Beauty | Lancôme Haul at Foschini Victoria Wharf in Cape Town
When I was last in Cape Town, I went by the Foschini store for a couple of minutes as I saw its beauty counter brands, saw a great display of Lancôme and Erborian, sighed and left. I strolled a bit more around the V&A Waterfront, asked Bruno if he didn't want to relax at our hotel lobby - we were staying at the Table Bay Hotel as always and it's great as it's linked to the shopping center! - and then I went back to Foschini, now more relaxed about time and from Bruno's gaze when he sees I am about to enter a new beauty shopping spree. And there I met the most beautiful lady named Aurore by the Lancôme counter. She said the magic words "you seem like you know what you are looking for" and I said I do and that I was a beauty addict in remission. She smiled and asked if I had anything by Lancome and I replied "funny enough, I don't have anything from Lancôme", saying the brand in french as it must. "I always thought it's too mature for my age but I guess I am getting older myself". And that is how Aurore convinced me to try something new...
Jess
The counter wasn't very big but it was packed with products I had only seen from afar - or never really noticed - before. Aurore sat me down by the counter and started by colour matching me with foundation. After a couple of tries she matched me with Idôle Teint Ultra Wear 345N. Reality is that I do not use much foundation nowadays, since I don't have as much acne as before - I use Erborian's CC Cream - but when I do, I mix one I have been using from Benefit since ever - cannot wait for it to finish! - with with my moisturiser and sunscreen before applying to be even more subtle. So I didn't purchase it but now I know my color when I'll need one.
Jess
Idôle Teint Ultra Wear - 345N
Great yet natural coverage
Then she introduced me to the incredible world of lip blushers, a unique product by Lancôme, that combines a creamy copper tones eye shadow that you can also apply on your cheeks as a blush or a highlighter! Multipurpose beauty products are great especially when you are travelling and cannot carry all of them with you - even if I do.
Aurore matched me with the Idôle Tint 06 Canyon Clay colour out of a total of 7 tones from the brightest Sunburst to the earthier Earth Red. It looks really natural on my eyes and cheeks which is something you can always achieve with French beauty products: they do the job without overdoing it.
As for my lips, I had online purchased the Idôle Lip 21 Shade Throwing Beige lip shaper (so I had something from Lancôme after all!) yet only realised at home it was too light for me as for a countour liner but will work great when I want to go for a nude mouth (like Vic Ceridono from Dia de Beauté thought us a decade ago!). Aurore masterfully matched me with the 53 The Tea is Hot and it's a great colour on me and makes for a great and lasting defined lip.
Little interlude about lips...
I have been really investing a lot more on my lips in the past 4 years. I was always about the eyes but when pandemic hit, there was no patience - or need - to create a full look but realised that putting on a bright red lipstick made me pop on the countless Team and Zoom calls. And I started paying more attention to my lips in real life as well. I still have a lot to learn from colour to durability to matte-ness or full-ness and contouring but I am getting the hang of it. I have very thin lips and contouring has really improved my whole look. At least that is how I feel.
Bref !
To finish the look, Aurore did my eyes and applied coat after coat after coat of the Hypnôse Drama Mascara and I just loved it. Now that I have it at home I would just need it to dry faster than it does but I am overall happy with the product. As the price was the same, I brought home the Bi-facil eye make-up remover sample with a black khôl pencil. I used to love black khôl pencil as I used to line my eyes in black a lot about 20 years ago but I stopped that so it's not something I purchase nowadays but always night to have without overdoing it.
Jess
That was it for my Lancôme Haul but I also purchased other things at Foschini like The Ordinary Multi-Peptide Hair Serum (I started using it a few days ago and reviews mention you start seeing results in around 4 months)(I have irreversible alopecia but why not try something new?!)(with little expectation!) and a Rimmel Pro Micro 04 Brow Pencil.
Before leaving the shopping center altogether and joining Bruno back at the hotel lobby where he was waiting for me with a grapefruit cocktail (my favourite!), I also re-purchased my trusty Clinique Even Better Concealer - Shade: 28 Ivory and Bobbi Brown's Mahogany brow pencil (which just finished)(thank God I purchased two during the trip!) at Woolworths Beauty floor.
Jess
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