My Guerlain Holiday 2012 Collection Haul Part 5 - Eye and Lip Calligraphy Palette

I was going to do this review last night, but by the time I fixed up my new monitor (courtesy of a friend) and put children to bed, it was late and I was too tired. But now I have a nice new monitor, so I can get on with editing and typing at the desktop computer. I don't know why, I don't like using laptops. Maybe it's my age, haha!

Anyway, Guerlain's Eye and Lip Calligraphy Palette is a limited edition product for the holiday. It contains 2 lipsticks, 3 eyeshadows and a powder eyeliner (which you could also use as eyesahdow of course). I know some people aren't keen on having eye and lip products in the same palette and I'm not always myself, especially if the eyeshadows are very powdery as they end up in the lipstick, but this one works surprisingly well.

The eyeshadows in this palette are not at all powdery. They are soft and smooth, easy to pick up with your brush, but they aren't powdery. The lipsticks are also not very soft and sticky, so the combination of the two means that the products don't mix.

The eyeshadows were the main reason why I bought this palette (and the fact that I could pick it up on eBay for much cheaper than its retail price, you know me!), they are all so pretty. You get a very light golden beige highlighter, a copper shade, a gorgeous silvery taupe and a matte black powder eyeliner. This you can use wet as well for a more dramatic look. I have only tried it dry so far, but it works well dry too, although it's a bit on the sheer side that way. The rest of the eyeshadows are soft, buttery and nicely pigmented. The copper shade is especially amazing! The silvery taupe shade looks pretty unique to me, don't think I own anything else that colour. The highlighter is pretty, although not that unique.

The lipsticks included in this palette are a bright, dark pink and a brick red shade. I initially thought the red was very similar to Gardner Rouge G, but it's not that brown, it's mor of a cross between Gardner and Garconne. The pink shade is darker than Girly Rouge G, it actually reminds me of Mac Moxie lipstick. I did comparison swatches to the 3 Rouge G shades mentioned above. The lipsticks are not as soft and smooth as the Rouge G lipsticks and they're not very long lasting either, I only got 2 hours wear out of them, whereas Rouge G lipsticks last for 3-4 hours or even longer on me. The colours are lovely though and go really well with the eyeshadows.

I did two looks using the palette, you can see them at the bottom of this post. I apologise for the lack of close up lip swatch photos, but I have managed to develope a lovely (not!) cold sore, so I didn't want to scare you.

All in all, this is a lovely palette. I wouldn't say it's a must have, especially when you look at its retail price. It costs £54, although you do get 10.2 g of product for your money (5.6 g eyeshadows and 4.6 g lipsticks) which is a good amount. If it was cheaper, I would thoroughly recommend it, the quality is excellent.

See more pictures including swatches and the looks I did with this palette after the jump!

Taken with flash

Taken without flash in natural daylight

Comparison swatches for the lipsticks:

Girly, pink shade from Calligraphy, Garconne, red shade from Calligraphy, Gardner
Taken with flash

Girly, pink shade from Calligraphy, Garconne, red shade from Calligraphy, Gardner
Taken without flash in natural daylight

First look using the copper shade on the lid (darkened with Stila Sunset and Sandstone eyeshadows from the In The Light Naturaleyes palette), highlighter shade on browbone and black eyeliner on upper lashline, plus the red lipstick: 

Second look using the silvery taupe shade on the lid, highlighter shade on browbone and black eyeliner on upper lashline, plus the pink lipstick: