Flashback Beauty Friday 71: Lancome x Olympia Le Tan Cushion Highlighter

Post does not contain affiliate links or PR gifted items.

After my very picture heavy post last week on the history of Dior's Rouge Dior Lipsticks, I decided against sharing this entire collection that I bought a few years back and just stuck to one item.  Me being me though, I still have a lot to say on one piece!

Lancôme have collaborated with several fashion designers over the years and in 2013, teamed up with French based brand, Olympia Le-Tan, to transform their signature, luxury, book bag into something which would house 6 Rouge In Love lipsticks and 6 Vernis In Love nail polishes, celebrating Lancôme's 1st Anniversary of the Rouge In Love line. The pink bag featured a silver surround (usually gold) so that it could double up as a mirror to apply your lippie. Taking 18 hours to make each minaudière by hand, there were just 100 produced worldwide, with Harvey Nichols exclusively selling the £995 set in the UK (exactly how many of that 100, the UK got, I don't know). Given the price point and extremely limited nature of this release (and I suspect many of the 100 would be given to select beauty editors and industry insiders as promotion), it would come as no surprise that many Lancôme fans missed out on that launch, so that's not what I'll be showing you today! Thankfully for us mere mortals, Lancôme revisited the Olympia Le Tan collaboration in this very special collection for Autumn 2017. I bought the big palette (exactly like an OLT bag), 2 nail polishes, a lip shaped lipstick and this, Cushion Highlighter.

If you're unfamiliar with OLT, then let me introduce you to her whimsical universe. The daughter of French illustrator, Pierre Le-Tan, in 2009, the vision was to turn book covers into work-of-art clutches. These aren't your standard book style bags with a printed image stuck on. They're created by hand using embroidery and (usually, mainly) felt applique to recreate that magical imagery. The signature clutch is roughly the size of a thick book; maybe not the most practical for holding a lot inside, but it creates this amazing "is it or isn't it a book?" moment.  Depending on it's intricacy, it can take up to 300 hours to create each one by hand. The clutches are as beautiful inside as out, with their colourful lining and labelling, then finished with a brass frame and numbered on the back. References nowadays include art, pop culture; music, film, animations and more. I'd give my right arm for any of the Barbie series, they're absolutely divine. Then use my left arm to hold the Little Twin Stars cases from the Spring 2016 Sanrio collab that I still hanker after and I also love the little Esther Loves bunny case too. Above is the one time I've held a genuine OLT in my hand (with no limbs lost), in Manchester TK Maxx in 2018, with a shoe on the front, how appropriate! It was pretty battered if I remember correctly and I don't think the clasp closed properly, but it was nice to see that craftsmanship up close (this is the smaller square shape, not the book size), just look at the needlework representing the shadow under the shoe. Back to the Lancôme launch and honestly for something more 'mass produced' than OLT is accustomed to, this collection was pretty close to the beauty and feel of her brand. Like the bags, the palettes also use applique and embroidery to illustrate this wonderful, charming scene Olympia dreamt up.

The cherub inspiration came after Olympia trawled through the Lancôme archives.  It's been something used over the years on Lancôme makeup items (such as the Destiny Cube I shared last year), but actually originated in a Coat of Arms created by Lancôme founder, Armand Petitjean in 1935 when the brand launched. It features the Lancôme Rose, Cherub and Lotus, which represent fragrance, makeup and skincare respectively. The rose is widely used to this day, the others not so much, but even the scrolls used on that and indeed in vintage Lancôme advertising is also represented on the OLT palette. The cherub was given a more girly, fanciful vibe, perfectly expressing the OLT brand with those references to Lancôme's roots. I absolutely love it.

The base compact is black plastic, very chunky, with a nice click opening. Inside you'll find a full sized mirror and black puff. Beneath that, you lift the cap (sideways) to reveal the cushion product. It is sealed in this way in order to prevent it from drying out (originally it had a sticker/seal too, actually I've still kept mine on it). Cushion products are more popular in Asian countries than here, this one was made in Korea and even now with the popularity of all things K (pop, dramas etc), cushion foundation and the like hasn't really taken off here, whereas it's a staple there.

It works basically like a sponge soaked in product, in this case liquid highlighter. You press on the cushion to get product onto your puff or finger and apply to the face. It tends to feel fresher and less heavy than a liquid in a bottle. I'm a big highlighter fan, but this has never been one I've been able to get my head around. I had to check back photos I took in 2017 when I first bought this (some of which I've included here) to see if the product had changed at all over the years. It hasn't really. It's a light yellow-ish tinted shade, which today I found difficult to see on my arm. I found it a little difficult to pick up product, so applied as heavily as I could (top swatch below). My old photos though, don't show much difference, other than I had more product to apply (because it was new). That time, I then blended it out (3rd swatch below) and you can see sporadic flecks of shimmer. It's unfortunately not one of those 'lit from within' luminous bases and the yellow tone is just a bit strange on me. Same colour as my skin and the odd bit of glitter does not a dream highlighter make!  Do I care though? No! This could've housed a foundation 20 shades too dark for me and I'd have bought it, as I wanted the beautiful compact as a collectors piece, what was inside, didn't matter. I do love the bouncy, lightweight feel of cushion products though, there's something freakishly addictive to pressing that cold, squishy, wet cushion and seeing product magically appear too.  

Uninteresting highlighter aside, this is one of my most treasured pieces (and collections).  I actually wore the lipstick today as this post reminded me that I hadn't in a while.  Isn't it a really well done they way they've blended the two brands?