Guerlain Coup de Foudre (502) Eye Shadow Quad For Spring 2013: I was tempted when I saw it in the promo photos, but questioned the palette's practicality. I was even more tempted when I saw the swatches on Best Things In Beauty, but doubted that I can make it work as well as blonde CharlestonGirl. Then I saw it in person and swatched it and knew that it's beautiful, usable and I can wear it, but I already had these very colors in my eye shadow arsenal, often in better textures and finishes (sorry, Guerlain!). I went home and started playing.
First, I opened the photo of Guerlain Coup de Foudre quad that I took Bloomingdale's and placed my iPad in front of me. The original photo is above (I also posted it on The Non-Blonde Facebook group to see what some of you think).
Then I began swatching in earnest.
The easiest one was the rich coral shade. Le Metier de Beaute single in Tuscan Sunset is a perfect match in a rich and almost creamy texture. The satin finish of this LMdB eye shadow is superior to the one offered by Guerlain (which is a reader suggested looks a bit flat). The other option is the coral from NARS Ramatuelle:
Next came the charcoal. Its pigmentation and texture are the least convincing eye shadow in Guerlain Coup de Foudre. The color itself is interesting because it has a very slight greenish cast. That was harder to replicate. I tried five options: Rouge Bunny Rouge Trumpeter Koel (too silver-lavender), Sue Devitt Berlin (too light), the two charcoalish shades from Guerlain's own palettes 2 Place Vendome and 93 Rue de Passy (better texture than Coup de Foudre, but a bit too intense), and finally settled on the dark shade from Chantecaille Elephant palette.
The green eye shadows are what drew me to Guerlain Coup de Foudre in the first place. They're both beautiful and have a lovely satin texture. They were also the hardest to duplicate. I played with some of the green and olive shades I have. Giorgio Armani Bronze Mediterranean palette from Summer 2010 offers two similar shades, but I liked the Guerlain texture much better. I also looked at single eye shadows from previous collections by Bobbi Brown (Golden Leaf) and Laura Mercier (Pine Bronze). I can think of other items I could have swatched for the golden khaki shade, such as Kevyn Aucoin Patina and Sue Devitt Agadir, but the best match ended up being NARS Paramaribo duo. The darker one is quite good on its own, but mixing the two together is even better.
The lightest green, a silver mint shade is very close to the one from Dior Tropical Light (409) quint. I intensified the effect by adding a bit of Sue Devitt Nampala EZ Eye, but it's not necessary. I just liked the extra shimmer Nampala provided.
The end result:
The point of this little exercise is NOT to tell you not to buy Guerlain Coup de Foudre Eye Shadow Quad for Spring 2013. On the contrary- it's a rather unique combination that's worth looking into, especially if your makeup collection is missing similar shades. Some of the eye shadows I used above were limited edition and are no longer available, so Guerlain gives us a beautiful option. However, many of you do own a substantial number of beautiful eye shadows, often similar to the ones I've picked over the last few years, so this little duping project is meant to give you some ideas for recreating the effect of Guerlain Coup de Foudre with items you already have stashed away.
Here are some behind the scenes photos of the mess I made in the process:
Thanks for posting this Gaia. I've saved boatloads since the summer by taking a look at what I already have and making up the same palettes. I got tired of buying the same old colors because they are put together in different palettes. Now if they are something special as far as textures go, I'm all for it!
ReplyDeleteBravo! I've decided that I'm going to be more disciplined about keeping photos of my stash on Flickr so that I can keep track of what I have.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, the black dye in my Sephora 44 stippling brush is starting to stain the white bristles again. I might have to buy another brush...
Great post! I love getting new things but it's always such a let-down to realise that I already owned them in another form. I recently tried this same exercise myself but my results were not as satisfying. Or maybe they were, as admitting defeat and purchasing said quad has now filled those holes in my colour collection. I had actually been regretting not purchasing some of the limited edition colours you wound up using here so this makes me very happy indeed! :)
ReplyDeleteThis is absolutely amazing! Those greens were my favorite, but since I have Paramaribo and a Shu mint green, I can avoid this. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteI too was very tempted by this palette. My question, which is general and I have been wondering about, is even if I have similar shades, will they layer together and not get muddy as a set of shades in a presumably well conceived and tested-out palette? Does anyone have any idea/experience on this?
ReplyDeleteWhat a brilliant post, Gaia! This really resonates with me because I am really making a concerted effort to use my stash rather than collecting more eyeshadows! We'll see how strong my resolve is as all of the new collections start rolling out! Happy New Year! <3
ReplyDeletePlease don't start doing dupe posts. They're all over the web already. It's a waste of good blogging space.
ReplyDeleteThank you!I was drooling over that palette at The Bay (I'm in Canada) and cringing over the price. I have Nars Paramaribo and Nars Mediterranee, so maybe a light application of the orange in Mediterranee will work.
ReplyDeleteBTW, I don't think doing dupe posts (specially high end) is a waste of time and blog space :) I looked for this specific palette and yours is the only blog that offered that suggestion.