Dior Royal Khaki 454 5-Colour Eyeshadow Palette

The end of winter is a little difficult makeup-wise. Many of us already bought several items from the spring collections that have been making appearances since January (I'm not even talking about Estee Lauder's Bronze Goddess summer items that were released a couple of weeks ago). I've been incorporating the new products into my current makeup looks, but I can't say I'm feeling particularly springified. It's still cold outside and the light is neither here nor there. It's a good time to look at our makeup collection and find colors and textures that will help the transition into spring and look flattering right now.

Since some of my favorite items lately have been the new Dior Mono eye shadows, I looked into combining them with existing Dior palettes (Dior's recent pink stuff did not tempt me at all). One easy answer is Grege (734). It's still one of the best color combinations ever. Then there's this one, Royal Khaki 454. I bought it last fall and it actually came out over a year ago with the New Look collection for Spring 2012. Back then I got the aforementioned Grege and Bleu de Paris. Obviously, Royal Khaki fits right in.

Dior Royal Khaki 454 looks pretty different under various lights. It took nicely to fall last year, but here you can see how it looks in late winter: I took the photos by a large window that let in the very gray and rainy day with the help of some artificial light-- the way things actually look lately. Here's what we have in this palette clockwise from top left:
- A very golden khaki shimmer that looks even more yellow on my skin (a Dior makeup artist actually used it to highlight the inner corners of my eyes.
- Snow white shimmer. The one color I don't like here. It's too stark.
- Dirty silver. It looks flatter in full sun and more complex when the light is low.
-A black matte. It's blacker than the Khol mono, but they're mostly interchangeable.
- A satiny true khaki, less shimmery than the Camouflage mono.

This should give you an idea how well the mono colors play with this palette-- any of them can be added for a richer gradient or to add some contrast.

Dior Royal Khaki 454 5-Colour Eyeshadow Palette ($60) is available at the counters and from Sephora.