Hi folks! It's taken me several days to try to get a feel for the Edward Bess Quad Royale in South of France (01) before I could give my review. This is the description of the product provided in Neiman Marcus online:
"Four perfectly paired shades, four ways.Sweep together for allover luminous color. Mix and match to highlight cheeks and dress the eyes too. Complete with travel brush for touch ups on the go.
How to Use:
Sweep brush in smooth circular motion over all four shades for a sun-kissed effect all over the face. Add some color to your cheekbones by dusting over the brighter shades and applying on the apples of your cheeks. Play up the eyes with these edited, soft shades for a look that appears flawless, yet effortless."
There were few reviews I could find regarding this new product from Edward Bess, but the ones that were there gave nothing but high praise (e.g., reviews by The Beauty Lookbook, Best Things in Beauty and Birkinbag Beauty). So I purchased this from Zuneta.com. I was definitely keen for a nice, glowy highlighter that I could also use as a blush (and based on the photos in other blogs, it seemed I could use it as a blush as well given the pigment in the swatches). It's summer here in Australia, so I really wanted something that was going to give me a healthy glow. I had very high expectations from this product.
The Colours
The South of France quad (01) is a lighter, cooler quad compared to 'Summer in Capri' (the latter has peach hues versus pink/mauve).
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| Above (clockwise from top left): very soft pale beige with peach hue, very soft pale pink, slightly darker beige with peach hue, and a mauve with pink hue. All have shimmers and you can see in the pan the golden overspray particularly on the mauve/pink shade. |
When all four colours in the quad are blended altogether, it creates a very soft, pale opalescent hue and extremely subtle shimmers. When applied very heavily it imparts a golden glowing sheen to the skin when light hits it.
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| Above, the quad at an angle that captures the pretty shimmers. |
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| Above: hopefully captures the differences in the colours in the quad. |
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| From left to right are swatches (on my olive/tan skin) taken from each colour in the quad anti-clockwise starting from bottom left. (i.e. mauve with pink hue, darker beige with peach hue, soft pale pink, soft pale beige with peach hue). |
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| Swatch of all the four colours blended together (i.e. a soft peachy pink with shimmers). |
However, when I tried it the first few times, I couldn't see anything on my face! This was indoors of course with indoor lighting, and normally, when I put on a highlighter on my face, I can still see it even indoors with artificial lighting. In another room with a window, I can see a very subtle glow where I've applied it. When I go outside in the full sun, I can see the very subtle glow and some multi-coloured sparkly shimmers. I wanted to see if it would work as a blush and in the pan and finger swatches, I loved the look of the darkest shade in the bottom left corner of the quad. I applied it heavily with the brush provided onto the cheeks. The result is a lovely mauve hue, but still quite subtle, as if you have nothing on, just a natural flush of colour as if I'd been out in the summer sun. However, beware, because not only does it impart the mauve shade, but it also imparts a golden sheen in the light. If you apply very heavily as I did on the cheeks it may emphasise any large pores you may have. If you don't have this problem, then it's actually a nice, healthy looking golden glow that is more obvious, but still relatively subtle in that there are no huge chunks of glitter that can be seen. No disco-ball effect here. If you like to apply it to the cheeks like this a bit more heavily and you have issues with your large pores, I would recommend putting on a primer and/or something that will make the pores less visible. Note that such pore minimising products are usually best applied as a last step, otherwise they tend to rub off after layers have been added on top. Otherwise, just apply to the high points of the face (e.g., top of the nose, top of the cheek bones and around the temple through to under the brow bone, on the chin and a little on the forehead). When you just do the high points though, just be aware that it's very subtle and it it's no where near as strong as the effect you get with other highlighters such as the Nars Albatross highlighter, Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector or the Estee Lauder Modern Mercury Illuminating Powder Gelée. So if you prefer those or love the glow you get with Nars Illuminators, then I would stick with these products. The Edward Bess Quad Royale would be way too subtle, and while you can still achieve a similar amount of glow and illumination as those other products, you would need a lot of it, so it wouldn't be an economical and efficient option.
