One Week, One Palette: Tom Ford Nude Dip

For the seventeenth week of my one week, one palette challenge, I decided to put a halt on the project. I had grown a little tired of using just one palette for an entire week and ignoring everything else in my collection. But what most surprised me was that I returned to a quad four times in the week where I was letting myself play with anything I wanted. And the quad was Tom Ford's Nude Dip. 

Clockwise: 1, 2, 3, and 4. 

This is the third Tom Ford quad I have purchased and the only one still left in my collection. I've heard many people criticize this quad for being way too much money for what you get, but I honestly feel that's true with any Tom Ford quad. Tom Ford shimmers have such a beautiful shine to them that I don't see in other shadows, so my personal thought is that the brand's best shadows are the simpler ones. 

Since the quad is all shimmer shadows, I needed to pull in some matte colors. I used Pur Soul Mattes:

MAC C'Est Chic:

And Maybelline Color Tattoo in Creamy Beige:

Photo: Musing of a Muse

Below are three looks I did last week.

Look 1:

4 on the lid, MAC Choc-ful blended into the crease, 3 padded onto the outer corner, 1 on the inner corner, and MAC Drawing a Blanc on the brow bone. 3 on the lower lash line. 

Look 2:

2 on the lid, Pur Better Half blended into the crease, Pur Alter Ego padded onto the outer corner, 1 on the inner corner, and Pur Sweetheart on the brow bone. Pur Alter Ego on the lower lash line. 

Look 3:

Maybelline Creamy Beige as a base on the lid, 1 and 4 blended together over Creamy Beige, MAC Choc-ful blended into the crease, 3 on the outer corner, 1 on the inner corner, and MAC Drawing a Blanc on the brow bone. 3 on the lower lash line. 

I really enjoyed using this quad and am glad that I have it. I find it curious that some people have criticized Nude Dip specifically over other Tom Ford quads. I think the current makeup culture is to have insane pigmentation, especially delivered through a finger swatch, and therefore shadows that are a little more subdued are considered poor quality. I think there is absolutely a difference between poor pigmentation and a soft, subtle shadow. What I loved most about wearing these shadows all week was that I never felt like I overdid it for work while also not feeling like I compromised on wearing something that I wanted. 

My favorite look was look 2 because I really love the pink/rosy shade, but I truly loved each look I did with this quad. I wasn't expecting to do a one week, one palette this week, and certainly not with this quad, but as soon as I used it, I wanted to keep using it throughout the week. 

All of the shades are truly beautiful, and I think they complement each other incredibly well. I used to own Tom Ford Golden Mink and really disliked it. There were two glitter topper shades that felt entirely wasteful and unnecessary, and if I didn't want to top my look with glitter, there really wasn't much of a point in wearing them. I also owned Cocoa Mirage, and while I didn't dislike it, I felt it was far too unspecial to warrant its huge price tag. The mattes were pretty, of course, but not prettier than the shadows in my Kat Von D Shade and Light Eye or Viseart palettes. But I do think there is a little something special about Nude Dip that I didn't see in the other two eye quads. 

Now, I don't think there is any need to rush out and buy this quad if you're interested in these tones. I think there are likely plenty of alternatives from other brands. For me, however, the specialness of these shadows is in the amount of shine they give without compromising on pigment or quality. I think they are really lovely shadows, and I'm happy that I have them. 

To end this post, I have a few thoughts on my one week, one palette project. It has been an incredibly fun project and I have learned a lot about myself. The biggest thing that I learned is that I LOVE color! And that's not anything I ever would have thought before starting this project. And because of that, I would buy the same palette with gold and bronze and copper shadows over and over and over again. And now, those shadows kind of bore me for the most part. But I would have never known that about myself had I not pushed to use every color in the Juvia's Place Nubian 2 palette very early in this project. Because of that, I now have a lot more color in my life. 

Another thing I learned is that I have a TON of eyeshadow palettes. As I've said many times, I routinely go through my entire collection and declutter products that I'm lukewarm about, haven't used in a while, or just am not crazy about. And right now, I really love everything in my collection. I don't necessarily love every shadow in every palette, but I am not a person who really wants to depot all of my shadows from various palettes and make one or two monster ones with the best shades from each. So, while I have really loved using my palettes and getting to know them so well, I simply have too many to do a realistic one week, one palette rotation on an ongoing basis. It has taken me four months just to get to the point where I can use my singles, and I didn't even use every palette in my collection! 

With that said, I think one week, one palette is a really great project for those who don't have a crazy number of palettes. It really helps you get to know your palettes, be creative, and discover new things that you didn't know about yourself and your preferences. Maybe you even find out that you don't love that palette as much as you thought you did. Or maybe you find out that even though you don't have the name or exact color configuration of a new palette, you already have all of the shadows inside it and you realize you don't need to buy anything new because you already have exactly what you love and need.