Today we're starting a new exciting post series, called French Friday. Every Friday, I'll be sharing my thoughts about a product by a French brand, big and famous or small and underrated, so you can discover the variety and diversity of beauty products made in France. I'm inaugurating this new series with a review of an eyeshadow palette by one of my favorite French makeup brands, Dior.
Dior is probably the brand I've owned the most products from in my makeup life, lipsticks, mascaras, glosses, foundations, eyeshadows, I've tried pretty much everything (except blushes, for no particular reason!). When Dior revamped their 5 Couleurs eyeshadow palettes last fall (2014), I decided to check them out and ended up purchasing Cuir Cannage (#796). The warm neutrals seduced me, and I liked that the shades were deeper than most nude palettes.
Cuir Cannage contains:
- a plummy brown on the top left. This shade has a strong shimmer and swatches a bit dryer than the others but works well on the eyes. It has great color payoff and adds a nice depth to eye looks.
- a champagne highlighter on the top right. This shimmery shade is soft and buttery but semi-sheer. This is great for me, as I'd rather have a subtler highlighter on my brow bone and inner corner than an opaque frosty one. It works really great to add luminosity without looking disco-ball sparkly. I love to blend it into the crease shade for a flawless gradient.
- a warm medium brown in the central diamond. It's a matte shadow with a very soft texture and very good pigmentation. It's perfect as a transition or crease shade and blends into the shimmery shades without effort.
- a frosty caramel on the bottom left. The finish for this shade is almost metallic, so it can emphasize dryness of the skin and make the eyelids look more crepe-y if you're prone to that. However it is incredibly finely milled, silky and thin and has fantastic color payoff, a little goes a long way!
- a coffee brown on the bottom right. This one also has amazing pigmentation and performs much better on the eye than it swatches (it feels a bit dry to the touch). It's a satin finish with the tiniest shimmer, but it tends to look almost matte once applied.
All these shadows apply very easily and blend flawlessly with almost zero fallout. The colors work very well together, and although Dior suggest using them as 2 trios, I tend to incorporate them all in my makeup for a sultry glamorous eye. My go-to look with Cuir Cannage is the caramel shade on the lid, coffee brown in the outer corner, matte medium brown in the crease, champagne on the brow bone and inner corner, plummy brown under lower lash line. The result is a rich, shimmery look with a lot of depth. Considering the great intensity of the shades, you can also easily create a smoky eye with the palette.
I know that Dior's eyeshadow formula is controversial, and I've ran into palettes I wasn't really happy with (see the messy Holiday palette). Cuir Cannage, however, features soft, nicely pigmented shades with great quality across the board. There is no patchiness, excessive fallout or weak pigmentation in there. It's highly usable for sophisticated, dramatic looks, although with my light skintone I wouldn't necessarily reach for it when I want a very nude day look (but then this is the very reason why I bought it!). If you have a medium to deep skintone you should definitely look into it for everyday shades. It also leans very warm on me, so it might not be the best choice if you're looking for cool or neutral tones.
The wear time is excellent on me with no creasing or fading throughout the day on top of my usual primer (these days theBalm Put A Lid On It). Dior re-designed the compact when launching the new 5 Couleurs palettes, here's a quick comparison:
As you can see, the new palette is sleeker, it's a slightly deeper blue and it doesn't have the holographic logo on the lid anymore. The lid is also flatter, which makes storage easier. The palettes still come in a deep navy velvet pouch and they contain little applicator. The brush one is unusable for me, however I like the thin, pointy sponge one to apply shadow on my lash lines.
Overall: 5 Couleurs Cuir Cannage is Dior at its best. The shadows are great quality and make glamorous looks easy to create, even for beginners. The $62 price tag is a bit hard to swallow, but if you can afford it, it's worth indulging.
Where to buy?
The product featured in this review was purchased by Lulle. I received no compensation to write this post, which only reflects my personal opinion. This post contains affiliate links.
Wow, the colors are beautiful and you look gorgeous! As you rightly suggested, these seem like great everyday hues. Also, all the colors seem so wearable unlike so many other palettes!
ReplyDeleteThank you! The colors just combine so well to create a beautiful look completely effortlessly with this palette.
DeleteHey Lulle, whoaaaa Cuir Cannage is SO beautiful against your green eyes! I have this one too, and it's my favorite in the reformulated 5 Couleurs lineup so far. I still don't get why Dior felt the need to reformulate them. I actually own several older 5 Couleurs that perform better! Let's hope things will pick up soon.
ReplyDeleteI guess I was lucky to pick up this one in the new range. The obsession to reformulate products that were good to start with is one of the mysteries of the beauty industry... Some of my faves were discontinued and replaced by a mediocre new version so many times!
DeleteI love this detailed review, you have me convinced to buy this! I love beautiful shadows with no fallout :)
ReplyDeleteRachelShuchatMakeup
It's so beautiful! I especially like the first shade, but they all look wonderful. And you created such a pretty everyday look!
ReplyDeleteThank you! My favorite shade in this palette is the caramel one.
DeleteI love dior eyeshadows!! :)<3
ReplyDeletelittlecoffeebreak.com
What's your favorite Dior shadow?
DeleteJolie palette mais un peu chère pour moi
ReplyDeleteC'est sûr que le prix est élevé, c'est un vrai luxe.
DeleteGorgeous shades. xx
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ninasstyleblog.com
Which one is your favorite?
DeleteLooking forward to your French series! Sadly Dior and I don't really get along. I like the look of their products but never feel they're worth the high price. The shades in Cuir Cannage did tempt me for a while though. :) What are your favourite Dior products? I do have to say they make excellent nail polish.
ReplyDeleteI have a few of their nail polishes and it's true, they're great, I especially love the wide brush.
DeleteMy favorite products by Dior are the lipsticks, I've never been disappointed. I also love the Diorshow Iconic Curl, one of the very few mascaras that does curl my super straight lashes. The Forever Powder Foundation is pretty good, and I fell in love with the new Nude Air Serum foundation. I also love most of the eyeshadow palettes I have, but I'm not sure the last reformulation is a success. Cuir Cannage is great but some of the others seems to have mediocre textures (the Holiday palette I got was pretty awful in terms of texture. Thinking about it now, I should have returned it).