Lancôme L'Wren Scott Holiday Color Collection

Fashion designer L'Wren Scott, in collaboration with Aaron De May, designed Lancôme's limited-edition Holiday Color Collection. The collection includes the Ombres Absolute Palette par L'Wren Scott ($42) in G60 Les Gris L'Wren, shown at left, and L'Absolu Creme de Brilliance par L'Wren Scott ($29) in 176 L'Rouge L'Wren, shown below right, along with a lipstick and two nail polishes. The eye shadow quad and and the creamy lip gloss were my choices from the collection.

Trying to see and get my hands on the collection was maddening. I went from store to store, looking for the collection after Lancôme made it available on its own Web site. What I found in the department stores ranged from nothing at some stores to a partial display at others. I finally gave up and ordered online. I had played with the tester of L'Absolu Creme de Brilliance par L'Wren Scott at Neiman Marcus, and I decided to take a chance on the eye shadows. It was a good bet!

L’Wren Scott interpreted the smoky eye with her own grey color harmony. Two subtly shimmering medium greys were designed to highlight the eyelid, while a hint of silver can be used on the lid or inner corner to open up the eyes with a touch of light. The slate shade should be used as a liner to enhance the eye contour, unless you are very brave. The pretty quad of sleek, long-lasting, and radiant eye shadows is beautifully showcased in a one-off collector’s case with the designer's signature.

My swatches of the four shadows are shown at left. I'm trying to get the hang of taking photos in my office window (for the winter). These colors are actually pretty true. I swatched left to right on the top row of the quad first, and then on the bottom row (not clockwise). I applied each shadow with a sponge-tipped applicator, and I made three passes on my arm with each shade. You can see that the darkest slate shade is very dark, and I wouldn't use it for anything but a liner, but it's the perfect shade for the looks you can create with the other shadows in the palette.

The L'Absolu Creme de Brilliance par L'Wren Scott is a lipstick-gloss hybrid in a satin texture that's infused with lip-soothing active ingredients (Pro-Xylane and hyaluronic acid) for hydrated lips. This creamy gloss was designed, along with the lipstick, to be a special shade of red - one that L'Wren Scott intended to be that special red shade one could wear from day into night. I think she succeeded.

My swatch photo at right was taken in bright morning light. Isn't this a luscious color? It's not red on my skin. Instead, it's a bright rose. It's pretty alone, and it's a stunning complement to the eye shadows in the collection.

The lipstick in the collection, 176 Le Rouge L’Wren, is also beautiful, but I passed on it. My first reaction to it was the same as Kari's at Fab over Forty. When I saw it in the tube, I was sure it would be too red/too dark for me. I was pleasantly surprised at how pretty and wearable it is. Please open the link to Kari's site to see how it looks on her hand and lips. The only reason I didn't buy it was the size of my mounting credit card bill.

If the collection interests you, you may have to scour the department stores and the Lancôme Web site to find the full collection. Hopefully, the availability problem has changed since I first started the hunt. It shouldn't be that hard to buy makeup!

I've been asked several times, "Who's L'Wren Scott?" So, before you ask, she is a fashion designer who may be best known to some as Mick Jagger's girlfriend/companion/whatever.

Photos at top courtesy of Lancôme