YSL Parisian Night Avenue Marceau Palette

Paris at night, a time to party. From the Rive Gauche to the Rive Droite, the YSL woman plunges into late, late nights and merges with the colours of a Parisian soirée. A lover’s encounter, a wildly beating heart. An unexpected ardor in the city’s winter lights. Her eyes sparkle with a romantic glow, her complexion simmers with passionate pink. Her lips smile with the colour of a French kiss. Until dawn, she indulges the impulse to play and love. She sees life through rose-coloured glasses. The rose of Saint Laurent.

For Holiday 2013, YSL has designed a limited edition Pure Chromatics Collectors’ Palette in  metallic hues of pink, gold and purples.  Launching from its Parisian Night theme (seems very popular this season), YSL has titled its latest eyeshadow quad after the famed Avenue Marceau where the flagship store is located.

As if we needed more reason to hoard, YSL has designed a delightful case which has a slightly retro transparent protrusion under which a golden underlay contains a series of YSL motives.  And atop it all sits a whimsical pink heart (which, according to a local SA, is very much consistent with the brand).

Avenue Marceau consists of 4 metallic shades (not even a satin in sight), all with some amounts of micro-shimmer.  The textures are all fairly soft (better than most other YSL palettes I have encountered so far), with the 2 upper shades softer than the bottom ones.

The shades are swatched in clockwise direction from top left, and are (from left to right):

• Medium mauve-pink with pink and silver glitter.  When I first saw early press images of this palette, I had dismissed it as yet another purple-gold palette.  It was only after I had swatched it in person that I realized there was this gorgeous mauve pink!  It feels warm-toned on me, with almost a coppery russet tinge.
• Light pink with lavender and silver micro-glitter.  It is cool-toned on me, and has a frosted finish.  This is another shade that surprised me, as I had initially thought it was a light silver based on press images.
• Medium purple with very sparse pink micro-shimmer.  It is cool-toned and feels somewhat sheer.  However, with a stiffer brush, it is impossible to pile on the intensity.
• Light metallic gold with flecks of lighter gold glitter.  This is a gorgeous gold, not so perilously pale it makes me look like an extra from Star Trek, nor too warm that it is just another gold.  It is also sheer enough to be layered over another shade for a pop.

All 4 shades in Avenue Marceau are somewhat sheer, so the lighter shades do need to be piled on with a stiff brush to be seen.  This is one of YSL’s Pure Chromatics palettes and is formulated to be used wet or dry.  So, it is possible to amp up the intensity of the colors by applying with a damp brush.

Personally, I grew to love this palette because of it’s sheer-ness.  The amount of glitter in the shades already pack a punch, and wearing them sheer is the only way to be office-appropriate.  It is ultra-feminine and doesn’t take too much skill to wear.

And here is a slightly blurry EOTD… I wanted to show the shine and sparkle of the shades.  I wore the gold on the inner half of the mobile lid, mauve pink in the outer half, and added a dab of the purple on the outer corner to create some depth.  Then I swiped the light pink from the inner corner up to under the brow bone.

I think i’m all purpled-out, and the pinks are calling me now.  But not just any pastel pink… the mauves / dusky rose shades…. like the one on this Avenue Marceau.  What are you wishing for this holiday season?

xoxo