When I first laid eyes on this eyeshadow palette, I must admit that I was filled with apprehension. Oh dear. A pink and purple eyeshadow palette? I can’t do pinks! Purples make me look like I’ve been punched in the eye! It’s such a beautiful palette and if it doesn’t work for me, damn, what a waste it would be. Plus when I swatched the individual colours on the back of hand (as you do), I was even more worried because 4 out of the 5 shades were frosty. Oh dear indeed.

But when I finally tried it on my eyes, it was a light bulb moment. Thank you oh lucky stars because when I worked away at blending the eyeshadows on my eyelids, all my fears were washed away. The colour combination of all of these colours are simply gorgeous!

There’s no doubt about it; the frostiest shades of the five are the top two pink ones. These were the ones I was most worried about and therefore decided not to use any of them as base shades even though technically, you can if you want to. A really beautiful base shade is the one that is right in the middle with the letters CD. I reckon that’s why they made that pan bigger than the rest. 😛

An interesting way to make the purple stand out without looking like there’s a bruise on the eyes is to use the purple (bottom left of the palette) to create the outer V on the outer corner of the eyelids. I used the darkest shade (a dark burgundy) to line the eyes extending the outer corners. As a quick highlighter to blend out the base shade, I used one of the pink shades. I forgot to do this but you can also use the brighter pink at the inner corners of the eyes for a bit of pop and sparkle.

Not to toot my own horn here but heck, the results were lovely. I was half expecting to look like Barney the dinosaur but the results were such muted purples and burgundy that it brings out a very chic form of smokey eyes that aren’t just the usual greys. As always, the texture of the eyeshadows are buttery smooth, not gritty, not chalky. They are quite sheer though with the exception of the darkest shade so you’ll have to gradually build the layers to create colours that pop.

What I used:
Face: Esprique Cool BB Spray UV (not pictured), Estee Lauder Double Wear Brush-On Glow BB Highlighter*, Maybelline Matte Maker Mattifying Powder*
Eyes: NARS Pro-Prime Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Base, Dior 5 Couleurs in Femme-Fleur*, Hourglass Arch Brow Sculpting Pencil, L’Oreal Volume Million Lashes So Couture Mascara*
Cheeks: Sunday Riley Blush in Rush
Lips: NARS Lip Gloss in Istria

The photographs don’t do the eyeshadows justice for they look much better in real life. I definitely recommend checking it out. Despite it looking so pink and purple on the palette, it’s actually a very wearable daily palette and is a refreshing change from the neutrals, browns and greys.

The Dior 5 Couleurs eyeshadow palette in Femme-Fleur is part of the Autumn 2014 collection. It retails at AU$103.00 and is now available at all Dior counters at David Jones and selected pharmacies nationwide. It’s not a limited edition palette so I suspect it will still be there when the season passes.

Have you checked out Dior’s Autumn 2014 collection? Did anything tickle your fancy?

Disclaimer: Products marked with * were provided for editorial consideration.