Guerlain fall 2011: Écrin 4 Couleurs in #05 Les Gris.

Guerlain revamped their regular eyeshadow quads and are launching 10 new palettes this fall, called Écrin 4 Couleurs. the design is leaning on their beautiful Écrin 6 Couleurs palettes, next to two brighter palettes with blues and purples the colour range is very muted, earthy, wearable.
i couldn't wait any longer for them the be released in germany, so i ordered the one palette that i knew i definitely wanted to have on escentual.com since the uk got them before us. thanks to great swatches, photos and descriptions on many great blogs this wasn't a risky game at all ;)
the palette i bought is #05 Les Gris.

it costs 37£ in the uk, which is, even when i include the shipping of 2.95£, still slightly cheaper than what it will cost in germany (i guess 51.90€ like their previous quads). it contains 4 eyeshadows and 7.2g of product in total. the shipping was ok (9 days from order to arrival) and it was securely packaged.

was i the only one who thought that this compact would be made of some kind of metal casing (like the Écrin 6 Couleurs)? i assumed they would use the same luxurious material since the design is similar and the pans are similarly arranged... but it's "just" a glossy gold plastic compact (how lame, now i even wish for the old packaging to come back). it's sleek and classic and timeless looking, ok, but at the same time very very prone to catch some (that means: many) fingerprints.
i'm just a disappointed packaging nerd.
it comes in a velvet pouch and also includes a big mirror and a double sided sponge tip applicator (which might stay useless).

the colour combination of Les Gris seemed the most interesting and beautiful from the promo-picture to me at the first sight.
and it still captivates me: the colours are muted and wearable but with a special twist to allow you to create both softer as well as non-classic dramatic looks, they are not too similar, and the most important part: the different finishes - which Guerlain manages to create the best palettes regarding the well thought out mixture of different finishes to provide a wide variety of looks women can create with one palette even though the colours are rather similar, down to earth and extremely wearable.

this is also the point where i've been growing out of Dior's iridescent quints. all shades in these palettes are highly shimmery and blend together to a frosty something, to a point where you can't even tell that these should be high quality, high end, special colours anymore.

also, i'm a bit disappointed when i read bad reviews about the Écrin 6 Couleurs palette, because i think many don't appreciate the quality of the pigment and mistakingly dismiss the rather sheer application as poor pigmentation. i think the sheerness of some Guerlain eyeshadows is of the transparent, adult, sophisticated type. i also find that Guerlain does the best range of cool toned palettes out there.
ok, clearly too much rambling, but things must been said ;P

back to topic: this palette contains 4 different colours with 4 different finishes:

• a soft matte charcoal black which applies rather sheer, but very evenly and smooth. it's a great colour for a soft and subtle crease definition in cool toned eye make up looks.
• a pearly silver taupe, almost satin finish. this also applies sheer but so it can be used all over the lid and to blend out the other colours without looking too eyeshadow-y. also wearable on it's own with a liner when you want to keep it easy.
• a metallic, super shimmery and reflective dark silver. slightly flaky and fall out prone, applies not as intense on the lids as swatched - so not the average disco-flash but still a beautiful eyecatcher.
• a rich blackened teal with blue shimmer and crystal sparkles. high pigmentation, looks more blue/indigo when applied and combined than in the pan. layered over the eyeliner or used wet as a liner will make it office-appropriate, but otherwise this is THE look-changing colour of this quad which will carry your daytime office look to the night-out look just by packing it over your outer corner. no fall out.

the shades apply well and are easy to blend, they last all day on my oily lids with minimal creasing. i'm very pleased with this combination and am glad that Guerlain hasn't failed to meet my expectations again. i will check out some more palettes when the collection hits the counters for sure, i want to get a warmer toned palette.

tihilw

pearly taupe on the inner half, shimmery silver on the outer parts and on the lower lashline, soft black lightly in the crease, dark teal slightly layered on black eyeliner.

shimmery silver on the inner third of the lid and on the lower lashline, dark teal on the outer parts and on the lower lashline, blended out with pearly taupe.

comparison

i've tried my best to find some similar colours in my stash, both drugstore and high end. some are pretty close and i'm sure that you can try and dupe this palette if you want.

the dupe shades - compared to the shades in the Les Gris Palette

1. satin charcoal brown in Guerlain #2 Place Vendôme palette (review) - a bit too brown
2. Artdeco #05 (review) - a touch too gold
3. Edward Bess "Storm" (review) - a tad bit more lavendar
4. Rival de Loop loose eyeshadow (LE) - too dark and too sheer
5. Giorgio Armani Eyes To Kill Silk Eyeshadow in #4 (review) - too dark and rather sparkly than metallic
6. Manhattan eyeshadow palette (LE) - too grey
7. MAC Deep Blue Green Pigment (LE) - too intense, more blackish
8. dark teal in NARS Rajasthan duo (LE) - darker, too sheer

so what do you think? will you get one of the new Guerlain palettes?