My Picks from Dior Spring 2016 Glowing Gardens Collection

I can hardly believe we are almost at the end of January, and I have yet to review any Spring makeup.  It’s been a busy start to the year, and my horrifying encounter with a malicious identity thief from last week proved to me that life happens, and I can’t quite predict my schedule and ability to publish new posts in time as well as I’m used to.  At the same time, Spring pastels have traditionally not been my favourite, and of course the realisation that I have-everything-and-need-nothing.  So I’ve taken a very skeptical eye to the current collections, and chose only items that I think would be worthwhile additions to any collection.  Come take a few minutes from your busy Monday, and meander with me through Dior Spring 2016 Glowing Gardens Collection.

The key attraction of this collection was the lovely floral embossing on top of the eyeshadow palettes, highlighters and blushes.  I am not a girlie type of girl, and the floral design did not call out to me quite as strongly as to many of the ladies on Instagram.  But my heart melted when I saw this lovely peach blush on Lily’s blog!  There is a pink version of it that seemed much more popular (through the Instagram-reality-distortion lens) and this peach shade is still widely available at counters though the pink is already soldout at some places.

Dior Diorblush Glowing Gardens Blooming Peach (442) is a limited edition blush in a sweet coral that is neutral to cool-toned on me.  It has a satin finish, and is easily buildable from a very natural flush to a deeper though still flattering shade.  More importantly, Blooming Peach lasts all day on me, though it does fade slightly over time.

This Spring 2016, Dior introduced a bunch of dual-ended eyeshadow and liner duo – Diorshow Colour & Contour.  There are 5 available shades, and after swatching all of them, I decided on #157 Iris shown above.  These feature a creamy fat-tipped eyeshadow pencil that bears an iridescent shimmering finish, and a skinny tip with intensely pigmented eyeliner.  They are waterproof and outlasts any other similar pen-type eyeshadows that I’ve tried.

All the 5 Colour & Contour duos that I tested had very smooth and pigmented eyeliner end that stayed blendable for a short while before setting.  They can be rather soft though, so it may crumble if you press too hard.  The good thing is, you don’t need any effort at all to line the delicate lash line, and the liners do not tug nor skip.  The eyeshadow end varied in quality between the 5 shades… some were smoother than others, and by that I do not mean their ability to glide over the lids, but I found that some shades particularly Iris tended to sheer out in places and needed several passes to get to the full opacity shown above.  Despite that, I found the colour to be exactly what I love, and ended up bringing it home with me!

Here’s a very simple EOTD featuring Diorshow Colour & Contour in Iris (157) which I’ve taken to wearing every single day in the past week.  The eyeshadow sheers out, leaving just a hint of glimmer.  The eyeliner is dark and intense, exactly the way I like it, but blends out leaving no hard edges.  And if I am going out at night, I just swipe the eyeshadow a couple times over to amp it up.

These Diorshow Colour & Contour pens stay on very well due to their waterproof nature.  In fact, my water-based eye makeup remover is unable to clean it off, and only an oil-based cleanser is able to do a thorough job.  On the other hand, it is not oil-proof (well, nothing is!), and I still find the makeup creasing in my eye fold, so a good primer is still needed!

And finally, here is a simple makeup look featuring Diorshow Colour & Contour Iris on the eyes, and Diorblush Glowing Gardens Blooming Peach on the cheeks.

Have a blessed week ahead, and stay safe!!