I love turquoise at the best of times, but there is just something about summer that makes me come over even more mermaid than usual! Luckily, it appears someone at Giorgio Armani feels the same, as their Summer Ecailles Collection is practically an ode to the ocean!
The star of the collection… or more fittingly, should I say the pearl in their oyster… is the Ecailles Luxury Eye Palette ($600), which I previously mentioned here. Limited to only 4000 pieces worldwide, I’m pretty sure I could pass this off as an “investment” to my accountant – the compact is layered with handcrafted black mother-of-pearl, which just looks absolutely stunning, even before you consider the beauties within.
The four shadows inside – deep sea blue, green algae, lagoon turquoise and shimmering crest-of-a-wave white – are pretty much all you need to create numerous variants on mesmerising mermaid eyes! The shades are soft but did not seem very pigmented when I tested them on my hand; however, on the eyes and over a good eye shadow primer, it was a different story!
I did a breezy summery daytime look mainly using the aqua shade, which is the most smoothly-pigmented of the bunch. I used this over my entire eyelid, then smudged the algae (which is more matte) in the outer edge, before applying the white all-over and on my brow bone for an extra cast of iridescence. If you wanted a smokier look for night, you could use the darker ocean blue and algae; to shimmer things up, get more liberal with the white highlighter shade; go extra dramatic like the model in the top picture… The options are endless!
In the photos, I am wearing it with a Gloss d’Armani lipgloss in No.512 Red Andradite ($250). This has super-classy packaging (I love the ‘GA’ logo which clicks into place), a skinny sponge doe-foot applicator and an interesting watercolour-like formula. This gives a translucent effect that’s pigmented but still natural, and it’s wonderfully non-sticky (it’s also quite long-lasting for a gloss, at around four hours wear time, although the glossy ‘wet look’ does fade faster). For me, Red Andradite is more of an evening colour – a grown-up dusky rose, that’s just about light enough to still be a nice neutral. However, for summer, I’d be tempted to go with one of the brighter vibrant shades.
If the palette offers just too many options, head straight for one of the new Eyes To Kill Ocean Jewels Eye Shadows instead ($250). If you’ve never tried this formula of eye shadow before – go go go! It gives the intensity of a loose pigment but with none of the mess, the mega-metallic glow of a cream with none of the creasing, the ease of a pressed powder eye shadow but with longevity to kill, and features a blend of colour pigments for a multi-dimensional effect and an amazing silky smooth texture that makes using them a total breeze.
My pick is the collection’s namesake No.22 Ecailles (top right in the group shot) – a mixture of shimmery seafoam-aqua and ethereal pale silver. As opposed to playing with a whole palette, this does all the blending for you, giving you silvery turquoise lids with just one quick swipe. I loved how delicately pretty this looked and it played into my mermaid fantasies perfectly; utterly unique and a definite must-have.
So if, like me, you want to make like a mermaid this summer and tap into your inner Ariel, look no further than Giorgio Armani’s Ecailles Collection – for classy quality aqua eyes that a mermaid would be proud of!
Giorgio Armani Summer 2012 Ecailles Collection is available at all Giorgio Armani Beauty locations now.
Giorgio Armani beauty counter, Lane Crawford Times Square, 1 Matheson Street, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong, 2115 9693. See all other locations in Hong Kong here.