Lancome Auda (city) in London Palette

I received this Lancôme Auda[city] in London palette last month, and I believe it is still available in counters here in Singapore, even though it was released in the US last fall. This is a large palette, almost too large to be held in 1 hand, and contains 16 x 1gm full-sized eyeshadows. Inspired by the streets of London, this palette feels distinctly urban, boasting cool, metallic hues.

Lancôme Auda[city] in London feels generally cooler in tone than its predecessor (the Auda[city] in Paris palette), but is the same shape and size. There is a generous-sized mirror on the inside of the lid, and a dual-ended brush that works fairly well. The cover is printed with a graphic of the London skyline in grey.

The palette contains 16 new limited edition eyeshadows, and is composed around 4 color families - orange, purple, green, grey. Each color family features 3 matte and shimmery eyeshadows, and 1 special metallic pigment that may be used as a top coat or on its own.

I swatched these by their color families, running from left to right of the palette, incorporating the metallic pigment arranged horizontally at the bottom of the palette into each group of colors.

From left to right, the shades are:

• Midnight Haze [bottom left] - metallic orange copper with golden glitter
• Queen’s lace [top left] - matte ivory that has difficulty showing up against my skin tone
• Trenchcoat [2nd from left] - pale barley brown with a soft matte finish
• Woody Bar [3rd from left] - light medium orange with a matte finish
• Rich History [4th from left] - light medium muted lavender with a satin matte finish
• London Is Callin’ [5th from left] - medium warm-toned purple
• Purple Queen [6th from left] - dark purple with violet, turquoise and silver micro-shimmers
• Garden Rose [bottom 2nd from left] - medium purple with silver glitter

Continuing onto the right half of the palette:

• Soho Lights [bottom 2nd from right] - light greenish-silver with chunky silver glitter and a semi-transparent base
• Fresh Garden [6th from the right] - light moss-green with a pearl finish
• Misty Morning [5th from right] - dark olive green with a satin finish
• Steel [4th from right] - medium silver with a slightly warm-toned sooty finish
• Rainy Afternoon [3rd from right] - medium cool-toned silver with a metallic finish
• Purple Pageantry [2nd from right] - is a misnomer as it is entirely dark grey with no purple in sight!
• Midnight Purple [right most] - is another tease because it is a dark black
• Tower Bridge [bottom right] - brightened silver

I read a particularly bad review of this palette online, but I personally did not feel this was a bad palette at all. Some of the metallic pigments had a somewhat translucent base and worked better as a topper than on their own, and naturally with shades like these you need some form of fixer to keep it in place; but other than that I felt the Auda[city] in London palette was on par with the other Lancome eyeshadows.

I thought I might create eye looks for each of the 4 color families, but then I got distracted by other new things, and I thought you’d get bored too. So instead, I created 2 separate day and night eye looks. For this day look, I used the orange color family, sweeping Woody Bar over my entire lid, followed by Trenchcoat on the crease and outer corner. Finished by patting Midnight Haze on the center of my lid, and a little Queen’s Lace on the inner corner of my eye.

Clearly this is a warmer look, and so I paired it with Lancome L’Absolu Rouge in Caprice [reviewed here] on the lips.

For the evening look, I kept things casual without going too high up on the lid and overly heavy, but you could do so of course. I started with London Is Callin’ all over the lid, and Purple Pageantry on the outer corners. Finally, I patted some Garden Rose on the center of the lid, and popped some Tower Bridge on the inner corner.

This look paired really well with the L’Absolu Rouge in Rose Lancome!

Overall, Lancome Auda[city] in London is a lovely palette with lots of options to choose from and easy to work with. I think cooler/medium - toned ladies may enjoy this palette more, but if it entirely a matter of preferences. The palette is a good size, easy for working with at home with a desk or for a client, but not quite as handy for traveling. It is limited edition though, so check it out while you still can!

_{This post featured a product that was kindly provided for my consideration. Regardless, all opinions expressed here are my own honest, unbiased views.}