December 2, 2009

Chanel Quatuor Boutons De Chanel Les Folies Palette Review

Oh Chanel.

Chanel, Chanel, Chanel….how you break my heart into a million pieces. Dearest, how did you let something like your Quatuor Boutons De Chanel Les Folies release?

Chanel Quatuor Boutons De Chanel Les Folies Palette 2

Oh dear, dear, dear. It’s terribly bad my darling.

Jump for the deets!

Much to my horror the Chanel Quatuor Boutons De Chanel Les Folies Palette is a complete and utter fail. I’m Chanel’s biggest fan and supporter but this, this was utterly bad in my humblest, lowly opinion.

Chanel Quatuor Boutons De Chanel Les Folies Palette 3

Surprised am I when I checked out a few reviews and even my fav haunt, MUA, had a rating of 4.2. Ahem who are these people and why are they giving this a rating of 4 or more stars? Are they off their meds?

Seriously, I do have to warn you against this one. Not good, not good at all.

At first glance the palette is really elegant. As soon as I personally set my eyes on it I nearly fainted, this happens on occasion when the Muse is in the vicinity of fine makeup. It really is an interesting looking palette. Particularly the promo model looks all kinds of hot with her matte smokey eye. Oh wait! That’s the keyword of the day kids, MATTE! Every time I say it you scream k? It’ll be like PeeWee’s Playhouse.

No seriously matte is always a cause for great alarm as far as this Muse is concerned but I did so think that I MIGHT be able to make the Quatuor Boutons De Chanel Les Folies Palette work for me. On that note….

The shadows aren’t pigmented, they are terribly difficult to work with, it’s really difficult picking up shadow with a brush and not even a sponge applicator will get you any sort of color pay off. I don’t understand? How did they get the girl in the promo to look all kinds of elegant with a pigmented smoked up eye?

Lack of pigmentation and a crummy formula makes for difficult application and the formula itself is like nothing I’ve personally tried from Chanel before. Gone are the smooth, silky, buttery shadows I know and love, replaced with really hard, under pigmented shadows that don’t know the meaning of blend.

Chanel Quatuor Boutons De Chanel Les Folies Palette 4

Chanel Quatuor Boutons De Chanel Les Folies Palette 1

Although it’s made up of four colors it’s useless attempting to swatches as they all look black, black, black. But try I did, we must always give Chanel the benefit of the doubt. Most looks I attempted, and there were a few, ended up making me look like I had a bruised eye. The shadows blended patchy, even after multiply layers of product, plus the color pay off was very difficult to get built up.

Wow.

Let me take a breath.

Overall, the Chanel Quatuor Boutons De Chanel Les Folies Palette is something that will end up in the Muse’s makeup grave yard. This was sadly not something I loved. Chanel, I love you, but this needed work friends.

Somebody pinch me, maybe this is all a dream and the palette is actually wonderful.

Anyone try?

Love?

Leave?

Do share!

Disclosure: The following item was provided to Musings of a Muse by a PR firm for review purposes. For further information please see my FTC Guidelines or my Disclosure/Disclaimer posts.

About the Muse

Isabella MuseIsabella is just an average everyday geeky girl who doesn’t blend her eyeshadow correctly, wears too much blush, and hopes she never finds her holy grail products because she likes the thrill of the chase so much. Her mission is to bring you super honest reviews on makeup, skincare, fragrance and all things beauty. She’s in no way an expert on the topic and she sure as hell isn’t a super model. But she’s passionate about makeup and is seeking like-minded individuals that like pina coladas, getting caught in the rain, and ones that enjoy spending hundreds of dollars at Sephora without feeling buyer’s remorse. If you’re that person feel free to reach out and leave a comment or follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Bloglovin‘.

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Comments

  • Bonnie

    Say it isn’t so, Muse! I have loved many a Chanel eyeshadow in my day…boo!

    • the Muse

      bonnie hold me *sob* it was bad…..*sniff* I just can’t believe it. heart….breaking……crunch

  • AO

    They don’t even look particularly appealing to the eye in the case. What a dirty rotten shame this is.

    🙁

  • Tammy

    Aww sorry to hear you didn’t like it. Actually I loved mine and though I can’t say it’s as pigmented as MAC’s are, it was really easy for me to blend and the colour payoff is nice. Mine also had different colour payoffs! LOL maybe this line just wasn’t consistent from product to product.

    • the Muse

      really tammy?! I just didn’t have success with it for some reason. How are you using? Tips please? 😀

  • robyn

    they look kinda shimmery in the photo? not something id go for i have enough dark shadows and really wouldnt now i think its the first time ive read a post where you havent praised and found a good point in at least one thing

    elegant packaging doesnt count lol

    • the Muse

      hi robyn.

      no shimmer after applied pretty matte and yack! the first time you read a post where I haven’t praised or found a good point? are you reading the right blog? lol I piss and moan about everything 😀

  • Katarina (bjooti)

    I actually really like this palette. Used it over the weekend and thought it was fab 🙂

    • the Muse

      really Kat? I just can’t get it to work for me grrrrrrrr I look bruised when I use it, like someone punched me! :-D!

      any fotds on your site? 🙂

  • Lisa

    I had to laugh when you said to scream everytime you said the word matte. I was tempted to do it just to be stupid. But I didn’t want to freak out those around me….lest they think I am crazier than I already am….

