Chantecaille Protected Paradise for Eyes

As promised when I featured Protected Paradise for Face, today I'll share swatches of Chantecaille's gorgeous Protected Paradise Eyes ($90).

The Protected Paradise compacts for face and eyes contain brilliantly colored illuminating and softly shimmering powders in an intricately embossed design depicting the diverse beauty of an underwater marine ecosystem. Created with Chantecaille’s exclusive patented mold technology that embeds color all the way through the product, the compacts feature artfully rendered ocean life in sophisticated seasonal palettes.

The Protected Paradise Eyes compact design includes the following marine life.

• Two fish that represent a host of over-fished and endangered species (including clownfish, orange roughy, sea bass, Nassau grouper, and humphead wrasse)
• A school of smaller forage fish, an essential component of the underwater food chain that supports bigger fish, now threatened because of their use in aquaculture
• A sea horse, net-harvested in mass quantities for decorative use in aquariums and for gourmet and medicinal purposes (and I don't approve of net harvesting - it's greedy and traps too many fish - or catching sea horses destined to die for decoration)
• Coral, a vital and seriously endangered organism
• A graceful expanse of sea grass, a crucial source of shelter and nutrition for fish that is being destroyed by trawling.

The big fish is a lovely rose gold that is ideal as a highlighter and blendsbeautifully with the green-grey base. The rose gold fish is shown at the top of my photo. Actually, I love wearing the rose gold alone on my lower lids. The smaller fish is a bright aqua that can be used to line the eyes or add a pop of color with gorgeous results. It's shown in the middle of my photo to the right. The base color (shown at the bottom) is a perfectly wearable medium grey with a sheer overlay of "marine green." In all of the shades, micronized pigments and a high concentration of real pearl impart pure color with a superb, wearable shimmer.

The galvanized nickel compact comes with two brushes (liner and basic) in the bottom level for clean and precise application. These brushes are actually usable - I used them to apply the shades to my arm for this photo.

Five percent of the proceeds from sales of Protected Paradise for face and eyes is being donated to the Pew Fellowship in Marine Conservation that funds vital research on fish sustainability and marine preserves. Is there a better time than the aftermath of the Gulf oil spill to support this cause? Protecting every creature in the seas is critical to the balance of nature.

As I said when I featured Protected Paradise for Face, buy Chantecaille color and you'll feel good about spending money on makeup. How many makeup products are gorgeous in the pan and flattering on the face - so flattering that you stare in the mirror thinking, "Wow"? How many companies donate a portion of your purchase to a worthy cause - or make philanthropy part of their corporate identity?

You can purchase Chantecaille at the Chantecaille Web site. The special offers at Chantecaille are phenomenal. For a limited time, if you spend $225 at the Web site, you will receive a free White Tiger Poudre Délicate. Check out the link. Trust me; he's gorgeous. I got mine! If you need to see before you buy, you can find Chantecaille at Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman, and select Saks and Nordstrom stores.

Top photo courtesy of Chantecaille