She captured fleeting, photographic moments to find fresh nuances for color and visual textures that could inform the Fall / Winter Collection. ”there was the sea, with the sun coming from one side to create this beautiful coppery gold, and then this lighter, brighter blue and a darker blue, and the pavement looked this beautiful beige…it was an obvious palette. It was just right in front of me;  I couldn’t escape.”

As befits the freedom of a road trip, effortlessness is key to the collection, too: Lucia Pica also introduces a long-time dream of hers; a PALETTE ESSENTIELLE containing three key products to offer a modern touch of natural polish in the form of creamy concealer, highlighter and blush used also for lip and cheeks. And a renewed focus on brows with new STYLO SOURCILS WATERPROOF eyebrow pencils offerS a sophisticated way to frame and define the face.

And to complete the use of PALETTE ESSENTIELLE, CHANEL launches two elegant and essential brushes: The RETRACTABLE DUAL-TIP CONCEALER BRUSH, with a flat side at one end with which to pick up the concealer, and the soft tip at the other end with which to blend. The striking new RETRACTABLE DUAL-HEAD FACE BRUSH/BLUSH AND HIGHLIGHTER completes the collection: use the white side with the highlighter and the black side for the blusher.

The art of the unexpected; the energising jolt of taking a fresh look at familiar subjects. CHANEL presents Fall / Winter beauty as a new understanding of beauty and simplicity that very much celebrates duality.

 ”I am always trying to find the opposition – I think it’s something that is very CHANEL,” says Lucia Pica. So, for eyes, a darkness and intensity as enigmatic as the Californian ocean; for lips, the brightest pop colors that bring irreverence and energy. The smoky, spacey and skyward shades of the two LES 4 OMBRES eyeshadow palette CITY Lights and Road Movie are oxygenated by their outdoorsy inspiration, tones of deep water harmonising with shades of cool air.

And two OMBRE PREMIERE crème mono eyeshadows Urban and MEMORY exemplify the easiness of Lucia Pica’s road trip-inspired collection; each a shorthand for elegant eye make-up, like Urban, a deep petrol blue that seems to exemplify the very essence of a road trip.

Another effortless essential, and a hallmark of Lucia Pica’s own work: the perfect deep black eyeliner pen. SIGNATURE DE CHANEL is a new fluid, intense and smooth formula that glides effortlessly across the eyes for an intense, satiny-black line, and is both waterproof and smudge-proof. Eyes are further intensified by an entirely new range of STYLO SOURCILS WATERPROOF eyebrow pencils in beautiful, natural-looking shades. A soft, buildable yet long-lasting formulation, the bevelled tip never needs sharpening, and offers a flat edge for a softer look and a pointed tip for definition, while a perfectly-shaped brush offers instant and essential brow grooming.

And there are reds, too: ROUGE ALLURE VELVET, that decadent, soft, rich matte lipstick, expands the theme of opposition as it gets reimagined for day and night: and First Light is a bright, poppy orange-red; and Nightfall is a dusky burned red.

Finally, nails are where the touch of irreverence in California’s beauty finds a home: LE VERNIS HORIZON Line is a soft greenish grey; LE VERNIS New Dawn is a muted taupe-grey.