It occurred to me while fiendishly gurgling on my third cup of coffee this morning and scouring every surface of my office (including the floor) for my missing, precious pan of MAC Soft Brown (I eventually found it) that on any given second of any given day, there are women, and makeup-loving men, around the world joining Team Matte Eyeshadow.
If you’ve already been drafted, congratulations, and welcome. 🙂 Now check it — Guerlain’s new Ecrin 4 Couleurs in Les Violines is like the Super Bowl for violet eyeshadow lovahs.
It’s $63, which, ya know, is business as usual at Guerlain, but if you’re open to the idea of paying that much and have a yearning, burning love for matte purples, I think these are pretty great.
Les Violines strums a tune about violet. Its three lightest shades are tonally near and dear to each other, making them ideal for blown-out matte purple looks with smooth transitions, like what I’m wearing on my lids in these pics. I paired Violines with contoured cheeks and a slightly shiny berry lip, for a look that I think has that meow-rrific ’90s thing going for it.
If you’re thinking that the palette might be too cool for you, no way, man! — you can so do this. The shades actually have reddish undertones, despite how cool-toned they look in their pans, and if your skin tone leans warm like mine, that red should make these shades easier to wear.
Ah, but what about the blending? you may ask. Good question. Yup, it’s often one of the biggest challenges with mattes, as much as I love ’em. They can be bears to blend.
Blast those choppy, harsh lines! [*bites fist*]
Thankfully, these shadows feel softer than a Ragdoll kitten’s downy fur — in other words, super silky (similar to the creamy, dreamy matte powder eyeshadows over at Dolce & Gabbana). It barely takes the lightest swipe of a brush to seamlessly transition one color into the next…and thank goodness for that, because right now I can barely lift my arms!
Quick tangent, but yesterday I did push-ups for the first time in at least a year; consequently, I’ve been in a great deal of discomfort all day today. I’ve been walking around with my arms stiff and hanging straight down at my sides like Robot Karen. “BEEP! Must. Apply. Makeup. BEEP!”
Anywho…
Oh, have I ever mentioned that my eyes (weirdly, the left eye more than the right) seem to be sensitive to a lot of purple and violet eyeshadows, where they’ll start tearing up, sometimes for hours, especially when the shadows have gritty powder grains?
It’s the weirdest thing, but it hasn’t happened at all with Violines. It’s been smooth sailing so far.
I say oui, ma cherie to Les Violines, and you can say bonjour to it now at Guerlain counters and online. 🙂
PRICE: $63
AVAILABILITY: Available now online and at Guerlain counters
MAKEUP AND BEAUTY BLOG RATING: A
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
I have been wanting this palette since it launched. I loved violet shades so much. Only if it wasn’t that expensive…. and I’m slightly coming around to the whole matte side of the beauty world.
Anyways, you look beautiful!
This is so pretty!! I absolutely love the third shade!
Gorgeous. I love purples and violets.
Yeah… push-ups can be rough. I have no natural chest muscle. Just a few can bring me a whole lot of soreness 😉
Swoon! I’ve been looking for a nice warmer-toned purple or pinkish-neutral palette. I’m planning to splurge on some luxury makeup for my upcoming birthday. So question…which brand would you choose between the new chanel ombres, YSL, or guerlain if you could only chose one?!?!I’m leaning toward chanel ombres…I’m going to have to stop by Nordstrom and play:)
I’ve been into matte eye shadows lately but not sure if I’d want to spend so much! I find it easier to shell out for luxury lipsticks than eye shadows 😛
oooh, ragdoll kitten fur? I don’t think anything could tempt me more, LOL!
My husband started going to the gym this week for the first time ever, and on the first night he was all “My arms feel like jelly!” and thought his arms were too sore to sleep on! I don’t do push-ups on the regular, but I have good upper body strength from aerial.
I’ve really liked the look of this quad. I like that it’s not flat matte.
I was SO excited when I first saw the promo pics of that palette – I love purple and it plays really well with my green eyes.
However I’m very disappointed that they decided to make it a totally matte palette. I think it would have been a lot better if the lightest shade was a shimmer and another one a satin, rather than all mattes. It would have been so much more wearable and flattering in my opinion. After swatching it in my local store I decided to pass 🙁
Don’t get me wrong, I love me some mattes, but I think that an all matte purple look can get very muddy and unflattering, especially with warmer shades leaning towards plum. It’s even more disappointing seeing that the other new eyeshadow palettes that were released with les Violines are all a mix of textures that include some shimmer or satin.
Oh no push ups and dumbbells can be killing after a break! irrespective of the adjectives used to describe this I can never justify buying an eye-shadow that expensive :p
OMG!! This palette is stunning. I loooove the look of it and, of course, the shades.
Reminds me it is time to revisit my tarte mattenificient.
It’s a lovely palette but violets have never looked good on me for some reason. I’m with you on the push-ups. I do them every night (but the girl kind). We have to do the standard for the boys’ soccer practice and I HATE them. All the kids laugh because I’ll say “OK, now it’s time for my least favorite thing” and they all yell “ugh.. PUSH UPS!”. 🙂
I’m torn between this and Les Sables. I don’t know which one I should get first.