Lancome Les Gris L'Wren Palette

Here are the swatches of the Lancôme Les Gris L'Wren palette as promised. I have also included a look I did using the eyeshadows.

The highlighter shade is very sheer with little sparkles. There isn't a huge colour payoff but for me that is just fine, I find I can't pull off pigmented, frosty silver shades. The lighter grey is quite blue toned and I'd describe this as a satin finish. The darker grey is a lovely shimmery gunmetal colour and has a nice soft texture. The black is a matte finish. I find the shadows work best over a base, you can either use a pencil as Aaron recommended or a cream base. For the look I did below I used MUFE aqua cream in 02.

I applied the MUFE Aqua Creme in 02 all over the mobile lid. I used the eyeshadows from the quad in a sort of gradient fashion. I have the gunmetal and a little of the black on the mobile lid. I blended the line at the crease with the lighter grey and then the highlighter shade. I used Rouge Bunny Rouge lacquer liner to tightline and also to line above the lashes.

In these photos I'm wearing Teint Miracle foundation and I used RMK Super basic liquid concealer under the eyes. I used Becca Beach Tint in Fig on my cheeks and Rose Lanolips on my lips. I also used a small amount of the balm as highlighter on the tops of my cheeks. I went back though and added some MAC Dame blusher and I think I added something else on my lips but it escapes me now! Here's what it looked like with the additions.

As ever, I wish I had gone a little higher with the eyeshadow as once I open my eyes the eyeshadow disappears! In future I will use black as a base too. The eyeshadows seem a little sheer and I can see some lighter areas peeping through. Black liner as a base would definitely intensify the smoky look. I will be having a go at a glossy eye as described by Aaron. I will have to wait till the weekend though as I fear it might not be school run appropriate! I really like the palette. I have tended to steer clear of greys before as I find some shades don't work well on my colouring but the undertones make these very wearable.


Disclosure:  the palette was given to me without charge for consideration for review.

L'Wren Scott Collection for Lancôme

I had the great pleasure to meet Aaron de Mey yesterday, Global Make up Director for Lancôme. He was in town to promote the current collection, a collaboration with L'Wren Scott which I believe is already on counter.

There were only six of us there so it was a tremendous privilege and we had the opportunity to probe Aaron for make up tips and tricks. I love Aaron's approach to make up, he's not a fan of foundation and prefers to use concealer to maintain the natural contours and highlights of the face. I love make up which enhances natural features rather than creating a mask, so I really appreciate this ethos. I sense that Aaron likes to play with make up; using a lip balm to create an eye gloss or highlight the face, a clear mascara to tame the brows or using a lipstick as a blusher. He also introduced me to a few  products from Lancôme's range that I hadn't come across: Teint Miracle concealer, La Touche Pro concealer and Eclat Miracle. The Eclat Miracle (or Liquid Mirror) uses the same light reflecting particles that are in the Teint Miracle foundation and it is the most beautiful highlighter, it's such a refined pearl glow. Being a concealer obsessive, I'm really keen to give La Touche Pro a test drive, it has a lovely texture and coverage. I'd love to see if these products could take me back to my no foundation days of the summer. Anyway, I digress..

I was really interested to hear how Aaron enjoys working with L'Wren on make up looks for her shows. He describes her as one of very few of friends that actually wears make up and that she loves to have a new and unique item especially for her collections. One of the gems of this collaboration, the steel grey nail polish (Le Gris), was developed for L'Wren's collection last year. It was a perfect match for a dress that formed part of the collection. It is a stunning colour, I can easily see this being a best seller.

The eyeshadow quad that L'Wren designed for the collection begs a smoky eye. It would have been rude not to ask Aaron's favourite way to achieve it. Aaron described his love for the more edgy looks as well as the more sophisiticated.  His basis for all good smoky looks is to start with a favourite eye pencil and layer. He likes to use a balm to turn the shadow or pencil in to a gloss to create a less structured, more "fashion" look.  He also explained that it pays to do the eye make up first rather than after foundation, to allow for clean up afterwards. He described how to use concealer to blend the edges and to apply as a triangle underneath the eye as this is an area prone to natural darkness.

We all received an eyeshadow quad signed by Aaron and of course being a diligent beauty blogger, today I had a go at putting some of his inspiring tips in to practice. Post to come of course, along with swatches of the palette. For now I shall leave you with a picture of Aaron and myself. Do please excuse the fact that I look like a chipmunk with Dame Edna's glasses on. It's definitely not my finest hour! Even the gorgeous Ruth had a slight wardrobe malfunction during this photo session, so I will console myself with the fact that it happens to even the best of them.