Guerlain Beaugrenelle & Les Cendres Eyeshadow Palettes for Fall 2015

Lately I find myself a little bit of a makeup magpie, flitting between one shiny thing and the next.  And so I’ve woken up this morning obsessed with bringing you the latest eyeshadow palettes from Guerlain’s Fall 2015 Bloom of Rose Collection.  I know there are a couple more collections that I’ve not finished reviewing, but we’ll get there by the end of this week, I promise!  Today, feast your eyes on the 2 eyeshadow palettes I have – Guerlain Ecrin 6 Couleur Beaugrenelle and Guerlain Ecrin 4 Couleur Les Cendres!

It has been a long while since I felt any excitement over Guerlain eyeshadow palettes… their recent releases have all seemed fairly soft and almost non-committal, as if their attention is focused elsewhere.  And indeed even with this Fall’s Bloom of Rose collection, I reckon there are more “interesting” new products to discover.  In spite of it all, I was quite happy to see the return of the Erin 6 Couleur eyeshadow palette format, which has been missing for so long now I can’t remember the last time Guerlain introduced a new one.

Guerlain Ecrin 6 Couleurs Beaugrenelle is a stunning creation, featuring an intricate laser-cut design on the top cover.  The same design is replicated on the eyeshadows when you open it up, and are etched deep enough that they should be able to withstand swatching and use.  To protect the product, there is a swing lid between the top cover and the eyeshadows, which snap shut securely over the eyeshadows, and bears a generous-sized mirror on the inside.

Guerlain’s Ecrin 6 Couleur palettes feature 5 powder eyeshadows and 1 cream liner on the right.   The main color is placed in the middle of the palette, surrounded by gradations of shades designed to help create as natural or smokey an eye look as you desire.  Beaugrenelle is composed of the following shades:

• Top left – Shimmering taupe highlight to give that silvery gleam to the eye
• Bottom left – Iridescent ivory base shade that melds into my skin and is useful for blending out any harsh lines. The subtle micro-shimmers in there make this shade more interesting than it appears initially, and layers well with the other shades.
• Bottom right – Dark navy blue with a satin finish for a smokey eye look
• Top right – Medium dove grey with a satin finish
• Right most – Dark navy cream liner.  This shade surprised me as it stayed on fairly well on my wet lower lash line!  It also works well as a darkening base to pat on the other powder eyeshadows.
• Center – Medium silvery blue with a shimmery finish

And here are the corresponding swatches from left to right:

Beaugrenelle surprised me as it turned out to be more monotonal than it appeared in the pan.  The blues predominate, accompanied by various tones of grey.  What was curious was the blue in the center of the palette pulled grey on my skin (right most swatch), whereas the top-right grey shade turned greige (4th swatch from the left) whilst the top-left taupe turned silver (right most swatch).  A very unexpected series of color-shifts, but the quality of the entire palette is top-notch, and I was very happy to see the pigmentation is stronger than the eyeshadow palettes that Guerlain have released over the past year, and the shades do not overblend themselves.

Whichever way you choose to wear Beaugrenelle, the outcome will invariably turn out like something above, just varying intensities of lightness / darkness.  Regardless, if you’re a fan of blue / grey but find them difficult to wear on their own, Beaugrenelle has the perfect formula that will flatter most skin tones and eye colors.  For the eye look above, I applied the ivory as a base all over my lid, followed by the dove grey shade on the inner half of the lid.  Thereafter, I defined the outer v with the dark navy, and blended the silvery blue into the middle of my lid.  Finally, I patted some silvery taupe over the middle of my lid, and lined the lower lash line and the outer third of my upper lash line with the cream liner.  Finished with some mascara.

And here is the full look in context:

In this look, I am wearing Guerlain Ecrin 6 Couleur Beaugrenelle on eyes, Guerlain Rose Aux Joues in Chic Pink on cheeks, and Kiss Kiss Rose Lip in Pink Me Up on lips.

At a recent preview event, I got to also check out the other eyeshadow palette – Guerlain Ecrin 4 Couleurs Les Cendres, and thought I’d show you what it looks like.

Les Cendres is from the Ecrin 4 Couleurs family that seems more popular, and at first sight appeared to be very similar to Les Precieux from the Spring 2015 collection.  However, I was very happy to find Les Cendres to be better pigmented, and the color intensities to be more consistent instead of having 2 very dark + 2 near invisible shades in past Ecrin 4 Couleurs.

The shades are:

• Left – Medium red barley with a satin finish
• Top – Medium salmon pink with a satin finish
• Right – Light shimmering champagne
• Bottom – Dark chocolate brown

And here are the corresponding swatches from left to right:

As I don’t actually have this palette at the moment, I’m afraid I can’t show you an eye look.  However, I do think this is a very pretty palette of warm pinks and browns, which is something I can see lots of ladies wearing on a daily basis.  Again, I have to note that the palette swatches differently on my skin than it appears in the pan.  Interestingly, the press image for Les Cendres actually looks closer to how it applies than the palette looks in real life.

So, will you be picking up either Beaugrenelle or Les Cendres this season?

_{This post features a product that was kindly provided for my consideration.  Regardless, all opinions expressed here are my own honest, unbiased views.}