Dior Trafalgar 5 Couleurs Eyeshadow Palette

Dior is the latest beauty house to reformulate its eyeshadow palettes, and looks set to bring us 13 new 5 Couleurs Eyeshadow Palettes this Fall 2014. Not all of them have been globally launched yet, but already all eyes are on that red palette – #876 Trafalgar!

Inspired by the daring colors found in Dior’s runway designs, Trafalgar breaks the stereotypical mould of soft moody hues for Fall, and packs a punch with a bold red, rich gold, and velvety plum. These remind me of rich brocades in a lady’s boudoir, all luxurious and sensual.

Dior palettes have been hit or miss with me in the past, mostly because of the lack of pigmentation and dry textures. And until recently, I had not experimented with red eyeshadows… and so Trafalgar was not love at first sight for me.

I was happy to note that Trafalgar sported improved color pigmentation over its predecessors. The 2 upper shades were still sheer, and did not apply smoothly. But I realized after playing with the palette and speaking with the Dior Backstage MUA, that they are designed this way for layering and not designed to be worn on their own. Left to right from top to bottom, the shades are:

• Sheer, light shimmery pink
• Sheer, light shimmery ivory
• Rich, medium Shiraz-red with a satin finish. There is some warm orangey undertones that make this much more wearable than a flat red. It is the smoothest shade in this palette and wears well.
• Muted, medium russet gold with a metallic finish. It felt creamiest out of all 5 shades and had good color pay-off.
• Dark burgundy brown with a satin finish and slight shimmers. This is another excellent shade in terms of pigmentation and nicely blendable.

Swatched accordingly from left to right:

Overall, in terms of textures, Trafalgar definitely feels much improved from older Dior 5 Couleurs. Nonetheless, it is still a far cry from the smooth silkiness of Chanel and the creaminess of Cle de Peau and Guerlain. Notwithstanding, I never apply eyeshadows with my finger, so the actual textures do not matter as much as the blendability and longevity of wear on my lids. In this aspect, Trafalgar exceeded all my expectations – it was a breeze to work with, the pigmentation was just nice (red not too red, highlighting shades were just sheer enough with subtle shimmers to layer up some magic!), and blending was effortless. I was also pleasantly surprised to find the shades stayed on my lids without creasing or fading throughout the day even when worn without primer.

And to demonstrate the wearability of Trafalgar, here are 3 EOTDs that I’ve been sporting to the office over the past week:

As I mentioned earlier, the pale pink is really designed to be layered with the other shades, and in this EOTD, I applied it all over my lid as a base. Then I took just a little dab of the red, and gently swept it on the center of the lid extending out to the outer corner. The combination of pale pink and red actually produces a cool medium pink! Next, I defined the outer corner of my eye and eye socket with the dark burgundy brown. I also lined my lower lash line with the burgundy.  Finished with a dab of the shimmery ivory over the center to tone down the red even further.

For this next look, I played with the gold, and applied it all over the lid. Next, I took a very little dusting of the red and swept it just in the center of my lid keeping close to the lash line without going very far up. The russet gold topped with red produced a sort of coral shade! Then I deepened the outer corner and crease with the burgundy brown.

Before you think that the red is not pigmented at all because I used such a feather light touch of it in the previous 2 looks, I used a bit more red in this last one. Again, since I’m wearing this to the office, I kept things subtle. I applied gold all over the lid, and then added red to the center of the lid keeping close to the lash line almost like a liner. Next, I applied burgundy to the outer corner following the lash line, winging up and curving in slightly for a big more definition. Finally, I swept some pale pink from my inner corner up along the crease to blend, and dabbed on a bit of the pale ivory in the center above the red. I also lined the outer half of my lower lash line with a heavier dose of the burgundy to balance things out.

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Dior 5 Couleurs Eyeshadow Palette #876 Trafalgar is one of the better palettes out of all the new reformulations (they are not consistent from my initial swatching attempts). Certainly if you are only in it for the red, there are other singles or multi-colored palettes that could be a nice addition to an otherwise neutral-only collection. On the other hand, Trafalgar has one of the nicest and most interesting color story that I have seen lately, and the shimmer shades work some magic when layered with the satin shades. It is also incredibly easy to work with a brush, and lasts all day without fading or creasing. The only thing giving me pause is the increased price (Dior 5 Couleurs Eyeshadow Palettes now retail for SGD102 versus SGD95)…breaching $100 poses a sort of mental barrier to me, and I won’t be rushing out to collect them all. But do check Trafalgar out, get a BA to apply it on you if you’re uncertain, and fall in love!

xoxo