There’s a new pearly-themed beauty collection that just launched for Chanel this spring. The collection is called Les Sautoirs de Coco which features a mix of pale pearly shades and bright pinks. In past years these white pearl-themed collections seem to have been Asia exclusive colors, sometimes launching later in the US in late summer as Nordstrom Anniversary exclusives. Last year Chanel launched the Collection La Perle de Chanel in the US. This year they have the Les Sautoirs de Coco and it’s nice to see them launching these kinds of mini collections in the US (although it’s hard to believe a year has already flown by!). The inspiration and theme according to Chanel:
“Inspired by Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel’s love of pearls, a new makeup collection glimmers with iridescent and luminous shades of white, pink and soft grey, while classic black elements bring an unexpected contrast to the soft colour range.”
I ordered items sight unseen. Based on the online stock photos I knew this collection would either be hit or miss as some of the pink lip colors look very cool-toned, but I decided to go outside of my comfort zone and see if I could try a few new brighter shades. A few weeks ago this was exclusive to Chanel.com, but now appears to be at counters and online at Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus. What I purchased:
Glossimers in Babiole, Pinctada and Clarté ($30 each)
Swatches of the items and then some thoughts below on each item:
I’ll start with my favorite item in the collection which is the Perles Et Fantaisies Highlighter. This appears to be somewhere in between a cream and powder. It’s neither creamy nor powdery but it is very smooth with a very subtle glow. I swatched it above with a very heavy hand so you can see the color differences between each shade. On my medium olive skin the highlighter shades both look the same and give a very delicate luminous glow. On the cheeks it gives a soft hint of shimmer. This is one of the most natural-looking highlighters I’ve ever tried. If you find most highlighters too shimmery, too glowy or too frosty, you might want to look into this one because the shimmer is very finely milled. Color payoff is very natural on my cheeks when applied with a blush brush. If you want a more visible glow but want something natural I’d recommend you check out the Hourglass Ambient Strobe Lighting Powders or Hourglass Luminous Light instead. If you’re ok with some serious glow, check out the Natasha Denona Glowing Skin System. The overall effect of the Perles Et Fantaisies Highlighter is very natural but still noticeable.
Given the number of highlighters and glowy products that are out on the market right now, I can’t personally deem it a must-have. I think there are a lot of other options that are more affordable. Still the quality is there with this one. It adds a nice subtle glow without emphasizing pores or making the skin look overly shiny. I do think because of the semi-sheer finish that some will find this simply too natural or sheer to justify splurging. I have no regrets buying it and I do really like it though.
Swatched with a very heavy hand:
Next are two items for eyes. There’s a new Les 4 Ombres in Tissé de Lune. This one reminds me of an older Chanel quad that I cannot recall the name of. This is a pearly quad with the baked formula. I’m not a fan of the baked formula and wish Chanel would skip that kind of formula entirely. The pigment is decent with this one though. The colors apply with visible pigment and they aren’t chalky. However the 3 lighter shades when applied on the eyes end up all looking the same on my skin. They are distinct if you swatch side by side, but once you layer they all kind of disappear into the same light colored shimmer. It will give the eyes a very bright glow kind of highlight that I find pretty. They are pale shades but not too pale or garish (sometimes light shades have a sharp contrast to my olive skintone).
The quad layered on the lids – as you can see below the colors are pretty sheer and all the shades look similar on the eyes. The flash washed out the color a little bit but it leaves a subtle gleam of shimmer on the lids:
There’s a new Illusion D’Ombre in Iridescent. This one is really pretty and gives the lids a wash of opal shimmer that flashes tiny bits of pink. You can layer for more intensity but this is one of those nice brightening kinds of eyeshadows that you can wear all over the lids. It has a very slight duo chrome quality without being too shimmery or frosty. I really like this one.
Swatched below, left is blended and right is layered:
Last but not least are three Glossimers in Clarté which is a sheer opal pink shimmer, Babiole a cool-toned bright raspberry fuschia cream and Pinctada which is a cool-toned bright pink shimmer. I absolutely love Clarté which gives the lips a really pretty wash of color. It has a similar effect to Songe (which I couldn’t find in my stash to compare) in the sense it gives the lips a gorgeous glow with a hint of iridescent shine.
Although I am a neutral lip lover at heart, I do find Pinctada a wearable color even though it’s on the bright side. It’s cool-toned but not too cool that I find it turns blue on my skin.
Babiole is something that doesn’t work for me. The pigment and color payoff is very good, but because it’s so blue-based it contrasts with my skintone and looks garish. I think it looks ok in the detail swatch below, but when you see it against the whole face it just clashes with my olive skintone. I think it looks absolutely gorgeous on Christine from Temptalia – so if you haven’t seen her post, be sure to check out her swatches.
If you’re a Chanel fan and have been curious about this collection, I hope you found this review helpful. I think there are definitely some items worth checking out – my top three picks are the highlighter, Illusion D’Ombre and Clarté Glossimer. I do think if you’re trying to narrow down your purchases for highlighter this season, skip the Chanel highlighter and opt for something from Hourglass, Natasha Denona or Tom Ford instead. That being said if you’re always in search of something with a subtle glow and find most highlighters too glowy, this one might be one you have been searching for – it has the most finely milled glow that I’ve ever seen in any highlighter. I’m personally not crazy about the Tissé Ombre de Lune eyeshadow quad or the pink glossimers, but that’s mainly because of my color preferences. For lips Chanel just launched the Rouge Coco Stylo lipsticks and the colors look very promising so I would say save your $$$ for those instead. I just received 3 colors today and will have a post next week with swatches – but here’s a quick peek at #218 Script which is a perfectly creamy pigmented neutral beige pink with a bit of brown.
You can find the Chanel Les Sautoirs de Coco Collection now online at Chanel.com, Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus. All the items are limited-edition.
Did you check out anything from this launch yet? What did you think?
