In a makeup universe saturated with warm, red-based eyeshadow palettes, I proudly present you a quint that's about as cool-toned as it gets: Dior 5 Couleurs in Provoke. I know spring is just around the corner, but I'm not ready to give up my smokey winter eye looks yet. If you're fed up with orange-y brown and "sunset" palettes, keep reading for a feast of cool gray and mauve hues!

Dior Provoke is part of the permanent range of 5 Couleurs eyeshadow palettes, a classic that was relaunched in 2017. Dior really did a good job with the recent reformulation, and the shadows in all the new palettes I have tried are a joy to use. No more dry and powdery textures, everything is incredibly soft and buttery.


Provoke features a combination of very cool, smokey colors. It would even be a gray monochromatic palette if it wasn't for the inclusion of a mauve! Here are all the details about each shade:

- the top left pan contains a cool-toned muted mauve with a satin finish. There's quite a bit of sheen to this shade but you can't really distinguish any shimmer particles. It makes the lids look glowy rather than shimmery, which is extremely flattering, especially for dry or aging skin. I often use this one in the crease as a transition between the grays on my lid and the white on my brow bone.
- the top right is a semi-sheer soft white with a frosty pearl finish. It works well on the brow bone or in the inner corner to highlight. You have to use a light hand on the brow bone because it creates a rather intense sheen.
- the center diamond is a cool medium gray with the same satin finish as the mauve. This one is very pigmented yet goes on very smoothly.
- the bottom left is a sparkly silver. It feels so soft and smooth despite being a sparkly shadow! I use it with a brush when I just want to add a veil of silver sparkles to another shade, and I apply it directly with my fingertip to achieve an intense metallic result.
- the bottom right is a dark charcoal gray with a matte finish. Being the only matte, it feels a smidgen dryer to the touch than the other shades, but it's still very soft. It tends to swatch a little patchy but it applies and blends beautifully on the lid.


All the shades are silky soft, blend with ease and look very flattering on the skin. They're all nicely pigmented, hitting the sweet spot between too pigmented (which makes shadows harder to control and blend well) and not opaque enough. I know that the swatches look a little weak, but these shadows are made to look great on your eyes applied with brushes, so they don't look their best on my arm!

The five shades in Dior Provoke work beautifully together to create dramatic smokey eyes, or more subtle gray and mauve looks. The different finishes help create a variety of looks despite the almost monochromatic shade selection: you can go with a mostly matte smokey using the dark charcoal around the eye and the mauve in the crease, or a halo using the silver on the center of the lid, or a softer look using the two satin colors.


While I really like to use Provoke on its own for gray-toned looks, it also pairs wonderfully with an all-matte palette from Dior called Dream (here is my review). Dream brings in more colorful (but still cool-toned) shades so you can add plummy mattes to your gray smokeys, or you can use Provoke to add a touch of shimmer to your all-matte looks created with Dream. They work beautifully together and make the perfect duo for cool-toned eye looks!

Left: Dior 5 Couleurs in Dream Right: Dior Provoke

Dior Provoke is a smokey and cool-toned eye looks lover's dream. The shades have just the right amount of pigment and the glowing finishes look beautiful on the eyes, even if you have dry or aging lids. The shadow textures are buttery soft and very easy to work with.





The product featured in this review was purchased by me. I received no compensation to write this post, which only reflects my personal opinion. This post contains affiliate links. I receive a very small commission when you click on those links, and the money generated covers a small portion of my expenses to purchase products for review. Clicking on those links helps ensure that Beaumiroir continues to publish reviews of new and exciting high end French products - at no cost to you!