CHANEL HOLIDAY 2022 MAKEUP COLLECTION

There’s a standout product in the new Chanel Holiday 2022 Makeup Collection and I’m already making a Christmas wish that they bring it into the permanent lipstick line-up: the Rouge Allure L’Extrait in Rouge Sélène. It’s described as a “luminous orangy red” and by God is it luminous. I’ve been trying to examine it through my magnifying glass because I’m sure it must have tiny gold flecks in it: alas my eyes have deteriorated to the point where I have to wear binoculars to set the oven timer and so I am none the wiser.

Whatever: this is one of the most beautiful red lipsticks I’ve ever tried. It has the juciest, sheeniest finish yet the colour (the perfect warm, non-pink, fiery sort of red) is bold and punchy. But the glow! How can a red lipstick glow?

It’s saying something that this is the standout product because the entire collection is beautiful – the oversized Éclat Lunaire illuminating face powder in Or Rose is a very usable rose-toned gold that adds warmth and an expensive sheen, the Ombres de Lune eye quad has four immensely wearable eyeshadows that can be muted down for a day look or layered and smoked out for party glamour.

It all just feels very special and I had a proper little heart flutter playing about with it – especially as I was playing about with it inside the very chic Chanel boutique in Covent Garden. The boutique was gloriously decked out for Christmas. People were buying perfumes and lipsticks and it was all being exquisitely gift-wrapped and it made me think that you’d be really hard-pressed to disappoint someone if you presented them with a little be-ribboned Chanel bag and it had a precious makeup morsel inside.

Here are my top picks from the Chanel Holiday Makeup Collection 2022 if you were lucky enough to be able to add something to your Christmas list or wanted a little bit of luxe for your festive party makeup looks.

The perfect red lipstick shade. I mean it really, really is. If you prefer a longwear, non-smudge matte then so be it, but you’ll never get the youthful vibrancy that this very special red imparts. I’m really bowled over by it, as you can probably tell. It’s in the clicky-clacky Chanel lipstick packaging that I love and the formula is moisturising without being gloopy. Yes it needs reapplying if you eat or drink and if you kiss your kids they’ll be covered in it, but it’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make.

The moon in a compact, is what this is supposed to be, and it’ll be snapped up by collectors, I imagine, before most can get their hands on it.

I thought that a moon compact would have a silvery sheen – thankfully not so. This illuminating powder has a warm golden hue that’s very flattering and looks great used alone or over bronzer. I actually tried it out instead of a bronzer and took the powder further down from my cheekbones, it looked excellent. Very modern and different. It’s a great pairing with the Rouge Sélène lipstick.

I’ve always liked Chanel’s eyeshadow quads and this one has the kind of shade edit you’d like to be able to buy all year round. There’s a mid-brown that could easily be used in an everyday daytime look and then two very warm coppery, ambery shades as well as a bright-brash golden glitz shadow that can be pressed on as a sort of partytime eye overcoat. It’s all excellent. Makeup drama. The shadows apply and blend well, as you’d hope and expect and it’s easy to create all sorts of different looks, from a metallic low-key wash of colour to full-on smokey eye.

The Duo Lumière was lovely when I experimented with it in the boutique – I don’t have it here to photograph but I think at any rate I’d use the eye quad more often. An eye gloss sounds and looks beautiful but it’s one of those products I’d completely forget to use! Although I have to say that just a quick wash of it on the lids, applied with a fingertip, gives a very expensive sheen – it’s “back of the cab with no light on” makeup at its very best!