Based on the tricolour of the French flag, Lancome has released a very inspired and unique fall collection focused on the colours indigo, red and gold. The items I have for review from the collection are the Indigo Royaute eye palette and Midnight Glam Le Vernis nail polish.
All photos taken in natural light, NC 35-42 skin.
Left to right: 01 Indigo Royaute eye palette ($54.00 CA/$42.00 US), Midnight Glam Les Vernis ($21.00 CA/$18.00 US)
Indigo is a colour that sits between blue and violet on the colour spectrum. It's not quite blue and not quite purple, but it is 100% gorgeous!
Midnight Glam has a dark blue based polish with blue and violet shimmer laced throughout. It spreads on the nail smoothly and is well pigmented, only needing 2 coats to be perfectly opaque. The brush in the Le Vernis bottle is flat and wide, similar to OPI's Pro Wide brush, I find it applies the polish smoothly in only a few strokes. This polish is similar to Chanel's Blue Satin, but is a richer blue due to the use of a dark blue base over a black one. Blue/black polish lovers will want to pick this one up!
The Indigo Royaute eye palette is for me the gem of the collection. The glitzy gold case houses 4 shadows - a deep metallic indigo, a antiqued/bronzey gold, a lighter antiqued gold and a deep metallic indigo laced with gold microglitter. The texture of the shadows is divine - they are creamy, deeply pigmented and smooth. They remind me of the texture of Shu Uemura ME shadows, which is about the highest compliment one can give to an eyeshadow in my opinion!
Although the two blue shades look very similar, it is worth noting that the gold microglitter in the 4th shade actually adheres to the skin with the shadow - no annoying glitter fall-out here. I think this is a sign of how superior the shadow formula is as you can't say that about many glitter infused eye shadows out there.
I also wanted to purchase and review the new Indigo Charm Ink Artliner, but couldn't find it on any of the counters or the website. It appears as if it didn't make it to Canada! To our Canadian readers, please let me know if you find it!
I think Aaron de Mey's first collection for Lancome is fresh, a bit unconventional and very exciting. I haven't bothered with Lancome for a few years now, but this launch really drew me in - both in terms of promotional images, inventiveness and product quality. The last time I was this excited about a Lancome launch was many years back when Fred Farrugia did a whole collection based on red - red eye shadows, blushes, lipsticks - the works. I'm glad to see Lancome thinking outside the box again!
J