Tom Ford Eye Color Quad in Silvered Topaz

So, yes, for the record, I know that I already did a review of this palette.  But, as with my previous reviews of Golden Mink, the review for the Tom Ford Silvered Topaz quad also suffered from some fairly dismal product and swatch pictures.

The problem with getting good quality pictures in terms of color accuracy is that the pictures really need to be taken outside, on a sunny day, around mid-day.  And at this time of year, days like that are incredibly limited.  I have such a backlog of products I need to photograph and swatch.  I apologize for the delay and a huge thank you to anybody who is still bothering to check in.

The Tom Ford Quad in Silvered Topaz contains glitter, satin and matte shades.  Starting in the upper left hand corner and moving clockwise, the shades are:

• Light peachy glitter shade.  Mostly, it's a lot of sparkle, but it does retain enough color that you can tell it's peachy.  This shade is ideal for adding very precise sparkle or for layering on top of other shades in the quad.

• Warm silver satin.  Like all of the satin finish Tom Ford shades I've tried, the color payoff is phenomenal.  The shade is buttery soft and intensely pigmented.  I love this shade because warm silvers (and pewters) are fairly hard to find, at least for me.  I feel like this shade is one of the most unique across the Tom Ford line and it definitely makes this palette worth picking up for me.
• Light brown satin.  This shade verges very close to taupe territory for me. (Which is a good thing!)  While I do think 'light brown' is the best description for the shade, I also think it sells it short.  This is a complex shade that I find incredibly wearable.

• Matte cool dark brown.  This is similar to the dark matte brown from the Cocoa Mirage quad, but they are different.  The shade from Cocoa Mirage is definitely warmer.  Also, I do not detect any glitter in this matte shade, unlike the shade from Cocoa Mirage.  As with the other Tom Ford matte shades I've tried, the texture on this shadow is incredibly soft and very pigmented.

Silvered Topaz is part of the permanent Tom Ford line.  Like the other Tom Ford quads, it contains a generous 10 grams of product and retails for $78 wherever Tom Ford Beauty is sold.

Overall:  10/10

Tom Ford Eye Quad in Cocoa Mirage

The next up in the Tom Ford overview is the Eye Color Quad in Cocoa Mirage.  This palette is part of the permanent line and is the only one of the Tom Ford palettes I own that doesn't contain any of the shimmer (glitter) shades.  This quad has two complete matte shades, one mostly-matte shade and one satin finish.

The top two shades are completely matte.  My experience with the Tom Ford mattes so far has been phenomenal.  The mattes are buttery soft with fantastic pigmentation (though I understand that in some of his other palettes, that isn't the case). 

Cocoa Mirage is fairly neutral in my opinion.  It leans ever so slightly warm, but I don't feel like it's so warm that someone cool toned couldn't wear it.

 As you can see from the swatches, the lightest shade is a very close match to my natural skintone.  The second matte shade is a mid tone slightly warm brown.  The third shade is a warm medium-dark brown and the only satin finish in the palette.  It has lovely pigmentation and texture.  The last shade is a dark brown that leans warm.  It is mostly matte, but there is the tiniest amount of gold glitter.

I swear I'm not a total Tom Ford fangirl.  There have been two palettes which I acquired (swapped for on MakeupAlley) and then promptly swapped away because I was not happy with them.  So when I say that Cocoa Mirage is a fantastic palette, I really mean it.

Overall:  10/10

Tom Ford Eye Color Quad 01 Golden Mink

Yes, so this is the third, count 'em, the third time I've reviewed this quad.  And not to beat a dead horse, but the review quality is steadily getting better.  I'm trying new lighting and I think these pictures come much closest I've managed to capturing how the product looks in real life.  Also, I've started posting YouTube videos again and this blog post was created to accompany the video.

The Tom Ford quad in Golden Mink contains 2 glitter shades and 2 satin shades.  

The two glitters are a pale non-metallic gold and a peach.  The glitters are more like a pressed pigment.  There is definitely some type of binding agent in the glitter that keeps it from ending up all over my face.  These are the most fantastic glitters I've ever seen.  They're beautiful and sparkly without being over the top.  You can see that they do have a good bit of color to them, they're not just shimmer.

The satin shades are incredibly pigmented and buttery soft.  They apply like a dream and are easy to blend.  I don't ever have any issue with them fading or with my hooded eyes "eating" the shadows.  They last a solid ten hours without problems.

