| Review | Tom Ford White Suede Eye Quad

| Review | Tom Ford White Suede Eye Quad 

I know what you're thinking.. another quad?! Yes! I too, was surprised after the huge release of the 7 new quads that Tom Ford could keep cranking out eye quads. How long have you guys been holding this secret from us? Anyways, when I saw the packaging I got heart palpitations because I love their white and gold packaging! This is a celebration of their elegant white suede fragrance. If you can't get enough of Tom Ford shadows like me, keep reading.  

The Tom Ford White Suede Eye Quad retails for $88.00 USD and is available exclusively at Neiman Marcus. This palette is also limited edition and seems to come in limited quantities to stores, so if you want one, you will have to be fast or do some work tracking it down. I am sure more palettes will ship to the stores but at the moment, the initial release it quite limited. I appreciate Tom Ford keeping their pricing aligned with their permanent quads because I was concerned there was going to be an unnecessary price hike, as they did with the Extreme Eye Quad (full review here). 

PACKAGING 

This palette comes in the classic Tom Ford Quad packaging but instead of the cognac, it is a white lacquer with the gold trim. This is very reminiscent of their Soleil Collection packaging but because they recently released new musk fragrances, including white suede, we are seeing this change in packaging for this collection. Even the little brush and applicator have white handle. So cute! I love this classic white and gold packaging so much! 

SHADES 

An eye shadow quad designed with four complementary shades and finishes—sheer sparkle, satin, shimmer and matte—to achieve multiple looks.  

Inspired by the sublime essence of the fragrances, the White Suede Collection debuts a new Eye Quad of soft, sophisticated shadows that harness the stimulating warmth of musk. 

The centerpiece of the tom ford color collection. Each eye color quad is designed with four opulent complementing shades that achieve multiple looks, from a bold, smokey eye, to a sexy splash of color and everything between. Formulated with advanced color processes, the four luxurious finishes - sheer sparkle, satin, shimmer and matte - offer a spectrum of intensity and effects and deliver incredible shade fidelity and outstanding adhesion.

First of all, there are no matte shades in palette only sheer sparkle, satin, and shimmer. 

The shades included in this palette are: 

Pink-Champagne Glitter - This shade appears quite pink in the pan but when applied to the eyes it is a very sheer silver sparkle. It is really beautiful and makes your eye lids look glossy and wet but I just don't find the color very unique or special. I feel like we have seen this many times before, especially from the Tom Ford brand. It is a really disappointing that all you get from this shade is silver glitter because the base shade looks so lovely. 

Champagne - This is a very basic subtly warm champagne shade in the pan but when applied to the eyes it has a much stronger white pearl. It really doesn't look anything like it does in the pan, on the eyes. It is a soft shimmering shade, that makes a nice highlight for the eyes. To me, this isn't a special shade at all. It is a very basic champagne highlight color but it works well with the other shades. It adds a slightly icy brightness to the look. I love using this particular shade as a cheek highlighter, it is very smooth and offers a gorgeous striking glow. 

Brown - This shade is almost a deep and cool chocolate brown shade. It has a soft satin finish and little bits of bronze shimmers in it. This shade has the driest and most difficult formula to work with. The shadow is very pigmented but it doesn't apply evenly and smoothly upon initial application, it takes a lot of layering and blending to make it look good. This shadow is very tightly packed into the pan and it is difficult to pick up product but you don't necessarily want to pick up a lot of product because it is pigmented but patchy. I find myself spending a lot of time layering and blending this shade, even after I feel it is completely blended, the outer edges still looks gritty!. It's almost like a gritty static look, like static on a TV, it very grainy! This effect is more apparent after several hours of wear and your shadow starts to fade, the edges of this shadow are very grainy and patchy. I don't understand why this shade does this because I always wear eye primer and all the other Tom Ford shadows I have used, have never done this before! This totally kills this palette for me!

Steel Blue - This steel blue shade is a soft satin blue with strong charcoal and silver tones to it. It has a soft pearl throughout it but it isn't overly shimmery. This is probably the best shadow in the palette as far as formula goes. It is extremely pigmented, smooth, and blendable. You don't need much of this shade to get full color impact and it blends very beautifully. The only problem I have with shades like this is that they tend to change in color very quickly after application. About an hour after applying this color, it loses the majority of it's blue property and becomes a smokey charcoal color. 

FORMULA 

This palette is pretty average to me. It doesn't amaze or wow me. The lightest shades have such a huge discrepancy between the pan and how they look on the eyes. The shadows are pigmented, with exception of the glitter, but their consistency varies among the shades. The Brown shadow has the most disappointing formula in my opinion because after their release of their seven new permanent palettes, I had thought they significantly improved their shadow formulas. This Brown doesn't have that formula I expect from a Tom Ford shadow, especially since they upped their game. That being said, the Brown isn't bad, it just requires more work. Overall, the formula is good and easy to use. 

THE LOOK 

It's hard to get a variety of looks from a quad, especially with the shades given. You are most likely going to get a smokey eye look, with how deep the defining shades are in this palette. I went with one of my favorite placements, which is a halo eye because it enhances the glossy and wet effect of the glitter shade. I wore these shadows all day on New Year's Eve because I had to work on NYE. I applied the shadows at 7:00am and wore it until 2:00am and all the shadows wore well with the exception of the Brown shade, which broke up around the edges. It made my smokey eye look very messy, grainy, and not well blended. I would recommend using transition shade because it prevents the Brown shade from looking patchy and grainy as it fades. 

FINAL THOUGHTS