Review | Estée Lauder Pure Color Five Color EyeShadow Palette in Fantasy Garden

Created by Tom Pecheux, Fantasy Garden is an eyeshadow compact comprising five complementary colours.

It contains a berry (shimmer), a fuchsia (satin), a dove grey (matte), a pale lilac (soft matte with silver sparkles) and a pink-tinged beige (satin). The preview sample I received wasn’t easy to swatch and I wondered if this difficulty would manifest on the eye.

Thankfully, they turned out to be quite pleasing when I tested them and they showed up fairly well when I used them over a colourless eyeshadow base like Too Faced Shadow Insurance. I’d imagine that tackier coloured bases would yield even more favourable results.

While I was able to use all five shades for a couple of eye looks, I’ll admit that they aren’t the easiest shades to work with all at once (I wouldn’t recommend doing this, to a makeup novice).

Happily, they have their merits as individual shades: The shimmery berry with its raisin reflects has beautiful depth, the fuchsia is a pop of fun colour, the grey makes a sophisticated lid/crease hue, the lilac imparts a pretty twinkle and the beige has a subtle pink sheen to lift an eye look. They do well on their own and are also manageable when used in varying combinations of twos or threes.

The satin shades don’t lend themselves to easy colour pick-up with the finger tips (hence the difficulty in swatching) but a dense eyeshadow brush like the MAC 239 lifts these hues – and lays them on – more effectively.

I like to use the MAC 217 brush to apply the beige from socket to brow, then cleaning the same brush before blending the lid/socket colours into the beige for a softly gradated eye. To that end, I would say these colours have a nice blending ability because they feather out beautifully. They don’t have a buttery smooth texture or super-intense pigments but they do work well with brushes to impart a gentle, seamless blend.

I also like how they last for quite some time over a good base – there is very little fading even after a long day out.

Here are two eye looks using all five shades but with different colour placement. These colours look like they might impart a bruised look but the beige with its pale pink gleam offsets the bruisey tones. I’m actually fond of such unusual smokey eyes.

In Singapore, this palette retails at S$80. The Estée Lauder Pure Color Five Color EyeShadow Palettes are also available in 7 other colour variations that are reflected in the palette names: Desert Heat, Emerald Oasis, Enchanted Berries, Film Noir, Sea & Sky, Surreal Skies and Violet Orchids. Strangely, Fantasy Garden is the only one that doesn’t have connotation of its purple/pink hues.

I’m not going to say you need this quint because the combination isn’t as integrated as some other palettes but if you enjoy such tones and are game for shadow play, this might be something to consider.

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