Some luxury for your lashes: why we’re trying Hermès Beauty mascaras, make-up brushes and eye palettes this autumn …
I was talking to a really chic woman at a party the other week (I’m usually watching Netflix like everyone else, but I have a neighbour who throws parties that are always worth getting dressed for). We got to talking about beauty, and traded our little black book beauty names – her, a manicurist who does the best natural manicures that include polishing your nails until they gleam, obliterating the need to wear varnish at all; me, a reliably great massage therapist (www.andreas.ie), and some favourite spas (Cashel Palace, with its indoor/outdoor pool, and Dromoland for facials). Clearly a woman who knows her beauty, she pulled an Hermès lipstick from her bag and extolled its virtues.
Yes, the lipsticks are expensive, but they are like mini works of art. And you could argue that instead of filling your make-up bags with a ton of cheaper colours, you could invest in just one single beautiful item like this, with its lovely weighty feel and magnetised lid, and keep it for ever (it’s refillable). Choose a colour you adore, and then luxuriate in its supremely velvety texture and punchy colour pay-off every single time you apply it. It’s slow beauty, and the opposite of throwaway.
Hermès only launched beauty a few years ago, in 2020, but when they did, they did it with signature panache and consideration, with design by Pierre Hardy, creative director for Hermès shoes and jewellery. And they’ve just added a careful edit of eye products, Le Regard Hermès, to the line.
There are six eyes palettes, each featuring four silk powder eyeshadows in pigmented shades ranging from natural to intense. The colours are desirably offbeat and unpredictable: I love the Ombres Marines, which pairs navy and an Yves Klein blue with soft and smokey rose tones. Best of all, these are refillable – you would not want to throw one of these elegant compacts away (euro prices to be confirmed; £90stg, refills £59). Trait d’Hermès Mascara, a lash-hydrating formula, is available in six shades, including burgundy, violet, inky blue and coppery brown. And finally, there are four brushes in lacquered wood (from £63stg). Le Regard Hermès launches on October 15; www.hermes.com.
We’ll let the pictures do the talking …
