Brand Focus: Lancome Rewind Vernis Zapping

Does anyone remember Lancome Vernis Zapping? Or am I showing my age here? Haha! Years ago, I'm guessing it was when I was still at school or shortly after I left and that was (gosh) 13 years ago...Lancome were continually launching new 'crazy' ideas like lipgloss in a squeezy tube called 'Juicy Tubes' (that'll never catch on surely?) and colour changing products and this peel off nail polish. They were produced in mostly, really fun colours, completely opaque (in one coat if I remember rightly) and intended to be worn for a short time and when you got bored, just peel it off without any need for remover. "In those days" (really showing my age now), it was very difficult to find unusual nail colours like blue or green so I was all over these and my friends thought I was pretty bonkers with my crazy painted nails! I'm sure I had another couple of colours that I've probably thrown out already, but here are navy blue, lime, green, yellow, dark brown, orange and pearlised copper brown. A bit like plumping, stinging lipgloss, the peeling action became quite addictive to me. I got a little thrill if I managed to peel an entire nail in one go! It was actually a great idea for those that changed their nail colour every day or second day and great for taking on holiday as you didn't require cotton wool and nail polish remover. I do recall a customer complaining that when she went swimming, some of them chipped-which I thought was pretty stupid of her (and funny to be in the pool with colourful 'nails' floating by), the stuff isn't invincible you know! The bottles were fun and they were priced relatively cheaply with the intention of customers wanting to purchase more than one. Some people really didn't get it (mostly the older generation), but it was supposed to be a fun, novel product and I thought it was pretty neat.
Anyway, I'm chucking mine out as they are really gunked beyond repair now, but just thought as part of my band focus (which I've been totally neglecting), you might be interested in seeing them as a little 'rewind'.

Brand Focus: Lancome Butterflies Fever

So like I said the other week (then didn't have time to carry it out!), this month on the blog it's Lancome as my brand focus. I spoke back then about their newest launch, Ultra Lavande. I was really, really keen to see this collection in person as it looked so beautiful in the promo pics-I have to say in reality I was a little disappointed. I had fully expected to hand over the entire contents of my bank account for some pretty pastel cosmetics, but left with only one item. That one item is probably the star piece of the collection granted!Butterflies Fever is a mineral blush, quite sheer but buildable (apparently, I haven't been able to bring myself to touch it yet). The sparkle is sporadic and only an overlay, the main colour is a soft peachy pink and you have little accents of lilac, pink and purple. The blush comes in the usual sleek black compact with mirror and tiny brush (which I wouldn't use for this personally). It's priced £32.50 and comes in one shade 01 Glowy Ballerine.
As for the rest of the range, I have to say the store I went to doesn't have quite the full collection, some items on the stand were repromotes I think. First of all, I rushed to the Color Fever Glosses, of which there are 3 (the palest of pale tan, pink and lilac). Now you know it really doesn't take much for me to drool over lip products and I already own an extensive collection of CF glosses, but these shades were just far too sheer for me with little or no colour at all. Both Beige and Rose Ballerine could have been the same swatch, practically clear and not even any pretty sparkles to entice me. Lavande Ballerine did have a little more colour but still not enough for me to spend £18 on it. Perhaps used in conjunction with the lipsticks is the way to go for these glosses. As for the lipsticks, this stand only had 2 of Le French Touch Absolu and don't quote me on this, but I reckon it was possibly 308 Lily Rose and 310 Daisy Rose-none of which really grabbed me at all. I think there was another lipstick tester, perhaps a repromote of CF Shine?
Now for the nail polish, the MA was wearing 359 Lavande and it's gorgeous, I really want it, but it had sold out already. It's the one shown on the model in the promotional images and is a bright purple creme. The other one was a shimmery top coat. Speaking of, the Hypnose Drama mascara in 19 Disco Lavande is absolutely stunning. A beautiful sparkling top coat for your lashes, I was actually really tempted with this although realised I would never wear it enough. The quad eyeshadow was also quite pretty, the MA was wearing that and it really suited her. The Ombre Magnetique loose eyeshadows also didn't do it for me. I tried the silvery white one and I felt it easily wiped away to nothing but a little bit of sparkle, it's incredibly light and fly away not with much pigment-perhaps I didn't sample enough product but a base would definitely be required. I did pick up the Teint Miracle foundation too, naughty me! I've absolutely been on a foundation kick lately and am so impressed with those that I've tried thus far. I am having to be careful though because my skin is playing up from trying so many new things at once, so you'll just have to be patient until I get around to reviewing them all! Here's the new ones-I've tried Rimmel, Estee Lauder, Illamasqua and Max Factor but not Lancome or Myface.

