Cle De Peau: Gold #204 Eye Quad Refill

Every once in a while I stop by the Cle De Peau counter at Saks to admire the beautiful eyeshadows, but have never ventured to buy anything until recently as they are just a little out of reach budget-wise. For my birthday I decided to treat myself to #204 Gold, which is one of five recently-added eye color quad refills. These retail for $55 and are designed to fit into a case which is sold separately for $25, for a total price of $80. I think many would agree these are overpriced, but I wanted to give them a try to see how the quality compares to the more moderately-priced shadows in the Shiseido line. At first glance the texture does seem very similar. Cle De Peau is owned by the Shiseido company, which leads me to wonder whether they use the same formula. Just for fun, I compared this palette to one of Maybelline's Eyestudio palettes below. Which would you choose based on swatches alone?

Apologies for the un-pristine shadow! I strive to take photos of products fresh out of the packaging before using them, but in this case when I got home and popped out the refill from its plastic packaging it fell and got a nick in it. I figured, oh well, it's gonna get ruined when I use it anyway. :) 

The CDP logo is just a thin layer of gold overspray

All right -- let's dig right in!

Cle de peau 204 Gold 

vs. 

Maybelline Eyestudio 05 Give Me Gold

in sunlight

with flash 

As you can see below, the Maybelline quad is a bit warmer overall, with its coppery and yellow golds. It also has a deeper brown. The shades in the CDP quad could be considered a bit more elegant and neutral, perhaps making it more wearable on a variety of skin tones. However, it does have somewhat chunky flakes of glitter, so may be more suited to night-time. The texture on both of these is quite nice and smooth. 

If you are on a budget and looking for a gold eyeshadow palette Maybelline Eyestudio is not a bad choice. It retails for $9.99 but can often be found for $7 - $8  at Target and Wal-Mart. 

Below is a CDP product chart I received during my last visit that might be helpful to someone. Click to make it bigger! :) 

Have a great week!