| Review | Tom Ford Shade and Illuminate Face & Eye Palette in Rose Cashmere
The name screams luxury and color combination is irresistible. This colorway is designed for fair skin tones but I believe the colors are a bit more flexible than that. These face palettes have been a popular item since the beginnings of the brand and have only evolved into a more luxurious composition of products. These palettes are selling out fast but they seem to ahead of restocking them as they disappear, so keep your eyes peeled for these beauties.
The Tom Ford Shade and Illuminate Face & Eye Palette in Rose Cashmere retails for $155.00 USD and is exclusively available at Norstrom. As I just stated, these palettes sell out rapidly and you'll need to keep your eye out for their restock to snatch up a popular colorway. These face palettes are housed in a sleek rectangular clutch-like compact with a magnetic closure. These compacts follow the traditional Tom Ford packaging colors of cognac and gold.
SHADES
This color combination is one of four palettes released to suit different skin tones. This one is designed for fair skin tones but, of course, anyone who wants to wear it can. It, unfortunately, may not work for really deep skin tones, as some of these shades won't show up as well on a deeper skin tone. This has always been the issue with brand releasing face palettes and Tom Ford tried to remedy this by releasing four different palettes to suit a range of skin tones. These palettes are also the first to come with a highlighter and a bronzer/contour shade, as opposed to a blush color. This is something I love and I'm glad they went with. The shades included in this palette are:
Highlighter - This shade is a brilliant yellow-gold with some silver specks of reflects sprinkled throughout. I personally don't think this is the best shade to highlight a fair skin tone, it's a bit too yellow and gold in my opinion but it depends on your makeup preference.
Bronzer - This shade is a very light tan with a subtle yellow undertone. This shade is perfect for a fair skin tone because of the lack of an orange tone or warmth makes it easy to blend into a fair skin tone. It will look incredibly natural on any skin tone but it will likely only show up on a fair to light-medium skin tone. I would consider my skin tone a medium skin tone and I don't think this bronzer shows up on me even after a ton of layering. However, it can be used as an eyeshadow shade on many skin tones.
Champagne - This light champagne shade is beautifully nuanced with an extremely subtle peachy-pink undertone and subtle fine gold shimmer throughout. It actually reminds me of the look of expensive champagne.
Coral - This shade is a soft peachy coral with a very wearable natural tone. This shade adds something different and interesting to this very neutral palette but it doesn't disrupt the wearable nature of these colors.
Rose Gold - This shade is a beautiful metallic rose gold with a very neutral undertone. You will often find rose golds leaning very coppery or very rosy but this almost perfectly neutral with just a hint of a rosy bronze tone. This shade has very fine rainbow shimmers throughout.
Taupe Bronze - This shade is a taupe with a bronze undertone and leans on the cooler side with very fine rainbow shimmers throughout.
COMPARISON SWATCHES
The quad in this palette look very similar to the quad recently released in winter 2019 called Soleil D'Hiver (full review here). In fact, the rose gold shades in both palettes are pretty much identical. The rest of the palette has a similar overall neutral tone but the Soleil D'Hiver palette is lacking the coral shade and overall contains much more shimmer than Rose Cashmere.
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| Swatches from left to right: Highlighter, Bronzer, Champagne, Coral, Rose Gold, Taupe Bronze |
COMPARISON SWATCHES
The quad in this palette look very similar to the quad recently released in winter 2019 called Soleil D'Hiver (full review here). In fact, the rose gold shades in both palettes are pretty much identical. The rest of the palette has a similar overall neutral tone but the Soleil D'Hiver palette is lacking the coral shade and overall contains much more shimmer than Rose Cashmere.
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| Swatches from left to right: Highlighter (Rose Cashmere), Bronzer (Rose Cashmere), Champagne (Rose Cashmere), Coral (Rose Cashmere), Rose Gold (Rose Cashmere), Taupe Bronze (Rose Cashmere), Soft Gold Champagne (Soleil D'Hiver), Soft Peach (Soleil D'Hiver), Rose Gold (Soleil D'Hiver), Bronze (Soleil D'Hiver) |
FORMULA
Warning! This issue of the product completely falling out of the compact seems to happen quite often with this formula, which is why I wrote a whole article about it. This did happen to me with the highlighter in this compact, which is why you can see some damage to the product here. This is incredibly frustrating! Please be careful when tipping your compact over or traveling with the product. This formula seems to be much more delicate and because the powders are baked, there's no pan to press the product back into. I'm not sure if there is a remedy to the problem.
Eyeshadows
This palette features the ever-popular gel-powder formula, which a rich, creamy, and pigmented wet/dry powder formula. These feel extremely silky and they glide on to the skin effortlessly leaving behind so much pigment. This soft silky texture feels so lightweight and has a smooth blendable texture. All the eyeshadows in this palette have a super refined and ultra-smooth texture. This may be due to the limited amount of shimmer or lack of shimmer in the shades.
The eyeshadows are all very pigmented and you only need a little bit to get full-color impact but the biggest issue is that the colors are all too similar. The three neutral shades in this palette are practically interchangeable on the eyes because they all have the same tone and color intensity. They are all these mid-tone neutral shades with a very similar finish. When you wear all the shades together on the eyes, the neutral colors just muddy together and create one shimmer neutral shade. You can no longer really distinguish the difference between the three shades. All the colors are individually beautiful but together, they don't make for a very dynamic and multidimensional palette.
The lasting power of these eyeshadows is excellent, wearing beyond eight hours but again, because the colors are so similar, they have a tendency to get muddy. Due to the lack of variety in shades, there isn't much diversity in the looks you can create with this palette alone.