Brand Focus: Lancome Juicy Tubes Swatches & Review

As part of my Lancome brand focus, I'm reposting this review with swatches of all my 42 Juicy Tubes! I doubt there is anyone who doesn't recognise the original squeezy tube gloss. JT's come in a variety of flavours and scents and there are several different finishes, some are metallic, some infused with micro-glitter, some with more sparse glitter and so on. The gloss is usually quite thick and sticky which some don't like (it doesn't bother me), but you'll find this makes them more long lasting and the shine is incredible, like a glossy, glass shine. Lancome have produced several limited edition colours in special packaging over the years. The first illustrated tube was Marshmallow Electro with an image by Julie Verhoeven. Then came the 'World Tour' series named after the fashion capitals of the world and featuring designs by Christopher Kane on the tube. As you'll see from my collection, I was completely enthralled by that range and bought as many as I could! Please also note some of my glosses may only be available in the US. Lancome usually use different shade names in different countries, so some colours are very similar. I've tried to note the scent but as the task wore on, my nose got worse at depicting the smell. Those without a specific scent tend to have a nice, candy, sweety smell. Smaller tubes are GWP's (gifts with purchase). The following glosses are all from the Christopher Kane World Tour collection. 101 Sparkling Paris-very sparkly, champagne? scent, silver micro-glitter. 105 Rio Peach-pale nude with metallic, pearlised sheen, peach scent. Rio Mango-a brighter peach with very tiny pink micro-glitter, mango scent. 104 Rio Banana Ipanema-lemon with slight pearlised sheen, banana scent. Grand Cafe Creme Brulee, browny gold, caramel scent. 103 Tokyo Apple Shibuya-sheer green with slight pearlised sheen, apple scent. Tokyo Plum Blossom-light pink with silver sparkles, strong floral scent. Fifth Avenue Frosting-terracotta with gold sparkle, caramel, cake type scent. I actually forgot a couple of my World Tour glosses-so there's more to come later : ) In the next set there are these mini tubes with the purple heavy, metal lids (one shown here) which were part of a Christmas trio and came with a silver bracelet (which you were supposed to attach the glosses to, like a charm). Bewitching Ruby (LE Xmas trio)-pretty much clear with bright pink sparkles, cherry scent. 95 Marshmallow Electro-as I previously mentioned with LE illustration by Julie Verhoeven. Another one that is basically clear but with slight pearl and more glitter than Bewitching Ruby. Fruity Pop (JT Smoothie)-has really bright pink glitter pieces that look like they'd glow in the dark! 123 Dot Apricot-my most recent addition, limited edition to celebrate 10 years of Lancome JT's featuring tube illustration by Yayoi Kusama (note these are smaller than the standard tube)-this doesn't have the same glassy gloss look as normal, a lovely dusky peachy nude. Pep Rally Pink and 33 Pamplemousse-identical, if anything there's maybe more blue glitter in the latter. A peachy pink base with sporadic multi coloured glitter. Midsummer Eve (featured a silver lid), peach with pink pearl. Simmer-very metallic duotone which flashes pink one way and copper the other. I've purposely uploaded a couple of swatch images here to highlight just how pigmented and metallic Simmer is (you really notice it in the 2nd image). Next we have some brighter colours-which you shouldn't necessarily be afraid of, because they sometimes provide a really lovely hint of colour with lots of gloss. 56 Miss Rose (JT Cherie)-a peachy pink with metallic pearl and silver micro-glitter. Smooth Melon (JT Plump)-metallic, pearlised golden orange, melon scent. 