Lancome Reflet d’Améthyste & Brun Adoré Hypnose Palettes Sneak Peek, Swatches & Quick Observations

With many other brands launching new eye products, Lancome will soon join the game with 12 Hypnose Palettes (RRP in Belgium: 56 euros. Availability: March 1st). The 12 palettes are divided into the Doll Eyes (2 in the purple family and 2 in the blue family), Drama Eyes (smokier blue, gray, brown, and purple), and Star Eyes (with neutral shades including brown, khaki, and gray). Today I have the sneak peek of Reflet d’Améthyste (DO2) and Brun Adoré (ST1) to share with you!

Lancome Hypnose Palettes come with packaging that feels sturdy enough, though the velvet pouches that I have come to associate with luxury brands are missing. However, I do really like the fact that the closure is magnetic, as I won’t have to worry about the palettes accidentally popping open in the bag if I travel with them.

The compact opens to a mirror, 5 eyeshadows, and 2 applicators. I like the tiny brush. It is soft and functional! The two applicators are also kept in place with magnets, which is a very thoughtful detail. As you can see, the 5 shades are not the same size, but I have no problem picking the colors up with my regular brushes.

Reflet d’Améthyste contains a pinky lavender with shimmer (on the left). This shade is soft and smooth, but it applies somehow sheer. It can be built up relatively easily, but there’s still some translucency. The liner shade is a dark blue-based shimmery purple. It is smooth, pigmented, and easy to work with. The middle shade is a mid-toned shimmey grape purple. Again, it performs well. The shade below is an iridescent mauve. This shade feels soft, but it is rather powdery and not very pigmented. I have to really layer it to get the color to show. The shade on the right is a shimmery icy pink that contains micro-glitter. This shade feels powdery and dry in the pan, and also powdery and dry swatched. The micro-glitter doesn’t seem to bind too well with the shade, so you might find some stray glittery particle on your face.

Swatches of Reflet d’Améthyste:

Shades in the purple family are always tricky, but with Reflet d’Améthyste, the biggest offender is a shade that is not remotely purple. Since the icy pink is unfortunately one of the biggest shades, I feel that it drags the value of the palette down.

Brun Adoré has a smooth and pigmented shimmery taupe. The liner shade is a matte black. It is a little drier, and it swatches gray initially, though it is pretty easy to build it up (part of this could be because it is hard to swatch a shade this narrow, as I have no problem actually using it with a regular brush). The shade in the middle is a truly creamy, shimmery darker mauvy taupe. Both the color and the formula are phenomenal! The shade below is a slightly plummy light taupe. It is also very smooth and pigmented. On the right, we have a light shimmey taupy champagne with micro-glitter particle. It feels a bit dry and scratchy in the pan, and it looks a little powdery and sheer in the swatch. On the lids it is somehow powdery, and I have to be careful not to have any fallout from it.

Here is the swatch of Brun Adoré:

The only shade that is not exactly 100% there is again, one of the biggest shades. I don’t really understand why one of the shades that are supposed to be used as a main lid shade has to contain micro-glitter in both cases, or why it is more powdery compared with the other shades in the quint. However, with 4 solid shades in Brun Adoré, it gets a higher rating from me.

Now, there is one last thing that is slightly surprising about these palettes. They are priced at 56 euros, which is not uncommon for luxury quads/quints. However, they only contain 2.7 grams/0.09 oz of product. The shadows are pressed, which means they retain their water weight (baked products weigh much less than pressed ones of the same volume, as the water weight is gone). I never really compare products in terms of weight, but if you are interested in getting one, this is something you might want to be aware of.

What do you think? Did you see anything you like? Have you tried anything from Lancome that you would like to recommend? It seems to be one of the brands that I haven’t got into!

Sunny, your beauty culture translator xx