Beluga...
For someone who's been steering way clear of sparkles I've really done it this time! Going from mattes to this is quite a step! For those of you who have seen the Mystère quad, from the new Chanel Superstition collection, Beluga is similar to the dark khaki but packs more punch!
... Or so I thought...
Considering that a beluga is a white whale, the name for this eye shadow is quite surprising and does not really relate to the Sea to me. For some "mystic" reason, it reminds me more of the New Age period so many went through in the 80s or was it the 90s? This looks like a mix of several semi-precious stones people used to collect for their mystical properties.
I know this is not the clearest of pictures but I still wanted to show it to you, can you detect the blue specs in there? There are also gold and grey in a majorly khaki base. Here it looks more grey but it's actually a khaki with a lot of dimension.
With sun light the colored glitter is even more noticeable! It really does appear as if many colored stones where pulverised and mixed in the khaki base.
Here is what it reminds me of, Alchemy! A mad attempt to transform elements into gold! One would think they almost succeeded for this color is simply stunning and up close, does make me wonder what the Philosopher's Stone would have looked like, had there been such a magical creation!
Now, for all it's beauty how does Beluga translate to the eyes? Poorly! *cries*
I do get a good color payoff, hardly any glitter fall off... there is almost none to fall!
The glitter doesn't transfer to my eyes! I get a beautiful dark grey-khaki but all the subtleties seen in the pan simply vanish when using a brush. Note that I wouldn't use a sponge applicator for it would make it way too dark on me.
So you see, in this case, seeing swatches doesn't really give an idea of what it will look like in real life. With Beluga, the only way to really see it's refinement would be as an all over color for a smokey eye for example but unfortunately that for me, just wouldn't work.
Several of the new Fall makeup collections include shades of green, particularly khakis and I'm quite pleased about this one. Beluga looks great on me and if you're not one to go for palettes, this is an excellent option to enjoy a bit of the trend. Just keep in mind that it's not as sparkly as it looks in the pan or as when you swatch it. This is a little sad since I truly wanted something different.
Beluga is a good color right in tune with most Fall collections, not as sparkly as I expected, it's still highly pigmented and had good longevity. If you don't plan on getting any of the new palettes but still want a little pick me up to go with all the new fashion, Beluga is a good choice as are all the eye shadows from the M.A.C Indulge collection.
So, it wasn't what I was expecting but I'm still happy about this purchase.
Can you tell my daughter and I had a Harry Potter marathon recently? :)
