CHANEL · Plissé Lumière, Tweed Coralline & Tweed Cherry Blossom — Énergies & Puretés Collection

There’s something about CHANEL highlighters that just grabs you, doesn’t it? Mimicing the exquisite craftsmanship of the house’s Haute Couture creations, the face products of the Énergies et Puretés Collection, namely Plissé Lumière Illuminating Powder, Tweed Coralline & Tweed Cherry Blossom Blush Duos (all limited edition) may have been inspired by a fusion of Japanese aesthetics + Western modernity, but they all have something else in common: undeniable beauty.

Plissé Lumière de CHANEL Illuminating Powder (CAN $76.00) | A soft champagne rose-gold highlighter bearing an extremely fine-milled powder texture. The surface pattern manages to echoe both the soft pleats of Japanese Washi paper along with a more graphic ‘modern’ design in the centre, but it’s the glow this gives to skin that makes it truly stand out. Using a fan brush for application will yield a lighter wash of radiance, while going in with a denser brush provides a more concentrated — yet still totally wearable — brilliance.

I pulled out a few more similarly toned CHANEL highlighters for comparison:

Poudre Signée de CHANEL (2013, discontinued) – the sheerest & lightest of the four, more powdery in finish
Mouche de Beauté (2013, discontinued) – very similar in both finish & tone, a few degrees more rose hued
Dentelle Précieuse (2014, discontinued) – the deepest tonally, slightly less brilliant finish

As several rose-gold highlighters have all been released fairly recently, I pulled out those closest in colour to compare as well:

Diorskin 002 Nude Air Luminizer (2017) – the lightest of the four and less intense brilliance-wise
Modern Mercury, Victoria Beckham (2016, limited edition) – significantly more brilliant/opaque, along with being a few degrees deeper tonally
Becca Rose Quartz – (2016, limited edition) – the more pink-tinted of the four and with a slightly powdery finish

A while back, when CHANEL released a few blush shades in this stunning Tissage design, I had picked up just one; I should have grabbed them all. Sigh. Embossed with the tweed pattern of the iconic CHANEL jacket, the texture is finely milled and provides a soft radiance along with buildable colour to cheeks. On a side note, both shades have a good mix of both cool & warm tones, making them wearable by a broad range of skin tones.

Les Tissages de CHANEL 100 Tweed Coralline Blush Duo (CAN $45.00) | Overall, this is a rose-tinged coral shade; the colour is comprised of both soft peach and deeper coral colours that are meant to be combined together, thus providing a nicely rounded depth of tone. The shimmer seen on the surface is definitely an overlay and will get swiped off by the first brush stroke, but seems to still filter on into the actual colour itself (although that will become less and less with continued use).

Les Tissages de CHANEL 110 Tweed Cherry Blossom Blush Duo (CAN $45.00) | Definitely inspired by ethereal cherry blossoms, this shade is the one that may lean a touch cooler of the two, but can still look gorgeous on those with warmer complexions. The two colours seen in the pan combine to make a rich ‘Cherry Popsicle’ kind of hue, while the silvery overspray adds a nice touch of refined shimmer (but is an overspray just the same, and will eventually become swept away).

From left: 50 Tweed Sienna (purchased), 110 Tweed Cherry Blossom, and 100 Tweed Coralline.

Do I need to even say it? They’re ALL keepers and definitely worth adding to one’s beauty arsenal. Rose gold anything is all the rage right now, and rightly so as this colour works on all skin tones — Plissé Lumière fits perfectly in this these and manages to combine both stunning brilliance + exceptional texture. As to blushes, I may be somewhat biased towards those from CHANEL, but I must admit that the regular Joues Contraste lineup can sure take lessons from these Tissage versions; the saturation, depth of tone, and flawless application shown here is nothing less than amazing. Oh, and can we take a moment to admire the gorgeousness of Tweed Sienna? Now THAT’s a shade CHANEL needs to bring back. #startthepetition

Available now at The Bay and all other CHANEL beauty counters