Tom Ford Soleil Eye Color Quad Soleil Neige (01)

Tom Ford recently ran a really good clearance sale and I got two eyeshadow quads from the Soleil Neige collection 50% off. Among the 3 eyeshadow quads in the collection, Soleil Neige (01) seems to be the least popular one and it is still available on the Tom Ford website. While I generally agree that Tom Ford makes excellent makeups and perfume, I can't help but think they are a bit overpriced. At $44 a quad, I love them, of course. 

Soleil Neige (01) is a classic cool-toned smokey eye palette. I used to live for eyeshadow palettes like this but I don't have many left in my collection since I've been mostly buying warm colors with red undertones in recent years. It's an all-shimmer quad so if you think you need at least one matte in your eyeshadow palette, this isn't for you. I personally LOVE shimmery eyeshadows and these are really well done so I have no issue with Soleil Neige.

The color story is almost icy (should I say "snowy"?). You can't go wrong with this one if you like dramatic black/navy smokey eyes. It has all the right elements to complete the look such as the cool white highlighter and the medium taupe.

This is Tom Ford's famous eyeshadow formula which can be used either wet or dry. I am a big fan of baked formulations like this because they give this beautiful and unique sheen to the colors but at the same time, I almost never wet my eyeshadows. I have only made dry swatches here but as you can clearly see, all 4 shades go on evenly and quite pigmented as well. I am especially impressed with the navy and the black because of the smooth application and nice color payoffs. I find most navy and black appear weaker than the pan colors and often feel crumbly. Not the case here.

But, my favorite is the taupe! It's such a darling shade with a slightly mauvy undertone. For the looks below, I only used it as a blender but I can easily wear this as an all-over shade. With some eyeliner, I'd be done with it.

Here I put together a look using all 4 shades from Soleil Neige. I used the shimmery black as the main shade and smudged the navy along the lower lash lines. The taupe was used to blend out the harsh edges and the shimmery white around the inner corners.

 

Overall, I couldn't be happier with the quad especially for the price I paid. Soleil Neige reminds me so much of my old Lunasol palette Icy Glow (reviewed) and I ended up purging the Lunasol after doing some comparison swatches. I can create very similar looks using these palettes but the Tom Ford Soleil Neige is simply better quality and easier to use. 

I have to say that I initially hesitated to blog about Tom Ford makeup after reading this article. You'd be surprised to see Marvel studio is included as well. I guess now the simple consumer logic based on quality isn't the only thing that guides our spendings. A friend of mine and I ended up talking about a similar issue on Instagram chat and she also pointed out there are things hard to replace depending on your income level and location, etc. Indeed, this is not a simple issue! I have been always a purist when it comes to my beauty blog and I will continue to document my beauty purchases and share the experience with them in the same manners. At the same time, I want to keep making conscious efforts as a consumer without judging others. 

Thanks for being here. I hope you are having a great week.