensive too!

Thanks for reviewing these blushes – you saved me a lot of money!

Grace Avatar

Wow…what a depressing launch 🙁 My g/f just bought one a week ago and she showed me. Now that I see the reviews I have to tell her to see if she can exchange it for one of the original blush formulas. (Which I totally LOVE!)

Katherine T. Avatar

Wow, this is really awful. I think Tom Ford should take a page from BITE’s book, issue a public apology, re-formulate this blush, and send it free to everyone who bought this. BITE’s a small company, and if BITE can do it, Tom Ford can. He charges enough for his products!

Nicole Avatar

I completely agree. I was able to build some sense of a very slight color with a scratchy, cheap brush. But, now that I think about it that may have been my cheeks flushed from irritation of the brush a the color was barely there in an hour. Thankfully, I was able to return mine as I bought them from Nordstrom. I’m glad you posted this because these are still available an I googled for couple of weeks thinking maybe I had received a defective batch.

P Jill Avatar

I never planned to use this as eye shadow., but I like this plum shade of blush and it shows up well on my skin tone. I own it and have no plans on returning it. I do not use the included brush, but use a DIOR kabuki style blush brush and it blends for me. While I would not give it an A grade, definitely NOT an F in my book.

Nancy T Avatar

Well, Major Tom , I do believe this to be irretrievably lost in space, deep space, into black hole oblivion…

Dismal failure of a product doesn’t EVEN begin to describe what I think of this! SEVEN LAYERS? METAL SPATULA? $65? HUH???? OMG!!!

StrangeOne Avatar

And this is why I don’t buy high end without your input. I would have been devastated if I had bought it since I don’t live in a country with returns.

Lisa Avatar

At TF price point he can’t afford to make these kind of glaring missteps. I hold this line to a higher standard. The whole concept for his fall look is monochromatic, same or similar color on lips, cheeks and eyes. You can’t pull this off if your primary tool achieving the look is a HUGE FAIL. (I did a fly-by at the counter and chatted up the girls about the fall look)

Shannon Avatar

I’m actually glad that is wasn’t just me!! I have been trying this for a few days, and it really is bad… I had high hopes for the eyeshadow aspect to the product, and every time I’ve used it I’ve been wondering what I was missing (It’s Tom Ford, after all..) I find the texture to be oddly grainy, and the color payoff is negligible. It’s going back ASAP! I love Tom Ford products, but this was definitely an odd miss —

Ciara Avatar

Wowsers. Didn’t think it could get more dreadful than yesterday’s review of the Pink one, but this is top of the flops indeed. I have never seen an “F” review since I’ve been following the site these last few months, and it’s sadly for a seemingly pretty in the pan product at this.

Jillienne Avatar

Really surprised by these performing so poorly. I’ve wanted to try the permanent blushes in one of the lighter shades (frantic pink or love lust), but saw these and thought I’d wait to see swatches and reviews. Probably will try one of the permanent ones sometime, but definitely not these!

Susan Dowman Nevling Avatar

why do they do this?? I have a four color eye shadow palette that is very similar. The product is much too hard to use. Colors are gorgeous but not useful. So disappointed.

Laura Avatar

Wow.

That said, I have Plum Ombre and didn’t have the same issues. I purchased after a TF MUA demonstrated the product on me. On the lids, I’m using the TF blending brush to swirl the shades together. The end result is sheer, but that’s to be expected with the shade.

Sorry for everyone hating it; I’ve picked up 2 of them because they work so well on my ultra-fair skintone.

Christine Avatar

I wish I had your experience, Laura! I couldn’t get color to transfer at all using the included brush, let alone any of TF’s other brushes. Even a sponge-tipped applicator, nothing seemed to go on my skin until actually manually dislodged the powder off the surface (as if you were mashing something!). Happy you’re enjoying yours! You’re very lucky!

Joan Avatar

Wow, it’s really insulting when luxury brands come out with such poor quality products like this then sell them at a hefty price tag. Add to that the fact that their new powder foundations are what, 7g??? And I thought the 10g Diorskin Nude Compact was small! It’s disappointing considering that their cheek color duos (Stroked and Softcore) from last fall contained a whopping 20g of product each.

Shannon Avatar

Ok, so I may be softening on this product… I had put it in my return pile, but I figured I’d give it a few more tries until it until I had time to take it back. Now it’s actually growing on me… I’m wondering if there’s some sort of protective layer that needs to be brushed off to get it to be as it should. (I’m guessing you tried that, but I feel that it’s blending better and not as grainy as it was at first.) Or it’s quite possible that I have Tom Ford Hype blinders on and I’m determined to like it!
I had ordered the bronze as well, which I had planned on just returning without even opening it, but curiosity got the better of me and I decided to try it anyway. When I first opened it, the ‘bronze’ side was surprisingly light (I wondered if I had gotten a bad batch), but it seems to be darkening every time I use it. And the plum one seems to be settling out a bit, and I’m not having to brush it so hard to get payoff. (I have rather fair/medium-ish skin so maybe that’s why I don’t have to scrape to see some color.)
The jury is still out on both of them, but I’m going to doggedly give them few more days before returning. I probably shouldn’t have to try so hard to like such a high-end product, but I do love my tom Ford, and I was hoping the monochromic look would work for me. I’m wondering if the product gets better after some use, which is why it seems that some feel there are bad batches. They are are edging out of the D rating I would have given them out of the gates, and they may have a home with me yet!

Liv Avatar

Oh wow! Seriously epic fail… I am so shocked as Tom Ford usually have wonderful products. I love his eyeshadow quads and lipshines. I was actually considering this product but now having read this I feel I dodged a bullet! Agree with the others – TF should immediately withdraw it, apologise and reformulate it.

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