by Chrissy Iley
I have rarely been stopped and asked what is that eye shadow you’re wearing, have you had a facial, have you had a holiday, have you had botox? Yes. But an eye shadow that gets notice? Never.
And it’s not as if it’s a cartoon colour or a bright explosion. My Eye Trio from Tom Ford (coming soon to Selfridges) is a collection of greys – light grey, dark grey, shimmer grey.
It had appealed to me because the soft shadows were easy to apply and could be subtle or dramatic simply depending on the pressure or the brush with which you applied them.
The purpose of the trio in my mind was something that was easy and it ends up being the only eye shadow that’s ever been talked about that I’ve ever worn.
There are many reasons why I almost didn’t buy it. It’s expensive. I can’t help thinking of Tom Ford without thinking of Colin Firth who was the leading man in his movie A Single Man.
That movie had irritated me because of its self-conscious style over substance, and Firth – a wonderful actor – had succeeded in imprinting on my mind that this hapless character was indeed Tom Ford himself.
It feels good to put prejudice aside – always. My Eye Trio is called She Wolf and I am a fool for a well-named product, especially one that makes me feel vulpine. The case itself is gorgeous but its style is not over substance. I love its magnetic clip. It is very rare that I would ever use an applicator supplied in a pack because I prefer my own brushes, as the small ones are too fiddly. This applicator comes double-ended. One end a soft sponge. And the other a tiny white bristled brush – a miniature form of Tom Ford’s brush range, which are all spectacularly white and soft to the touch.
The colours themselves are everything you want in an eye colour The Dark Grey is vibrant and inviting. The Mid-Grey can be applied with subtlety or with panache. In certain lights it looks mouse brown. In others like the fur on the tip of a wolf’s tail.
The Grey Shimmer is a dark shimmer that also can look like the twinkle of the wolf’s eye. They all smudge and blend incredibly and they stay on. They stay on so well that if you apply them in the morning they’ll still be there the next morning. If you want to take them off at night you have to work at cleaning your eyes.
Style and substance. Who knew?