The thing I really love about Lancome (and Chanel) are their blush / highlighters. Just look at the design, it’s absolutely gorgeous! Too gorgeous to use tbh. I remember back in the day when I was completely obsessed with Louis Vuitton (still am, but to a sensible level now… as sensible as splurging on luxury bags can be…) a lot of the girls I knew would buy the LV silk scarves, and instead of wearing them, would frame them up and hang them on their walls like art. This is -kinda- how I see highly artistic makeup. It’s a bit like collecting art. Art that will eventually expire or go bad, but art none the less…. ah…sweet denial.
Anyways, today I thought I’d talk about the Lancome Spring 2012 collection as I know not many people have access nor the ability to try out these products so hopefully I can offer some sort of insight 🙂
As you can see above, each of the palettes in this collection had a lovely rose detail on top of them that uniquely identifies them as being part of the Spring collection. It’s a really lovely touch.
Illuminating Smooth Powder – 001 La Roseraie
First up is the Illuminating powder with the most gorgeous detailing. When mixed together I felt this came off as a more frosty light pink blush, which would be much better suited towards lighter skin tones. Since I like a bit of control over how my blush is formulated, I applied the pink portion first which had a very soft sheen, I wouldn’t call it matte. And then dusted some of the frosted portion on my cheek bones.
This blush just gives a very soft flush of colour, not as sheer as say NARS’ Sex Appeal which was almost invisible on my skin, but enough for it to be visible in person, yet appear almost invisible on camera. The blush is buildable if you want a slightly deeper application. I unfortunately don’t think this as a blush would be great for people with very dark skin tones, but it may work well as a pink-tinted highlighter thanks to the level of frost. This blush will set you back $42US.
Color Design 5 Shadow & Liner Palette – 206 Rose Romance
Next was the eye shadow palette, this collection came out with two, a green and neutral. Somehow I am not surprised I ended up with the neutral palette, all the shades are highly wearable except maybe for the pink shade. The shadows pack quite a bit of shimmer in them, nothing chunky or glittery, but this certainly isn’t the palette for you if you lean towards mattes. What I found myself doing for every day, is applying the tanned shade to my lids and the highlighter on my brow bone and inner corner, but only lightly. Then I would take MAC’s Wedge to soften the entire look and blend it down via my crease. It makes it much more subtle if you’re not a high shimmer addict.
The shadows themselves are very high quality, much better than previous Lancome eye shadow palettes I’ve reviewed. The shadows were soft and velvety, almost like butter. You can see in the swatches below how pigmented each of the shadows were, with the pink probably the worst performer. But I’d always wear pink / red shades with caution if you’re new to makeup as too much can make it look like your eyes are swollen. You can purchase this palette for $48US.
L’Absolu Nu Lipcolor – 3337 Rose Candy
Finally the lip colour, the photo makes it appear much darker than it does on the swatch. The swatch is a far more accurate representation of the colour. The colour isn’t deep or highly pigmented, but it is easy to apply and actually quite moisturising. Lancome calls them Replenishing and Enhancing Lip Colour and I think that’s a pretty accurate description of them. I found myself having to re-apply relatively often which is no surprise given the pigmentation and moisture. You can purchase this lipstick for $29.50US.
FOTD
All the products used together, the only product I used not mention in this post was my Studio Fix Powder Foundation (which I finally hit pan on YAY!)
Overall this collection kind of reminds me of the Dior Spring Garden 2012 collection, but less shimmery. It’s a really lovely collection, though I can’t think of any HG items from it, but if you’ve constantly been disappointed by the quality of Lancome eye shadow palettes, I’d recommend giving this one a go, as it’s the best I’ve seen yet.
What a lovely collection! The lipstick looks gorgeous!
This is my favorite of the spring sets so far. I don’t know, something about a green pastel shadow doesn’t appeal to me. This looks sweet and soft.