Serious Eye Candy: Lancome Hypnôse Palettes Overview and Swatches

Lancome Hypnôse Eyeshadow Palettes (open images in new tab to enlarge)

No I don't have a whole set of these beautiful 5-color eyeshadow palettes. I wish I did.

The shots were taken at the Lancôme office, and I had a bit of time to do some serious swatching with some of the palettes I really liked. The new range comes in 3 "types".

1. Doll Eyes: Softer, easier-to-wear colors and textures
2. Star Eyes: More glamorous, and often more sparkly
3. Drama Eyes: Intense, high-contrast, with some darker shades

Each palette also comes with a visual tutorial insert with eye looks you can try.

There are 12 different palettes in this range, and aside from the 4 I swatched above, there is also a beautiful deep purple I'd highly recommend, in the Dramatic range (DR4 Violet Magnetique). BUT - I seem to have accidentally deleted the shot of the swatches. :/

I'd recommend just picking colors you like or that suit your lifestyle rather than being restricted by which category they are labeled under. As with any high-end luxury brand, these are high quality shadows you want to be getting a  LOT of use out of, if you decide to invest in them.

Doll Eyes 3: Mentha a L' O is a beautiful marine/teal collection with shades that remind me of MAC's Tilt and Steamy.

Doll Eyes 4: Lumiere D' Azur is a beautiful collection of blues from navy to cobalt to azure and ice-tones.

Star Eyes 1: Brun Adore is a perfect neutral smoky-brown set, perfect for Victoria's Secret style bombshell eyes.

Drama Eyes 3: Vert Mystere is composed of khaki-toned cloudy greens and some neutrals. A very unique palette.

Texture

Up close and personal with Lancôme Hypnôse Eyeshadow Palettes

I'll let the swatch images speak for themselves. I took these right there without professional lighting, and I wasn't wearing any base on my arm, so you can see how intense they are. 

NOT all the palettes were equally pigmented though (e.g. DO2 Reflet D' Améthyst was not nearly as pigmented as most of the other palettes), so depending on whether you like stronger or softer shades, it's best to test them out in person before you decide.

Packaging

The layout of the shades has changed a little from the previous Hypnôse palettes but you still get:

• 5 coordinated shades, including a dark definer shade (always very important by my book)
• Magetized wells so you don't need to constantly worry about losing your applicators when you pop your compact open or flip it about
• A brush applicator (blending) and a dual-ended sponge tip with a wide end (packing on shadow),and a thin end (lining).

The applicator wells are magnetized so the sponge applicator and brush don't fall out every time you tip the palette.

 Do you NEED these?

Let's just get it out there; these are expensive!

Each Hypnôse eye palette is US$51 or SGD90 for 2.7g (0.09 oz) of product. They are right up there with the Diors and Chanels.

If you are just starting to experiment and want tons of color to try lots of looks with, you might be better off spending this amount of money on a number of budget palettes with tons of shades.

If the below conditions apply to you,

1. it's a luxury gift to pamper someone special (this could include yourself),
2. you don't change up your makeup a lot and would rather invest in a few quality items rather than in a lot of cheaper things that you won't use,
3. you're splurging on yourself for a very special occasion like your wedding, 

then you might get a lot of mileage out of one of these, because they ARE very good shadows.