Chantecaille The Coral Reefs palette review

         Let me introduce you to my newest treasure: Chantecaille's 'The Coral Reefs palette'! The Coral Reefs palette is the star of Chantecaille's Spring 2012 collection. The palette is complete with three eyeshadows and a blush. The Coral Reefs is one of Chantecaille's environmental awareness palettes. Five percent of the purchase price will benefit the Marine Conservation Institutes and raise awareness for endangered reefs. As an animal and nature lover, I'm a fan of both the design and charitable cause. Previous palettes you may remember include the Tiger in the Wild palette and the Sea Turtle palette, both of which were gorgeous. As you can see, I decided not to miss out this time. I hope you enjoy my review of Chantecaille's The Coral Reefs palette!

        Chantecaille's charity palettes come with beautiful designs depicting their beneficiary cause. Here you can see intricate branches of coral covered with a gold overspray. It's hard to overcome the desire to preserve these patterns. Digging my brush into the pans felt akin to making a foot trail in the carefully raked sand of a zen garden! However the pain of pattern loss is overcome by the beauty of the shadows themselves (see swatches below). They're perfect renditions of classic colors. Pink Pearl is a pale pink highlight that has just enough shimmer to brighten. Reef is a cool biege warmed by a golden sheen. The interplay between cool base and warm light adds a beautiful complexity to the color. Driftwood is a chocolate brown with a hint of red sheen for interest. Coral, the blush color, is a sheer coral with a slight golden sheen. All the powders are finely milled and have great textures. They may be a little sheer, however this works well with the overall aesthetic.

          The casing is a white plastic with the coral design printed on top. I was surprised to see how large the pans were. Each pan should have 3g worth of product. For reference a MAC eyeshadow is 1.5g and a MAC blush is 6g. Therefore, you get a considerable amount of eyeshadow, and a more limited amount of blush.

           At the Nordstrom Spring 2012 Trend show I was lucky to have my makeup done by Chantecaille Nation Artist Eddie Hernandez. I rarely seek out makeovers since I'm often disappointed by the results. However, this makeover was wonderful. I loved everything from the skincare to the makeup application to Eddie's personality. I would highly recommend seeking him out if he's in your area.

          When applying Chantecaille's The Coral Reefs palette, Eddie used the following technique. First, using a fluffy brush apply Pink Pear from the brow down as a highlight. Pat reef on the lid up to the crease and line with Driftwood. When applying coral, start at the cheek bone and apply in downward diagonal strokes, imagining where the sun would hit your skin. Also, take a quick sweep underneath the brow. The effect was gorgeous; Reef adds the perfect amount of natural depth to my eye!

          Finally, I made a loose set of comparison swatches with another favorite palette of mine, the Urban Decay Naked 2 palette (reviewed here), and NARS blush. I figured many beauty lovers would have these in their collections, and it would make an effective comparison. Chantecaille Pink Pearl eyeshadow is more pink, sheerer, and less frosty than Urban Decay Bootycall. Pink Pearl is a very subtle highlight, while Bootycall is more intense. Chantecaille Reef is cooler and less golden than Urban Decay Suspect. Chantecaille Driftwood is more red, less golden, and less shimmery than Urban Decay Snakebite. I imagined that Chantecaille Coral blush would be similar to NARS Orgasm. However, you can see from my comparison swatches that Coral is significantly less pink than both NARS Orgasm and NARS Deep Throat. The colors aren't quite duplicates, however, they might be useful if you'd like to emulate Chantecaille's Spring 2012 look on a budget!

         The bottomline: I'm enamored with this palette. The colors are basic, but beautiful renditions of basic. I had a "Say yes to the dress makeup" moment after my makeover with Eddie. The Coral Reefs palette is now a frontrunner for my big day makeup! I'm so pleased with my first Chantecaille experience.  I look forward to exploring more from the brand.

          Thanks for reading! Have you tried The Coral Reefs palette or Chantecaille recently? Are these sorts of colors what you've been wearing this season? I would love to hear recommendations from any Chante veterans out there!

Love, Dovey.

P.S. If you're left craving more from the world of Chantecaille, you can find my interview with Alex Chantecaille here.
NOTE: 2/2/2013 Some of the original photos underwent minor edits to correct typos and give a more accurate impression of the product.