PREVIEW: Infuse skin with Celestial Radiance with the Cle de Peau Beaute Autumn/Winter 2014 makeup collection

Luxury cosmetics brand Clé de Peau Beauté recently released their Autumn/Winter 2014 collection which they call Celestial Radiance, a range dedicated to bringing out the radiant aura of your skin. The key new pieces are 8 brand new eyeshadow quads, and a brand new liquid foundation.

There are also new shades of lipstick in #210, #312 and #111 (I’d told you about their Extra Rich lipstick before this) (Refill RM145, Holder RM60) but they didn’t catch my eye becaue the colours were soft and muted in the beige category and I’m just not sold on colours like that. I do have to say that their lipsticks are quite impressive, although their price tags tend to be quite out of the reach of many of us since they persist in separating lipstick from holder.

My eye was drawn more to the eyeshadow quads which looked pretty so I’ll tell you a little about those, and the new liquid foundation, which I’m in love with!

Here are a selection of the new Cle de Peau Beaute eyeshadow quads (RM165 Refill, RM80 Holder). There are 8 shades available in what I’d term fairly muted colour palettes. These 4 pictured above have a bolder colour palette which translates into more pigmented colour, while the 4 quads you see below have a softer colour palette which translates into lighter pigment and sheerer colour.

In terms of texture, I’d say that they are sublime. They feel like smooth butter when you touch the surface of the shadow, which feels almost like a cream as opposed to a powder. It is very easy to pick up the product and to apply it on skin. However, each colour is infused with pearly shimmer which I can safely say will not appeal to everyone.

The safe colour palettes and textures too will, I feel, appeal more to those who are less adventurous with colour and more appreciative of Japanese style eyeshadow – lighter colours, sheerer texture, more shimmery. I’m familiar and comfortable with Japanese style eyeshadow so I could see myself wearing these quite easily. They blend beautifully, brighten the eye area subtly and just look lovely, accented with a nice black eyeliner.

What will again, put people off, is the fact that as pricey as each quad already is, they are sold separately from their case. I might be persuaded to part with RM165 for a quad, but when I then have to pay another 50% of that price for a case to house it, I feel rather loathe to do so because it means my initial “investment” comes up to RM245 and that’s just beyond my limits. I do wish brands like Cle de Peau Beaute will rethink this strategy. In Japan it may work (many Japanese makeup brands operate in this manner) but to the rest of the world, it’s just additional expense that we don’t see much point in spending on.

If you are however willing to forgo the case and place this quad in an empty palette of your own, then they are worth having a play with. I love the textures although I’d gravitate towards the bolder, deeper toned palettes as opposed to the lighter, more neutral ones.

Here’s a close up of the Cle de Peau Beaute Eyeshadow Quad in #304 Champagne Supernova, which is rather unfortunately, one of the lighter palettes.

The pastel colours are quite something I’d pick and they come in a sturdy plastic case, housed in another plastic bubble. The outer clear plastic case isn’t quite sturdy enough to keep, but if you don’t plan to travel with these, it’ll do.

Quad #304 is fairly light, as you might be able to tell from just looking at the pan.

On my fairly light skintone, the colours barely show up but you can see the fine milled shimmer that renders the colour to be like satin. It isn’t chunky or garish, but it’s there. I’d wear these as a casual eye colour, to brighten the eye area and lined with a black liner for definition. I could also layer these over a black or darker base or cream shadow base, which will deepen the colour and make it easier to wear. But it’s quite a challenge for me and I haven’t quite decided yet how much I like the colour. The texture however, is lovely! There’s swatches of #305 Satin Moon on The Beauty Lookbook that do catch my eye however so maybe I might be tempted to part with the RM165. But let me think about it a little more 😛

The other new offering from Cle de Peau Beaute is a brand new Radiant Fluid Foundation (RM395) that fortunately doesn’t come in separate packaging of some sort.

This new foundation claims to be moisturising and long lasting while delivering a soft illumination to the skin that diffuses light so skin looks radiant from all angles. You know what? They’re not kidding. Not. One. Bit.

I’ve been test-running this lightweight foundation for a few days and I can safely say that every single time I see a mirror, I have to physically stop myself from running to it and marvelling at how amazing my otherwise tired skin looks. If you’ve ever had a look at your skin when you’re sick, you’d know how tired it looks. With this foundation on, it looks softly radiant, without that oil-slick look associated with “dewy and glowy skin” and my skin looks brighter and better. I’m going to have to tell you more about this one separately so give me a few days to collect my thoughts.

But I know, the price is off putting and I’m sorry that it’s going to have to be something I’m going to have to rave over; but if you have the chance to, just check it out for yourself at the counters and when I share my detailed thoughts on it, you can share yours too! 😀

Have you ever used any Cle de Peau Beaute makeup?

I’d always wanted to try their famed stick concealer which now comes in 2 new shades – Mocha and Almond, but I never did because of the price. Luxury makeup is something I have to slowly get my head around but because I already have my HG concealer, I’m not really fussed about shopping around anymore. I had a Cle de Peau eyeshadow quad from many years ago that I bought during a sale to try but wasn’t too impressed by it. These new quads do feel and look better, but I feel, more so in the deeper toned palettes than the light ones. Your thoughts? 🙂

Paris B

Cle de Peau Beaute Autumn/Winter 2014 Celestial Radiance collection is available at CdP Beaute counters at Pavilion KL, Isetan KLCC and Parkson Gurney Plaza. Prices are as set out above.