Clinique Jenna’s Essentials Quad

This little quad is the four shades deemed to be essentials by Clinique’s Global Colour Artist Jenna Menard. I recently went along to an event to meet Jenna (who is lovely FYI – a fabulous make-up artist and very down to earth) and whilst we were talking mostly about the Spring launches of the new CC Cream Compact, Lash Feathering Mascara (which is fantastic and I will review as soon as I can use mascara again) and the gorgeous cheek pop blushers – we also chatted about this quad of eyeshadows. This is the Clinique Jenna’s Essentials and it contains four eyeshadow shades that she deems as the essentials for all situations.

The four shades are a pale shimmering white, a chocolate matte brown, a shimmering light taupe and a dark black with a little bit of emerald sparkle. For me the obvious choice is the light taupe as a favourite… predictable much!? I can definitely see the rationale behind each shade choice with the most surprising one being the black with a very subtle emerald shimmer shade (the shimmer looks less obvious when applied than in the pan and really just gives a bit of depth in the colour) – as I would have probable gone for a charcoal or other shade. But whilst this palette is pretty and can definitely work for a whole host of situations, the main reason it got me thinking was if I was to design a quad of shadows to suit all situations – what colours would I choose and why?

I would almost certainly take a similar route to Jenna and go for a pale shimmering shade first – but I’d lean more towards the golden or champagne type of shade rather than white. Then I’d choose a mid toned bronze or a taupe very similar to the one in the quad here – as that’s my favourite sort of all-rounder shade. For evening sort of situations I’d want either a burnished gold or a deeper bronze – or possibly a rich aubergine type of colour. Something quite warm with some sheen to it. Then for my darker shade – which I’d either use for smokey eyes or as a liner would be a midnight blue – very dark, almost black, but with just that hint of blue to it. Possibly even go down the route of black with a coloured sheen as Jenna has – but with a navy blue sheen rather than emerald.

What shades would you choose for a four-colour quad to take you everywhere?

Clinique Jenna’s Favourites * is available from Boots (£28)