Lancôme Color Design 5 Pan Palette in Taupe Craze - The Land of Fall Out

This is brand new line of eyeshadows that Lancome just came out with in February 2011. Promised to brighten eyes and guaranteed smooth and intense pigmentation, long lasting power, and no creasing what so ever. This particular shade, called Taupe Craze, was featured in various red-carpet looks recently, I thought this would be The It palette this year. NO. No, no, no, no, no.

You know, as much as I LOVE Lancome, I'm utterly disappointed! Retailed at $48.00USD + tax, this is a very mediocre product.

Top: Liner 5. L-R: All over base 1, Lid 2, Crease 3, Highlighter 4.

Just so you know, the $48 palette came with a long brochure for tutorial. Seriously?! To me the only brand that could get away with putting in a tutorial is Too Faced, or maybe Urban Decay if for some reason they feel like putting in a tutorial. And before you say the tutorial is helpful, at one point in the long brochure, it says to highlight your eyes on the brow bone and inner corners with the shade called "Highlighter" in the palette. And you'll see in a minute in my review, that this "highlighter" shade is..taupe..Do we seriously want taupe coloured highlighter on the brow bone? And the pictures included in the brochure is very deceiving and photoshopped. Because I swear to God, the gal in the pic did not use the "highlighter" shade on her brow bones at least.

It looks amazing in the pan no? And usually, if something looks amazing in the pan for Lancome, it means it will look amazing on as well. What happened then?

Let's start with some unbiased individual review of the shades.

The All Over Base 1. Matte with a sheen. Very creamy and smooth shadow. Nothing special here, but it definitely is my favourite in the entire palette. It's almost like a cream, and it is very very pigmented! Not some chalky white at all!

The texture of the Lid 2 is like pressed pigments from MAC. In fact, it looks like Tan Pigment from MAC, but probably less red than Tan, and cooler. It is shimmery-er than All That Glitters from MAC, and very smooth, and went on great, great pigmentation as well.

Crease 3. (Seriously Lancome? You just gotta name these like cheap drug store quads. Is this just repackaged L'Oreal quad or what?!) Anyway, this is a matte latte colour. Not too warm, which is good, medium pigmentation, still smooth.

Highlighter 4. What?! WHAT?? Taupe highlighter? The ONLY taupey shade in a palette called Taupe Craze, and it's a highlighter? This one is Hell on Earth to deal with. Glitterland anyone? Sheer taupe glitter too! Yeah, it's a highlighter alright, but only at the centre of the lid.

Liner 5. Look at the glitter in the liner shade. Look at it!! I swear the sample tester had no glittermania like this! And look at the swatch, it's not smooth or creamy. I suggest using this wet as the liner. The glitter is not even consistent. It's one of those shadows that comes with random glitter everywhere. If you are lucky, the glitter is on your eye. If you are not lucky, when you take off your clothes tonight, you will find some glitter on your legs.

Okay, sounds okay right? Not really. The main issue I had with this palette is the amount of fall out. It's unbelievable how much fall out this thing can manage. After you put on your eye makeup, your entire face will be made up, with HUGE amount of shimmer and glitter. It's not even funny to look at. You think MAC pigment has fall out? Well girl you've seen nothing yet! Most of the times, tissue on face is an option. This thing requires protection on the face.

5 eyeshadows, 4g of product. $48USD and very mediocre. All in all, though it looks good on my eyes, I'm still disappointed. I'm on the fence as to if I should return it. I hate returning used makeup, though Macy's has the amazing return policy that goes all the way for 180 days. I'll really think about this.

Thanks for reading guys, enjoy your week!

xx