I’m walking in between lush trees. It’s all green around me. Green leaves glistening with morning dew. All green. And pink. Pink flowers are swaying in the light breeze luxuriously, divine aroma fills the air. It’s so serene. I’m wearing a green dress with a wide flared skirt. The garden around me is old. Old and beautiful spreading its branches and stems and leaves all around. Taking up the space. The garden’s been here for a couple of centuries. And now it’s here in the moment in all its spring glory. I inhale the delicious flower aroma, it feels like everything is blooming and blossoming around me. It’s spring time. I see an opening in the thick of the garden up front, I walk through it, and I’m out in the lawn with bright green and dark green grass and tender pink and purplish peonies. I feel so free and relaxed. I open my arms and fall back in the thick soft grass looking up at the sky above me… Good job, Clarins for making me think about all of the above. Welcome to Clarins spring 2015 collection. Garden Escape. Let’s go.

We have an eyeshadow palette which is the star product of the collection. Garden Escape.

 

This palette is beautiful. It really is. The packaging, the flowery print on the eyeshadow, just everything about it is pretty.

Let’s go through the shades here. Left to right and top to bottom.

First we have white, that is a base shade. Next there’s dark green, that can be used as an eyeliner. Then comes a beautiful dusty green. Very calm. Very nice. Good shade. Also there’s a pink, not too bright, not too faded, well balanced. And yet another pink. Pale pink like peony petals. And to round it all up we have a beautiful coffee-and-milk dark beige shade. The shades in this palette are so tender and spring like. I love the colour choice here, even thought green and pink are two default choices oftentimes for spring make up collections. Now to the downside. The eyeshadow in this palette so soft, ever so soft, too soft, I dare say. Soft to the point, where it doesn’t allow precise enough application. Really don’t appreciate it in an eyeshadow. Pity that it had to happen in this particular palette. There’s another eye product in this collection – crayon kohl 09 Pine green, the name says it all, it’s a nice deep green.

It’s soft the way a crayon kohl should be. The shade is beautiful. Like this a lot. Green is my favourite colour. Very happy. Next there’s a limited edition blush 08 Sweet Rose.

It is both rose and sweet. It gives your cheeks just a touch of girlish pink. Very becoming for spring. Natural looking. Now to the richest part of the collection. There’s a panoply of lip products from Clarins this spring. First, there’s a Lovely Lip Balm. It has apricot scent to it, that wears off in about 15 minutes.

 

It’s nourishing and gives just a hint of peach pink glow to your lips. It looks like the kind of balm, that would give a unique shade to your lips, because it shows up on mine with the kind of pink that all balms do, that rather bring out your own lip color, than colour them with some specific shade.  It comes in a fun package with colourful circles on it. But… the package is paper. I was disappointed. If it were a plastic package with the same pattern on it, I’d love that. The paper package always looks cheaper and is not as durable as plastic.

Then there’s a new product Instant Light Lip Comfort Oil.

Now although it says light in the name of this oil, I was suspicious. Oil always sounds to me like it’s going to be too thick and too rich. But I got dissuaded as soon as I applied it. The pink shade smells like raspberry. The golden one smells like honey. I’m generally very sensitive to smell in make up products, but I like these smells, they’re nice and don’t bother me. Then there’s this really big fluffy brush to apply the oil, I was scared yet again here, but it proved to be comfortable and easy to use. My lips are being very difficult this year. And this product worked great for me. It’s not too thick, feels soothing and good on the lips, gives just a little bit of glow, almost no tint or colour at all. This is awesome lip stuff. I’ll be using it again and again. And the raspberry and the honey smell… mmm, I’m back in the garden. The lip oil comes in two shades: 01 Honey and 02 Raspberry. Yet again, it gives glow, not colour. Next thing on Clarins spring lip menu is Joli Rouge Brilliant that comes in two shades: 22 Coral Dahlia (on the right)  and 23 Rose Petal (on the left).

Now I’m tired of spring orange and pink thing in lip products that are all across the board in luxury brands. Just think about it, this spring we have an orange lip gloss from Givenchy, an orange and pink lipsticks from Guerlain, coral lip shades in Chanel. But transparent shiny lipsticks are my favourite kind of lip products. Still how long will the whole pink and orange thing last? Where’s creativity? I inhale the raspberry smell of the lipsticks, and I don’t care anymore, I’m back in the garden with pink flowers – and now orange too – around me. Ok, Ok, this lipstick is nice. And, finally, there’s more lip balm. It’s as if they know, how screwed up my lips are this year. Six shades of Instant Light Lip Balm Perfector. Remember Clarins Crayon Baume Levres from their Colours of Brazil from last summer? These six lip balm shades have a lot in common with those six.

01 rose  is a nice pink color.

02 coral  is a tender coral shade.

03 my pink  is the shade that’s designed to bring out your own lip colour (Colours of Brazil come back to mind again) .

04 orange  is a bright and happy orange shade.

05 red  is a washed red.

06 rosewood  is nude beige shade.

The balm is light in texture. Feels balmy on the lips. Transparent. Glowy. Has a sweet delicate smell to it, not raspberry. Once again, if you’ve had any of last summer Colors of Brazil Crayon Baume Levres, you know what it’s like. I can’t say I’m all giddy and carried away with the kind of lip care it renders, but with the state of my lips any kind of care is very welcome. My only complaint is, it’s so soft it breaks very very easily. Be careful. So, that’s the collection 🙂