Chanel Spring 2013 Les 4 Ombres in Raffinement Review, Photos & Swatches

The Chanel Printemps Précieux Collection for Spring 2013 includes the Chanel Les 4 Ombres in Raffinement ($59 USD / $62 CAD), a gorgeous neutral eyeshadow palette with shades of champagne, taupe and chocolate brown. This collection combines playful shades with natural elegance and is available now at Chanel counters!

While this eyeshadow quad is promoted in this Spring 2013 collection, it is a permanent shade in the Chanel Les 4 Ombres line-up, so that’s great for those that need a little extra time to make a decision! This eyeshadow quad has four individual eyeshadows within a black, mirrored compact and comes with a velvet pouch as all Chanel eyeshadow palettes do, as well as two sponge-tip applicators.

The shades include a deep, shimmery purple (top left), a pale, frosty champagne (top right), a light, shimmery taupe (bottom left) and a deep, matte chocolate brown (top right). This palette is very much an everyday palette, in that the neutral colors are perfect for creating both soft looks and dramatic smoky eyes, depending on the shades used and the combination of them. While I would prefer to have seen a pale matte shade in the quad, I think that this is one of the most lovely eyeshadow palettes I’ve tried and definitely worth the splurge for the amount of use that I would get out of it.

Chanel Les 4 Ombres in Raffinement

Note the size & Packaging

Chanel Les 4 Ombres in Raffinement

The pigmentation is stunning- each shade is of superb quality, and they blend flawlessly with one another on the lid. This eyeshadow palette in general is fantastic, in both concept and execution. I’ve been reaching for it daily and even though it’s a very basic palette, I’ve been able to create a several different looks with varying intensity. I usually pair it up with a matte highlight shade, but besides that, it is quite self-sufficient.

If you haven’t noticed, the Chanel Les 4 Ombres palettes from the USA have square eyeshadows, while every other country has circular eyeshadows. If you look at the weight, you’ll see that the USA (square) palettes contain 0.24oz of product, while the other palettes (like this one) only have 0.04oz. This confused me at first, because that is quite a bit of difference in weight while the volume didn’t look much different. I spoke with the Chanel Canada PR rep today and she told me that the only reason for the weight discrepancy is that the USA does not use a baked formula and therefore retains more water weight (leading to a heavier product). The amount of product and the value of the product is still the same.

This palette is a wonderful, everyday neutral palette with amazing quality and superb pigmentation, and even though I haven’t tried the non-baked version, I can say that this palette is absolutely stunning. It has staked out it’s own spot in my personal daily makeup bag (and that’s quite a big deal for this beauty blogger)!

Chanel Les 4 Ombres in Raffinement

Chanel Les 4 Ombres in Raffinement

Swatches (L-R): Top Left, Top Right, Bottom Left & Bottom Right