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DIOR SPRING 2016, GLOWING GARDENS COLLECTION.

10 January 2016 8 comments



I usually keep my eyes peeled for Chanel's new seasonal collections but seeing as I'm reasonably disappointed with the theme for LA Sunrise (it's way to bold for me), I was led astray to the Dior counter... and there are some real stars amongst their Spring 2016 Glowing Gardens collection. Let's take a walk through it!

First off, everything is limited edition in the range, so early bird gets the worm and all that. Selfridges have exclusivity on the range for 2 weeks so it's worth popping in. 

Dior have gone with a vibrant, pastel, unmistakably springtime theme with their colours. There are 4 nail polishes, 2 quint eye palettes, a new blush (although I'm not sure if there are 2?), 2 highlighters, a number of lip products, a silver mascara (yuck), a couple of liners, a new Fusion Mono eyeshadow and 5 cream-eye-come-liner duos.


The Diorshow Colour and Contour duos are definitely my favourite amongst the eye products (don't get sucked in by other intricate, flowery embossing and overlook these!), a double ended pencil with a creamy, long lasting, metallic shadow on one end and a complimentary velvet-matte liner on the other. The formula is consistent and even across the colour range, the shadows are super slick and creamy, so easily blended, but don't budge once set, and the liners are rich, pigmented and silky. Let's talk colours.

Iris is a cool indigo-blue that seems more glittery than the other cream shadows. I love this one even though I'm definitely not a blue eyeshadow wearer. The liner on the other end is just brighter than a navy and really brings out the colour of my brown eyes.

Waterlilly is a J-Lo styled, pale, sage green. The liner is a very summery, watermelon green shade that I think would look great in Mykonos with a tan, but perhaps not fitting for dreary English weather?

Hortensia is a strong, pearlescent lilac which I actually find very similar to Chanel's Beryl liner. The liner is a deep purple. This, along with Waterlilly, wasn't by favourite.

Twig is a beautiful taupe-y, antique-gold, neutral shade that I think is the most 'wearable' of the bunch. It's also the most pigmented. The liner is a matte, dark chocolate brown. I do think that this duo is the most dupable of the 5 colours though, I know I own shades really similar to the cream shadow and the liner, just being brown, is really nothing special. 





Orchid is my favourite. The cream shadow is a peachy pink/rose gold with a golden duochrome which builds up to be almost corally and bright or can be sheered down to a bright, rose gold. The liner is a very warm, dark brick reddish brown. I was slightly unsure about it but my lovely assistant Adam pointed out that you can marry the 2 colours into an effortless look with a bronzey coppery shade, and I was sold on his demonstration, just perfect. I've picked out a couple of complimentary shades from my stash that work well with it. 


The stars of the show are definitely the Nude Air Illuminating Powders. Everything about the presentation of these highlighters is exquisite. From the detailed, magnetic closure case to the matching mini kabuki brush to the throw away packaging. And let's just take a moment to appreciate the embossing. I don't even want to use it.




Glowing Nude is golden/coppery/rose gold highlighting powder with the perfect balance between pearlescence, shimmer and glitter. It's not so subtle that it's completely lost but definitely not a bold  highlight, it creates such a lovely, barely there, breath of colour on the skin which I'm going to struggle to photograph.. Just go and look at it. Or take my word, it's worth picking up. There's also Glowing Pink if a pale pink highlight is what you're after. 


The eyeshadow palettes have the same beautiful embossing and the colours are really beautiful and springlike but I think I'd just end up looking at these rather than wearing them. The shadows are pretty sheer and not too pigmented so they may well appeal to you.


The Diorshow Fusion Mono eyeshadow in Equinox is so beautiful. A sheer, muted beige-gold with super fine glitter. I almost picked this up but it's extremely similar to Blazing and Mirror from their permanent line, and I actually think I prefer Mirror slightly more. 

There's a really beautiful blush too, in Floral Pink, that looks quite bright and simple in the pan but swatched, it's a subtle, multitonal pink, that creates a lovely sheen on the skin. This guy was sold out so I couldn't pick it up, dangit.

Everything else in the collection I felt was a bit of a pass, the lip colours are lovely but easily dupable, ditto with the nail colours. The silver mascara is extremely questionable, although the Lip Pomade is possibly one to wait for as it's not in store yet. 


How do you think Dior have fared? Will you be picking up any of the Glowing Gardens collection??



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