MAKEUP LOOK | Vampy Valentine's Day with the Clarins Pretty Night 5 Colour Eyeshadow Palette Review & Swatches

It's that time of year where I get to buy chocolates for myself again ;-) My husband and I have never been one for Valentine's Day and after more than a decade of being together, he leaves the chocolate buying to me. We still go out for dinner though, maybe not on Valentine's Day itself since that's for "new" couples, but definitely to a movie or to dinner some time during the week to avoid the rush. Last year, I showcased a classic red lip for my Valentine's Day makeup look (here), but this year I swapped that out for something a little more vampy as well as pulled in some Fall eyeshadow shades from Clarins to complete the look.

The Clarins Pretty Night 5 Colour Eyeshadow Palette* ($39.00 CDN) is composed of 5 shades guaranteed to highlight and captivate eyes of any shade. There was a Pretty Day palette as well that leaned more towards taupes and warm browns while Pretty Night contains shades leaning more towards a smoky eye. While I am aware that this is a palette from last Fall, Clarins has similar eyeshadows readily available in their current collection (here) that can be used to recreate the look.

The packaging is cardboard with a stretchy elastic to hold the lid on top of the which may not be the most luxurious, but in the end what I care about is the actual product inside.

The shadows were not the softest and did not have the buttery texture of previous Clarins shadows I have used. The payoff was still quite good with the 2nd and 3rd shades of brown performing the best. The matte purple and black shades were the only ones I had trouble with as they were patchy upon initial application and needed a couple of swipes with a finger to achieve a solid swatch.

THE LOOK

Face: 
Clarins Everlasting Foundation SPF 15 in Nude #105*

Brows:
Clarins Ombre Matte Cream to Powder Eyeshadow in 04 Rosewood*
Urban Decay Brow Tamer in Clear*

Eyes: 
Apply Clarins Instant Light Eye Perfecting Base* all over the lid and under eye.
Apply the first nude beige shade in the Clarins Pretty Night Palette* all over the lid as a base colour.
Apply the golden bronze shade all over lid and up to brow bone.
Apply the middle bronze shade to outer third of eyelid and smoke out.
Apply golden bronze shade along lower lashline.
Line upper and lower lash line with Clarins Crayon Kohl in Carbon Black*.
Apply your favourite mascara. I used Make Up For Ever Smoky Stretch*.Apply false lashes. I'm using some criss-cross ones from Asia that a co-worker brought back for me.

Cheeks: 
Sephora + Pantone Universe Shimmering Marsala Cheek Trio

Lips: 
Clarins Lipliner Pencil in 03 Nude Rose*
Clarins Joli Rouge in 752 Rosewood*

Final verdict: If you are quite fair, I do not know how often you will use these shades because they are quite dark. With the exception of the neutral nude beige colour, the other four shades are definitely geared towards creating a smoky eye. Out of the five shades in this palette, I only really liked two so in the end I would have opted for Clarins' single eyeshadows in the bronze shades.

I don't know about you, but I have my Valentine all chosen for this year! Isn't he handsome?