Chanel Beauty SS19: Vision d’Asie

Lucia Pica is on a personal mission to have us all looking lit from within. Since her appointment as Creative Director of Chanel’s beauty arm in 2015, she’s been treating light like an architecture, each season adding to the box of tools that can help women achieve that most elusive state of luminescence. SS19 brings Vision d’Asie: L’Art du Détail, a collection inspired by the natural brilliance that brings life to the everyday; a quality that exists in abundance in East Asia.

Truly aqueous radiance begins with the skin, and the new Baume Essentiel melts to leave a dew-kissed wash wherever it’s applied. The format – a universal silky gel stick, available in Transparent and a satin-peach Sculpting shade – glides onto face, lips, eyes and browbones, diffused by a specially designed retractable illuminator brush. This balm makes for a potent final touch, but as versed light-chasers will know, the best results use it as a base to backlight a light layer of another product.

Eyes are nourished with the precious palette of Les 9 Ombres Edition N°2: Quintessence, a tray of intensely jeweled hues and muted metallics, whose layering potential beggars belief. The freedom of the formula – a super-soft pressed powder – spans shimmer, matte, creamy and high-shine finishes, which can be dialed up according to your desired dose. The Ombre Première Crème, meanwhile, engenders the burnished patina of bronze with a single satin-touch stroke.

Lips pull the face into focus, the rich and creamy matte Rouge Allure Velvet realized in three shades that speak of a quiet antiquity, and two defiant brights with the pigment-packed Rouge Allure Liquid Powder. Nails, likewise, occupy two sides of the spectrum, set by the sunblushed Bleached Mauve and the dayglow fuchsia of Techno Bloom. Now, set that flash to full and shine bright in the shadows.