[unpaid/sample] CHANEL’s affiliation with tweed is legendary but let’s not forget that tweed was considered almost utilitarian wear or, dare I say it, for women of a certain age – certainly not something fashionable. It took Karl Lagerfeld’s reinvention to bring it out of the doldrums, becoming iconic for the brand and infinitely covetable. This isn’t the first time that the brand has used tweed as a texture for their palettes but I think it is the first time that they’ve come with their own tweed pouches, created by Mason Lesage who supply haute couture embroidery and sewing skills to CHANEL. I will say straight away that I have kept one back from swatching (Tweed Fauve) because I want to put it in my collection, but if anyone particularly wants to see swatches, I can do it without crying (much) ;-).

Over the years I have bought several things from CHANEL – Mr BBB always bought me a piece of costume jewellery for Christmas or birthday, I’ve found some amazing auction buys and re-sale buys (a black jacket in Milan) plus a couple of bags I bought myself before the prices shot up, as well as winning a bag in a charity raffle. My favourite item is a very battered, much used and tiny cream quilted bag that – believe it or not – I found the very first (and last) time I went on Gumtree. I was sceptical but it turned out it had belonged to someone’s grandmother who had passed away and the grandchildren were clearing the attic in her house. When I received it, in the little pocket inside was a set of raffle tickets and I’ve kept them there – they’re just part of the bag and its history. One day I will get it revamped. However, somehow I don’t have a single tweed item – I think I like these so much because now I do!

This is my favourite – Tweed Brun et Rose. I did the first full eye look I’ve done in a very, very long time with this palette and liked it so perhaps it’s broken my mono-shade rule.

It’s a very easy wear as you can see – I used the second shade in the top row as the base, the deepest in the crease and the first shade as a highlight up to my brow. The pale pink shade is all shimmer so I swept it into the middle of the lid. What I should have done but remembered too late was use the deep brown as kohl by tapping it onto my lower inner eye rim but instead I used a brown kohl. But, I think you can see that using the colours slightly differently you can go as strong or as light as you want with Tweed Brun et Rose. Oh, and the tweed jackets all correspond with the shades within the palettes.

This is Tweed Pourpre that combines pinks and mauves – it’s very soft and almost misty in pay off (remember the SUQQU  ‘foggy’ finish – it’s a bit like that).

There’s a shot of iridescence too so there is more to this palette that first meets the eye (see what I did – insert eyeroll emoji).

This is Tweed Cuivre – it’s the one for you if you love golden hues and don’t forget, gold makes blue eyes come to life so don’t be put off by the warmth of this. It’s rich and shimmery – think winter midnight glam.

Tweed Cuivre feels opulent and smoky – if you love a gleaming eye look, it’s for you.

Here is Tweed Fauve – the one with no swatches. It’s a sunset composition – again, if you have blue or green eyes don’t dismiss this as too warm.

The Chanel Les 4 Ombres Tweed is a limited edition collection – the palettes are £67 each so (in my book) a considered purchase. They’re available from CHANEL HERE and Harrods but you’re better off going direct to CHANEL because postage is complimentary as are two free samples.  I’ve unearthed some pictures of previous ‘tweed’ textures from CHANEL both of which live in my collection (hoard!). The first is from 2011 and the second is a limited edition for France only from 2017.