Holidays! It’s holiday time! Here it is, the glorious holiday season. And yet another holiday collection. This time around by Lancome. For starters, I love their promo photo. Have you seen it? I mean, it’s not like it’s something super fresh and new. But I kind of like the girl in her red evening gown sitting on a pile of presents. We did see a version of that by Estee Lauder last year, I believe, but I like Lancome’s take better. Classy red gown and presents. Nice. The promo looks good. And sets the right mood for a holiday collection. Speaking about this collection, we have a lot of items here. So, let’s get at it.

 

Wow, I looked at Lancome website just now, and they photoshopped themselves into the corner there 🙂 None of the shades in this collection look what they actually look in real life. So, be careful and see the swatches before you buy.

 

First of all, we have a blush. Only one shade.

 

Blush Subtil 027

Long Lasting Powder Blusher

Colour Veil – Buildable Intensity

 

It’s a classic powder blush formula.

 

Soft and nice to the touch.

 

The shade is this natural kind of pink, not baby doll pink, discreet pink with golden sheen to it.

 

This shade is all across luxury collections this holiday season. It’s the hottest blush shade period.

 

So, if you already have a blush by, say, Dior, or a holiday palette by YSL, you don’t really need this one 🙂

 

I do like this shade a lot. It’s natural looking and holiday like at the same time, which is hard to pull, but this season they managed it. Definitely worth having this blush shade in your makeup collection. A very appealing shade. Easy to use, even if you aren’t great at contouring.

 

Then we have something special and holiday like for our face. Sparkling powder.

 

Lancome La Poudre 29, Faubourg Saint Honore

Sparkling Loose Powder

Limited Edition

 

I’m all excited here. I like sparkling powders more than just highlighters. And golden sparkle is just so holiday season like. I open the typically Lancome silver box and see…

 

Black tissue paper. Hm. Not too holiday inspiring. When I unfold it though… Here it is. The holiday. Right here in my hand.

 

Look at this beautiful powder box.

 

And now look at this here. The lid. Oh. So classy and noble and just beautiful.

 

And here’s the cute sponge.

 

And the cute rose logo, of course.

 

And here’s the powder. You know what, I’ve seen complaints online saying it’s not sparkly enough. It’s true. It’s not crazy sparkly. It’s delicate and sophisticated. There’s some sparkle there, but it’s very fine. It’s mostly noble golden sheen that this powder gives you. But this golden glow on your cheeks is definitely worth it. You can use it on its own. Or over your base and powder. Or on top of your blush.

 

And the fact that it’s not too sparkly means… you know what? That this beautiful limited edition can be used all year round. Not only in spring. To me, it’s an advantage. I think, it’s great. Love this product. Just keep in mind it’s not s super sparkly thingie. If that’s what you’re after, look elsewhere.

 

Getting in the eye territory here. And we’ll start with cream eyeshadow.

 

I adore cream eyeshadow. And this here is an awesome cream eyeshadow formula. Soft and everything. Comes in three holiday shades.

 

Cream eyeshadow

Lancome Hypnose Dazzling

Dazzling Color

Bouncy Touch

 

420 Givre Dore

 

Frosty Gold, that is.

 

It’s gold but more of a sophisticated gold. Not crazy shiny. It’s a little darker. A little subdued. Elegant and womanly. Lush.

 

Cream eyeshadow

Lancome Hypnose Dazzling

Dazzling Color

Bouncy Touch

 

450 Bronze Orfevre

 

There’s an Artliner shade in this collection that matches this one here. We’ll get to it soon.

 

As for cream eyeshadow, Bronze Orfevre is not really bronze. It’s more of a warm light brown infused with golden sparkle. Very becoming. Very celebration like. A great smoky eye option for going out. Softer than classically black.

 

Cream eyeshadow

Lancome Hypnose Dazzling

Dazzling Color

Bouncy Touch

 

475 Nuit Enchantee

 

This one has a match too. A nail polish shade. We’ll see it in not too long.

 

This eyeshadow is purple. Not plum but this dark and mysterious purple sprinkled with silver and lilac sparkle. Sultry and hot. Might be too dark for some people, who might want to use it as an eyeliner instead.

 

Please, see all three shades swatched back to back.

