“Wear red when on the attack,” says Lucia Pica, make-up artist and director of colour at Chanel Beauté. For her first collection, the London-based maverick launched Le Rouge, Collection N°1 at Somerset House, a big departure for the Parisian house’s stomping grounds have also been in, well, Paris, obviously and sending the clear signal that Pica is shaking things up. “Red is a colour that the skin produces naturally,” Pica notes, but rarely is it used in beauty in any place other than the lips.

For this collection, launching today, Pica has created a true study in red and tries to show how every shade can create a mood. Red can be elegant, sexy, fun, dramatic but also subtle. Pica wants to show how a red eyeliner in Eros (or Agape for the more nervous) can make the whites of the eyes pop, or how a red blusher in Rouge Profond – worn without bronzer or highlighter piled on top – can make us look more vibrant and less tired without the need for concealer.

“Red,” she continues, “is the enhancer. There is something beautiful in everyone and make-up should enhance that.” She even created a beautiful red smokey-eye with the Les 4 Ombres palette that is matte in finish, as well as a sheer (!) red nail gloss in Rouge Radical that is distinctly, radically, contemporary as a transparent pop of colour.

Of this gigantic collection comprising 17 products, we particularly love the Long Wear Luminous Eyeshadow in the beautiful copper shade, the exciting new semi-transparent Le Vernis Nail Gloss and the beautiful red-toned black mascara that adds warmth as well as definition to lashes. Of the six new lipstick shades Pica has added to Chanel’s stash, we’ll be wearing the fiery Luminous Matte Lip Colour in Rouge Feu as well as the velvet-textured classic red of Rouge Tentation.


Chanel Le Rouge Collection Nº1 is available to buy today at Harrods.