MAKE-UP

Midas Touch

If there’s ever a time to deck yourself out in sparkles and shine, it’s the festive season. And cosmetics companies are only too willing to help the cause with their holiday make-up releases. This year’s overarching theme seems to be a return to gold in all its shimmering glory – and there’s no shortage of shades, textures and product types to choose from. Christian Louboutin’s limited-edition holiday collection, Goldmania, pushes the boundaries with everything from eyeshadow, mascara, lip lacquer and nail colours in – you guessed it – gold. Even the packaging has been custom-designed in a mesmerising foil finish inspired by the Fresnel lens. Chanel, meanwhile, takes its cue from the sophisticated hues of the majestic lion – a favourite motif of founder Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel – and the coins and medallions that often feature the animal’s likeness. “I’m more captivated by the way light travels over a scuffed metallic surface than by a perfect, mirror surface,” says global head of make-up Lucia Pica. “When you consider those nuances is when you hit upon an unexpected colour or effect.” Sometimes you don’t want nuance and subtlety but instead outright shine and dazzling drama. That’s where brands like Dior, Giorgio Armani and Marc Jacobs come in with their highly pigmented formulas and particle-sized gold flakes. Armani’s Eyes to Kill Stellar offers one of the highest possible levels of pigment in a playful texture that goes on like a liquid then transforms into a powder. Marc Jacobs goes a step further with The Shine Factory collection, featuring sequinlike shadows, an All-Over Foil Luminizer and a golden lip gloss that “shines like 30 coats of lacquer”.