This collaboration is just the perfect match. Julie de Libran and Lisa Eldridge are the main collaborators here – Julie is the creative director of Sonia Rykiel and well, Lisa needs no explaining, but just in case you’ve been on a desert island, she is Lancome’s creative director. Imagine that creative meeting! The main thing about the Sonia Rykiel x Lancome collection is that you can just tell that it’s had a make-up artist hand – someone who knows exactly the right things that women want from beauty products.

Lets take the two Parisian Lips Crayons – one in a fiery red and one in a bright pink. One end is a bold matte shade – the other is a glossy blurring shade – very sheer and shiny enough for dewy lips without them looking gloss coated.

So, you can have either/or or a bit of both. I’m not sure how you easily tell which end from which though because they both look the same intially although the glossy end goes blunt more quickly. There are four shades – the two shown here are French Baiser (red) and Spirit.

My heart firmly belongs to the cushion blush – it’s the most lovely, dewy texture (use a brush not the puff included) and this shade gives a nuance of colour in a ‘wet’ formula that doesn’t sink into creases or give any dryness.

This shade is Sorbet Rose – it’s a pale, pale rose peach.

So, I feel like I’ve seen this palette before – it’s the same format as the Lancome La Palette 20, Faubourg Saint Honore in that it has a lidded three section at one end. In the Faubourg palette, the little lid hid three lip shades, but in this variation, it houses three deep, evening style shades. It’s the same design, too, as their spring palette of 2015 and probably more. So, this is a combination that obviously works for Lancome.. it’s a flexible style because the three slots that sit under the lid could be filled with anything really – even blush. But at the back of my mind, the colour-way looks quite familiar and to be honest, I think, given the outer casing, I was expecting something more vibrant. This palette is one of two – Rive Gauche (above) and Parisian Fresh Spirit.

There are two different designs.. one a bold stripe (above) and the other a playful mix of icons, such as hearts, books and eyes. It’s just fun. Actually, you can buy the casings individually (£10) although it doesn’t look like you can buy the blush individually.

Looking on the US site where this collection has already launched, there’s a whole summer collection by Lisa which is beautiful. I’ve never even seen that here, only to discover that it does exist in the UK. However, on the US site, its heavily billed as Lisa’s collection and yet the UK site barely gives it a mention.

Anyway, the Sonia Rykiel x Lancome collection is quite small… I’m pleased to have it – especially the blush .. and I suspect, given that this is a merge of two iconic French brands, it will sell very well in France. We’ll see it in the UK later this month. And, no, I haven’t forgotten the swatches of the palette – I ran out of light and camera battery yesterday so will swatch as soon as possible.