Fall is one of my favourite seasons, and this round Chanel is bringing fashion runway sensibilities to life.  Apotheosis Le Mat de Chanel plays with textures to create visual intensity, creating mesmerising gazes to bold unapologetic lips and edgy tips.  There is plenty to explore, with a variety of options to achieve Lucia Pica’s tailored femme fatale look.

The colour palette brings together rich earthy autumnal tones together with emotive shades in striking Matte finishes.  In designing this collection, Lucia Pica started with the concept of matte, and imagined the ideal woman to be “confident, sophisticated and elegant; intellectual but still daring.  She’s completely unapologetic – my favorite kind of woman!”.

Let’s start with Chanel Les 4 Ombres Quiet Revolution since it is the most eye-catching of the collection.  With its matte finish – not just in pigment but the palette casing itself is unequivocally matte and chic; Quiet Revolution demands to be seen and held.  There are not 1 but 2 shades of blue, paired with a soft brown-black to further intensify the look.

Swatched in clockwise direction starting from top left of palette:

• Light mauve which gives an interesting duality to the blues when layered together, and blends out beautifully and seamlessly
• Deep teal blue that pulls green on my skin tone, and is perhaps the weakest shade in the palette as it felt slightly dry and applied patchy, thought still manageable
• Soft brown-black, lovely alternative to traditional black, and makes a much more modern liner and base shade in this configuration
• Electric blue with the most amazing intensity and pigmentation!  Blue is often the hardest colour to perfect in makeup, and Chanel has outdone itself with this shade.

Here is a sample eye makeup look featuring Quiet Revolution:

For the classic makeup lovers, Chanel has the ultimate neutral palette that transcends ages.  Chanel Les 4 Ombres Clair Obscur features 4 neutral-toned shades of taupe, beige and brown that is both mysterious and soothing.

When swatched in clockwise direction, starting from top left of the palette:

From left to right, the shades are:

• Medium brown with a slightly dusty-hued base
• Light taupe beige that is gorgeous as a standalone allover shade
• Dark espresso brown with fabulous smoothness and richness
• Pale beige that is so fine it almost crumbles in the pan when picking up

And here is a sample eye makeup look…

To be honest I surprised myself with this eye makeup look, because it is so easy to create and turned out far better than I expected since I don’t usually fare so well with matte shades on my crepe-y lids.  Clair Obscur is an incredibly easy palette to wear, and is one of very few brown-themed palettes that pulls cool.

New this season is the Stylo Ombre et Contour, a jumbo kohl liner-eyeshadow pencil.  This is a permanent product offering, 3 of which are part of the Apotheosis Collection (2 limited edition shades + 1 permanent).  I will review these separately in another post coming up real soon, so stay tuned.

One of my favorites in this Apotheosis, Le Mat de Chanel Collection are the new Le Rouge Crayon de Couleur Mat.  I had reviewed the regular Le Rouge Crayon in a glossy finish when they were first launched last year [read here]; and now they are available in a matte finish!  Accordingly, the body of these crayons are dressed in matte black, and the caps have been updated such that it clicks when completely closed and do not fall out in your purse.  The twist-up and down mechanism remains the same, and the formula has the same comfortable lightweight texture and easy glide.  It has amazing longevity for something this comfortable and easy to apply, surviving through a heavy lunch and well through the day!

There are 6 shades available, of which only Impulsion is limited edition.  I have 4 of them, and the lip swatches are above.  For your information, I normally apply a light layer of lip balm before I start putting on makeup, and I apply my lipstick at the very end so that the balm had 15-20 minutes to fully sink in.  This also explains why there is a light shiny finish to my lip swatches.  Make no mistake, these Le Rouge Crayon de Couleur Mats are quite matte and the colour pigmentation is very intense.  However, they are in no way flat, but mould to the lips in a natural dimensional way.  You can get a very precise line around the edges of the lips using the pointed tip of the crayon, or feather them out using a brush like I did with Impulsion.  I also like wearing my lip colours slightly blotted down for the day by just pursing my lips together and dabbing with a finger like in Impact.  Discretion is a little drier and too yellow for my skin tone.

If matte lips are not your cup of tea, then you can opt for a sheer glossy stain with 4 new shades of Chanel Rouge Allure Ink [formula reviewed here].  These are lightweight, easy to wear either full on pigmented or sheered out to a stain.  1 of the shades offered this season (#172 xpression) is limited edition, whilst the other 3 are permanent.  I have swatched 2 of them from this collection above, and I must say Euphoria has become one of my favorites ever since I got it!  I like to dab just a little bit to the center of my lips and feather out like the Koreans!

To finish up the face, Chanel has also released a Joues Contraste #440 Quintessence to complement this collection.  Even though it looks quite pink in the pan, Quintessence swatches out to a pinky-mauve with a neutral tone.  There is some micro-shimmer in the pan, but it applies quite matte on my skin.  I’m usually a big fan of Chanel’s Joues Contraste formula, but for some reason I found Quintessence to not as smooth as the rest and applied somewhat patchy either with a brush or fingertips.

Taking the cool editorial look down to the fingertips, Chanel has released 2 limited edition Le Vernis Velvet.  Ultime is a classic red whilst Profondeur is a deep wine hue.  Both have a matte finish, which you can top with a matte top coat to extend longevity.  Alternatively, layer with a glossy top coat to change up the look next season!  These apply smoothly and are fully opaque with 2 coats.

Here is a full makeup look featuring Les 4 Ombres Quiet Revolution on the eyes, Joues Contraste Quintessence on the cheeks and Le Rouge Crayon de Couleur Mat in Excess on the lips.

And another featuring Les 4 Ombres Clair Obscur on the eyes, Joues Contraste Quintessence on cheeks, and Le Crayon de Couleur Mat in Discretion on the lips.

Which look do you prefer?

_{This post featured products that were generously provided for my consideration.  Regardless, all opinions expressed here are my own honest, unbiased views.}

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