Chanel L'Ete Papillon Collection - Purchases & Swatches

Chanel L'Ete Papillon purchases: Inimitable Waterproof Mascara in Lime Light
& Stylo Eyeshadow in Pink Lagoon

You may remember the gorgeous campaign visuals for Chanel's Summer 2013 makeup collection, L'Ete Papillon (if not, take a look at my post here!)

This was a very bright, vibrant, bold collection and I loved it.  Realism (in the form of a credit card bill) had set in however several days beforehand, so I just purchased two items for my own stash;  the mascara in Lime Light and the new formula Stylo Eyeshadow in Pink Lagoon.

Chanel Inimitable Mascara in Lime Light

Chanel Inimitable Mascara in Lime Light

One of the four LE shades (the others are yellow, light blue and cobalt blue), I'd previously described this as "an almost-but-not-quite-aquatic green" and this is reasonably accurate, it's a really fresh cool toned minty green that has a hint of an aquatic blue undertone.

Swatcheroo...

Worn on its own, it's just a little to OTT for my liking; a great editorial shade, or a great shade if you're a teenager bent on Bringing The Eighties Back, but worn on just the lash tips it's a fun flirty fresh summer look (at least, in my opinion!):

Chanel Inimitable Mascara in Lime Light - just on lash tips

I've been wearing this one a lot and enjoying the fun of it.

Let's face it, the same effect could be created by using a crazy coloured powder eyeshadow shade (try some of the Sleek palettes like this one or this one) and a pro mixing product (like Inglot Duraline, or Illamasqua Sealing Gel, or The Makeup Store Mixing Liquid, or MAC Mixing Medium Eyeliner or Mixing Medium Lash, or a host of other alternatives) - if you already have these kinds of products, you can recreate any colour mascara you want, but let's face it, not everyone does, and not everyone wants the hassles either - I have all of the above named products and it was far simpler and more portable to simply purchase the Chanel mascara :-)


Chanel Stylo Eyeshadow in Pink Lagoon

Chanel L'Ete de Papillon Stylo Eyeshadow in 27/Pink Lagoon

One of six LE products released with this collection, this is a fabulous product for summer.

Five of the six shades; I forgot to swatch Blue Bay :-( 

I had described this as a "cool toned metallic coral pink" and that's precisely what it is.  It's divine on the eyelids; it has the same utterly gorgeous really refreshingly cooling feeling on the lids that the Chanel Vitalimière Aqua compact foundation has on the skin; I'm loving using this in the great weather we're having at the moment.

Stylo Eyeshadow Pink Lagoon swatch

But hang on there now a minute - what does this remind me of?

Top: Chanel Illusion d'ombre in Abstraction
Bottom: Chanel Stylo Eyeshadow Pink Lagoon

It's almost identical to the Illusion d'Ombre shade in Abstraction, at least it seems that way.  However a swatch tells a different story:

The Illusion d'Ombre (Abstraction) shade is just not showing up when photographed on my slightly-more-tanned-than-usual-thanks-to-the-sun-arm ;-).  It does look a bit more obvious in real life than this washed-out excuse above, however the Illusion d'Ombre, although a very similar shade, is far less opaque than the Stylo Eyeshadow shade.  It also doesn't have that gorgeous cooling feeling.  Other than that, both last about the same amount of time.  And both of them need building and buffing in order to last and not crease.  

Much as I have already a bunch of cream- and pen-type shadows already, the formulation and cooling sensation are intriguing (and given my obsession with All Things Even Vaguely Taupe Related, I am sorely tempted by Moon River.  We... shall... see...