It’s that most wonderful time of the year.. The time where I treat myself to a Christmas splurge in Boots!

After some careful loyalty card point juggling I got a couple of things I’ve been saving for – some new Chanel Coco Mademoiselle (om nom) and a Lancôme L’Absolu Velours in Velours de Grenade to try out. I also randomly bought something I definitely didn’t need, just to get more points (I am such a sucka for buy 3 get so and so points deals!); this was the Chanel Crayon de Levres in 24 ‘Rouge’ to try and start to prevent the messy bleed I get when using the multitude of red lipsticks I now own.

I’d read about the Lancôme Matte Lip Gloss collection (nice oxymoron there) on pretty much every beauty blog in the last few weeks, and as a devout Matte lipstick fan, I decided to give it a try.

I chose the shade ‘Velours de Grenade’ which is a slightly darker, bright red with blue undertones. While I’m still not very good at matching the right red to my natural lip colour and skin tone, I thought this would be a safe bet in terms of wearability both day and night. The packaging is great; feels expensive (and bloody well it should, this lip gloss tips the high end of the scale at £20) and I feel like that you get quite a lot of product in terms of volume.

The description on launch describes the collection as “offering the richness and application of a gloss and the coverage and hold of a lipstick”. I guess by richness they mean texture; upon first application I was slightly concerned about how liquid the gloss was when applying and prepared myself to make a right old mess. But as you can see from the picture below, I did alright in the end!

Kohl Eye Liner // Benefit BADGal Waterproof Black Eyeliner
Mascara // Benefit BADGal Waterpoof Mascara
Eye Shadow // Urban Decay in Chopper
Blush // Benefit Benetint
Lipgloss // Lancome L’Absolu Velours in Velours de Grenade

Overall, I’d give the product 9/10. Colour that slides on but goes Matte? Sounds too good to be true; but it is true – Lancome have proved it.