 

Left to right here I have: 420 Givre Dore, 450 Bronze Orfevre, 475 Nuit Enchantee.

 

Next. Eyeliner. Liquid. Love this felt tip brush. It’s the best in the luxury market. Actually helps application as opposed to majorly getting in its way  Comes in two shades.

 

Artliner 09 Bronze Orfevre

 

Gentle Felt Eyeliner

 

Bold Line

 

Bronze in the name of the shade is misleading, because it’s not bronze. But if we look at the second part of the name of this shade, it gets more clear – gold and silver bronze. I guess so. More like darker milk and coffee with a golden sheen to it. And golden sparkle. A beautiful shade. Will become everyone – brown eyes, green eyes, blue eyes, just any eye colour and hair colour. Just great. And don’t forget to pair it up with that cream eyeshadow in 450 Bronze Orfevre.

 

Artliner 10 Pourpre Aura

 

Gentle Felt Eyeliner

Bold Line

 

Purple plum with pink and silver sparkle. Super sultry. Another liner shade that matches one of the eye shades – 475 Nuit Enchantee. Purple smoky eyes for a party? Why not? It’s a bolder option than golden brown. More clubby. Be careful though, you know how purple eyeshadow can look like a black eye sometimes 🙂

 

Please, see the two eyeliner shades swatched back to back.

 

The last product in the eye colour row is this limited edition mascara top coat.

Hypnose Golden Top Coat

 

Twinkling Top Mascara

 

The packaging is amazing. Love it.

 

The top coat is loose light gold, very shiny and sparkly.

 

Generally speaking, I can’t say these top coats work well, Chanel, Givenchy, we’ve seen enough of them. They just create holiday mood. And then you never use them again till next holiday season. At least, I don’t 🙂 On the other hand, they definitely help to feel the holidays. I mean, when do we paint our lash tips gold other than this time of year? 🙂

By the way, this mascara top coat seems to work best of all I’ve tried. Good job, Lancome.

 

Ready for lips? Here we go. We have three shades of classic cream lipstick formula. It feel good on the lips. And has this powdery vintage scent to it.

 

L’Absolu Rouge

 

Advanced Hydrating Lipcolor

 

132 Caprice

 

Raspberry. Bright. And festive.

 

Red substitute. If you’re fed up with red lip shades in holiday collections, this might be a nice distraction.

 

L’Absolu Rouge

Advanced Hydrating Lipcolor

 

244 Rose Amnesia

 

is a mix of beige, mauve and pink.

 

Nude shade. A good one. Will work well with darker eye shades from the collection. By the way, I love this name – Rose Amnesia. I can’t even tell you why exactly, there’s just something about it.

 

L’Absolu Rouge

Advanced Hydrating Lipcolor

 

484 Rose Noire

 

It’s purple. Plumish. But not a classic plum. More purple.

 

Proved to be better than I expected. Some darker lip shades are just not too flattering. This one is dark but soft enough for a lot of people to pull it successfully. Vampy.

 

Here are all the three lip shades.

 

Left to right: 132 Caprice, 244 Rose Amnesia, 484 Rose Noire.

 

Finally, before we discuss nail polish shades, we’re getting here to the star product of this collection – eye and lip palette.

 

La Palette 29, Faubourg Saint Honore

 

Obviously honouring Lancome boutique and beauty institute in Paris, because its address is in the name of the palette.

I like the French window etching on a typically silver Lancome shiny boxing.

 

The design of the palette itself though is kind of… disappointing I must say. Looks much better in promo photos. Uh, well 🙂

 

The palette is said to be intended for Smoky Eyes & Ombre Lips

 

Ombre Lips, huh?

Not everyone’s favourite. Not mine for sure. Also, you have to be good at lip lining to pull ombre lip makeup. To manage this dark contouring topped with bright colour for a deeper colour and look. When it’s done right though, it works really well.

 

The palette includes six eye shades.

 

Matt lightest beige base shade

 

Pearly and sparkly gold

 

Warm golden light brown

 

Lighter cool beige with rose and mauve whispering hello in the far background and a lot of golden sheen.

 

Pearly greige with lilac lingering somewhere out there

 

Purple, not plum. Purple. Sparkly. Not the shade I like necessarily. It’s here for smoky eyes sake though, that’s obvious.

