Dior Spring 2012: Garden Party

Dior’s idea of spring 2012 is a garden party (what a delightful idea). The color palette makes me think of an impressionist painting, though I’ve heard the collection was actually inspired by the gardens of Mr. Dior’s youth.

There are two new, limited edition eyeshadow quints. They’re $59 each, embossed with a rose pattern.

441 Garden Pastels features a shimmery yellow lime, a shimmery barely-grey white, a shimmery pale pink, a shimmery pale yellow, and a shimmery pale sea golden-green-blue.

841 Garden Roses features a shimmery pale bubblegum/peony pink, a shimmery barely-pink white, a shimmery violet with blue reflect, a shimmery warm taupe-silver, and a shimmery lilac.

There are also two posh, limited edition, decorative palettes, the “Garden Clutches.” These are $75 each, with three eyeshadows and two lip balm/glosses. The closure is a two-rose snap.

001 Milly Garden is a Nordstrom (and Holt Renfrew) exclusive. It features a dark, shimmery indigo-denim shadow, a frosty ice-blue shadow, and a shimmery soft white with pink reflects. The glosses (or lip balms?) are milky white-pink and pale warm pink.

002 Granville Garden is available everywhere else. It includes a frosty golden brown, a pale frosty white that’s thinking about pink, and a pale, pale, shimmery, magical, sparkly, pale phosphorescent barely-green. The two lip balms (glosses?) are nearly identical: sheer pale warm pink and sheer coral pink.

There are two Rouge Dior lipsticks ($32): 363 Corolle Pink and 448 Tulip Pink. Corolle Pink is not available at Sephora. It’s a blue-pink with a slight shimmer/sheen. Tulip Pink is a warm rose pink.

There are also two Dior Addict Glosses ($28). 396 Party Lilac is a Pearl formula, a sheer/clear lilac with multicolored (blue, green, silver) pastel sparkles. 452 Pretty Rose is a Glow formula, a sheer, warm coral pink.

There are also two scented-when-dry nail polishes ($23). 694 Forget-Me-Not is an artificial-grape creme; 504 Waterlily is creme de menthe with tiny shimmers, for a satin-ribbon finish.

There’s also a Sephora-exclusive blush, the DiorSkin Rosy Glow Healthy Glow Awakening Blush in 001 Petal ($44). In the pan, this product is bright pink, but it’s not so vivid on the skin.

I swatched Petal both lightly and heavily, and was surprised by how demure it looked — the light swatch blended into my skin so much I wondered if it was more highlighter than blush. In the name of science, I borrowed a blush brush and tried it on my cheeks.

The Healthy Glow Awakening Blush is one of those products that “adjusts to the skin’s chemistry” to create a slightly different shade on everyone. I’m not sure exactly what it’s reacting to (moisture? Oil? pH?). On my cheeks it was more pigmented than I would have thought… but you know me; I don’t like pink blushes.

Click here to see it on Xiao of Messy Wands. Click here to see her comparison with NARS Gaiety.

Between Nordstrom.com, NeimanMarcus.com, and Sephora.com, all these items are still in stock (Nordstrom and Neimans offer free shipping at any price; Sephora at $50. Use code SHIPNM on Neimans). And if you can wait ’til the 20th, NeimanMarcus.com starts their beauty event, when you’ll be able to pick up a cute tote full of samples with your $100 purchase.