Chanel’s new Ombre Premiere eyeshadow ups the eye make-up game with depth and amplified effects, writes Syida Lizta Amirul Ihsan
FOR the longest time, the eyeliner is the make-or-break of eye make-up. A pair of smudge-less, well-lined eyes is all you need to make your peepers look poised and ready for the day’s challenge.
But to give eyes better depth requires more than a dark-coloured pencil that you line above your lash line. You need the good old eyeshadow.
Its trick isn’t as quick to master as the liner but once you are adept at applying eyeshadow, your eyelid’s your canvas — you can play with depth and perception in a more powerful way than just an eyeliner.
Chanel global creative makeup and colour director Lucia Pica creates the Ombre Premiere for this purpose, “to give a complete effect through a nuanced way of dressing the eyelids”.
THE ART OF LAYERING
Each make-up artist has a signature that makes his or her work unique and singular.
For Pica, it is the vibration of textures and a depth of the colour field.
A professional technique that she wants to make accessible to daily make-up, she invents eyeshadows with two specific textures, cream and powder, to allow women to play endlessly and to give more boldness to the eyes.
This collection delivers a palette of colours, textures and contrasts. At the heart of each eyeshadow lies the opposition of the plant realm and the industrial world.
“I wanted quick, effective and bold ways of doing make-up with this eyeshadow collection. So there’s an idea of liberation and practicality in it. There are also depth, sumptuous colours and intensity,” Pica says.
“The collection is about enhancing beauty, not applying a disguise — the eye shadows have an elegance and an intensity to them,”
A collection that looks beyond the seasonality of trends, the cream eyeshadow layers over sumptuous matte, satiny or metallic powders. Colours and textures echo and complete each other to reveal the personality of women with every nuance and subtlety.
FREE EXPRESSION
Simplifying professional techniques, the Ombre Premiere has 24 essential colours. Some are velvety and silky, others come with subtle shimmer, matte, satiny and metallic finishes.
Each eyeshadow can be worn on its own, or can be applied with another one for a seamless look.
Ombre Premiere is also part of a collection that features two completely two new brushes, an eye pencil with a soft lead and an eyebrow gel. It’s an invitation to apply make-up in complete freedom, a collective call to women to have fun, to follow their instincts and to be themselves.
“I want to use make-up to reflect a character, not create a disguise. I want to enhance what is there because I really believe in happy accidents and spontaneity in life,” Pica says.
“There is strength in imperfection; there are nuances in something being not too perfect.”
WHAT’S IN THE COLLECTION
LONGWEAR CREAM EYESHADOW (OMBRE PREMIERE POUDRE)
Apply Longwear Cream Eyeshadow with fingertips and pat lightly to blend in for a subtle, sheer finish or use a brush for a more intense effect.
LONGWEAR POWDER EYESHADOW (OMBRE PREMIERE CREME)
The matte, satiny and metallic finishes can be combined to create an echo on the eyelids and make the eyes magnetic for eight hours.
LE CRAYON YEUX
An essential complement of eyeshadows to add depth to the eyes, Le Crayon Yeux can be blended along the lash line as you wish.
LE GEL SOURCILS
To define your eyes and allure with minimum effort, Le Gel Sourcils structures and sets untamed line while staying undercover. Its formula is a jellified water that glides on softly, freshly and lightly. Its conical brush precisely dresses the brows in a densifying blend of fibres and film-forming agents.