Every year, at the Lakme Fashion Week, the Indian beauty giant Lakme unveils a new collection. This year’s theme – Illuminate and Shine – came as a welcome relief after seasons of mattes. As the name suggests, the Lakme Absolute Illuminate and Shine Collection has a generous dose of shimmer sprinkled through the products. This collection consists of 3 eye pencils, 2 eyeshadow palettes, 15 shimmer lipsticks and 10 nail polishes. About a fortnight ago, Lakme had sent me a gorgeous box with some of the products from the Illuminate and Shine Collection and those are what I am reviewing today…..
Lakme Absolute Illuminate and Shine Collection Review
About the Lakme Absolute Illuminate and Shine Collection
“The ‘Illuminate Look’, a global phenomenon, is all about make-up that lends a shimmer finish. The product range consists of shimmer lipsticks, a new eyeshadow palette, eye liner, kajal and nail colors along with the revamped classic Lakmé Perfect Radiance skincare range which includes face crèmes and an illuminating serum giving you hi-res crystal radiance.”
Lakme Absolute Precision Eye Artist Liner (₹850)
The name is quite a mouthful, isn’t it? The Lakme Absolute Precision Eye Artist Liner is an eye pencil with a metallic finish. These pencils have a fine micro shimmer that gives the metallic sheen to the colours. I LOVE coloured eye pencils because they make it so easy to change your look and add a pop of colour without going overboard. These are slim, black retractable pencils with the colour shown on the base of the pencil. They also have a rubber grip for a better hold.
The Precision Eye Artist liner has a creamy and smooth texture that glides on the eyes and applies easily without any tugging or pulling. It also lasts very long – including all night, after which you wake up to a fabulous smoky eye! Of the three shades in the eye pencil, I had received two of them – Burnished Brown and Blue Sapphire and both look amazing. The shimmer is very fine and doesn’t feel gritty at all. My eyes don’t burn either when I wear this on the water line like they do with other liners with chunky glitter. I wish they had more colour options like aubergine, a dark inky blue, a shimmery khaki or even a shimmery black like the Clinique Cream Shaper for Eyes in Black Diamond.
Lakme Absolute Illuminating Eyeshadow Palette (₹995)
The Lakme Absolute Illuminating Eyeshadow Palette is a palette with 6 eyeshadows and a double-ended sponge applicator (why do brands sstill give those?) It comes in two variants – a gold and a silver – with shades to suit the Indian skintone. I got the Silver Palette which has three shades of grey, a cobalt blue, a mauvy-plum and a purple. Surprisingly, the shades barely have any shimmer / glitter in them considering that this is the Illuminate and Shine Collection.
The colours are quite soft and have quite sheer pigmentation which means that they can be built up to the desired intensity. A couple of the darker shades do look a bit chalky as well. Though the palette is called “Silver” there’s no proper metallic or shimmery silver shade in it. The lightest grey in the palette could pass for silver, though.
Lakme Absolute Lip Shimmer (₹700)
After seasons of matte lipstick, it is a welcome change to have lipsticks with shimmer. The Lakme Absolute Lip Shimmer lipsticks have a creamy texture and good colour payoff. What I really like is the fact that they have micro-shimmer in them rather than big, chunky, glitter that feels gritty. I don’t like the synthetic fruity fragrance that they have however but thankfully the fragrance doesn’t last long.
The shades I got are Tropical Shine (a beautiful peach with gold shimmer), Pink Flash (a bright pink with pink micro shimmer) and Crimson Blink ( a bridal red with red shimmer). My favourite of the three was Tropical Shine till I actually wore it on my lips – it totally washes me out. When I layer it over another lipstick, it looks fabulous and my favourite combination is MAC Creme In Your Coffee layered with Tropical Shine. The result is a beautiful, wearable look with a bit of metallic shine.
The Lakme Absolute Lip Shimmers have a wear time of 3-4 hours depending on what you eat/drink. The pink and red do stain a lips a bit as they fade.
My favourite products from the Lakme Illuminate and Shine Collection are the eye pencils – they are wonderful in terms of colour payoff, texture and longevity. I do wish they had more shades in these and that they were priced a bit better. I loved the Lip Shimmers in Tropical Shine and Pink Flash. Personally, when I wear a red lipstick, I prefer a non-shimmery satin, creme or matte finish. The eyeshadow palette is slightly disappointing since there is no shine and shimmer in the shades. And this is the Illuminate and Shine Collection after all. Still, the shades are nice as is the texture. The staying power is really good since they last for almost the entire day without fading or creasing!
Have you tried the Lakme Illuminate and Shine Collection? Let me know in the comments what your favourites are….
The eye pencils from this range look amazing.