Chanel is a beauty brand with a clear focus on the Asian market, and in duty-free it is no different, with several products launched exclusively in that region. The Chanel Préférence eyeshadow palette is one such item, and as far as I know is available only on board selected airlines serving the Asia/Pacific region (I purchased mine on a Singapore Airlines flight but know Cathay Pacific and Korean Air also stock this product).

The palette follows the brand’s recent format of five colours displayed vertically and in parallel, and is officially part of the Ombres Perlées de Chanel series. The five shades are a pearlescent light pink, a pearlescent silvery taupe, a metallic gold, a complex olive-y green and an almost black with finely-milled blue/purple sparkles.

Unfortunately, while the shades look very pretty on the pan, only the last two are any good – the first three are gritty, patchy and do not apply evenly either with fingers or with a brush. I had trouble getting enough pigment on my arm for the colours to appear on the swatch pictures, which is a terrible shame as the two darkest shades (the green and the black) are gorgeous, pigmented and satiny.

You can judge by yourself from the swatches, but in my humble opinion this feels like the Jekyll and Hyde of palettes! Considering it cost S$80 (roughly $63 by today’s exchange rates), it is certainly a disappointment and not something I would recommend for purchase.