First Look at the YSL Couture Palettes – Swatches galore!

The new YSL Couture Palettes went on sale earlier this month at select retailers in the US, and are slowly rolling out at YSL counters worldwide. They were launched in Singapore last Thursday, making this 1 of 2 Asian cities to receive this highly anticipated line first.

Similar to the Bleus Lumiere Collector’s Palette, the YSL Couture Palettes boast of a new Pure Colour Catalyst technology, which enables the eyeshadow to pack some bright and intense colours with a variety of finishes like iridescent, matte, metallic and pearl. They also last longer than before and are crease-proof. There are 11 brand new palettes, each comprising of 5 complementary shades, played out on a contemporary chromatic scale. Only 8 have been released locally to date, with the remaining 3 to be launched at a later stage. To satisfy your curiosity, and to help with your online shopping decision making, here are some swatches & brief descriptions!

YSL Couture Palette Nº 1 Tuxedo

Tuxedo is a crisp monotonal black / white palette with some greys in between. Overall, it is a cool palette with some shimmer thrown in for added fun. It reminds me of Tom Ford’s Titanium Smoke in concept.

The swatches from left to right correspond to the shades on the palette starting from center, then clockwise from top left:

• Intense matte black
• Satin dove grey
• Silver shimmer (slightly sheer)
• Medium satin grey
• Shimmery black

Tuxedo felt somewhat drier and swatches sheer on my skin, although the counter SA was able to swatch it rather intensely on her (but hard as I tried I simply couldn’t replicate it).

YSL Couture Palette Nº 2 Fauves

Fauves is an everyday neutral palette comprising of mostly browns. It feels neutral against my NC20 skin, and should work well for a variety of skin tones.

The swatches from left to right correspond to the shades on the palette starting from center, then clockwise from top left:

• Dark charcoal brown in a matte finish
• Light chestnut in satin finish
• Pale shimmery ivory
• Medium ash brown with a warm reddish lean and satin finish
• Medium grey brown in a satin finish

Fauves is a neutral lover’s delight. The textures are soft and pigmentation is excellent.

YSL Couture Palette Nº 3 Afrique

Afrique is an interesting play on neutrals with just a kick of color. It leans warm and pulls a little reddish in undertone, but it is the type of color combination that I love. It reminds me of Marc Jacobs Eye-con 7 in The Starlet.

The swatches from left to right correspond to the shades on the palette starting from center, then clockwise from top left:

• Matte dark brown with a slight red lean
• Medium coppery peach with a satin finish
• Pale gold with a slight shimmer
• Pale pink with slight shimmer
• Medium russet gold with a metallic finish

Afrique has one of the loveliest texture and pigmentation in this collection, and is a fun palette with numerous possibilities.

YSL Couture Palette Nº 4 Saharienne

Saharienne is another neutral palette but with greater play on contrasts than Fauves. It also leans cooler although still quite adaptable.

The swatches hopped around a bit for this. From left to right, center on palette – top left – top right – bottom left – bottom right:

• Dark brown that has some grayish tendencies and a matte finish with some sparse shimmers
• Light champagne with shimmer
• Pale pink with shimmer (this one was rather sheer)
• Medium brown with satin finish and some shimmers
• Medium slate grey with satin finish with some more shimmers

Saharienne was very hard to swatch, it is certainly one of the weaker ones in terms of color intensity, but that problem was mostly in the first 3 shades listed above, and is probably by design to give this palette more diversity.

YSL Couture Palette Nº 5 Surrealiste

Surrealiste is a purple-lover’s delight. It is reminiscent of Tom Ford’s Lavender Lust albeit without a pink in the mix.

The swatches from left to right correspond to the shades in palette clockwise from top left, ending with the center shade:

• Lavender with slight purple and blue shimmers
• Pale white with slight shimmer
• Medium dark violet with some pink and purple shimmers
• Medium lilac with pink, blue, and silver shimmers
• Darkened eggplant with multi-colored shimmers

Surrealiste is one of the few palettes in the range that does not have a deep matte liner shade but comprises of all shimmers (unless they all got transplanted all over… if so, I will update accordingly the next time I get a chance to reswatch this). It does seem just a tad one-note at initial survey, and the purple-crazy lady that I am is still on the fence on this one. But the texture is divine and the color pay-off is so beautiful as you can see from the swatches. So if you’re lacking a purple palette, this is the one to consider!

YSL Couture Palette Nº 7 Parisienne

Parisienne is the epitomy of understated chic. It is so pretty in a grown-up way, the color story is reminiscent of some of the best Japanese palettes.

There is some higher order of creativity here. From left to right, they correspond to shades on the palette in counter-clockwise direction starting from bottom right and ending with the center shade:

• Pale pink with a slight frosted finish (this one seems a bit sheer)
• Pale champagne with a frosted finish
• Light taupe with a slight frosted finish
• Medium barley brown with a satin finish
• Dark chocolate brown with a matte finish

No shimmers on this one, but a little bit of frost without going over the edge. The colors are a little less intense than some of the other palettes, but are ladylike and suitable for most day needs.

YSL Couture Palette Nº 9 Love

Love is the bespoke YSL palette, if ever there is one palette that spells lovers in Paris, this is the one. It is a charming palette full of pinks and corals… in particular a fuchsia-plum combination screams SUQQU EX-20 to me. So if you were lusting after this summer’s elusive SUQQU limited edition release, Love is your fail-safe.

There is a divine order in this set of swatches I promise! From left to right, they correspond to the shades on palette top left – top right – center – bottom right – bottom left:

• Medium light pink-peach with a shimmery finish (swatches a little sheer)
• Medium baby pink with a shimmery finish
• Medium dark plum with a satin finish
• Light coral-peach with a shimmery finish (swatches a little sheer)
• Medium fuchsia with a satin finish

The colors in Love are spectacular, and the fuchsia shade in particular is stunning. However, the 2 peach shades felt a little drier than the rests and swatches sheer. However, I am guessing they work well patted over the middle of the eye or as a dab to the inner corners of the eyes; although I will have to actually play with this on my eyes before I can draw any conclusions.

YSL Couture Palette Nº 10 Lumieres Majorelle

Lumieres Majorelle is literally translated major lights, and it does not disappoint. The boldest palette currently available in Singapore, it packs color in every possible way.

Swatches from left to right, corresponds to shades on palette top left – top right – bottom right – center – bottom left:

• Medium marine blue with a satin finish and iridescent shimmers. The blue itself has some green undertones rendering an aquatic feel to the shade. Major love!
• Light medium sky blue with a shimmery finish
• Lime green with a slight frosty finish (this shade is reminiscent of last fall’s limited edition Arty palette)
• Dark navy with light blue shimmers
• Medium turquoise green with a pearlescent finish

Lumieres Majorelle is one for the color lover, and that iridescent marine blue is screaming for me. It is certainly a bold palette, and needs some thought on color placement, but I think it is workable for the office.

——————-

Thank you for making it through such an epic post! I hope the swatches, initial thoughts and color descriptions have been helpful. As you can see, we are still missing YSL Couture Palettes Nº 6 Rive Gauche, Nº 8 Avant Garde, and Nº 11 Ballet Russees. Once these land, I will be sure to swatch them for you.

The YSL Couture Palettes are all permanent, and will be replacing all of the previous Pure Chromatics and Ombres 5 Lumieres. Personally, I favor the new formula of the Couture Palettes much more than the preceding lines, but if there are any that you cannot live without, I suggest getting a back-up as soon as you can. The new YSL Couture Palettes retail for SGD95 each and are now available exclusively at TANGS Orchard, but will be available at all other YSL counters by 1 June.

xoxo