Ah, spring – the time for budding blooms, green leaves, blue skies… not. Cosmetically speaking, spring makeup collections appear before Christmas or, at the latest, in January, and I shake my fist at that. I’m on a self-induced strike not to mention anything spring-y before Christmas on the blog, and really, this week was the earliest opportunity I could drag myself to the laptop to write this thing. At a point in time when my Christmas decoration is still up and I’ve seen the various collections on Instagram a thousand times. Sigh. Let’s get on with it, then, while I’m having a hot chocolate and the world outside is wintery and dreary.
Chanel Code Coco
This is the third collection for Lucia Pica, and she doesn’t give a damn about either seasons nor variation. Because, ehm, well, she does basically one collection all over again and again. All her looks so far feature a strong eye look, concentrating on rich and saturated colours – no pastels for Ms. Pica! She focuses on Chanel’s history, thus featuring aaaaaall the reds, blacks, whites, golds and beiges. After the Holiday collection with its grey colour palette, we now have browns and peachs.
The Code Coco Collection (see swatches on darker skin here) features two eyeshadow quads, one a little deeper brown, the other a little more peach. Two blushes: The centrepiece of the collection, the Rubik’s cube patterned Coco Code de Harmonie Blush (with its pattern of white, gold, beige and red) and the more sedate nude-y Joues Contraste in Elegance. Both though, read rather neutral beige in swatches. Lipsticks are red and brownish-hued. The nail polishes are a real snooze – red, cream and beige. Yawn. (Do me a favour and never ever buy that topcoat that promises a darker tint to your regular nail polishes. No. It just looks bad. Always.) While this is all incredibly consistent with the history of the brand, I just fell asleep looking at it.
Dior Color Gradation
Peter Philips, formerly of Chanel, manages to create a puzzling collection that is at the same time incredibly old fashioned and modern. He incorporates the latest trends (ombre lips) with a 70s aesthetic that gets an irritated knee-jerk reaction out of me. The wavey pattern, the incredibly boring and basic pink and blue eyeshadow palettes – straight out of the 70s and 80s. But then, look at the promo pic! THAT is bold, THAT is modern. So, the message here is that you can get an amazing result with mediocre materials? I don’t know, guys.
The blushes are basic pinks and corals, the highlighters are a basic beige and basic pink, and lipsticks are Addicts in basic spring colours. Then, there’re ‘cushion’ lipstains called Rouge Gradient, a matte powder for your lips (see swatches here). Each stick comes with two colours for an easy gradient, but didn’t L’Oreal come out with something similar last year and it was a bit disappointing? These have to be really good to convince me. Then we’ve got the usual highlighters and powder blushes, and I still can’t wrap my head around this collection. I’ll very likely skip this and can’t recommend anything to you, either.
Guerlain Happy Glow
Some things in life are, thankfully, constant: Guerlain’s pretty collections are one of them. It’s girly, it’s pink, it’s pretty and a quintessence of everything that is Guerlain to me – wearable products, nice formulas and beautiful powders, compacts and Meteorites. The snowglobe packaging of the Metorites makes a triumphant return and the blush, ohmyyyyyyyygoooooosh is incredibly pretty (maybe a bit too glittery for me – swatches). You also can’t find fault in the two pink KissKiss lipsticks (well, I can, because I nearly never wear pink lips). Spring collection done well. Thumbs up!
YSL The Streets and I
The Streets and I – a phony title and a horrible promo picture (it’s like Dior gone wrong – really, compare those two: exaggerated bold eyes, ombre lips? Only one works, one doesn’t.) and still. This is one of the best spring collections from a high-end brand in terms of innovation, a twist on seasonal trends and a well-thought theme. The packaging is cute and the products perform well. What’s not to like?! Both Collector’s Palettes don’t carry that name for nothing – an orange blush and a red-hued eyeshadow quint are where it’s at. I especially like that it takes that burgundy eye trend and turns it into something lighter and spring-like. Duo blush sticks and duo-tones eyeliners – call me a pessimist, but those things never work well. Invest into some decent single products instead. Glosses in pink and orange (yawn) and nail polishes in grey, white and orange, and we’re done. Not bad, not bad.
