CHANEL LES 9 OMBRES MULTI-EFFECTS EYESHADOW PALETTE ÉDITION N°2 QUINTESSENCE

This is the star of the new makeup collection for Chanel spring-summer 2019: "Vision d'Asie: L'Art du Détail".  (You can read about my picks in my previous post here).

Inspiration Behind The Collection

"Lucia Pica draws inspiration from the radiant and subtle contrasts seen during her trip through Asia, where she explored the cities, streets and markets. Captivated by the beauty of everyday details, she creates an intense range of makeup with green, blue, gold, ivory and fuchsia shades. A luminous collection".

The Quintessence Palette 

"This eyeshadow palette features nine long-wearing shades in a combination of bold colours and neutral tones.  A range of finishes from intense matte to shimmering satin allow for a range of custom eye makeup looks and effects."

"Pure, long-lasting pigments ensure intense colour, while the soft-texture formula allows for effortless eye makeup application and seamless blending for an endless variety of looks."

Packaging

Above the compact with the usual Chanel velvet pouch, and below, the product description label on the bottom of the palette.

This palette is packaged in the same way as last year's No. 1 Affresco palette, which was also limited edition (but, you may still be able to get a hold of this if your local counter still has remaining stock like mine does!).  It's in the iconic Chanel black lacquer compact with mirror and includes two dual-ended foam applicators - one of them has a flat angled synthetic brush end (last year's palette only had foam applicators).

Below are photos comparing the two palettes from this year (No. 2 Quintessence) and last year (No. 1 Affresco).  Affresco's inclusion of a couple of lighter, bright colours seems a tad more "summery" than this year's palette I think, but I personally find the latter to be more wearable overall all.  but, both palettes offer other shades that make them both applicable for all seasons of the year.

Above: photographed indoors under artificial lighting.

Above and below: photographed indoors in natural light.

Colours & Swatches

Above: photographed indoors in natural lighting, and below: photographed indoors in artificial lighting.

Colours and their finishes anti-clockwise from top right in the palette are:

Matte light taupe,

Shimmering yellow gold,

Shimmering light, neutral ivory,

Shimmering pale icy/silvery green,

Satin very dark neutral brown,

Satin neutral medium to dark brick red,

Shimmering medium olive green,

Matte to satin, vibrant medium petrol blue,

Matte dark charcoal with a slight petrol blue undertone.

Below: Left to right are swatches of the eyeshadows clockwise from the bottom right-most in the palette.  These were swatched dry (without primer) with a clean finger on my medium to tan, olive skin.

Below are swatches of No. 1 Affresco palette for reference and comparison.

In general, the colour combination in the new No. 2 Quintessence palette easily lends itself more suitable for nights out and special occasions.  This would be perfect for the current festive season for instance - hello, new year's eve party look. ;-)  In addition, the colours and shimmers are designed to also be layered to create many more new colours, nuances, in varied textures and finishes on the eye lids.  So effectively, you'll be able to create sooo many more looks with with this palette than you might think initially!  Below are some of the satin eye shadows swatched dry on the arm then layered on top with one of the shimmer eye shadows in the palette (photographed in low light to capture the shimmers).  I've indicated the specific eye shadows I used with the numbers I've given in the palette in the previous image above.

Initially, you may not think there's enough neutral shades in this palette to create a day look, especially since there lacks a medium, neutral, satin/matte shade, but you definitely can! The right-most top shade (light taupe) pretty much blends into and matches my current medium to tan (~NC30) olive skin tone, so I can only use it as a base wash of colour all over my lids as prep to apply other shades on top of. But, in the winter when I'm not as tanned (or if you have a much lighter skin tone), this shade would give just a little bit of depth to be used as a transition shade (in the crease). Otherwise, you can mix a tiny bit of the dark brown (being very light-handed as it is super pigmented!), and the light taupe together to get an in-between shade. You can use the ivory shimmer as a wash over the mobile eye lids (either using a brush or very light tap of the finger tip) and add a bit of depth on the outer corners with a very light hand application of the dark brown mixed with the light taupe. Then, use the dark brown to line my upper lash line. Alternatively, you could also apply the same dark brown over the mobile lid (with a flat eye brush or clean finger tip) then go over that colour with a gently tap of the ivory shimmer. This tones down the darkness quite a bit to a more mid-tone shade and although it's shimmery, just these two like this on their own give a nice, fresh day look and opens up the eyes. Done! :-) (See how the two shadows layer in the swatches below).

