The items in this collection that are released by Lancome differ big time from continent to continent. Still, I’m going to show you what I’ve got. Some of these you’ll find in any country. And most importantly, you’ll get the feel for the mood of this collection and know, whether you’re excited in any way about it or not 🙂
Now, I have to tell you, this fall is one big disappointment to me in terms of makeup collections. I’ve seen almost all of them, and the only one I really liked was Givenchy.
The result is I’m almost apprehensive to look at any more new collections from fall 2015, because I don’t want to get upset. On the other hand, I love makeup so much, that my curiosity takes the better of me. Let’s get going and see what Parisian Inspiration Lancome got this fall season.
Well, for starters, there’s a new limited edition shade of Grandiose mascara.
I love Grandiose mascara, one of the best ones out there, in my opinion. You can find more about this mascara and my favourite mascara brands and kinds from my post called Best mascara – 5 of them. Anyway, as I love Grandiose, I was excited to see this new shade. It looks Bordeaux in the promo. Well… it’s not really.
The shade is called 07 Mon Regard Parisien.
It’s much more brown, actually, than I expected. In fact, it’s more like brown with plum than Bordeaux. Brown with a distant plum touch and shine to it.
Now, when I hear Bordeaux, I imagine something more like brown with dark red. So, the shade hasn’t really come up to my expectations. But this mascara is so awesome, I’m not sorry I got it 🙂
What is it with brown mascara this fall? Chanel has a brown mascara too 🙂 It’s almost a trend. Well, if you want to know what I think about brown mascara in general, see my post called Brown mascara versus black mascara. I’d say, unless you love this particular mascara, there’s no need for you to go for Bordeaux or brown shades, if you already have it in black. Not worth it. Unless you have green eyes. There’s something about Bordeaux eyeshadow and mascara and green eyes. It seems, there must not be any chemistry there, but there is. Big time.
Looking at this eyeshadow palette I’m going to show you next though, I think I understand why Lancome released this limited edition Grandiose mascara shade.
Hypnose palette Star eyes ST8 Mon Regard Parisien
Great quality.
The eyeshadow is so soft and nice to the touch. But not too soft, so that application still can be as precise as you want. Love it. The shades are nice too.
I have to say up front, that while I expected Grandiose mascara to be Bordeaux, and it proved to be brown with a touch of plum, I expected this palette to be plum, because that’s what it looks in the promo photos. And I was thinking – plum, oh, so-o boring. But…
On the very left in the palette and on the very left in the swatch we have pearly shiny cool beige, almost grege. Beautiful. It will become anyone. It’s a killer of a thing for hazel eyes, grey eyes, blue eyes and green eyes. A very complimenting shade. And it’s great that it’s pearly. Makes it even better.
Top of the three in the palette and second on the left in the swatch there’s eyeliner shade. First of all, this is awesome eyeliner texture. Kajal kind of stuff. I almost never like the quality of eyeliner in eye palettes, this one is ever so good though. And the shade is nice too. It’s not too much of dark brown. It’s a softer darker kind of brown. Splendid.
The middle one of the three in the palette and in the middle in the swatch there’s chestnut brown. Lighter brown with a good deal of warm gold in it. Very nice. It’s not as shiny and sparkly as the pearly beige. It just has an elegant and posh golden sheen to it. Noble and womanly.
The very bottom of the three in the palette and second but last on the right in the swatch there’s this spectacular mauve shade. Not plum. It’s mauve. Like flowers 🙂 It’s like lavender welcoming a little bit of pink. Gorgeous. This shade will really become dark eyed beauties. And if your eyes are green, this shade can turn your eyes into a very dangerous allure weapon.
On the very right in the palette and on the very right in the swatch we have a very light, off white shade, but it’s not quite white, there’s definitely a touch of pink and, maybe, lavender in it. It’s a base shade, too light for me, but if you like lighter pastel shades, you might wear it as an independent shade.
Wow. I mean wow. I almost never like four out of five shades in a palette. It’s a great one 🙂 And Ok, Ok, I admit, that this mascara shade will go well with it.
That’s the palette. But there are also three cream eye shadow colours. Somehow I’ve never gotten to Lancome cream eye shadow until now, although I love this texture. So, I’m excited to try it.
Here it is. Hypnose Dazzling. Shiny silver boxing. That’s where it gets so hard to take pictures, when it’s all so shiny. If you don’t mind, I’ll skip the boxing here and go right for the eye shadow.
Lancome golden rose logo on the lid. Cute.
The jar is plastic. I don’t like that. I prefer glass jars in the luxury market.
Although some might say plastic doesn’t feel as heavy in one’s hand. Depends.
This eye shadow is stunning quality. It’s so satiny and lush to the touch. Spectacular. One of the best out there.
The brush is not a sponge, it’s a brush brush.
Thin but not too thin. I think it will work just fine.
Three shades. Brownish. Actually, all three have ‘brun’ in the name of the shade.
165 Brun Acoustique
It’s the darkest of the three, but not too dark at all. I’d say, it’s medium brown with a good deal of golden sparkle.
Very pretty, very becoming. Posh. Calls for a special occasion and an evening gown. Not a cocktail dress. Evening gown.
205 Brun Cabas
This brown shade has a lot of orange in it. It’s coppery. In an elegant way. With some golden sparkle.
If you ARE going to do copper on your lids, this is definitely the way to do it. A very well balanced shade.
305 Brun Bibliotheque
The lightest of the three, borderline beige. And most loaded with golden sparkle. Christmasy almost in terms of golden sparkle concentration. This shade actually is beige with a golden veil.
Shall we party it? Or red carpet it? Could do both with this shade. There’s nothing ‘biblioteque’ about it.
