Givenchy's spring line for 2012 is a fusion of bright pastels, and bold reds, which I'd expect to see more in the A/W collection. I'm not sure I'd ever wear pastels and red together, but they made it work for the campaign image (which you can see here). The palettes are inspired by how Impressionist painters portrayed springtime landscapes - and don't they look like pieces of art themselves?
[Click images to enlarge]
On the left is Le Prisme Blush Bucolique (£31): a gorgeous peach powder flecked with intensely coloured speckles, a reference to a field of poppies. We swatched the pink 'Rose N° 1' version (it also comes in the red 'Poppy N° 2'). I applied the deep pink and peach parts separately so you could see how they looked apart, the pinker parts gave a really pretty shimmery wash of colour, about the same shade of a natural blush. The peach part was very subtly pigmented, didn't give much colour but did give a nice lift, so it would probably work really well as a highlighter. Together they make a lighter, pastel pink, which is nice on pale, cooler skin tones like mine, but doesn't show up well on warmer, darker skin, so if you're warm I'd go for Poppy.
On the right is the pièce de résistance of Givenchy Spring 2012 - Le Prisme Visage Bucolique illuminating powder (£36.50), designed to look like a meadow seen from above, with a smattering of pastel green, purple, peach and pink blurring into each other. I didn't put up a swatch of this one because it was so light the camera couldn't really catch it - alone, the green and peach aren't really strong enough to show up but you could use the pink and lilac as eyeshadow if you wanted. And...
...they're magnetic! We got ridiculously excited when we accidentally discovered that.
Next is Le Prisme Yeux Quatuor (£35), a pearlescent eyeshadow quartet containing this seasons it pastel colours, representing the colours of nature; Brown (for wood and soil), Green (grass), Pink (blossoms) and Mauve ('like the first blues of Nature awakening' - gotta love a beauty press release). It also comes with three mini application brushes - I really like the smallest one which is quite firm and has a pointed end, so it was good for getting more intense colour out of the soft shades.
In the red section, inspired by spring poppies, is Rouge Interdit in Bucolic Poppy N° 54 (£20.50), a glossy, bright orangey-poppy red that can be worn sheer, or layered up for bright dramatic lips. There's also a lipgloss, Gloss Interdit Bucolic Poppy N° 32 (£19) and a nail varnish, Vernis Please! Bucolic Poppy N° 177 (£13).
What do you think of the colours? Let us know which piece is going on your spring wishlist!
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