    In other words, I am curious as to how this can be sooooo terrible. I can’t wrap my mind around that Chanel would bring out a crappy product. Does it work better when applied wet?? I’ll have to hit up my closest counter and test it for myself. I’ve never tried matte shadows. The thought just makes me think of “Oliver” and splotchy, badly applied make up.

    • the Muse

      LOL Lisa! remember peewee’s playhouse!? hehehehe!!!!!!!!!!!! mmmm I haven’t tried wet but I’m hearing that’s a nay I’m going to try with a good base see what happens! so far it’s a no go!

  • BeautyBitch

    I had the same problem: they looked like soot! Admittedly I didn’t try them on my eyelid, only swatched them but it was enough not to get me to spend.

    • the Muse

      bora we always have the same taste girl…def a no go for me too! Bruised eye looking!

  • Erin

    This is so upseting, I have been lusting after that quad ever since I first saw it. But I guess I am glad that I am finding out now and having my dreams burst instead of also having to pay for the mistake on my next credit card statement.

    • the Muse

      hey erin it’s always worth heading to counter and trying you may LOVE it. Personally was a no go for me sadly 😛

  • kit

    Bad news for Chanel fans but good news for my wallet I guess. The photos don’t appear appealing so I guess it’s safe to skip this one.

    • the Muse

      kit just didn’t do it for me sadly 😛 wait until Spring they have an AWESOME collection for Spring likey!

  • Betty

    Aww poo Chanel quads. They are crud compared to the silkiness of Dior’s quints! BTW you should do some posts on those 😀

    Oh Muse, may I ask if you could do a post on your makeup graveyard and your…VAULT? xD I’d love to see your best goodies stash ^_^

  • Melissa

    For the first time in many many many autumn’s I passed on this pallette. I played with it at Nordies and was just not impressed. I asked the SA if they were meant to be used wet as many chanel shadows can be wet or dry and she didn’t think these were good wet. I did buy the burgundy-black liner from the collection and I wear it all the time.

    • the Muse

      Melissa I really think it would be a bad idea to attempt wet…I was going to but read reviews not to try! I’m gonna try a base but honestly doubt it’ll help 🙁 at least the liner was awesome 🙂

  • helena

    hey muse, how about trying them wet or on top of a black cream base like mac’s style black shadows? I’m sorely tempted to get this quad too!

    • the Muse

      hey helena! gonna try that out 😀 You should head to your counter and have them do a look for you! or even swatch a little….I always can decide on the spot after swatching 😀 who knows it might turn into a total love. For me I was brokenhearted 🙁

  • Ricci

    I heard a lot of makeup company’s use MAC eyeshadows in thier promo pics :/

  • Resa

    Sad to hear you hated this! I love it! I used the eyeliner (in Demoniac, a dark purple) and it really made the colours pop. I’ve used it under Chanel’s Jade eyeliner as well, and it looks amazing! Try those?

    • the Muse

      hey resa! glad you loved it darlin’! I haven’t tried the jade eyeliner yet but sounds lovely. I’m gonna give it a whirl using a good base see how that goes 🙂

  • Leila

    Being a gothic at heart, I could not but try them on.

    Terrifying experience, besides it was an official demonstration with a guy doing my make up… well, I have seen them better at it, really. To me it was all a dull dark navy colour. No mystery, no sumptuousness, no luxury, NOTHING. I have never in my life been this dissapointed with Chanel.

    To their credit, I must say the Rouge Allure Lipstick take on the “violent violet” RULES!!! (it is called “Hysteria”). Great colour (well, it’s deep hued and of a rich texture… but beware of fine lines forming at the verge of lips, it needs a lip pencil and/or some concealer or foundation to prevent them). I have also bought the nail lacquer to match… mmm, I think this colour is called “Vendetta”. I’ll tell you when I use it, hopefully for this Christmas going outs.

    The other two of the range of Rouge Allure Lisptick, “Obscure” and “Maniac” are supposed to be a dark bourdeux colour and a dark… brown? They proved too much the same on a back hand swap… they do not go well with my beige-clair eurasian skin. Too much on the brown side, the two of them. I’d rather had the Rouge Noir 18 (Hydrabase), has a richer and deeper hue of real dark red.

    The matching nail lacquers may prove tricky to combine as they seem much more true to their color than the lipstick ones.

    Hope you all find it helpful!

  • Andrea

    Regret. Buyers Remorse. Attempts to comfort self with the thought of using them as powdery eyeliners or use my Trish McEvoy Finish Line to make them waterproof liners. I dunno, that sounds like a lotta work.