Whenever Guerlain releases a new quad, I go crazy over it. I love the heavy metal packaging and their very finely milled long lasting formula. Most of the time this combination comes with interesting and flattering shade combinations. All of the three quads they have released with Kiss Kiss Fall Collection were superb. There were mattes and shimmers combined in best ways, and I fell especially in love with Les Violines.
Talking about Spring, Guerlain happened to release my favorite quads with 2013 and 2014 Spring Collections, just to name a few, #503 Les Tendres, #502 Coup de Foudre and #501 Attrape-Coeur. Looking at the trend here, 501, 502 and 503, I had to add Guerlain Écrin 4 Couleurs #504 Les Précieux to my stash, and see if it would knock me off my feet as much as the other three did...
Guerlain Écrin 4 Couleurs #504 Les Précieux |
Guerlain Écrin 4 Couleurs #504 Les Précieux is a palette of bronze and green combination with warm undertones. When I took it out of its box to take photos, I placed it under the lights and I thought "Is this one a shimmery quad?". Under light you can see the lustre on each of the shades and the first impression of having soft shimmery shades is confirmed right after you dip your fingers into it. If you know me, you can tell that I was not impressed, as "soft shimmery eye lid" is not one of my go-to looks. Nevertheless, I am going to try my best to review Les Précieux as fair as possible, trying my best to put my personal preferences aside.
Guerlain Écrin 4 Couleurs #504 Les Précieux |
Guerlain Écrin 4 Couleurs #504 Les Précieux consists if the following shades:
Left: A deep moss green base with medium green shimmer. This shade has a good color pay-off. The shimmer is not very complex but doesn't look frosty nor cheap.
Up: A very light, almost white pink with semi sheer opacity and almost frosty shimmer. It was hard to do anything with this shade. I am still trying to find an eye look to use it. The very light yellow shade underneath looks almost the same on the eyes and has a better opacity/color pay off.
Down: Very pale yellow green which appear like a cream shade. This shade has a better color pay off than the light pink and it is very soft to touch. This is why after a few usage the pattern on it gets erased for good. I like applying this one on the inner lid for a soft gradient look
Right: My favorite shade in the palette, a mid-toned warm bronze with gorgeous shimmer. Don't be fooled by how deep it looks in the pan though because once applied it is rather soft. I can see myself wearing just this shade for an effortless day make-up
Close-up: Guerlain Écrin 4 Couleurs #504 Les Précieux |
Swatch: Guerlain Écrin 4 Couleurs #504 Les Précieux |
Now on my eyes, as I have previously mentioned, I was a little clueless since the shades doesn't have finishes which I usually go for. I applied the light yellow on the inner half of the lid, then blended it with the bronze on the outer half. I have then defined my crease and outer third with the green shade, which appeared to be the deepest shade of the quad. Blended moss green does look muddy on my complexion at times and you can see the effect below. All in all those shades do blend effortlessly and they have a tendency to blend a little too much.
In-action: Guerlain Écrin 4 Couleurs #504 Les Précieux |
Here are two of the green palettes of Spring 2015 side by side. There is also House of Greens by Dior which I (currently) managed to skip. From the swatches you can see that Chanel #236 Tissé Fantaisie is more playful with a coral thrown in there and all in all cooler with more color pay-off. Guerlain Écrin 4 Couleurs #504 Les Précieux on the other hand gives a softer less defined and more shimmery look if this is what you would prefer for Spring.Both of the palettes have a frosty white/pink shade which I am still experimenting with ;-)
Guerlain Écrin 4 Couleurs #504 Les Précieux vs. Chanel Les 4 Ombres #236 Tissé Fantaisie |
Swatch: Guerlain Écrin 4 Couleurs #504 Les Précieux vs. Chanel Les 4 Ombres #236 Tissé Fantaisie |
Gosh, it is time to do something with my hair! It became the wildest and ugliest looking thing on my head (together with my brows ugh!). Back to subject, here is the look in context using Guerlain Écrin 4 Couleurs #504 Les Précieux on the eyes, Guerlain Météorites Perles de Blush Éclat Angélique (reviewed here) on cheeks and Tom Ford Michael on lips. It is so cold here at the moment, so I am wearing my warmest cashmere sweater and a scarf of to add some color in the mix.
FOTD: Guerlain Écrin 4 Couleurs #504 Les Précieux |
Although it is not particularly announced as limited edition, I believe Guerlain Écrin 4 Couleurs #504 Les Précieux is not permanent because of the numbering system, 500s were all limited. The blue quad from Spring Collection on the other hand should be added to the Guerlain Écrin 4 Couleurs line, again just judging by the number.
Final thoughts: Green, soft & shimmery, if that is what you would like this Spring, Guerlain got you covered. If you like more interesting color combinations and palettes which mix matte and shimmery, keep on searching.
Have you checked Guerlain Spring Collection yet? Anything catching your eye?
Lovely! It would be fantastic if the 2 lighter shades were not so similar though.
ReplyDeleteI know... The other two is really nice though, so making up for it ;-)
DeleteLooks beautiful and springy on you, Sara! But I have to say that I was so surprised when I saw the swatches because I was thinking that the light pink shade would show up as a pink, but as Lily mentions the two light shades are very similar.
ReplyDeleteHi Belly,
Deletethe other quad has exactly such a pink shade which doesn't show up either. I don't know what they were thinking :-(
The green and the bronze shades in this quad look absolutely stunning, but it's not really my color scheme - they'd probably pull very warm on me. I'm yet to dip my toes in the Guerlain eyeshadow territory!