041 Fulidu-bright orange with flecks of multi coloured glitter, zingy scent. Bolole (JT Jelly)-a gorgeous hot reddish orange with gold glitter. Red Hot New York (World Tour)-red with pinky red pearl and micro-glitter. Very strong cinnamon scent that I can't stand unfortunately. 17 Fraise-hot fuchsia with pink glitter, raspberry scent. 19 Lychee-medium pink with lots of micro sparkles throughout in blue, purple and green. Now for some browns (always my favourites) and a couple that have absolutely no shimmer or metallic quality (a rare thing in JT's). 29 Chilled-neautralish brown with sparse gold sparkle. 05 Ginger (JT by Nature-flavours by nature)-brown with slight pink micro-glitter. 08 Beige Letea (Juicy Glace, icy cream lip gloss)-pinky brown, no shimmer. Toffee Pop (JT Smoothie)-antique bronze, very sparkly. Sun Bronze-dark pinky copper with pink pearl. Beach Plum-darkish plum brown with no shimmer. Some purples, ranging from light to dark. Hypnotic Sapphire (LE Xmas trio)-greyish violet, sheer with pink flash. Plum Freeze (JT Pop) similar to Simmer in finish, duotone lilac and turquoise metallic. 114 Pure Sesame (P.U.R.E. Premium Unique Raw Elements, natural flavours)-taupe with micro-glitter. Honey Violet (JT Smoothie) metallic pinkish plum with pink glitter. 050 Ultra Light Kirsch-relatively sheer but dark purple, no shimmer. And finally a mix of my other colours. Crystal Shine (LE Xmas trio)-clear base with white glitter. Dreamsicle-milky pale pink with blue flash. Touched By Light-yellow gold with gold sparkle. Chai Freeze (JT Cherie)-metallic nude. 093 Toffee R&B-browny gold with lots of micro-glitter throughout. 112 Fresh Mint Tea (P.U.R.E. Premium Unique Raw Elements, natural flavours)-sheer green, no shimmer and a lovely mint scent. Violette (I'm not sure if this is the correct shade name given it's colour, but that's what the label says!)-sheer turquoise with sparse green and blue glitter. Silver Bells-very sparkly, silver. Now some comparisons with glosses that I didn't photograph together. Silver Bells, Sparkling Paris and Crystal Shine-Paris is the most silver, Crystal is whitest with the least amount of glitter. Grand Cafe Creme Brulee and Toffee R&B are identical in every aspect. I'm not sure if that particular World Tour one was available in the UK, so that's probably why they released it under a different name (Toffee R&B) here. Fresh Mint Tea and Tokyo Apple Shibuya-the mint is slightly darker and there's more pearl in the apple one.

Brand Focus: Lancome, An Introduction

This month on the blog, it's going to be Lancome month! It's a new 'brand focus' type feature that I'd like to try out. You can expect lots of reviews, news and bits and bobs over the next few weeks and although I won't be exclusively blogging about the brand, the emphasis will be on them. I have a couple of product reviews lined up, I'd like to look back at older Limited Edition products and collections, plus there will be a super fantabulous swatch fest of all my Lancome lip products (that's a lot).
I've chosen Lancome this month, because they're genuinely one of my all-time favourite beauty brands. I've been a fan of their products for all of my makeup wearing life in fact! At school, my friends would envy my perfectly flicked eyes (courtesy of the must have ArtLiner) and working after school in my local chemist on the perfume/makeup counter (where we sold Lancome) I was able to get my hands on all the latest releases and try out luxury skincare items (probably where my expensive tastes originated from)!
Many of their products have become classics or staples for me over the years, but I most look forward to their limited edition, seasonal collections. If you've followed this blog, you're bound to have seen some of those hauls over the years. Their latest launch is Ultra Lavande by Aaron De Mey (on counters this weekend) and I'm so, so excited about this-it looks absolutely gorgeous. Enjoy!