Hooray for holiday collections! Bring on the silver, gold, and glitter!
Every holiday season Dior releases a beautiful limited edition holiday collection. Needless to say, I was really excited to see what they created for 2016.
“An ode to beauty in tune with the times, for modern women who seek out the extraordinary in the everyday. There is wonder and dazzle in this Splendor edition, which,m like a fine craftsman, draws inspiration from the artistry of Dior ateliers with sparkling sequins. This sophisticated femininity is liberated by a stunning palette of multiple facets and the rich pigmentation o matte and satiny hues that mix with flashes of gold, intoxicating champagnes, electrifying fuchsias, and garnet reds. Lips and eyes are just as radiant and bold. Created by Peter Philips, the look for this holiday collection calls upon the quintessence of Dior: timeless femininity, beauty in motion, festive, and free.”
Starting off with the lips, Dior has the Diorific Matte Lips lipsticks ($46.00 CAD), which includes five “manifesto” shades – four colours for uncompromising lip definition, and one lip topcoat, to add definition to the centre of the lips. The lipsticks are housed in a gold tube. The packaging definitely makes it stand out among my other lipsticks.
‘Charm’ (440) is a coral papaya shade, with a matte finish. It has a very creamy formula, so be careful to not rub your lips together right after applying, as it can make the product drag. The lipstick is rose-scented.
‘Golden’ (065) is a lip topper that gives your lips a yellow-gold sheen. While it is meant to be worn on top of another colour to give it some dimension, I wore it all over my lips – kinda digging the shimmery peachy pout! It took a few layers to cover my natural lip colour.
Next up is nails! Dior has released the Dior Vernis ($34.00 CAD), which includes three colours, and one nail topper to give the nails some extra *pow*! Again, the packaging is super luxe. Not something that necessarily makes sense for storage, but with this packaging, why hide them in a drawer? These nail polishes are meant to be put on display.
‘Cosmic’ (899) is a blackened purple with gold shimmer.
‘Nova’ (001) is a flakie topcoat that will give the “broken mirror” effect. I applied it over ‘Cosmic’. The flakes lean green, blue, purple, and yellow depending on the angle/light. I was really impressed with this nail polish – it wasn’t goopy, and the flakes laid completely flat – both are problems that I find come in many flakie topcoats.
Finally we have the eyes. First up is the Diorshow Fusion Mono ($40.00 CAD) in ‘Infinity’ (751). In the jar it feels creamy, but when you swish your finger in the jar (I used my finger to apply, rather than the applicator it came with), and apply it to your eye, it turns into a powder. ‘Infinity’ is a frosted chestnut colour, and I’m a big fan. It’s a nice way to add sparkle to your look, without it being chunky.
I applied MAC ‘Wedge’ to my crease, then applied Diorshow Fusion Mono in ‘Infinity’ all over my lid (with my finger), concentrating the product in the outer half of my lid. For my browbone highlight I used theBalm’s Mary-Lou Manizer, and blended it out with a bit of ‘Infinity’. Pair it with some black liquid liner, and I was ready for a night on the town.
And finally, the star of the show, Dior’s 5 Couleurs Splendor Eyeshadow Palette ($73.00 CAD) in ‘Smoky Sequins’ (066). This palette is one of two released for this collection – the other palette is a gorgeous champagne-toned pink and purple palette called ‘Precious Embroidery’. I’d definitely nominate this palette to represent the entire Splendor collection because….well, look at it. If those embossed sequins don’t say “holiday” and “glam”, then I don’t know what does.
The palette contains five shades: a frosty white, a light silver, a pewter, a matte black, and a caramel bronze.
I started by applying the white onto my browbone, and the inner corner of my lid. Then I applied the gold to the outer 2/3 of my lid, and took the pewter to the outer corner of my lid and blended it into the crease. I finished the look my taking the matte black and lining the upper and lower outer 2/3 of my lashline (creating a gentle wing on the upper lashline). AT first look I wasn’t sure if the palette was my cup of tea shade-wise, but after wearing it….wow! I think I have my new years makeup look.
In the past I’ve had a tough time with Dior’s 5 Couleurs Palettes, as far as pigmentation. But I have to say that when it comes to pigmentation, ‘Smoky Sequins’ is the most pigmented Dior palette that I’ve tried in recent years. And the formula itself was much softer, which is a big plus. While the gold and white took a few dips of my brush to get the colour payoff I wanted, I was really pleased with how easily the other colours picked up on my brush, and appeared on my eyes.
You can find the limited-edition Dior Holiday Splendor 2016 Collection at Dior counters.
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