It seems like ages ago that we first saw Calvin Klein's ck one color collection (Coty unveiled it to us at Lovebox festival where Dev, who fronts the brand, was performing) and since it drops today at Debenhams, we thought it was the pefect time to show it to you! A brand new collection to extend the ck one fragrance brand, it aims to help you to emphasize your natural beauty through three 'dimensions' of product ranges: look real, define yourself and add intensity.
The products themselves are very distinctive, taking design inspiration from the understated, modernity of the fragrance, with black and white, pill shaped casings. There's also lots of diversity in how they work: some compacts open the traditional way, while other swivel, some lids twist off, others pull. The swivalling one was fun, took me ages to work that out...
Let's kick off with Define Yourself and the product I'm most excited about: the two in one mascara (£17). I thought it would be similar to MAC Haute and Naughty where there are actually two brushes, but the ck one mascara is two in one in a true sense: the end of the handle twists to transform the wand from defining to volumising! I've never seen anything like it - I've been randomly stopping people and showing them, just to share the mind blowingness of it. It comes in five colours.
One of the characteristics of this brand seems to be a concentration on multi-tasking products that cut down make up bag clutter, which I love - it really helps set it apart from other brands, which you need for a new brand, plus it makes for some interesting innovations (I really love that mascara, can you tell?).
The Brow Pencil + Gloss Duo (£14) has - you guessed it - an angled pencil on one end and a soft-hold gel and brush on the other. What is also great about this product is that it includes a colour for redheads (Foxy Redhead) which I've rarely seen (to my annoyance, being a redhead). Blush and bronzer (both £19) also come in duos, with a cream and a powder in one compact, so you can add colour and then seal it with powder. This is the Cream + Powder Blush Duo in Breath (there are eight shades in total):
And Cream + Powder Bronzer Duo in Softly Glowing (there are four shades in total):
My favourite product is the Liquid Eyeliner Marker (£14) which I've been using pretty much everyday since I got it - it's the best market pen eyeliner I've come across . Has a really good deep black pigment, lasts for hours and hours, doesn't smudge and is really really easy to use. The tip is also a brilliant shape for creating flicks and wings.
There's also a Double-Ended Eyeliner (£14), which comes in six colours - the genius/radical duo we tried (below) would be great for contouring around the eyes - the white is actually a sheer, iridescent colour that looks great on the inner corners of eyes, and anywhere you want to illuminate.
If you're after proper illumination, try the Skin Illuminator (£18) which comes in three tones - it has a pearlescent finish that catches the light beautifully and is completely weightless on your skin which I love. Below is Cool.
An eye primer, Eyeshadow Base (£11), comes in five natural shades, to give a smooth canvas to prepare your eyes for makeup, but is actually really pretty worn on its own, if you want a sophisticated no-makeup look. This is Proper.
The Soft Defining Lip Pencil (£10) comes in eight colours, from a pale nude colour to bright cherry red and dark berry. Below is Lovely, the most sutble shade - true to its name, it glides on really softly and feels really light and moisturising (I often find some lipliners can be quite dry). It also blends really well so you could probably wear it alone all over your lips.
Add Intensity is all about expressing yourself with colour - obviously, this is where the nail varnish comes in! We featured Long Wear + Shine Nail Color (£9) in Nails Of The Week last week, so check that out here. Eyeshadow comes in two forms for ck one: powder and gloss. The Powder Eyeshadow Quad (£25) comes in eight sets, which each hold four complementing eyeshadows to define, illuminate and accentuate eyes. They can be applied wet and dry, but dry they go on really smoothly with good colour payoff. Below is Disco - the only one that was a bit tricky is the metallic purple on the top right - soft to the point of being crumbly, I think it was much easier to apply wet.
Gloss Eyecolor (£13) comes in a crayon, and is literally just like wearing lipgloss on your eyes, except it's not at all sticky. It blends beautifully, so you don't get marks where you scribbled it, and gives a pretty sheer wash of colour.
Lip colour comes in three forms, lipstick, lipgloss and the Color + Treat Lip Kit (£25), which is another one of those multi tasking products I am for some reason so excited by. It has five compartments, which hold exfoliator, plumper, colour, gloss and balm. Everything you could ever need for your lips in one compact. Such a good idea. It comes in four shades, below is Pop Culture.
Pure Color Lipstick (£13) comes in 20 pure, high pigment colours that are really comfortable to wear and feel like silk on your lips. Very good lasting power too.
ck one Lipgloss (£12) comes in 12 shades, is brilliantly glossy but non sticky, feels silky smooth and gives very strong colour despite being sheer. Below are Scandal (left) and Sugar (right). Love the brush too - a flat oval that makes application really easy.
It's worth mentioning the main hero product of the line, the 3-in-1 face makeup. I haven't swatched that yet but I'll do a proper review of that and the other skin products in the Look Real section soon.
Untill then, you can shop the ck one color collection at Debenhams here now! Which piece will you be buying?
