Chanel Fall 2010 Collection Eye Shadows

Chanel seized its opportunity to shine with the Fall 2010 Collection. I love fall's traditional fashion colors (dark greens and blues, plums and purples, every shade of brown, and more). The Chanel collection for fall offers cosmetics to enhance your look while you're wearing the new, seasonal clothing. It will be a good autumn!

The "look" above gives you a preview of the collection, with a pretty version of the smokey eye; strong, chiseled cheeks; and light lips. I think it extends spring's "pretty" into pretty special for fall.

Chanel's fall collection has arrived at stores. I had an opportunity to see it - and buy the pieces I coveted the most - last weekend. Today, let's look at the gorgeous eye shadows in the collection. As we finish the week, we will move on to the other noteworthy components.

Enigma is the latest addition to Chanel's iconic Quadra Eye Shadow ($56) collection. The shades range from subtle to dramatic, and are all complementary. Enigma will please you whether you wear one or two of the shades applied lightly for day or brush on the full smokey eye look for night.

I photographed Enigma in full sun to show you the quad as it looks in person - quite different from the photo at left on Chanel's Web site! Although my quickly snapped photos aren't always the best, this one's pretty true to the shades in the quad.

My two favorites are the taupe at upper right and grey at lower left. Could you have guessed? The pink shade isn't too pink, as you can see in my arm photo below, and I think that's great - makes it very wearable. The smokey lavender shade does carry some red tones, and it may not be the best shade for me. That doesn't mean there aren't thousands of women who will love it. I just have a hard time wearing shadows that bring out any redness in my eyelids - or my eyes on a day when they are irritated (by anything). I know I can wear the shade as a liner very close to my lashes. We'll see how it looks as a shadow later when I'm in the mood for fall. Having just closed out the warmest June on record in the DC area, it's a little hard to think fall. I plan to put these shadows away for September.

The photo to the right shows the smokey lavender shade at the top, followed top to bottom by the pink shade, the taupe shade, and the grey shade. I hope you can see how muted and pretty these colors are. I applied them fairly heavily to take this picture. You can ease up on the brush for a more subtle look.

There are two new, limited-edition Soft Touch Eyeshadow ($28.50) singles in the collection: Vert Khaki and Taupe Grisé. I photographed them in the pan and on my arm. Both are spectacular (in my opinion)!

Check out my arm photo at right, which shows Taupe Grisé at the top and Vert Khaki at bottom. The subtle green in Vert Khaki is very pretty on the lids; it will give you a versatile autumn look no matter what your coloring is. Taupe Grisé? You will probably use it right down to the bottom of the pan!

The shadows have just a touch of shimmer - nothing over the top, no glitter. They are very flattering!

I don't have to tell you that Chanel's eye shadow's are top-notch. They apply and blend easily and stay where you put them. Beyond their superior qualities, though, there's that je ne sai quois, the hard-to-describe feeling of luxury that comes with using and wearing Chanel's products. If you want to treat yourself, make sure to see these beautiful eye shadows soon.

I bought mine at Neiman Marcus. The new collection is available at Chanel's Web site, and I'm sure it must be at the other department stores too. If it's not, it will be soon. Next up, I'll describe the gorgeous new, limited-edition Jous Contraste Powder Blushers that were used to create that strong cheek above.

Look and quad photos at top courtesy of Chanel
Quad close-up and all other photos are mine