Surely Giorgio Armani's Fall Collection, Kaleidoscope, was a hit for me. I am sure you have already guessed that right since I just can't stop writing about it. Shortly after I left one of the new ETK shades behind and bringing five of them home, I craved for it and returned back. Of course it was expected, but I just wanted to find out if I have changed a bit but luckily it shows I haven't *winks*.
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| Giorgio Armani ETK #35 Silver Chafer and Face & Eye Palette in Venomous Green |
Anyway, let's go on with the review, shall we? Armani Eyes To Kill #35 Silver Chafer is a soft gray, leaning slightly blue. I compared it below to my beloved gray of the line, #4 Pulp Fiction. I love it not just because of the name but also because of the shade, a rare gray which does work on me. I also pulled out #10 which I rarely use alone. ETK #10 is for me rather a inner corner highlight color.
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| Giorgio Armani ETK #35 Silver Chafer vs. ETK #10 and #4 |
Once swatched side by side, you can see that #10 is more white and #4 is more gray/taupe. #35 looks like a very very pale blue. If you like shimmery light lids, you can use it alone but I would like to show you the magic it does to other eye shadows, once used as a base. Armani ETKs dissolve in water and I have seen many Armani Make-up artists using it as a base to ETK quads. This time around I wanted to try it with the new Face&Eye Palette from the same collection, Venomous Green, to bring some light and "vibrancy" to it with a touch of metallics. If you remember the first look I posted with this palette (you can check it out here), it was a blended green one with a satin/matte finish.
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| Swatch of Giorgio Armani ETK #35 Silver Chafer vs. ETK #10 and #4 |
For the look below, I followed these steps:
- I sprayed my brush with water and picked up ETK#35 from the pan, applying it all over the lid and pass the crease as a base. I also applied this along the lower lash line.
- I then applied the lightest shade of eye shadow (right one, Tier 2) from F&E Palette starting from inner corner, half way along the lid. Base made this shade appear more lively and also a bit more "blue".
- To the outer half of the lid, I applied the forest green (middle shade, Tier 2) from the palette. This one also pulled more blue compared to the previous look, thus everything ended up looking more teal. I also applied it to the lower lash line from half way on towards the outer corner.
- I defined the crease with the darkest brown shade (left shade, Tier 2), blending it into the dark green.
- I lined upper and lower lash line with a brown liner (I believe it was a water proof one from last summer) and smudged it with a smokey liner brush (Laura Mercier) to get rid of any harsh lines, making it look more natural.
- Last step was mascara on top and bottom lashes.
- I went back and padded a bit more forest green on mid of the upper lid (middle shade, Tier 2) to make this color pop.
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| In Action: Giorgio Armani ETK #35 Silver Chafer as base to Face&Eye Palette Venomous Green |
There was also some discussion about if Tier 1 of Armani Palette would show up on light to medium complexions, so I add FOTD to this post for you to decide yourself. In reality the effect is a little more obvious but it really makes a very nude blush. For the look below, I applied it very heavily with Tom Ford blush brush. If you apply it sheerly, you may also use it as a face powder. You can see how much I liked the look by checking out the nails. Yes, right, this is Chanel Jade! I found it worthy enough to use one Jade mani on that one, so yay!
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| FOTD with Armani ETK #35 Silver Chafer and Face&Eye Palette Venomous Green |
Final thoughts: Metallic and green are both in for upcoming season (such as the green palette from Dior, Bonne Etoile). Here is a way to get "metallic green" eyes without having a metallic green palette by using a metallic base. I tried it by using silver ETK #30 as a base to matte/satin green Face&Eye Palette. If you liked the look, you may also like to try out combining ETK #10 or #35 or a similar water based eye shadow (or even a creme one) with your favorite green eye shadow.
Do you use light metallic base to give your eye look a twist? Any other "base" tricks you would like to share with us?