ReplyDeleteOh they pull very warm on me as well, wished I had picked up the other one. Maybe I should ;-))
DeleteOh and if you cross the territory, it may be bad for your bank account lol
Wow, this is a lot more beautiful than I thought it would be. Great post, Sara!
ReplyDeleteHi Aida,
Deleteglad that you liked it xox
Ooh, what a gorgeous quad! Love the green tones- so perfect for Spring! xo
ReplyDelete-Jen
www.vibrantbeautyblog.com
Yes it is very springy! Green everywhere and on eyes lol
DeleteHey Sara, thanks for the review and the stunning look! I think I can safely skip this one with no regrets, since I plan to get Hourglass Color Field! I agree tho. It'd be so much more interesting if there were a mixture of different finishes. I wonder why we don't see matte shades too often in luxury quads/quints. Maybe it's because it's harder to get mattes right?
ReplyDeleteOoooh Hourglass Color Field, now I am curious how you will like it. Those are a little powdery but they are so nice in terms of design and work good on the eyes. Guardian's mattes are one of the best I think, especially Les Violines and Les Sables had great mattes in them.
DeleteI am right there with Sunny, I often look at this quads and wonder how in Earth they always are very shimmery! I usually just skip them without remorse ;)
ReplyDeleteLOL, i know what you mean, I am also more for mix texture quads.
DeleteThe deep green shadow is very beautiful but the rest look disappointing. I am looking forward to the Baby Glow and Metiorites blush from this collection though. Susan, London
ReplyDeleteHi Susan,
Deleteis the collection released there?
Don't miss the blush! It is so beautiful.
Based on your review, I recently got #502 Coup de Foudre, and I just love it. Every color in it is wearable and fabulous-- so I feel that this is my new green Spring quad even though it is not a new release. Love Michael on you-- I think you are due for a TF lips and boys re-review-- looks like you sneaked in a few more colors.
ReplyDeleteHi Alison,
Deleteyou are so lucky to be able to find Coup De Foudre, that one is a stand out!
I know, I have to post another review of the boys but I am ashamed to announce the world that I have gotten one short of 20 of these! :-(
I see what you mean by the shades blending together, but I still love the look that you did. The green and brown are very pretty, too bad there's no matte shade and the 2 light shades look too much alike. I had a similar problem with another Guerlain palette I bought (Acers -gray). 1 shade was really frosty, could only be used at the inner corners of eye as highlighter and 2 of the grays looked exactly the same on my lids, so I had to return. But one day, I will own a Guerlain palette (Katherine T.)
ReplyDeleteHi Katherine, I know what you mean by Aciers but I like that one more since that frosty shades can be applied over the mattes for an interesting mixed effect but here everything is shimmery so doesn't make sense to apply one shimmer over the other. I think you might like Les Sables or Les Violines I love them both
DeleteThanks, Sara, I will check those kits out ! (Katherine T)
DeleteOh Sara!!! Somehow, you have this knack of writing a prim and proper review, and then out of the blue BAM!! You break me out in giggles!!! WHAT CRAZY HAIR?!?!?? Hahahahaa.... I need to fix mine too... come, let's go spend a couple of hours in a salon and sip on champagne while the hair stylists do their thang! ;P I'm so disappointed in these disappearing-shades what kind of voodoo is that??
ReplyDeleteLOL, I get bored during writing a prim and proper review and crack up.
DeleteNow you cracked me up though hahahaha!
I would love to fly over just for that, it would be such a fun day, pamper ourselves and get the hair right.
I know that voodoo is lingering over us this spring haha
Looks like a perfection! I seem to be in minority here, but I personally don't like mix of different textures in one palette. I prefer either complete mattes or complete shimmer palettes because I find the mix of different textures looking really weird on my lids - when one part of the lid is shimmer, another part reflects the light with metallic, and then some other patch is completely matte. I don't even like mixing different kind of metallic textures, or thicker eyeshadows with thickers ones. It makes my eye makeup look more natural and color transition more elegant when the texture of al used shades is the same. I have this Chanel quad too, and also Coup-de-Coudre. I must say that this palette will probably be the first one from Guerlain that I will be able to really wear. I own many of them, but Guerlain always makes color combinations that look great in the pan (thats why I keep buying them), but too avangard on my lids (even if I have a very bright color type and can use strong colors). This quad makes me hope that Guerlain finally moves in some more practical direction of making makeup that can also be used for its direct purpose.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for commenting and letting us know another point of view. I can understand that making different textures work together might be a little trickier and needs more time and blending. I think Coup-de-Foudre is very pretty but I can see why it is not everyone's cup of tea. I completely agree with you that this particular quad is great for a quick eye look.
DeleteActually, I find this one to be one of your best eye makeup looks, Sara! On the picture, there is a perfect harmony between the colors of your eyes, hair, skin and this palette.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much, glad you liked it. I like a bit more contrast but for a soft spring look, I might go for harmony as well.
DeleteWoman, you are so damn photogenic! I can't just be spontaneous and smile straight into the camera like that. I'll look like Chandler smiling for pics. Anyway, the palette, it's so pretty! The eye look you created is stunning.
ReplyDeleteAww, thanks so much. I love your poses too, you look great each time!
DeleteOh, I thought this one was beautiful - the shades are just what I used to wear when I started wearing makeup more often. That said, I am missing either a darker satin or matte or would've preferred for the pink to be matte. Have to play around with it more at work though.
ReplyDeleteAccording to the info I got it seems 504 is permanent and 18 le, but it might be a misunderstanding caused by a mistake in translation. Didn't have any luck contacting the Norwegian distributor, so this is all info I've gleaned at work.