| Review | Tom Ford Extreme Eye Color Quad in Mercurial

| Review | Tom Ford Extreme Eye Color Quad in Mercurial

The Tom Ford Extreme Eyeshadows are notoriously hit or miss in quality and formula; however; in recent years, these quads seem to have been developed with the same popular gel-powder formula of their other quads and have been much more successful creations. This year for the holidays, we're graced with another Extreme Eye Quad with a smokey combination, which is always beautiful for holiday and new year parties. Unfortunately, it's not a great year for festive party makeup. That doesn't mean we can't enjoy a good eyeshadow quad. 

The Tom Ford Extreme Eye Color Quad in Mercurial retails for $88.00 USD and is available at Sephora and other retailers. This eyeshadow palette is housed in the traditional reflective silver Extreme Collection compact. This highly reflective compact, while beautiful, is also prone to fingerprint marks and scratches. The magnetic compact is the same slim shape and size of all the Tom Ford eyeshadow quads and it comes with two dual-ended applicators. To protect your packaging, there is an included dark gray dust bag. 

SHADES 

Around this time, Tom Ford loves to release a smokey eye palette for the festive holiday and new year parties. Who am I to complain? I love a smokey eye palette and this one is much more wearable than the ones from previous years. It also contains more universally flattering shades that will suit a wide variety of skin tones. This color combination isn't incredibly special or unique but it is very wearable. You can easily create a variety of looks with just this single palette. 

Golden Champagne (top left) - This shade is a soft golden-toned champagne. This shade is somewhere between a shimmering ivory and a golden champagne. There are very clear soft golden shimmers throughout with an ivory base color. 

Rosy Champagne (top right) - This soft rosy champagne shade has a neutral undertone and a light champagne shimmer throughout. 

Plummy Brown (bottom left) - This plummy brown shade is very much a cool brown with a bit of a plummy undertone. 

Cranberry (bottom right) - This cranberry shade has a warm neutral brown undertone to it and fine pink shimmers throughout. 

Swatched from left to right: Golden Champagne, Rosy Champagne, Plummy Brown, Cranberry

COMPARISON SWATCHES 

This palette is very reminiscent of the Honeymoon Quad and Body Heat Quad (full review here). You can see the Honeymoon Quad is much warmer all around than Mercurial, even the red shade has a warmer rusty tone to it and the Deep Plum shade is much more purple than the Pummy Brown in Mercurial. Compared to Body Heat, you can see that Mercurial is warmer and doesn't contain the taupe tones. The Rosy Champagne in Body Heat leans quite rosy compared to the golden shimmer in the Golden Champagne shade of Mercurial. The Warm Rust shade in Body Heat is slightly warmer and more neutral. It also doesn't contain the pink shimmers in the Cranberry in the Mercurial quad. The Rosy Champagne in the Body Heat Quad is not as rosy as the one from the Mercurial quad but they are very similar. 

Mercurial vs. Honeymoon

Swatches from left to right: Mercurial, Honeymoon

Mercurial vs. Body Heat

Swatches from left to right: Mercurial, Body Heat

FORMULA 

This gel-powder eyeshadow formula tends to be the better formula from the Tom Ford range; however, please be aware that for some reason there is sometimes a major defect where the eyeshadows will fall out of the pan! You can read more about it here. I have had issues with this multiple times in the past and with palettes released this year! 

While this Extreme formula has been notoriously hit or miss in the past, this quad has an exceptional quality! All the shades in the palette are silky smooth, blendable, and pigmented! The issue I have had with the Extreme Eyeshadows in the past is sometimes they don't apply evenly or blend out smoothly. These eyeshadows don't have any chunky glitter and the formula is actually creamy and not dry. They actually apply very intensely pigmented on the eyes with very little product needed and they blend very seamlessly with very little effort! These shadows layer very well and can be built up, making them easy to use for any skill level. 

The silky and creamy texture of these eyeshadows is very impressive! This formula's quality is beyond the normal gel-powder formula used in the Tom Ford Quads, which again, can be a bit hit or miss. The consistency of these eyeshadows is a dream to work with, blending into each other seamlessly. I don't use a primer underneath and my eyeshadow look lasts beyond 8 hours! What's beautiful about this formula is its versatility. It can be used wet or dry to change the finish and impact of the eyeshadows. 

THE LOOK 

For this look, I applied the Cranberry shade on the outer corner of my crease, building up the color and blending it up to the browbone. Then, I applied the Plummy Brown in the very outer corner blending up to the crease and toward the center of the lid. I applied the Rosy Champagne to the center of my lid and the Golden Champagne to the inner corner of my eyes. I lined my eyes with a deep plummy liner smudging it out and I also applied it to my waterline. For my upper waterline, I filled it in with a black liner and I finished the look off with some lashes. You can see on the eyes, this look is quite plummy and leans quite cool, even with the warmth of some of the shadows. 

FINAL THOUGHTS 

While the color combination isn't exactly the most unique, the formula is phenomenal! It's been a long time since a Tom Ford palette has impressed me this much with its quality! I don't say this lightly but this quad is totally worth it! The formula is one of the best quads I have used in a while! The silky-smooth, pigmented, and blendable formula is beyond the typical Tom Ford eyeshadow quality. This quad has a truly an exceptional formula that I wish all Tom Ford quads had. The easy to use shades will suit all skin tones and the pigment is rich and blendable. The shades are so versatile, you can go from a soft day look to a smokey night look with just this quad. The shades are very well balanced, offering al lot of depth to the look and they don't get muddy throughout a day of wear. I can't recommend this quad enough! I really believe this is the best eyeshadow palette Tom Ford has released this year! 

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