SPRING AMIDST THE SNOW

Despite the snow on both sides of the Channel, French designers have been contemplating the Spring.

Snow in Kensington Gardens

In Paris, the Haute Couture collections for Spring/Summer 2013 have been shown this week.  Raf Simons, Creative Director at Christian Dior, presented his beautiful and elegant collection at the Jardin des Tuileries.  Inside the large tent, it was a garden in Spring.  Models with short gamine hair and bright coloured, jewelled, glossy lips walked like flowers between green boxwood hedges.  Evening dresses with strapless bodices were the main theme, often with full skirts.  There were silks in colours ranging from very pale to dark with a few bright flashes of poppy and yellow, layering and flower embroidery.  A pale pink and white silk strapless ball gown deserved a special mention. In complete contrast, there were two black tuxedos with fitted jackets and cigarette trousers, echoing his ready-to-wear collection.  For elegance and clothes that fit and flatter the body, I think that Dior now has the edge.

Back here in London, Chanel's new season's makeup has arrived.  Printemps Précieux de Chanel is a fresh and vibrant Spring collection with an emphasis on "precious pinks" or "rich plums" for lips and nails.  My favourite lipsticks were Précieuse (No. 114), a peach and Fantasque (No.112), a pink, both from the Rouge Allure Luminous Intense Lip Colour range.  I decided on the peach,  Précieuse. 

I also fell for Merveille (No. 69), a mauve colour lip gloss with a high shine, from the Rouge Allure Extrait de Gloss selection.

I wanted to continue wearing a dark nail polish in Spring.  I did like their Le Vernis Nail Colour in Accessoire (No. 573), a lovely rich, plummy purple but I actually ended up buying Topshop's NAILS in Velvet Underground, a more blueish shade of purple.  

Topshop's nail polish is reasonably priced and I find that it's good value for the money.  It is easy and smooth to apply, looks good and stays on quite well without chipping.

Spring News: French actress, Vanessa Paradis, is the new face of this Spring's H&M Conscious Collection.