Review & FOTD: Lancôme Color Design Palette in Coral Crush

The sky is shrouded in clouds and grey today in Seattle (or rather, as Tom Robbins has put it, 'resembling cottage cheese that had been dragged nine miles behind a cement truck'*), so obviously I've decided to review a warm coral eyeshadow palette for you, just to saturate my vision for a little while.

Some very lovely and even more thoughtful people got me a Nordstrom giftcard back in September for my birthday, which is why I went looking for a good value make-up set to spend it on - and Lancôme had a GWP going on at the time, which pretty much blew all other options out the water. Cue: Sultry Eye Look Set ($48), including Color Design Eye Brightening All-In-One 5 Shadow & Liner Palette in Coral Crush 200 (phew!), travel-size Hypnôse Drama mascara, Aquatique eyeshadow primer and Le Crayon Khôl (I promise the French don't spell everything with the accent circonflexe over every 'o') black eyeliner pencil. Pretty good, huh?

This review is just for the palette, especially that I haven't even started using everything else in the set :) First off, I have to say that I enjoy Lancôme's packaging a lot: the palette is sturdy, pleasantly heavy, simple and elegant - at least, whenever I can keep my fingerprints to myself.

I was quite surprised with how shimmery the eyeshadows appeared at first; as you can see though, it seems like the first layer of sparkle fades away, revealing a lovely satin finish. The shadows are soft, blendable and with pigmentation on par with MAC Frost eyeshadows. They also smell faintly of crayons.

One of the reasons I enjoy using this palette a lot is that you can create both warm and cool neutral eye looks with it; in the photos below, I'm wearing the light taupe highlighter shade all over the lid, the dark brown liner diffused softly in the crease and the all-over pink base in the inner corners. As you can see, these eyeshadows are definitely not overly sparkly. I think my favorite shades have to be the peach and the taupe in the second row, both slightly more unusual but still very wearable daytime options.

If you're looking for a great value set for everyday wear, it's truly a fantastic palette. I cannot wait to try these other products that came in the kit! Oh, I'm also wearing a Lancôme Color Design lipstick in 'Trendy Mauve', which actually is a lot more brown than mauve on me. Have you ever tried Lancôme eyeshadows?

*quoted from Tom Robbins' Jitterbug Perfume