High-End Heroes: Lancome French Nude Collection

Last week, I kickstarted my High End Heroes series here on the blog. In case you missed it, these posts will highlight some my favorite higher end products and brands that I think are worth the splurge.

One of my favorite ways to get a hold of high-end makeup is to purchase them in gift sets. You can often find bundles of a brand’s best— or exclusive— items together for a steal of a price, considering how much you’re getting. As is the case with the Lancome French Nude Collection, which is available today (3/16/15) on HSN for a cool $75.

The set includes two HSN exclusives and two brand favorites that are becoming my go-tos in creating my signature spring look.

The French Nude Collection includes a deluxe travel size of Lancome’s Advanced Genifique Concentrate, which is a silky serum that keeps the skin glowing underneath your makeup. I’ve used it on several occasions as a primer, since it sinks into the skin and creates a smooth canvas.

The French Nude 6 Color Eye Shadow Palette makes its debut in this collection, which is an HSN exclusive and will be sold individually starting in early April. It has six full-sized eye shadows that are a mix of cools and warms in matte and shimmer finishes. With just these six shades, you can create so many different day and night looks. It offers some staple neutrals, as well as some rosy pinks and a charcoal gray to mix things up a little bit. The palette itself is the size of my hand with a generous mirror inside, making it ideal for travel.

The Hypnose Drama Instant Volumizing Mascara is well known for its ability to really pump up lashes for a va-va-voom, false lash look. The formula is very wet and builds quickly for dramatically lengthened and volumized lashes without putting in a lot of work. The brush is S-shaped which helps grab, lift and shape. I suggest wiping the brush off before application because you seriously do not need a lot of product to coat the lashes.

Lastly, and probably my favorite part of the collection, is a full-sized Rouge in Love lipstick in the HSN-exclusive shade, Factory Girl. This shade is perfect for spring— a light, blush pink that’s versatile despite it’s brightness. The Rouge in Love lipsticks have such a unique formula. They apply like a very slick lip balm with great color payoff, but dry down to a demi-matte finish that’s comfortable to wear and retains some shininess.

So, let’s talk value: it hasn’t been determined how much the eye shadow palette will sell for separately, but from past similar Lancome palettes, I can guess it’ll be around $51. The mascara, which is full size, normally costs $27.50, and Rouge in Love lipsticks retail for $29. So even without the deluxe sample of the Advanced Genifique Concentrate, the value is already well above the HSN price of $75.

My go-to look with this collection is a rosy brown smokey eye with smudged shadow liner, and of course the peachy lip. Another way to justify the price of this splurge is the fact that besides foundation, you can do your entire face with this collection! I used the eye shadow palette to fill in my brows and do my contouring with the deep brown matte, used the light champagne shimmer as a highlight, and the rose shade for blush! Hello multi-tasking!

You can grab this set for $75 + FREE SHIPPING today on HSN.

Have you scored any great high end collection bundles?