To be more exact, Chanel Beauty Christmas 2016 is officially called Collection Libre: Synthetic de Chanel. Created by Lucia Pica (who is proving to be worth her weight in gold when it comes to creativity), the collection is inspired by cityscapes and urban materials. There are references to glass, metal and rubber in colours and textures, and the pops of pink? An imagined revitalisation of urban tones. At this end of the screen, ‘inspirations’ are often derisory (and when it comes to fragrance inspiration.. don’t even start me on ‘created for the strong, independent woman with a heart of fire and passion’ nonsense) but this I can relate to. It follows through – slightly randomly – with the theme.
Beginning then, with the three nail shades. From right to left: Liquid Mirror (a strong metallic silver), Hyperrose Glass (a see through pink shimmer) and Pink Rubber (a peach/nude toned matte).
As you can see, Liquid Mirror needs very careful, almost one stroke application, but I tried Hyperrose Glass over the top and created a grey-washed pink which I love. They’re all limited editions and cost £18.
The star of the show (and very un-Christmassy) is the Architectonic Palette (amazing name) in shades of grey through to a navy. It’s a mix of satins and mattes in a cream and powder formula so it’s super smooth on application. Shades are: Matte Midnight Blue (pulls petrol like most navy shades), Metallic Blue (sheen), Platinum Grey (sheen), Cement Grey (matte) and Mirror Grey (sheen). It’s £46 and limited edition.
Next up, the blush, Joues Contraste in Hyperfresh – a good name for it as it’s an almost acid pink that you need the merest hit of to create a pop. It’s limited edition and £31. You need so little it’s probably going to last you a lifetime.
The Chanel Beauty Christmas 2016 collection has two Rouge Allure Intense Lip Shades, £26 – Ultraberry (above) and Ultra Rose (not shown) as well as a Rouge Double Intensite in Curious Orange, £26. I don’t have the latter two but Curious Orange makes me curious!
Two limited edition shades in Super Nude and Super Coral (Super Nude above) are £26 each.
From bottom to top in the swatch: Rouge Allure Ultraberry (good for anyone who doesn’t want to do the full brown trend look – this has brown tones hidden in a deep natural pinky red), Rouge Allure Gloss in Super Nude and Hyperfresh blush.
Finally, Calligraphie de Chanel in Hyperblack, £25 – a gel liner. Lucia Pica’s look for the collection features ultra lined inner rims. I need to check if you can use this on inner rims because if you can, I think we’ll all be throwing away our kohl pencils.
The Chanel Beauty Christmas 2016 collection launches late by other brand standards – 4th November.
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