FOTD: Dior Spring 2012 – Garden Roses

This FOTD is specially done for HS as she had requested for it when I posted the comparison for Dior Garden Roses vs. Purple Crystal.

Face: Diorskin Radiant Base 001, Maybelline Clear Smooth BB Cream #01 Fresh, Amazing Cosmetics Concealer – Light Golden, Heroine Make Smooth Cover Powder 01, Guerlain Cruel Gardenia Météorites Pressed Powder on nose bridge and cheekbones

Eyes: Dior 5-Couleurs Eyeshadow Palette – Garden Roses, Bébé Poshé Dazzling Eye Pencil 01 Black Diamond, Milani Liquif’eye Eye Pencil in Brown, Maybelline Volum’ Express mascara on lower lashes

Cheeks: Shu Uemura Glow On M Pink 33E

This look is easily achieved just using fingers because the shades are so soft and blendable. I did not use any brushes at all for this look to keep things quick and simple. These colours are very pretty with just the right amount of shimmers and translucency and hence do not look OTT for daytime. In fact, the shimmers are rather subtle on the eyelids.

I hope you enjoy this look, and thank you for reading!

Christian Dior 5-Couleurs Eyeshadow Palette – Garden Roses vs. Purple Crystal

Hi all! I finally got around to swatching my Dior Garden Roses quint and would like to compare this to my other Dior palette in Purple Crystal since both of them reminded me of each other.

With flash: Dior Purple Crystal, Dior Garden Roses

Natural Light – Dior Purple Crystal, Dior Garden Roses

Swatches of Purple Crystal

Now, I have been vastly disappointed by the quality of Dior eyeshadow quints (no thanks to my first-ever Dior quint in Sky Glow) and have since swore off them. However, HS managed to pick up Purple Crystal for me at a Dior warehouse sale a while ago and to my utmost surprise, I thoroughly enjoyed Purple Crystal (whereas Sky Glow let me down completely).

Now fast forward a year and some months when Dior has been churning out new releases after releases, I was never interested because while Purple Crystal was beautiful, it is not good enough to entice me to return to the brand. Plus the prices of the quints are too high to justify any purchase 😦

When I saw promo pictures of the Garden Party Collection being released, I was like, “BAH. Not again.” And made up my mind to ignore it. When the collection was first released at Takashimaya, I could not help but marvel at the beautiful quints on display. Then I walked over to the counter and reached out to touch the eyeshadows, transferring the swatch onto the back of my hand. I remembered going, “Wowwwwwww”. Then, I couldn’t help it but reach in for more. And more. And more. Each shade seemed to leap to life beneath my fingers; the sparkles in the shadows fighting to catch the light. I kept telling myself, “No no no, you have Purple Crystal and that is enough.”

For the next few days, Garden Roses was on my mind. I was in love.

With that, I ended up with a new Dior quint tucked in my shopping bag.

NO REGRETS. My initial fear that it might be similar to Purple Crystal was dispelled immediately. Purple Crystal was a true purple quint – it consists of a glittery (and gritty) mint green shade, the palest of peach-pink, a light lilac, a lavender and a deep purple. Garden Roses is a more varied and mixed quint with shades of light to medium pinks, purples and silver. Even though the lighter shades from both palettes can be indistinguishable from one another when applied on the eyes, the main point of difference is the finish of these shades. Purple Crystal has the slightest pearlescent sheen that makes the shadows look borderline glowy. When applied on the eyes however, it mainly looks powdery and matte unless you catch the light. The frost in the shadows also only show up when the shadows are heavily packed on.

For Garden Roses, it is a different story altogether. The shadows are smoother and more finely-milled yet more transparent. They are also more metallic and gives off a nice “wet-look” in comparison to Purple Crystal which can be powdery. I have not tried this palette on the eyes yet but I foresee that they will be getting a lot of wear.

I hope this post is helpful. Thank you for reading!

Christian Dior Spring 2012: Garden Party Collection

Dior has released their Spring 2012 Garden Party Collection at Takashimaya!

Some swatches that I managed to take:

TOP: Garden Roses, BOTTOM: Garden Pastels

I apologize for the poor quality of these swatches no thanks to the poor store lighting. These swatches do the quints no justice, they are so much more shimmery in real life and the colours are perfect (if not predictable enough) for spring. Garden Pastels is lovely but the lighter shades (off white, baby pink and butter yellow) can look a little too similar on the lids because of the frost and shimmer so I decided to skip on that one. Garden Roses, on the other hand, reminded me a lot of their previous Purple Crystal quint (EOTD here) but the shimmers in Purple Crystal are more understated and gives off a more satiny-pearl finish rather than being shimmery.

I have already reserved Garden Roses and will be collecting it during the upcoming Takashimaya 10% storewide promotions. Just in time for Chanel Spring 2012 too! Please also check out Elaine’s blog for more swatches and product pictures.

Updates (7 Jan 2012): 

More pictures of my Garden Roses quint!

I apologize for all the picture spam, but this quint is so photogenic and is an absolute work of art. I especially love the rose details and the multi-dimensional colours. These pictures do no justice to the beauty of this quint. You would have to see for yourself to understand why this is such a huge sell out!