Clarins The Essentials Eye Make-Up Palette for Holiday 2015, Review, Swatch & FOTD

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. It is that time of the month again when I start dropping things. You know what I mean? I dropped down a few eye make-up and managed to break them. I cant wait until this is over. All I am doing is now getting miserable and curling on the sofa. Today we attended a brunch party of a good old friend, which was fun! Oh and I ate too much. Give me sweets and leave me alone.

Gorgeous X-mas palettes are all over now. I have a few(!) to show you in the upcoming weeks. I would like to start by Clarins' Holiday Collection The Essentials Eye Make-Up Palette. Ten-pan palettes of Clarins' have almost been a tradition now. I fell in love with the one from 2013 but didn't pick it up last year since I thought they were similar. This year's is more smoky with a good balance of matte and shimmery shades.  Also this year Clarins came up with a wonderful idea of planting a tree in Brazil for each Palette. I am loving this idea. I wore the palette a couple of times during the last week. My thoughts about it is after the jump.

Clarins The Essentials Eye Make-Up Palette for Holiday 2015

Clarins The Essentials Eye Make-Up Palette is hosted in a recycled cardboard package. Inside the compact, the part where the eye shadows lay is made of plastic and can be taken out of the cardboard box. This makes it reusable. The attention given to the environment is exemplary. Not to mention how chic the card board looks.

Clarins The Essentials Eye Make-Up Palette for Holiday 2015

There are ten shades, from left to right, as follows:

#1 (left most): A very light cool pink with matte finish. Unfortunately the color pay-off of this one is not very good but it can be used to blend over the crease.

#2: A light neutral pink with shimmery finish. The color pay off and consistency is great. It works wonderfully with the other shades in the palette. Even better, although it is shimmery it doesn't look frosty. Love this one

#3: A light to medium cool tan shade with matte finish which is great to introduce a light crease on my complexion. This would make a good contour shade for the nose or face as well. It is a little powdery and the color pay-off is medium but works fine on the eyes once applied with a fluffy brush.

#4: A light neutral gold with metallic finish. This shade is wonderful if you know how to use it but it also has the potential to ruin the eye make-up. The powder of this is very soft so it crumbles if zou pick it up with a dense brush or hands. The best thing is to pick it up with fingers and put some at the back of your hand and apply from there to avoid access. If you apply it right, it almost looks like a foil, very beautiful.

#5: A deeper cool tan shade with matte finish. This is deeper than #3 with better color pay-off. It is also less powdery. I love this one to deepen the crease a little more. If you use #3 and #5 subsequently, you are guaranteed to get a nice blended look.

#6: A deeper warmer brown with satin to matte finish. It has good color pay off and a nice buttery consistency. 

#7: This is one of my favorites (together with #2 and #10). It is an olive golden khaki shade with lovely complex shimmer. It has great color pay off.

#8: A deep cool gunmetal with matte finish. Great color pay-off and consistency.

#9: A very deep matte black. Blacks are very hard to do and I was a little afraid to find out how this one would perform after the Fall Palette (reviewed here). I am happy to report, this is one of the best blacks I came across at this price range for a long time. It is smooth and buttery, not powdery and has great color pay-off. It also layers well on the other shades.

#10: My type of purple dot. Love! It has a satin finish and it is a great addition to otherwise neutral palette.

Swatch: Clarins The Essentials Eye Make-Up Palette for Holiday 2015

Now before telling how this works on the eyes, I would like to tell you that Clarins The Essentials Eye Make-Up Palette consists of mineral and plant extracts. These type of formulas benefit a great deal from wet application to get the full color pay-off which you see in the swatches. Instead I applied it dry since I know many of you don't go for wet application. The results are fine but the lustre is better if applied wet. This eye look lasted full day on me without fading and creasing.

In-action: Clarins The Essentials Eye Make-Up Palette for Holiday 2015

Here is the look in context. I am wearing Dior My Lady 006 Blush and Charlotte Tilburry Bond Girl Matte Lipstick. Clarins The Essentials Eye Make-Up Palette gives lovely neutral eye looks but if you use them dry, most of the shades appear close on the eye. The golden shades needs some practice to make it work. But... it is all for a good cause. Let me show you how it works...

FOTD: Clarins The Essentials Eye Make-Up Palette for Holiday 2015

Once you open Clarins The Essentials Eye Make-Up Palette, there is an transparent inlay inside which shows you how to combine shades on your eye lids. On the upper right corner of this inlay there is a code. If you go to clarins.com you can provide your e-mail and your name as well as the code so that you can plant a tree in Ashaninka Indianer in Brazil. The map shows you where your tree is planted. After that you also receive a certificate which is sent per e-mail. On the certificate the kid is so cute but I can't help but think about Exorcist when I see the star painted on her face ;-)

Plating a tree with Clarins The Essentials Eye Make-Up Palette for Holiday 2015

Plating a tree with Clarins The Essentials Eye Make-Up Palette for Holiday 2015

Here is a last look to Clarins The Essentials Eye Make-Up Palette.

Clarins The Essentials Eye Make-Up Palette for Holiday 2015

Final thoughts: Aside from a few shade, Clarins The Essentials Eye Make-Up Palette works well for a gradual neutral eye or a smoky eye. The shades perform better if used wet but they are fine if used dry as well. It is for a good cause and made up of recycled material which makes it easier to justify if you have many neutrals in your collection.

Availability/ Price: Available right now online and in stores. It is limited edition and costs around 46€.

How do you find the idea about planting a tree? Would you buy make-up for a cause?

Disclaimer: The product in this post was provided free of charge for my consideration. 
I am not paid for this review. All opinions are honest and my own.