Guerlain 01 Les Violets Ecrin 4 Couleurs Long-Lasting Eyeshadow Palette Review

Hello lovely ladies,

Since the eyeshadow craze has distinctly set in, be prepared to see a few eyeshadow palette reviews from my end. I had mentioned in one of my earlier reviews, how a purple eye look done by a MAC MUA was totally transforming for me, and I was on the lookout of a purple palette. Simultaneously, I had been itching to try the Guerlain eyeshadows and blushes. So, when I saw this purple eyeshadow quad at Guerlain, it seemed like fate!  Let’s see how it performed:

Product Details:
The essence of color: one palette, four shades. Create, have fun and dare to wear color as an accessory. These palettes were specifically designed to be used together and can be mixed, matched and blended with no fear of mistakes. Application is extremely simple, intuitive, fun and risk-free!

Price:
$65 / THB 3000/INR 6000

Packaging:  The product comes in a decent size compact with a large mirror and some dual-sided useless sponge tip applicator.

The compact is a lovely gold case with a decent heft. It comes with its own velvet sleeve and an outer cardboard packaging. The whole gold case thing screams luxury! Yes, what’s important is the quality of the product and not the packaging, but when you do buy high-end luxury product, you do want to be wooed by the packaging too!

My Experience with Guerlain 01 Les Violets Ecrin 4 Couleurs Long-Lasting Eyeshadow Palette:

The quad is a gorgeous mix of purples. The beauty is that it doesn’t just have variations of purple – instead there are tonal differences which allows one to create more than one look or to create a look with a lot of depth. The colours vary from light pink/lilac to a violet to a deep purple to a steel blue-purple.

Shades:

• Deep Purple – This shade is a deep purple color with a matte base and very few tiny sparkles in it. This is the only shade which feels a bit stiff but has decent pigmentation, which can be built up further. This is perfect to deepen the outer V of the eye. I prefer the fact that the shade isn’t too intensely pigmented because one may end up going overboard with it.



• Pink/Lilac – It’s fantastic to have this shade in the quad. It’s satin finish, extremely smooth, applies well and despite the softness of the colour, shows up very well on my NC30-35 skin tone. Its blends easily and works very well with the rest of the colours.
• Violet – This satin shade is the most distinct of the colours and is the actual pop on the eyes. It helps to really bring out brown/hazel eyes. This is not for the faint hearted. If you are not comfortable with this bright a shade – do not buy this quad!
• Steel Blue Purple – This is the one shimmery shade in the quad, it’s what holds the quad together. Finely milled, buttery smooth, it applies and blends effortlessly.

Texture: All the shades feel very smooth and swatch nicely. The deep purple shade seems a bit stiffer, maybe because its base is matte. However, even that colour, along with the other 3, apply easily, blends well, and mesh together easily without getting muddy, etc.

Pigmentation: Except for the deep purple shade, which seems a bit sheer and needs to be built up a little, the rest of the 3 shades work very well and are nicely pigmented. They show up easily on my NC 30-35 skin tone! Honestly, I don’t mind the plum shade being sheer either because it allows me time to build up the intensity. Else, one can end up going overboard with a deep shade like that.

Staying Power: I have tried them with and without primer. On my oily lids, I get about 6-7 hours of wear without a primer. With primer, it stays put for 8-9 hours post which I really have to take everything off my face.

Pros of Guerlain 01 Les Violets Ecrin 4 Couleurs Long-Lasting Eyeshadow Palette:

• Lovely array of shades – a variety from lilac to violet to purple to steel blue purple.
• Finely milled, very smooth texture (3 out of 4 anyway).
• Good pigmentation.
• Easy to blend.
• Long wearing.
• Luxurious, travel-proof packaging.
• The colors blend easily and work very well together.
• Did not irritate my eyes.

Cons of Guerlain 01 Les Violets Ecrin 4 Couleurs Long-Lasting Eyeshadow Palette:

• In an ideal world, you will need an additional matte shade for transition, but in the OOTDs, I did not use a transition shade from another brand. Though I did use another brand for highlighting the inner corner of my eyes.

IMBB Rating:
4.25/5

Overall Thoughts:
What I find extremely remarkable is that this is a PURPLE quad and it still works so well. Why do I say that? Because if you look at most eyeshadow palettes with purple shades in them, the purples will be the weakest performing shades, which basically means that it is difficult to produce half decent purple eyeshadow looks. I’m not saying it can’t be done. It can, but it’s a bit more difficult with purples, which may well be due to the intrinsic binding quality of the purple pigment. And yet, here we have a quad which performs fairly well.

Do you Need this:

Well, stating the obvious – it’s purple! So, it isn’t something you will wear on a daily basis. So, do you want to spend $65 on a high-end quad which you wear occasionally or would you want to spend it on a more neutral quad which you could use more often – that’s for you to decide.  However, if you have brown/hazel eyes, please get off that couch immediately and go do yourself a favour and pick this up! It will surely make your eyes pop!