After skincare (face, hands, or body), metal is now conquering makeup. In this segment, it may be matte or shiny, and it often requires us to be very well-informed to distinguish it from its plastic cousins. But it is mostly when using it that we can judge of its qualities and make a difference: over time, it evolves better than resin, on which we cannot but leave finger marks. Because of our travel-oriented lifestyle, it is actually ideal for ‘mobile’ makeup products remaining in our handbags (from lipsticks to powder compacts, or palettes). Metal is now as light as plastic, and it no longer has anything to do with Zamac, which was often chosen in the past, and still is today, to give a ‘statutory’ look (meaning ‘luxurious’) to high-end makeup products. The thing is, they are also… fixed (these products cannot leave our bathrooms)!

Brands bank on metal when they want to ‘give a face-lift’ to their lines, like Dior and Make Up For Ever.
Dior replaced plastic by metal for their iconic Rouge Dior, relaunched last fall (€35.50, 36 shades with a matte or satin-like finish) with a revisited skincare formula and a new metal case endowed with a blazing red lining (like this famous shoemaker!) inside the box.
As for Make Up For Ever, their latest creations (HD Microfinish Pressed Powder, €37.50, three shades, 01 Translucent, 02 Banana, 03 Peach, which adapt to all complexions, including ethnic skins), have also been slid into matte black metal, a box with rounded angles and its lid braided with a matte silver strip. No doubt this will seduce the selfie generation, since this invisible, ultra-fine, talc-free powder, which associates synthetic mica, silicone and silica powder, makes wrinkles, pores, and imperfections blurry and provides a flawless complexion, apart from a pixel!

Like a gouache box…

Trendy makeup brand Too Faced (which belongs to the Estée Lauder group) has adopted metal for their new makeup range with a peach extract and perfume – it has just been launched in Sephora stores.
Sweet Peach, an absolutely cute Collection of eye shadows (palette of 18 eye shadows, €44), looks like a paint box decorated with small raised peaches.
The same goes for their Peach Blush, Papa Don’t Peach (€28) and its Palette of illuminating powders with a peach extract (Sweet Peach Glow, €40). The metal skin feel is fresh, which adds even more sensoriality.

Benefit has also chosen this material in a matte version and ‘ingot’ shapes with cut sides for their new lipstick and eye shadow collection in the range They’re Real! (‘Double the Lip’ Lipstick, €22, eight shades; ‘Custom ShadowBlender’ Duo of Eye Shadows, €26, eight shades).

Let us finish with a nod: even anti-blister dressings have borrowed cosmetics codes! This spring, Hansaplast makes them glamorous by featuring them in metal cases with an attractive decoration, ideal for the bag.

Ariane Le Febvre