For my last review of 2020, I thought we could look at a holiday 2020 limited edition palette. Dior used to be my OG go to brand. Back when I thought makeup HAD to be expensive to be good, my makeup collection mainly consisted of Dior. My first eyeshadows were from the brand and it had been ages since I had tried them. They just hadn’t come out with anything interesting for a while. And then they announced their 2020 holiday collection and I knew I had to try Black Night.
Review: Dior Golden Nights Holiday 2020 limited edition collection 089 Black Night eyeshadow palette
In usual Dior fashion, this small 5-pan eyeshadow palette retails for a whopping €65. That’s been part of the reason why I haven’t been purchasing much from the brand. They got more and more expensive as time progressed and I found out that good quality makeup doesn’t have to be this much money. So I knew that I would only ever purchase anything again if they did something that really sparked my interest. And then this year, they finally did.
What does this palette have to offer?
Why did I want to own this palette? Well first of all, part of the reason was the fact that I used to love the brand and I hadn’t tried anything by them for so long. The other reason why I wanted to try this was the color story. And I won’t lie: that pretty snowflake imprint also helped a little bit. But really it was the shades this offered. For a brand like Dior it is exceedingly grungy and something that veers away from the usual ‘wearable’ fair that they offer up. So I was curious: can a luxury brand do a grungy color story?
What is the color story like?
For a 5-pan palette I thought this looked really intriguing. There is a silver and then three different greys as well as a burgundy. The greys range from a deep charcoal satin, a shimmering charcoal and a blue toned satin. There are no mattes in this palette but the shimmer levels range from close to matte to a high shine metallic. The satins can easily be used as mattes and therefore be placed in many different positions in different looks. So while this may seem like a bit of a one trick pony I think there are enough variations of textures to create different looks.
What does this palette swatch like?
I was very impressed when I first saw these swatches. The shades are super vibrant and richly pigmented. I was surprised how smooth these shades feel. Even the ones with higher levels of shimmer feel like butter and they have a nice bit of drag when you swatch them. I do find that the three deeper grey tones are a little bit samey against my skin tone. The blue toned grey is not as blue as I had hoped but still the shades play together well. The shades blend out well and they pack on intensely without too much effort.
What does this palette look like on the eye?
Naturally we have to do a look. As I had expected this palette is great for a smokey eye. The burgundy shade is stunning all over the eye and I love how it creates a smokey vintage look. This type of look would not have looked out of place in a 20s silent movie. I did use a bit of a matte bronzer in the crease to keep the look a little bit toned down, but I felt the darkest matte shade blended out nicely and that silver makes for a stunning metallic that I would love to also use all over the eye. I think it would look nicely too topped over the intensely shimmering grey. In short: only 5 shades, but lots of options for different renditions of a smokey eye.
My final thoughts
I am truly a little bit smitten with this Dior eyeshadow palette. Yes every look you do with this will turn into a smokey eye simply because it is so dark. However, that is exactly what I signed up for when I bought this palette. I wanted to find out if Dior could do a grungy eyeshadow palette and found out I did. Yes Dior can do a grungy palette, but is it worth the €65 price point? I am not quite sure. The quality is lovely that’s for sure, but €65 for just 5 shades is still a steep price point. I like it very much, but I will not go and say that you should run out to get this.
Would I recommend the Dior Black Night eyeshadow palette?
While I love the quality of this and I do not regret my purchase, I don’t want to recommend a product this expensive. I think you may be able to find shades like this as singles from more affordable brand and that it could be duped out quite easily. This palette gave me what I was looking for and I am happy I got to try it. However, unless you are very happy spending this much money on this type of palette than I would not recommend this palette.