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| Above photo taken outside: swatch comparison of Edward Bess Quad (left) and Estee Lauder Modern Mercury Illuminating Powder Gelee (right). The latter is only a very teeny, tiny, light swatch in comparison and yet it's a lot more illuminating!) |
The Edward Bess Quad Royale is subtle enough to use all over the face (like the Guerlain Meteorites) and this leaves some subtle shimmer here and there on your face, but gives a very subtle nice finish. You can't see it, but you know there's something a bit different and gives your face a more refined look. You can also apply it a bit more heavily for a subtle cheek colour that looks natural and adds a very summery glow when the sunlight hits your face. However, I would agree with the Birkinbag Beauty, in that I would also have preferred that the darkest shade be a much larger size to be used as a blush, and perhaps not have as much gold shimmer on this as the other lighter shades.
The reason why I took so long to review this product, is that I was trying to figure out whether or not it's a highlighter or a blush. I personally find it too subtle to be a highlighter and too soft to be a blush. If it was going to be used either way, you would need a lot of it (being careful of the gold sheen effect at the same time if you have large pores on the cheeks!). I think it works best as an all over finishing powder (and it seems this is what the instruction recommends at the back of the packaging box! [see photo below under 'Packaging' section]) as it leaves a nice subtle refined look and also brightens your complexion a bit. It's a bit like the Guerlain Meteorites, however the shimmering sparkles in the Guerlain Meteorites are a bit smaller in size than the ones in Edward Bess Quad Royale albeit both are still quite subtle overall.
The colour would suit both warm and cool skin tones. However, if you wish to use the darkest shade of the quad as a blush, then I would not expect it to show up on skin tones any darker than my olive/tan skin (NC-30/35). I suspect that the other quad called 'Summer in Capri' has darker, warmer shades, which might be worth checking out.
Packaging
The packaging is a bit smaller than the Edward Bess Berry Chic Travel Palette. It's a lightweight, sleek black plastic compact, with a convenient large mirror and a brush applicator. I must admit, the brush looked a bit shabby, coarse and wiry when I first looked at it, but it's actually quite good. It picks up the product really well and deposits it onto the skin well. It's great for blending, and it's not at all irritating to the skin. It feels softer than you think it might! It's not very dense so it allows some movement when applying. Overall, I think it's definitely fit for purpose. Just be careful when using the brush, because the corners on the handle on the brush end are quite sharp! The handle is made from plastic. However, you may wish to use a denser blush brush if you want to apply the quad as a blush to get the desired intensity.
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| Above: the product description, application instructions and the list of ingredients (click on the image to enlarge). |
Scent
In the pan, you can smell a scent that is quite pleasant and berry-like (similar to the scent in the Edward Bess Berry Chic Travel Palette, but very subtle in comparison). However, when applied to the skin, there is no noticeable scent, which I prefer (being sensitive to scents!).
Overall
If you are an Edward Bess fan and love his philosophy of 'less is more' then you might like this. If you like subtle glow or are after a refined finishing powder that doesn't look like you've got makeup on then you might like this product, otherwise I would recommend to look elsewhere for more bang for your buck if you're after a highlighter or love more glow to your skin, or a product that contains both highlighter and blush as separate pans that have decent quantity to be used individually and serve their purpose well individually as well as when layered together. Personally, and unfortunately, this fell short of my expectations (especially after having tried his brilliant eye shadows and having read all the rave reviews). My main problem was that all the product descriptions in various places and how to apply it are a bit vague and very confusing to me and so it made it harder to know its real purpose and review it properly for what it is! If I simply just base it on the instruction at the back of the packaging box (not the compact) in that it is a luminising all-over powder, then I would say it's pretty good for that purpose alone, because it looks very refined and natural.
Size, Price & Availability
£28.50 or US$45 for 0.25 Oz / 7g of product. It can be found at Bergdorf Goodman (NYC), Neiman Marcus online, Edward Bess online and Zuneta.com.
I hope this was helpful! Thanks for reading. xo
What do you think of this product from Edward Bess? Have you tried it or tempted to try it? If you've tried it and liked it, let me know what it is you like about it and how you like to use it. I would love to hear!
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