Best Things in Beauty : Lancome Ultra Lavande

While at Raffles City on Tuesday, I dropped by the Lancome counter to ask when the Ultra Lavande spring collection would be released. As it turns out, the counter had just received the Butterfly Fever blush and the eyeshadow palettes. The collection was not on display yet as they had not received the testers and the rest of the collection.

The eyeshadow quads for the Asian market are different from the US and UK, which you can see on Makeup & Beauty Blog. After some deliberation, I decided to get the Ombre Absolue Palette Lumessence A70 Ultra-Lavande Cold Harmony (S$84) as I liked the gold and purple combination.

Most of the Lancome SAs apparently also preferred Cold Harmony (which is already sold out on the Lancome Japan website) over A80 Warm Harmony. Both palettes are made in Japan. Ironically, the retail price is much more exorbitant in Japan at 6930yen (S$108). The US versions retail at US$42 (S$53) but the textures look quite different from the Japan-made versions which have a refined shimmer that is common in Japanese makeup brands.

Using Topshop Cream Eyeshadow in Darkness (black) as the base from the lashline to the crease, I applied the bluish white shade over the browbone area, the light purple shade in the crease, the deep lavender shade along the upper lashline and the gold shade along the lower lashline. All of the shades had pretty good colour payoff and were easy to blend. I especially liked the gold shade which was thankfully not gritty and didn't cause much fallout.

The Butterflies Fever Healthy Glow Mineral Blusher 01 Glowy Ballerine (S$70) looks so pretty, I'm sure it will be one of the fastest to sell out from this collection. However, do be warned that as a blush, it will likely work well only on very fair to light skintones as the pink (the bow portion) and beige (the background) shades apply pale and sheer. The blush is made in Italy.