The Tom Ford Mercurial palette is new for Christmas 2020 and it’s a stunner! Today I’m sharing swatches and my first impressions on this palette.
Hiya guys, hope your week is going OK. Today I’m sharing my thoughts on the new Tom Ford Mercurial Eye Quad Extreme palette.
I debated whether to post this as this palette is now showing as out of stock and I can’t find it anywhere. However, it hasn’t been released everywhere yet and you can still buy it if you’re in the US from the Tom Ford site. I’ve only seen it on Selfridges and the Tom Ford website in the UK so far. So, I’m hopeful it will be released elsewhere and/or restocked.
This palette is so pretty, I couldn’t not share it and I still want to help you decide whether or not to buy it in case it comes back in stock!
SO, let’s get into my breakdown of the Tom Ford Mercurial Eye Quad Extreme!
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COST
The Tom Ford Mercurial Eye Quad Extreme is £68 for 6g of product/4 eyeshadows. This gives a cost of £11.33 per gram.
This palette is currently out of stock in the UK, but you can buy it from the US Tom Ford site.
Keep an eye out at Space NK, Selfridge’s and John Lewis for this palette to be released/come back into stock.
These palettes are expensive. For me it’s an investment buying these palettes and I don’t do it very often. I only have Christmas eye quads from Tom Ford as I like to treat myself at the end of a year. Until last year I had no Tom Ford eyeshadows as I just thought they were so expensive. However, if I see a palette where I’m 100% going to use all four shades, then I consider buying it. Last year, I didn’t like most of the holiday palettes, this year I’ve liked both so far.
PACKAGING
The Tom Ford Mercurial palette comes in silver packaging with a grey sleeve and silver box. It’s part of the Extreme range. I haven’t had an Extreme palette before, but last year they released one and it didn’t have great reviews.
Before I purchased this, I made sure to watch plenty of YouTube reviews to see what people were thinking about the formula. The general consensus is that this palette is on par with the normal wet/dry formula and much better than last year’s Extreme quad.
The packaging is really pretty, but gets covered in finger prints and is impossible to take a photo of alone as the camera doesn’t focus! It’s a silver mirror like plastic and feel sturdy in the hand. The palette has a magnetic closure and I think it’s much better than the normal brown packaging.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
As soon as I saw this palette, I was interested! It’s a little different than what I normally go for with the reddy shade, but once I saw it swatched, it came across a little more browny red, so I knew I could wear it.
This palette is definitely more intense than the First Frost palette I recently shared a first impressions post on.
There’s just something about this colour scheme that excites me. Even though most of it is quite neutral. That pop of reddy brown really changes things for me. Plus, it leans ever so slightly warm, but not so warm I can’t wear it. It’s nice to have the cooler First Frost palette and this slightly warmer palette.
Here’s a closer view of the four shades in this palette.
SWATCHES AND COMPARISONS
Now, it’s time to look at some swatches of the Tom Ford Mercurial palette. The formula is super smooth, no chunky glitter and they are gorgeously pigmented.
They apply well with a brush, but better with a finger dry. Wet they perform better with a brush I find.
From top to bottom, left to right, here are the shades:
Now, let’s talk comparisons. This palette seemed familiar to me and now I know why. It’s like the love child of Nude Dip and Honeymoon, which are permanent quads in Tom Ford’s range.
The top two shades in Mercurial are super similar to the top two in Nude Dip. And the bottom two shades are incredibly similar to the bottom two in Mercurial, but they’re arranged differently.
I don’t own Nude Dip or Honeymoon, but they have both been on my wishilst for ages. (I keep a huge list on my phone notes of all the makeup I want!) So I made the decision to buy this palette instead of Nude Dip and Honeymoon. I really don’t think you need all three.
Since I also have First Frost, I have the more neutral, darker browns from Nude Dip too. They might not be identical, but on the eye you would be hard pressed to tell the difference.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Do you need the Tom Ford Mercurial palette? If you own Nude Dip and Honeymoon, no I don’t think you do. If you don’t, but want them and love this colour scheme, go for it! I’m super happy I picked it up and I now feel I really don’t need to buy the other two palettes. Of course, I can’t force you to buy or not buy something, but I’m just here to try nd give you the facts and show you the palette.
It really is a gorgeous palette with a fabulous formula. These shadows perform excellently on the eyes, I’ve had no creasing with them and the pigmentation is great. I also think the packaging is gorgeous.
Even though I may have similar shades to this in my collection, I love the formula and I have nothing else like it. I don’t actually think I can dupe the reddy shade in this palette, but the rest are basically brown. However, I wear a lot of brown eyeshadow, so this is perfect for my tastes!
What do you guys think about this palette? Is it a pass for you or are you thinking of picking it up?
