Chanel Neapolis: New City SS18 Makeup Collection

Chanel’s latest makeup collection – Neapolis: New City – is bright, beautiful and bold – like the city which inspired it, Naples.

Chanel’s Global Creative Makeup and Color Designer, Lucia Pica, hails from the Italian city, and took inspiration from every corner of it to create this brilliant, yet simple, spring/summer palette. Neapolis, means ‘new city’, emphasising the focus on the old and new of Napoli (Naples) that equally inspired this collection.

It reflects Naples’ origins as an ancient Greek colony as well as a city looked at afresh by Lucia Pica on her inspiration trip. All of these images in the gallery at the bottom of this post taken in Naples  – which includes a couple of Lucia herself –  are inspiration for all of the products in this beautiful collection.

This is a great piece in British Vogue, from the launch of the collection to the Beauty Directors back in Naples last summer. Ooh to have been on that trip!

When I close my eyes and think of Naples, these are the colors I see… – Lucia Pica

I adore the campaign image, and I am awaiting delivery of the Giallo Napoli shade Le Vernis nail polish (£22) – a bright Naples yellow –  the Rouge Allure Ink (£28) matte liquid lip color in in Entusiasta, a gorgeous bright matte orange, and one of the intriguing Poudre A Levres (£31) – Lip Powders.

This new product – Poudre A Levres – is a powder lip pigment which takes  a cue from the colours and tempera technique
of Pompeiian frescoes. You mix the powder with the balm in the palette, generating a blurred, painterly effect – with as
much or as little intensity of color as desired. It comes in three shades – Rosso Pompeiano, a bright poppy; Rosso Parthenope, an intense red, and Rosa Tempera, a soft pink.

“To apply the Poudre À Levres, use your fingertip to apply the clear balm to your lips, just as you would a lip balm,” explains Lucia Pica. “Then use a different fingertip to dab the powder onto your lips, starting in the middle of your mouth and working outwards. Purse your lips together to create a ‘just kissed’ stain.”

Looking forward to trying that one when it arrives. There are loads of other lip colour options in this collection – most of them red, which is wonderful, but there are a few neutrals in there. Choose from Rouge Allure, Rouge Allure Velvet, and those Rouge Allure Inks. All are £28.

There are also four shades of Rouge Coco Gloss (£28) – one a hint of blue that can transform any lip colour.

The other hero product of this collection is the Les 9 Ombres Palette Edition No1: Affresco (£67). This lovely palette contains nine shadows in three sections.

“My hope is that women will be open and spontaneous with the colors…they are buildable, so you can wear a subtle wash of color or create a more intense effect,” says Lucia Pica. “All the elements of Naples are in here.”

It’s certainly the biggest Chanel eye palette to date, with a play on texture as well as colour – there are three each of matte, satin and high-shine shades. Colours range from brighter to more muted tones, reflecting Naples and its myriad influences:
ancient and modern, sacred and sensual, historical and alive.

A bright green sits alongside a faded grey-green, a luminous peachy beige is tempered by a subtle mink brown, and a bright gold sings out beside a dark rusty-red brown. Each colour can be traced back to a visionary moment on Lucia Pica’s Neapolitan journey, from volcanic rocks to the sea at nightfall, and each is intended to be flattering and interesting on the skin.

Also for eyes, the Ombre Premiere Crème (£26) in Verderame is an exceptional dusty grey-green with a subtle metallic sheen, which looks beautiful worn alone or layered beneath the shadows in the eye palette. Inspired by a door detail, Mascara Dimensions (£28) in Nero Metallo is a metal blue green,  while the Stylo Yeux Waterproof Eye Pencil (£22) is either in Nero Vulcanico,  a deepest green blue inspired by the black ash from Vulcano, or in Mare-Chiaro, a bright jade green, inspired by the beautiful clear green sea.

The Joues Contraste Powder Blush in Foschia Rosa (£35) is a dusting of pink that will enliven the skin, and was inspired by Lucia’s view of the mountains at sunset. It translates as pink mist.

As well as Giallo Napoli, Le Vernis comes in three other shades which I am struggling not to buy! I love them all. As well as the bold yellow, there’s a bright orange – Arancio Vibrante, and Lucia Pica’s first pastel nail shades – Nuvola Rosa, a ‘pastel pink cloud’, and Verde Pastello, a lovely mint green.

This collection is right up my street – bright lips, bold eyes, clear, gorgeous skin, and a hint of blush. Can’t wait to try the bits I’ve ordered when they arrive this weekend! Bella Collezione!

Chanel SS18 Neapolis: New City collection, available now at counters, and chanel.com

Click on the images below to see Lucia Pica and her Naples inspiration for Neapolis.