Please, see all three Hypnoze Dazzling shades side by side. Here I have left to right: Brun Acoustique, Brun Cabas, Brun Bibliotheque.
Beautiful shades.
For our eyes we also have three shades of Le Crayon Khol eye pencil.
First things first. The packaging.
Ugh. Really? Eye pencile without a box, just wrapped in plastic? Really? In luxury market? I don’t like it. Bit time. I mean, c’mon, nice packaging is part of luxury market level.
Having overcome my initial indignation, I get to the eyeliner proper. And I have to admit it’s great quality. Lancome kind of quality. It’s so soft and nice to the touch, but not too soft, so that it doesn’t snap and goes all over the place on the lids. Gorgeous. Ok, I feel a little better now. Still think Lancome should do something about packaging.
There are three shades this fall. They are all in the brown area of things.
Le Crayon Khol 11 Café Serre
Strong coffee, huh? Not too strong though. If anything, I’d call it light brown.
It has something of grege about it. Nice. Love this shade. It will look good on most people. Not only on hazel eyed beauties.
Le Crayon Khol 12 Chocolat Chaud
I love this name, but… it doesn’t look like hot chocolate. It’s not dark brown. Not chocolate brown. It’s red orangy brown.
A very interesting shade. Very flattering. And it doesn’t show up in makeup collections too often. It’s not bronze. Not copper. Not Bordeaux. It’s the colour of autumn leaves.
Le Crayon Khol 13 Bordeaux Corse
This Corsican Bordeaux is pretty much… Bordeaux. In a good way.
It doesn’t fall all the way into purple. It hangs in there on the juncture of brown and red. Very nice. Very bold and very sexy shade.
Please, see left to right: Le Crayon Khol 11 Café Serre, Le Crayon Khol 12 Chocolat Chaud, Le Crayon Khol 13 Bordeaux Corse.
And closer yet.
For this fall there are also three lip shades by Lancome. All are very different in texture and colour, which I happen to like, because it’s not boring 🙂
l’Absolu Rouge
165 Rouge Grand Coeur
Classic cream lipstick texture. Quite good.
Unfortunately, it has a pretty strong classic, kind of old fashioned lipstick scent. Personally, I don’t like it. But maybe, you do, who knows?
The shade is a vampy red, darker red. There’s not enough orange in it for me, but it’s a nice classic red shade.
If you wear red, you’ll be coming back to it again and again.
l’Absolu Rouge Baume
205 Rose Peau Nue
It’s basically a tinted lip balm. There’s little colour in it, it’s sheer and shiny. It has a distant powdery classic lipstick scent. But it’s so distant you don’t feel it almost. In terms of lip care lip balm is supposed to provide, to my taste, there’s not much, or let’s say, not enough there. I want more lip care from my lip balm. This one gives only an ever so mild soothing sensation.
The shade is warm natural pink with some coral and beige in it. Just a touch.
Very natural looking. Very nice. I like it.
l’Absolu Rouge Nude
305 Rose de Ville
In terms of texture, it’s in between creamy l’Absolu Rouge and baumy l’Absolu Rouge Baume. It’s kind of like sheer lipstick. Ugh, that scent again, the good old lipstick smell, it’s strong just like in l’Absolu Rouge.
Well, and the shade is just great. It’s a mix of pink, mauve and beige. So-o nice. A great addition to the eye palette.
I’m not ecstatic about nudes, generally speaking. But this is a good nude shade. Beautiful. Will become all of us out there.
Please, see the swatch of all three lip shades. Left to right I’ve got here: l’Absolu Rouge 165 Rouge Grand Coeur, l’Absolu Rouge Baume 205 Rose Peau Nue, l’Absolu Rouge Nude 305 Rose de Ville.
And up closer yet:
Finally, there are four shades of nail colour. They are good quality. Apply nice and easy, wear well and long enough. The brush is quite comfortable to use. I’d say it’s a solid middle of luxury nail polish quality hierarchy.
The first shade is part of permanent Vernis in Love range.
443 B Mon Essentiel
Black cherry. A classic.
It’s a good way to do black cherry.
It’s not too dark. Because if we wanted to get black nail polish, we’d just go ahead and get it, right?
While this is this deep purple red kind of thing.
Very nice. Ever so hot and vampy.
And then we have three shades, that as far as I can understand, are limited editions.
193 Rouge Bistrot
Red brick, which by all means is the shade of the season for nails.
But it’s not your typical red brick. It’s very bright, vibrant and happy.
In fact, I’d treat it as a red shade. It’s red with a good deal of orange – which is the definition of red brick, pretty much.
But it’s such a happy red. Dating red.
Very French. Very Parisian. Love it. Wish it were permanent.
383 Gris sur les Toits
Grege. That is beige with grey.
It’s a darker grege.
It’s metallic, but you don’t see much of the pearly part in the finish, it just helps the shine.
I like a good grege nail polish. And this one is a truly nice one.
If you love it, it can be your anywhere-anytime kind of shade. Will look great with both jeans and evening gown. Seriously, this will work for any occasion.
468 Cuir de Nuit
Light brown with some yellow and, maybe, bronze in it.
Metallic, but there’s no pearly finish to it, just shine.
Interesting shade, very rare, in fact.
Do you still have any of the summer tan? Then this shade is a winner. It will look great with tan. So much better than bronze.
Also, this shade will go well with beige clothes and camel coats. It’s a good edgier alternative to nudes, if you’re nude manicure fan.
I love this collection. Finally 🙂 there is one I love this fall – apart from Givenchy. Parisian Inspiration by Lancome is not exciting in an exotic kind of way. This collection is truly elegant and beautiful. Noble and subdued. Sophisticated. Special. Bringing out what’s great about each and every one of us, as opposed to imposing its colour scheme on us and making us all look the same. Good job, Lancome. I’m very much impressed.