Chanel always seems to get to me with their Spring/Summer makeup collections – particularly with the blushes. This year they released blush palettes, which is a first for them as far as I know, and that made me want it even more. There are two variations and I chose the one geared towards lighter skintones, Tendresse.
The palette contains 4 blushes that double as eyeshadows, although one of them is more of a highlighter. They are, clockwise starting from the top left:
- Dark – a reddish berry shade, with a satin finish.
- Light – a warm, light beige-pink with a medium intensity sheen.
- Medium(left) – quite a warm coral, almost orange leaning, with an almost matte finish.
- Medium(right) – a rosy light brown, with an almost matte finish as well.
Upon first swatch these powders felt very dry, which surprised me since they look like they are a baked formula. The top layer felt so dry that the powders were paper-like to the touch. Fortunately, that was just the first layer – the powders are indeed firm but not dry, and they have quite a dense texture that feels almost creamy. On the cheeks, they were very workable: easy to apply and blend out, with a soft and sheer colour with a single layer, but easy to build up.
Like most baked products, they have a sheen that makes the powder look like it’s part of the skin. It’s my favourite thing about this type of formula for face products. I mainly use this on the cheeks.
On the eyes, when I packed the colour on, the shades were still lighter than what they look like on the pan, but they do not lack pigment. It’s a matter of being a different (lighter) colour, not a lack of opacity. That skin-like sheen was very evident on the eyes as well, and although I had to build the colour up quite a bit to get to the desired effect as an eyeshadow look, these still remained easy to apply and easy to blend. No patchiness, and they were certainly not powdery.
I had no issues with longevity, they stayed put until I removed them at the end of the day (past 9 hours), both on the cheeks and the eyes. I was expecting to like this palette, but I was still surprised by how good it is.
Packaging wise, the blush pans are slightly smaller than Chanel’s permanent blush line, but big enough to comfortable fit a blush brush. The compact is the standard Chanel blush compact, only bigger, and it has a big mirror on the inside.
Total weight is 12 grams which is about 3 grams per pan. Double the amount of a full size eyeshadow pan, half the amount of a full sized blush. Good compromise. Full price is almost 90€. That’s 22,5€ per pan, so you are not going to get this for the value – it is definitely a luxury product. That being said, I think it does not disappoint, and again, a frivolous makeup purchase from Chanel that I do not regret one bit.