Lancome Absolutely Rose
If any collection can trump Guerlain’s in terms of pure prettiness, this would be it. It’s similarly soft and similarly pretty, with a few more products (an eyeshadow palette, for example – skip that, btw!), but let’s not kid ourselves – everybody and their kitchen sink is going bonkers over the rose petal highlighter. I’m very happy that I can finally see Lisa Eldridge’s influence in their seasonal collection. (She’s a huge fan of Asian beauty, and if that highlighter wasn’t inspired by Laduree’s blush petals, I’ll eat my Mac lipsticks!).
So, yeah, that highlighter. I’ve no idea if it’s good, but of course, I want it. In an IG vid you could see how to use it – touch your brush gently to the petals and apply. It’s a soft, glowing pink and thankfully should suit a lot of complexions. But then, to be honest, I don’t care. I just want it and I’m sure you’ll want it too just for that reason. What else? New Juicy Shakers (blegh, can’t stand the smell), cushion blushes (I’m there for those!), a few pastel-ly eyeshadow sticks and some double-ended lip crayons. Yes yes, pretty in a ‘pretty in pink’ way, but that highlighter!!!!!!
Clarins Contouring Perfection
Similarly to Lancome, Clarins comes out with a quite tame collection (tameness, thy name is Clarins) and that one product that’ll keep people talking. In this case, though, it’s rather gimmicky than beautiful like Lancome’s rose of beauty. It’s a … pen. It’s a multi-coloured pen for eyes and lips (four shades of brown and blue) that reminds me of the clicky ballpoint pens of my youth that would change their colour with a click of the button. Smart move of Clarins’ to remind you of your questionable taste in pens in your youth? You decide. Otherwise, it’s all grey and blues (eyeshadow quad, cream eyeshadow pots), contouring (three-shade contouring palette) and the most boring lips in the universe – nude, plum, pink.
Nars Wildfire
The sleeper hit of this year’s batch for me, Nars’ Wildfire collection has it all – pretty (and well-working) products and an interesting twist on that ‘spring’ thing. Twist? You might ask. Yes, indeed – look at the eyeshadow duo in Chiang Mai, for example – it pairs a pastelly bright blue with a reddish pinky bronze, thus veering away from the sickly sweet (and the 80s). The second duo (Thessalonique, permanent) is effortlessly chic (taupe and grey) for whatever season and event you want to sport it, and the blush is a pearly pink to liven things up a bit. We also have some very very good cream eyeshadow sticks in purple, bronze, gold and light blue (see swatches here). Then there’re the lip products – muted reds and terracotta glosses, and nude and coral lipsticks (beware of the whitened coral, it looks chalky). Everything conjures up a Mediterranean meadow with some sylphs frolicking around. I’m a fan.
MAC Make-up Art
MAC brings out one of their huge collections with gazillion products and three sub-categories, which has nothing to do with spring, but it noteworthy nevertheless. (Also they release in spring, so there.) Also noteworthy? It’s a collaboration with three renowned makeup artists who worked with MAC for years. Their collections all feature products they love and products they wanted MAC to create. From all three (Kabuki, Diane Kendal, James Kaliardos) I like Kabuki’s the most – I love the colourful Paints and the two eyeshadow palettes that are total opposites (one glittery and colourful, one matte and neutral) yet compliment each other.
Diane Kendal’s collection features nearly only cream products that aren’t really my thing (cream eyeshadow palette, cream concealer palette and a lip/cheek palette). Kaliardos’ products look a bit staid and boring – those layered lipglosses are like a return from my early MAC days in the Aughts – and I’m not a fan of the tiered palettes that always, always feature a mix of cream and powder face products. The only thing I don’t understand is the release date – US middle of January, Germany middle of March. Huh?
Things that stood out to me while writing this post
I’ll very likely skip all of Chanel and Dior – neither their colours nor the product design appeal to me. I’d also think that you’d have those colours already somewhere. Guerlain and Lancome get the crown (or princess-y tiara, if you’d like) for the prettiest spring collection products. Both the Meteorites and the Meteorites Voyage Palette (aka the blush) will be hits, and there’s no question that Lancome’s masterpiece will be sold out in record time. Clarins is never my go-to brand, and hasn’t enticed me this time either. YSL and Nars win this round-up for me – both are cohesive collections with a riff on that spring theme that’s not totally in your face nor predictable. YSL’s Collector’s Palettes bear their name rightly. You can’t go wrong with Nars’ eyeshadow duos either. With MAC, I’ll be first in line to buy all the Paints (they’re marvellous!).
