It’s an icy Winter 2019 with Tom Ford Soleil Neige
The Tom Ford Winter Soleil collection this year is titled Soleil Neige, and as befitting its name, seems to be rather icy and cool-toned overall. I was not very drawn to the 3 eye quads initially as I felt they were much too pale for my tastes, and if I had to pick something for this holiday season, it would be the Soleil Neige Eye Color Quad. So unsurprisingly, when I stopped for Badass (reviewed here), Soleil Neige came home with me as well.
Tom Ford Soleil Neige Eye Color Quad is comprised of 4 icy shades – 2 lighter, and 2 smokey shades. The composition of colors is actually very interesting as it allowed for several different possibilities to suit varying occasions, taking you from day to night. Similar to Badass, all 4 shades possess some element of shimmer and shine, though to a much lesser extent.
The shades, in clockwise direction starting from top left, are:
- Icy frosted white with silvery shimmers, perks up the inner corners immediately
- Light metallic taupe that is just a little too pale on my skin tone [there seems to be some variant of taupe across the entire collection this season, so take your pick!]
- Black that pulls brown when applied and is semi-sheer with silver and violet micro-shimmers
- Midnight blue with silver micro-shimmers
After all these years, I have finally reached the conclusion that Tom Ford does not do blue eyeshadows well. This particular variant is dry, lacks intensity and difficult to apply evenly across the lids with my usual brushes. The black shade as well is much less pigmented than usual, though applies smoother and easier in contrast.
Here is an eye look featuring all 4 shades. I started with the taupe all over my lid, followed by the black in the outer corner which has all but disappeared. Next I layered the blue over the outer half of my lid, though it seemed to want to migrate to the outer contour instead of sitting on my natural crease. I buffed everything to blend, and added a pop of white to the inner corner.
On another occasion, I abandoned the blue and relied mainly on the taupe, using just a bit of black on the outer corner to define and white in the inner corner to highlight. I like this look better, but it is unspectacular to say the least.
Overall, Soleil Neige Eye Color Quad is a bit of a disappointment to me. It is not the quality that I had taken for granted from Tom Ford over the years. Perhaps I am suffering from lathergy having been following this brand for so long, but I feel it needs something fresh to inject some life back into the seasonal collections. What do you think?