 

Well, looking at this palette, I see two looks encased in it. Gold brown or beige. I like the idea of smoky eye look with these shades. And then there’s a bolder purple look. Dark and sexy.

 

As small as this palette is, it also accommodates three lip products.

 

Lip base to even out and prepare our lips for ombre lips, that is graded lip makeup, that we’ve already touched upon, where lips are outlined by a darker shade, and then covered with a bright sultry shade, creating darker hue outline. Lip base is essential for dark and bright lip colour, as we all are well aware of. You don’t want any unevenness showing, because with these shades it will show big time.

 

The two lip shades are meant to go together in this textured ombre look. But of course, they can be worn separately too which opens up more options. So, the shades.

 

Raspberry, bright but much lighter than Caprice lipstick shade. Borderline bright pink. Grown up pink. Not Barbie pink.

 

Darker cherry red. A beautiful shade. Womanly. Special occasion. Red carpet like.

 

This palette is nice. Once again, it’s not like it’s revolutionary and tells us something we didn’t know before. But it’s a solid take on timeless classic. And the quality is really good. And you can have it handy to fix your makeup in the middle of the party if need be. The palette is small enough to carry it around.

 

To finish our look we have this last touch by Lancome – nail colour. Three shades and a top coat. Yes, a top coat 🙂

 

Le Vernis In Love

 

475 Nuit Enchantee

 

Here we go with all the purple.

 

This shade is dark. Has lilac sparkle in it. If you like dark manicure, might be a way to go.

 

Purple nail colour is trendy for holidays this year.

 

This is a sexy purple option. Unlike, say, Guerlain, which is brighter.

 

The quality of nail colour in this collection is up to Lancome mark.

 

Le Vernis In Love

 

455 Prune Reve

 

Prune? Really? I wonder, if anyone from Lancome has ever seen prune.

 

This is way too red to be prune. There might be purple in it, but it’s definitely leaning more to red.

 

Good news is, it’s not black cherry. We have that by Chanel already this season.

 

This here is an interesting shade.

 

If you like red manicure, you might want to try this. Doesn’t have to be for holidays.

 

Le Vernis In Love

 

425 Rouge Midnight

 

Rouge Midnight is a kind of cool name. And very holiday like.

 

The shade is Bordeaux with red sparkle.

 

A very classy dark red. Red velvet.

 

Once again, I’m not sure I want to wear it for holidays, but I do want to wear it.

 

This dark red is a not too common classic.

 

Finally, there’s the top coat.

 

Vernis in Love

555 Golden Top Coat

 

What? Golden top coat? Again? Seriously? We’ve had Chanel and YSL do it this year, Guerlain and Dior last year. I guess it’s going to be as persistent as golden and red nail colour in luxury brands holiday collections.

 

This top coat is a transparent base with not too big unevenly shaped golden glitter. Been there. Seen this. Many times. The quality is good though. And it dries pretty fast. Let’s check it out on all the nail shades from this collection.

 

475 Nuit Enchantee

 

Well, golden glitter top coats always look good on dark nail shades,

 

so it’s a winner.

 

But it’s old news.

 

It’s nice to have it though to match all the purple eye shades.

 

455 Prune Reve

 

Hm. This is more interesting. And exciting.

 

In fact, it looks posh.

 

Darker purple red with gold.

 

Empress like 🙂

 

425 Rouge Midnight

 

Another good one.

 

Once again, there’s just something sophisticated about this dark red or Bordeaux and gold combination.

 

I like it.

 

A lot.

 

I can’t say any of the nail shades or top coat get me all ecstatic. But they are solid and nice. And they’ll go well with the rest of the makeup here.

 

This holiday collection by Lancome is so well put together and matched. I see the look behind it. The look they intended to create. Given the shades might not be what I personally like most for holiday season, still I respect very much the thinking that went into this collection and an ever so well rounded result. It’s well done. And kind of classy too. I’d say along with Dior collection this year, it’s not something special to the point where I get smitten by it and can’t wait to try it, but it’s a safe call. Something we’re used to expect when we think holidays and going out and dressing up. Backup, that’s what these collections are, they make me feel like I have something to lean on in terms of holiday makeup. And it’s a good thing. And a good feeling.