I also love the versatility of the ivory shimmer. The colour is neutral so would suit a range of skin tones and its texture is so smooth and micro-shimmers so fine that it works equally well on the high-points of the face (e.g., cheek bones, under the brow bone, bridge of nose and cupids bow) to highlight without emphasising any textural issues or pores you may have. It's not so intense either so it's day-appropriate.

The brick red eye shadow is another versatile one and as it is neutral would work for lots of skin tones as an eye shadow and blush. This shade is a lot more wearable than you might think as all of us will naturally have a bit of red undertone to varying degree.

Application

I found that all the shimmer eye shadows in the palette are best applied with a clean finger in gentle tapping motions on the eye lids.  It gives the most colour pay-off and impactful shimmer effect.

The two shades in the bottom right-most in the palette (vibrant petrol blue and dark charcoal) swatched poorly, HOWEVER, they performed extremely well on the eye lids when applied with my natural-bristled eye shadow brushes - so, please do NOT be fooled by the swatches!  The pigment was good - the bright petrol blue was true to colour and as vibrant on the eye lids as it appears in the pan for instance.  This is a rare find for me as other similar blue shades I've tried tend to apply muddily and looks more smokey rather than retaining their vibrancy and brightness.  So, I'm extremely pleased with this and I have to say, it's made me fall in love with this shade out of all the shades in the entire palette! >_<  It is beautiful.  The dark charcoal was only just the tiniest bit patchy if you over blend, but otherwise it is pretty good still.  These eye shadows blend very well with little effort - i.e., using a very light-hand with each stroke - so you should not have to blend so much as to avoid colour disappearing again.  These were the only two eye shadows that I experienced just a little bit of fall-out with, so be sure to apply your base/foundation after applying these so you can easily clean any fall-out up without ruining your base.

The dark brown and red shades are the smoothest of eye shadows I have EVER felt.  They are soooo incredibly smooth that it's almost as if my fingers slide right off of them when I went to tap my fingertips into them ready to swatch!  They are absolutely smooth as silk and goes on the skin like silk!!!  The dark brown shade is the most exceptional in the palette.  The pigment is completely opaque with just a single stroke of either brush or during finger swatching.  It is an absolute joy to use!!

The rest of the eye shadows in the palette applied with great colour pay-off and blended beautifully and effortlessly.  No issues there! :-)

Two Looks: Bold Blue and Neutral Everyday
Below are just two different looks I created using this palette photographed indoors in natural light using my phone camera.

Below is how the ivory shimmer eye shadow looks when applied as a subtle sheen to highlight my cheek bones and under my brow bone.  I think it's really beautiful for day wear!

Longevity

I worn most of the shades in the palette for up to seven hours straight without any noticeable wear or fading.  I could have worn it for longer, but being a mum of two I'm usually spent and need to remove makeup after that long! >_<  This was tested using the Nars tinted eye shadow primer underneath, and worn in the >= mid 30 degree celsius summer heat down-under!!  I sweated a bit throughout the day!  So pretty impressive even with the primer!!

Size
6.3 g / 0.22 oz

Made in Italy.

Overall

The palette is a really fun palette to play with and inspires the hidden artist in me to be creative and brave with bold colours and shimmers, but still has a few neutral shades to give a few simple, day-time appropriate looks.  It does take some thought and practice to determine choice of colours and textures to create a look, so I would say it's not the best eye shadow palette for beginners or novice users.  However, if you have all the neutral palettes already and looking for something different, or are a Chanel makeup collector like me, or makeup artist - I think this palette is worth checking out.  Overall, the shadows apply easily and blend effortlessly with great colour pay-off and longevity.  The palette offers versatility with it being designed to allow you to layer colours and colours with shimmers that can easily take you from day to night.  Plus, you can also use the appropriate shade in the same palette for highlighting and blush and not just on the eyes.  This makes it a very convenient palette to take for travel.  I am currently obsessed with this palette and so happy I have it in my collection! ^_^

Availability
Limited edition.  This collection officially launches in Australia on January 6, 2019 (but, you may be able to get a hold of it quicker like I did if you enquire at your local counter ;-) ).


Hope this was helpful!  Have a safe and prosperous 2019 everyone! ^_^ xo





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