Want: Les Essentiels de Chanel Autumn 12 collection

A new Chanel makeup collection is always a cause for celebration, and the latest releases for Autumn - based on the style essentials made famous by Mademoiselle Coco herself and titled Les Essentiels de Chanel - is no exception. Once again Peter Philips, Creative Director of Chanel Makeup, has excelled himself, this time even reworking the formula of the iconic soft touch eyeshadow Ombre Essentielle to make the pigment more intense and the powder creamier for easier blending. Love that.

The star of the collection is most definitely the aforementioned monochrome shadow, with its intensity and strength of colour. It’s available in a plethora of options, from an intense black (the ultra-pigmented, matte Black Star) to natural tones like Complice (a soft peach) and ones with a hint of sparkle in the form of gold and silver reflections.

To amp up the eyes even further there is a beautiful waterproof eyeliner – Silver Light – which is incredible when used to line the inside of the eyelid rim or drawn along the base of the lashes, as well as a rich carbon black called Noir Intense.

Another star of the collection is Lumière d’Artifices Beiges, a duo of delicately sparkling beige shades with a golden overlay, stamped with a sequin imprint. Blend the two shades for a perfectly sheer and natural illuminator for the high points of the face, or I love the idea of applying it all over the decollete for a subtle after hours shimmer.

And no Chanel makeup collection would be complete without a trio of must have, get-in-quick-before-they-sell-out nail colours, which in the case of Les Essentiels de Chanel are far from dainty. There is Vertigo, an almost black lacquer with a heart of red pearly particles, the bright, party girl fuchsia Suspicious, and Frenzy - a killer lilac grey.

Available on counter in early August, I suggest that you start putting away your pennies for this collection now – you will seriously want it all.