Cheek Products
The cheek products start off quite sheer and can be built up, to a certain extent. The bronzer is very light and even on my medium skin tone, I couldn't build it up enough to really make any kind of impact. It's barely there on me even with several layers, it's really meant for a fair skin tone. However, the texture is very smooth and creamy. It applies very evenly and smoothly on my skin. I didn't notice it picking up any texture on my skin. This is an excellent and silky powder formula that will give a fair skin tone a beautiful and natural bronze glow. For anyone who is a light-medium or deeper, you'll enjoy using this as an eyeshadow shade. It makes an excellent transition and crease color.
The highlighter has a beautiful silky and smooth texture. It glides onto the skin effortlessly and blends into the skin perfectly. This is a formula that starts out sheer but you can really build it to be a serious beam of light on the cheekbones. Also, as you blend it, it seems to get brighter and more radiant. The shimmers are extremely fine in this formula and leave the skin with an almost mirror-like shine. The fine shimmers don't pick up texture and just blends into the skin, offering a very natural look.
THE LOOK
For this look, I applied the Coral in the crease, blending toward the brows. I applied the Champagne in the very inner corner of my eye, the Rose Gold on the center, and the Taupe Bronze on the outer corner. Overall, this look is a little lackluster for my taste. It looks very natural and pretty but for all the shades used, there isn't much dimension.
FINAL THOUGHTS
I love the shades in this palette but I don't feel like the eyeshadow shades create a cohesive dimensional look. All the shades are too similar and aren't different enough to provide complex looks with depth. I feel the need to pair this palette with additional eyeshadow shades so I can create a looks with dimension. However, if you're a one-eyeshadow kind of person, this may be perfect for you! This palette is essentially a palette full of lid shades that you can swipe on and go. Also, the bronzer in this palette is quite light and will really only suit fair skin tones. Even for a fair skin tone, I don't think there are enough variety and depth in the eyeshadow shades to make it worth it. While the eyeshadow formula is exceptional in this palette, you can find these shades in many brands. I don't necessarily think it's worth it for a palette full of lid shades.
The more I try these palettes, the more I think that it would be best for brands to just sell products individually or offer customizable face palette options. The "convenient" all-in-one face palettes tend to be hit or miss and can only suit a very limited skin tone range. Even with the release to four different palettes, it's just doesn't cover all skin tones and makeup preferences.
Shop Tom Ford:
This palette features the ever-popular gel-powder formula, which a rich, creamy, and pigmented wet/dry powder formula. These feel extremely silky and they glide on to the skin effortlessly leaving behind so much pigment. This soft silky texture feels so lightweight and has a smooth blendable texture. All the eyeshadows in this palette have a super refined and ultra-smooth texture. This may be due to the limited amount of shimmer or lack of shimmer in the shades.
The eyeshadows are all very pigmented and you only need a little bit to get full-color impact but the biggest issue is that the colors are all too similar. The three neutral shades in this palette are practically interchangeable on the eyes because they all have the same tone and color intensity. They are all these mid-tone neutral shades with a very similar finish. When you wear all the shades together on the eyes, the neutral colors just muddy together and create one shimmer neutral shade. You can no longer really distinguish the difference between the three shades. All the colors are individually beautiful but together, they don't make for a very dynamic and multidimensional palette.
The lasting power of these eyeshadows is excellent, wearing beyond eight hours but again, because the colors are so similar, they have a tendency to get muddy. Due to the lack of variety in shades, there isn't much diversity in the looks you can create with this palette alone.
The cheek products start off quite sheer and can be built up, to a certain extent. The bronzer is very light and even on my medium skin tone, I couldn't build it up enough to really make any kind of impact. It's barely there on me even with several layers, it's really meant for a fair skin tone. However, the texture is very smooth and creamy. It applies very evenly and smoothly on my skin. I didn't notice it picking up any texture on my skin. This is an excellent and silky powder formula that will give a fair skin tone a beautiful and natural bronze glow. For anyone who is a light-medium or deeper, you'll enjoy using this as an eyeshadow shade. It makes an excellent transition and crease color.
The highlighter has a beautiful silky and smooth texture. It glides onto the skin effortlessly and blends into the skin perfectly. This is a formula that starts out sheer but you can really build it to be a serious beam of light on the cheekbones. Also, as you blend it, it seems to get brighter and more radiant. The shimmers are extremely fine in this formula and leave the skin with an almost mirror-like shine. The fine shimmers don't pick up texture and just blends into the skin, offering a very natural look.
THE LOOK
For this look, I applied the Coral in the crease, blending toward the brows. I applied the Champagne in the very inner corner of my eye, the Rose Gold on the center, and the Taupe Bronze on the outer corner. Overall, this look is a little lackluster for my taste. It looks very natural and pretty but for all the shades used, there isn't much dimension.
FINAL THOUGHTS
I love the shades in this palette but I don't feel like the eyeshadow shades create a cohesive dimensional look. All the shades are too similar and aren't different enough to provide complex looks with depth. I feel the need to pair this palette with additional eyeshadow shades so I can create a looks with dimension. However, if you're a one-eyeshadow kind of person, this may be perfect for you! This palette is essentially a palette full of lid shades that you can swipe on and go. Also, the bronzer in this palette is quite light and will really only suit fair skin tones. Even for a fair skin tone, I don't think there are enough variety and depth in the eyeshadow shades to make it worth it. While the eyeshadow formula is exceptional in this palette, you can find these shades in many brands. I don't necessarily think it's worth it for a palette full of lid shades.
The more I try these palettes, the more I think that it would be best for brands to just sell products individually or offer customizable face palette options. The "convenient" all-in-one face palettes tend to be hit or miss and can only suit a very limited skin tone range. Even with the release to four different palettes, it's just doesn't cover all skin tones and makeup preferences.
Shop Tom Ford:
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