Small update on some of the new Chanel eyeshadow quads

Its been about a year since Chanel came out with their new eyeshadow quad line called Les 4 Ombres, all of which are named “Tisse something“, which if I’m translating correctly means “Woven …”. For example Tisse Venitien, which is sort of the flagship quad which was featured in prominent advertising, means Woven Venice.

My first acquisition in this line of eyeshadows in fact was not Tisse Venitien, but rather Tisse Gabrielle. I really like Tisse Gabrielle. It is definitely one of my go-to eyeshadow palettes.

Its possible to just use only two colors from this quad, such as the lower right darkest shade for the outer corners of the eyelids, swept inwards, and either of the two medium-tone shades along the crease, upper, central, and/or inner lid. The lightest color is nice to use on the inner corners of the eyes, but to me seems a little bright for the browbone although sometimes one may want that lightening effect.

These colors blend well and last extremely well, with the pigment remaining intense for a long time.

My next acquisition was Tisse Venetien, the flagship quad with the now almost famous blue color which featured on the model on many billboards and advertisements.

This is another excellent palette with excellent colors that blend well and last well. However I find that the intense blue look on the model’s eyelids a bit too much. I prefer a more subtle look in keeping the the Chanel eyes thing.

Recently I further acquired Tisse Vendome which has that remarkable coral type shade on the lower left which appealed to me so much:

Unfortunately Tisse Vendome did not get a lot of favorable reviews although I happen to really love it. The thing is that the colors are not intense. The pigments are actually excellent and very high, quality, but the colors are just not very strong by design. And for the same reason that many seemed to not like it, it is why I actually really like it.

When you look at the colors, especially the coral color, you cannot expect it to look that way on the eyelid. Eyelids are a sort of dark pinkish color and reddish tones simply do not take to them that well. If you really wanted an intense reddish tone on your eyelids you would probably have to use a base of something like an intense silver that would pick up the color applied on top of it an add luminosity.

But the point of the coral shade is not to look the way it does in the palate, but to add that subtle hue to the eyelid that just offsets the irises (in my case which are blue).

I love the subtlety of this palette. To me this is quintessential Chanel at its best. An understatement that is more intense than an overstatement. A presence that is remarkable not for being overly striking as for a more quiet intensity. My main reason for writing this post was to express my liking for Tisse Vendome and that subtle, intense Chanel eye look it imparts.

Again, you could easily just take two colors from this palette and have an excellent effect, or get creative and work with three or even all four.

For me, eyeshadow is not to be considered in a vacuum but in conjunction with eyeliner, and here is where I like to line the upper eyelids along the waterline with Chanel’s stylo eyeliner in black. Black is always going to be quintessential eyeliner by design, although I only very rarely line the outer lash line with it: Only the inner line, the so-called water line.

Other tone eyeliners are like accent colors that I may use instead of brushing on an eyeliner, for the upper lashline and lower lashline. But I often actually prefer to use a flat eye detail brush and apply shadow as liner which has a more subtle effect.

And finally, for a change I also got one of the newest additions to the Les 4 Ombres line, Mystic Eyes:

As you can see, I’m really getting into my earth tones. This is another excellent palette which I love.

Today I was also at a Chanel counter and had a chance to try one of the new limited edition palettes: Tisse D’Automne. I was immediately shocked when applying it because the pigments are strong. Very strong. I don’t know if this was Chanel attempting to appease people criticizing their eyeshadows for not being strong enough, but I found it was a bit overwhelming.

I could see perhaps using one of the colors from the palette mixed with some other colors if I was doing something special. But I think my picks so far have been good and I’m happy with my collection.