12 August, 2016

Rouge Dior lipstick reinvented (with a few surprises)

Rouge Dior in 80 Red Smile

Woah, there’s no stopping Peter Philips and his magic mixing palettes.

Due on 1st September is the newly reinvented Rouge Dior lipsticks line that has new matte formulations as well as a reformulated satin finish. The new ultra mattes now contain mango butter, hyuralonic acid and Aroleat Samphira (a wax that gives longer wear without bleeding) promising a velvet finish with a comfortable, 16-hour wear.

But most interesting are the shades. Alongside the classic colour families to keep the Dior traditionalists happy, there are four limited edition ‘Extreme Mattes’. Dior make-up artist Joseph Clouter told me that for their ‘gen girl’ customer (think gen y and z), these experimental shades (grey, navy, the deepest aubergine, purple) can be used alone, or to adapt the other shades, and even to create an ombre effect. The aubergine-black ‘Poison Matte‘ shade was worn by Kendall Jenner in the Dior AW16 show (Philips added Dior Addict Ultra-Gloss Bulle 001 on top) and she kept it on afterwards. I love this example of how fashion shows drive the beauty look for younger customers who can’t afford the RTW…
Rouge Dior lipstick in Poison Matte with Dior Addict Ultra-Gloss Bulle 001 on top

For pre-millennials, the classic colour families, ‘natural nudes’, ‘pretty pinks’, ‘passionate corals’ and ‘legendary reds’ are more than adequately represented. For fans of Dior’s cult 999 red, there’s now a matte version, 999 Matte (below). And also pictured below (L-R), my samples include Rouge Dior lipsticks in Miss (47); Red Smile (80); 999 Matte and Premiere (60). The bottom picture is of Red Smile, the star from the ‘passionate corals’ palette in a vibrant satin-finish red, with Premiere in the background, a warm neutral. Eagle eyes will also note a lovely new design detail – the inside of the cap is now coloured a beautiful deep red. Gotta love those extra little touches, right?

Below: Rouge Dior 999 Matte with red cap