 The first satin shade is a pretty neutral taupe with lots of dimension.  It is hands down one of my most loved eyeshadows and you can see the obvious dip in the picture below.  The second satin shade is a rich dark brown that complements the taupe shade perfectly.  

The quad is lovely, with high gloss brown and gold packaging.  It's sturdy and feels substantial.  The mirror is sizeable and the little sponge tip applicators are actually really useful in applying the glitter shades.  The compact has a magnetic closure that keeps it securely closed and it has a little pouch for storage.

The Tom Ford Eye Quads contain 10 grams of product and currently retail for $78 (though they were $75 when I picked mine up.)  Golden Mink is part of the permanent Tom Ford line and is available anywhere that carries the Tom Ford Cosmetics line.  I got mine at Neiman Marcus.

Overall:  10/10

Tom Ford Eye Color Quad 05 Silvered Topaz

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I'm not dead, just incredibly busy with work.  I will probably be super busy through the end of July, but I will try to post here and there in the meantime.  And since my posts are few and far between right now, I am going to post about things that I truly love!

It has sort of become my ritual that when I go to Vegas, I stop by Nieman Marcus and pick up a Tom Ford eyeshadow quad.  Yes, I know they're available online, but I just love looking through the Tom Ford cosmetics line.  It is gorgeous.  

Last time I picked up the quad in Golden Mink, so this time, I picked up a quad in Silvered Topaz.

The Tom Ford eyeshadows come in 3 different formulas, shimmer, satin and matte.  This quad contains 1 shimmer, 2 satins and a matte.  All of the shadows had good payoff and were very soft and blendable without having fallout issues.

• shimmery champagne - Shimmer formula.  Beautiful, translucent shimmer, with gold and silver sparkles.
• gray taupe -   Satin formula.  Very complex color, very taupe-y, but in certain lights can look almost greenish.  Good payoff, but not great.
• dark cool brown -  Matte formula.  Soft, blendable, excellent payoff.  Color is very true to pan.
• medium cool brown - Satin formula.  Complex formula that swatches a smidge warmer than it looks in the pan.  Very soft and blendable with good payoff.

Overall:  10/10

Review: Tom Ford Eye Color Quad in 01 Golden Mink

I know I have mentioned this quad several times, but I just realized that I've never done an offiical review of it.  Ooops!  

I picked up the Tom Ford Eye Color Quad in 01 Golden Mink last November when I was in Vegas.  Unfortuantely, I don't have any department stores locally that carry the Tom Ford beauty line and I am just not willing to shell out this much money for a quad without trying it out first.  So while I was in Las Vegas, I made a special trip to the Neiman Marcus to look at these quads.

I wasn't disappointed, these quads are stunning!  But I am really glad that I looked before buying because I found the retailer descriptions of this quad in particular to be incredibly misleading.  If I had just looked at the pictures online I would have assumed that all four of the shades were shadows rather than half the compact being glittery pigments.

The Tom Ford shadows have four finishes, sheer sparkle, satin, shimmer and matte.  I can't find any official description of which color is which in any of the quads which is incredibly annoying.  

(I didn't swatch these in the best order.  L-R It's the two shades from the bottom first and then the two shades from the top.)

I will assume based on the name alone that the two across the top in the first picture (and swatched on the right) are the sheer sparkle finish.  They are basically a super finely milled glitter with some sort of liquid component.  They are incredibly shimmery and look just beautiful on the eye.  I don't wear them alone, but layered in strategic places over other shadows, they are stunning.

The lighter brown color in the lower left of the quad is probably a shimmer.  It's a satin eyeshadow with discernable glitter.The darker brown on the lower right of the quad is probably a satin as it contains no obvious glitter.

The two brown shadows are so incredibly creamy and pigmented.  They apply like a dream.  The two sparkly shades across the top are trickier to apply.  I've found that using one of those little sponge applicators works really well.

The packaging is the typically masculine, super sleek Tom Ford packaging.  It is also incredibly reflective.

The quad contains a total of 10g of product and retails for $75 at Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue or Bergdorff Goodman.  

I will grant you that $75 is a lot for an eyeshadow compact, but you do get a lot of product.  If you look at just grams per dollar, it's actually not that bad.  Tom for works out to $7.50 per gram.  MAKE UP FOR EVER shadows work out to $8.80 per gram.  MAC shadows are $10 per gram.

This is certainly a luxury purchase, but I love it and I think it is absolutely worth the money.

Overall:  10/10