theNotice: a beauty blog

Why? Welll, it’s simple: I’ve never hit pan on anything, so free (or cheap, if you buy them online) small shadows let me have variety in colour and brand without breaking the bank. If I can get something in GWP form, I will – then, if I really love it and I use it all up, I can buy a full-sized one clear of concience!
Today we’re taking a quick peek at one of my favourite Lancome quads. There’s a lot less shadow per pan than some of the square quads, but as I said – that’s not a problem for me!
As I find with most Lancome colours, they’re gorgeous in the pan, but apply quite sheerly. Howerver, I tried them over UDPP this time, cleaning out my little swatch boxes with a q-tip, filling with UDPP, and then with shadow again! The photo below is sans-base. I can hardly see the first two!

And here’s what they look like with UDPP. Much bolder, and still gorgeous!
The individual colour breakdown?

• Floralesque: a sheer salmon pink shimmer that would be gorgeous as a pinkish hilight for a ton of looks, but when layered over UDPP, the first thing that pops into mind is “bridal pink” and “Bobbi Brown”. Why? Floralesque is pink without being over-the-top, and it’s not too red, so you don’t look tired or swollen – just fresh! It’ll work wonderfully for a day-appropriate neutral-pink eye.
• Positive: this matte yellowy-nude basically didn’t show up without UDPP, and was pretty boring with it, too. If it’s a good shade for you, it’s a nice enough all-over matte, and I suppose it would be nice if you have very unevenly pigmented lips, or prominent veins (like me!) However, there’s nothing special about this colour.
• Lézard: brown with a touch of glitter, but I’m on the fence with this one. I think it’s very much a hit-miss shade, working well for some but not at all for others. The glitter’s a little too far and few between to be called “shimmer”, but not chunky.
• Mochaccino: my favourite of the four, this has a touch of glitter and shows up as a fairly sheer medium-light brown. It’s not much of a special-occasion colour, but more of an everyday hard-to-screw-up shade!

All in all? Don’t go hunting for any of these on their own, but if you happen to have this quad, it’s a keeper! I know you’re probably all going wait, what?! and I realize that what I just said was fairly confusing, but let me explain: on their own, each shade is nothing magnificent. But a girl needs some easy-to-wear sophistication in her traincase! In my eyes this is very Lancome, from the sleek packaging to the pretty-but-fairly-plain colours.

I like to think of this as my maid-of-honour quad. You have to be there and look happy, fresh, and radiant, but you’re not allowed to steal the spotlight!

(Psst: this is what they look like when you’ve washed your hands twice with handsoap. You can really see where there was UDPP!!)