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Dolce & Gabbana’s $67 Desert Is a Hot Eyeshadow Quad With Leopard-Print Packaging That’s Driving Me Wild

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dolce gabbana desert eyeshadow quad from the animalier collection
Wearing the Dolce & Gabbana Eyeshadow Quad in Desert ($67), from the new Animalier collection

It’s a jungle out there. Thank goodness for makeup…and cats (what, you couldn’t tell I was a cat lady?).

And whenever my two favorite interests collide, let’s just say, I have a moment.

Like a straggler gazelle on the African savanna in the crosshairs of a hungry lion, I fell prey to the new Dolce & Gabbana Animalier holiday collection… It was inevitable — the cycle of life as it pertains to the new Eyeshadow Quad in Desert ($67).

dolce baggana animalier collection

Leopard-print packaging, golden neutrals and flawless performance? Yes, this is the quad I’m bringing with me when J.Renn and I get stranded on that deserted island (that incidentally also has modern conveniences like plumbing, air conditioning, a Sephora store and Internet access).

Granted, the $67 price tag is like a deep, painful cat scratch for wallets, but that’s Dolce & Gabbana for ya. They may charge borderline redonkulous prices, but when they get a product right, they knock it out of the park…

…and all the way to the Dolce & Gabbana Eyeshadow Quad in Desert. 🙂

The leopard-print packaging

Even if I wasn’t a cat lady, I’d love this limited edition quad’s packaging. Not only do I like the way it looks on the outside, but the colors inside it are based on the print! How cool is that?

The colors

Three of the quad’s four neutrals — the matte beige, shimmery gold and matte light brown — have golden, mid-color temperature tones, which should make them flatter a wide range of skin tones.

The darkest shade, the plummy reddish brown, is a touch warmer than the other colors, and because it’s the darkest, I use to smoke out the other shades and as a liner (works well on lash and water lines).

If you have very cool-toned skin (quick tip: if the veins in your arm appear blue, you’re probably cooler toned; if they’re greenish, more warm), the darker shade might be a little tough to pull off, but it could still come in handy as a fallback liner.

The performance

Man, these eyeshadows should get Hollywood agents because they’re superstars! They’re everything I could ever hope for and expect from a high-end makeup line (that charges $67 for a quad).

I have no idea how D&G managed to make them this pigmented and yet keep them so easy to blend. And the fallout? — what fallout? Zero, nada, zilch. And they last all day long for me without creasing or fading.

dolce & gabbana holiday 2012

dolce gabbana desert swatch

dolce gabbana desert eyeshadow quad from the animalier collection

If the price is the one thing holding you back, you may already have a few similar colors in your collection. Looking at MAC alone, which has a really wide range, you could use MAC Brule in place of Desert’s beige, Patina or Woodwinked in place of the shimmery gold, Soba or Soft Brown instead of the light brown, and Folie in place of the darker reddish brown.

They wouldn’t be exact dupes; I think some of the MAC colors lean warmer than the Dolce & Gabbana shades, but I think you’d have a similar vibe.

Desert isn’t destined for any drugstore shelves, but I have to say — I love this quad.

I’ve been wearing it a lot lately with Laura Mercier’s Metallic Creme Eye Colour in Gold as a base, MAC Blacktrack Fluidline on my upper lash line and MAC Powersurge Kohl on my lower water line for a classic, timeless eye makeup look.

PRICE: $67
AVAILABILITY: Available now at Saks Fifth Avenue stores and online at saksfifthavenue.com
MAKEUP AND BEAUTY BLOG RATING: B+/A- (it only suffers from the price)

Don’t rain, don’t rain, don’t rain…

I wish I could get Mother Nature to put the rain on pause this morning. I’d really, really appreciate it, LOL! I’m driving into the city a little later to meet a friend, and I don’t like driving across the bridge in the rain.

We’re meeting for lunch at an organic place called The Plant Cafe. Never been there before, but some of the things on their website look pretty tasty…

I hope no one gives me grief about taking pics of my food… It happens sometimes, but I’m kind of at the point where I just automatically bust out my camera whenever food is nearby. I forget sometimes that it can seem a little strange. 🙂

Have a happy hump day today. How are things out there?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S.

Not Dolce & Gabbana related, but MAC’s coming out with a new pastel lavender pink Viva Glam Nicki Lipstick ($15 US, $18 CDN) and Lipglass ($15 US, $18 CDN) soon…

Like MAC’s other Viva Glam products, 100% of the proceeds from the sale of the new lipstick will go to support the MAC AIDS Fund, helping women, children and men living with HIV/AIDS.

Keep an eye out for it at US and international MAC stores and counters, and online at maccosmetics.com, beginning February 9.

Reader Interactions

Comments

    • Hi Tiffany,

      Yeah, I heart UD’s colors and the palettes, but the fallout can be a pan. I always, always have to remind myself to tap off my brush thoroughly.

      I think one of the big things that helps reduce the fallout is the size of the grains. For me, at least, it seems the smaller and the more finely milled the powder, the better it is at sticking to the skin.

      Reply

    • Hi Leah,

      I feel like I haven’t spoken to you in forever! I hope you had a nice Thanksgiving and that your corn pudding and mashed potatoes turned out well.

      Reply

  15. This is a great look for you that I think would look good on pretty much everyone. This is why I’m such a fan of neutrals. 🙂

    Speaking of fallout, I’m wearing the lightest shadow from my Lorac Private Affairs palette today so the fallout isn’t noticeable at all. However, the shimmer does highlight every crease and line. Darn eyeshadows… HAHA!

    It’s a bummer that anyone would give you a hard time about photographing your food. Maybe they think you’re a restaurant spy and don’t realize you’re really just giving them free publicity. 🙂

    Reply

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