April Long answers all your beauty-related questions with practical advice and zero judgment.
Photo-Illustration: by The Cut; Photo: Asia Milia Ware
We need to talk about the Chanel Kit & Caboodle beauty box. In the past week, our social-media feeds have been flooded with reels of gushing content creators, makeup artists, and editorial directors opening up a sleek black CC-logo-adorned case containing a bounty of Chanel beauty goodies. For anyone not on the Chanel mailing list, this is the type of FOMO fodder that you simply cannot peel your eyes away from — which is why these posts are racking up thousands of views. Watching influencers dip their perfectly manicured fingers into pots of cream, swirling rouge on their cheeks, and striping their forearms with eyeliner shade swatches is mesmerizing eye candy — and, let’s face it, a genius marketing move on the part of Chanel.
What’s inside the box? Deep breath: a La Crème Main Hand Cream; the Revitalizing Serum, Cream, and Eye Cream from the red-camellia-extract-powered No. 1 de Chanel range; a Hydra Beauty Nourishing Lip Care balm; Les Beiges Water Fresh Blush in Warm Pink; the multitasking No. 1 de Chanel Lip and Cheek Balm in Vital Beige, Wakeup Pink, and Red Camellia (the exact shade, as Savannah Gowarty points out, that makeup artist Pati Dubroff used on Margot Robbie for the Wuthering Heights premiere); two Baume Essentiel Multi-Use Glow Sticks in Sculpting and Rosée; two single shades of the Ombre Essentielle Multi-Use Longwearing Eyeshadow plus the Multi-Use Longwearing Top Coat in Blanc Perle, which you can apply over the eye shadow for iridescent shimmer; Stylo Yeux Waterproof Long Lasting Eyeliner in green, black, and brown; Le Volume de Chanel Mascara in Noir and Blue Night; and Le Rouge Duo Ultra Tenue Ultrawear Liquid Lip Color in Ever Red, Darling Pink, and Light Brown. Phew! No wonder everyone who opens it gasps. That’s a beauty bounty worth nearly $1,250.
Photo: Asia Milia Ware
As a beauty editor, I have tried every product that the Kit & Caboodle contains. Feeling inspired to pick up a few Chanel beauty goodies but don’t know where to start? I’ve got you. If I were to build my own edited kit of Chanel beauty essentials from the big black box, here are the five products I would buy.
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Officially the chicest hand cream on the planet. Not only is it ultramoisturizing for skin, nails, and cuticles, there’s something undeniably ergonomically comforting about the way the egg-shaped dispenser fits so nicely in the palm of your hand. As makeup artist Kate Lee says in her unboxing video, “It’s just the most beautiful object to have on your person.”
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Red lipstick is my No. 1 makeup essential, and this stuff is my ride or die. You slick the color on, then use the clear gloss over it like a nail-polish top coat to lock it in. No olive-oil-sodden bruschetta can budge it; there will be no marks on your coffee cup, nor any telltale smudges on anyone you kiss. But unlike 99 percent of the long-lasting lip-color options on the market, it also doesn’t dry out your lips. As Kate Lee says, “This is probably the truest red you can get. And it’s not going to move.”
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This isn’t actually a sculpting stick in the way you might expect. In other words, it’s not a bronzer. It’s an ultrasheer gold-toned highlighting stick that gives subtle dimension to facial contours. You can use it to spotlight cheekbones like a regular highlighter, or combine it with a touch of concealer or foundation to make your entire face glow like an angel fairy. I use it on the inner corners of my eyes and on my lids on days that I’m feeling especially haggard, and it works like magic to make me look alive. It’s also incredibly hydrating. As Janjan.Maria says: “Instant glass skin.”
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Sarah Palmyra says, “There’s nothing else like this on the market,” and she’s absolutely right. The formula, which is 75 percent water, contains microdroplets of pigment that burst upon contact with skin, diffusing supersoft natural-looking color. “It reveals this beautiful muted nude flush that seems to come from within,” says Palmyra. It’s perfect for days when you don’t want to look “makeup-y” but just like you’ve been out for a brisk walk. And, like Endlesslyloveclub, I’ve also found that it works nicely as a subtly pink eye shadow.
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Not going to lie: It was really difficult to limit myself to only five must-haves from the Kit & Caboodle. The Le Volume Mascara is one of my all-time favorite mascaras, and I use the black Stylo Yeux eyeliner every day (it’s one of the few that I can use on my waterline without any irritation whatsoever, and it doesn’t smudge). But the Red Camellia Lip and Cheek balm? It’s the viral Margot Robbie shade, for a start (DuBroff actually blended it with Berry Boost, which was the shade that the Wuthering Heights makeup artist used for the film). And I promise it’s as good as everyone says it is. As Lee notes, “You can use it to get a lot of different effects” — you can tap it on lightly for a faint flush on cheeks or to create the look of a lip stain, or you can build it for major drama. I love how it makes my skin look plump and dewy and how portable it is — a little one-stop shop in a pot for lips and cheeks that I can have with me wherever I go.
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