You can count on Clarins to capture the beauty mood of the season. Their latest collection, Clarins Graphic Expression, is a muted, moody blend of neutrals and subtle pops of colour in wonderfully rich textures. It’s edgy yet sophisticated, and just the ticket for an autumn of grunge glam.

Although there are some lip products launching, this look is most definitely all about the eyes. The star product is a brand new mascara, Be Long, plus there’s the return of the fabled Clarins 3 Dot Liner, now a permanent addition to the range.

I took a closer look at the collection’s new shades and textures – all in the name of research, of course – and fell in love with the darker hues. Read on to see how I fared…

Clarins Be Long Mascara

Clarins Be Long is no ordinary mascara. Its advanced formula is infused with a lash lengthening complex to help stimulate the look of your natural lashes, a combination of two active ingredients including Matrikine, a peptide for accelerated growth, and Panthenol for added strength. Aside from those long term enhancements it does a fantastic job of making the most of what you already have, providing ultra length and curl thanks to highly concentrated carnauba wax and a filmogenic polymer.

The first thing to note about the Clarins Be Long brush is that it’s pretty compact. Made up of flexible, plastic bristles of varying sizes arranged in a ‘spiral’ rotation, it doesn’t initially look like it would pack much of a punch. But looks are most definitely deceiving.

It’s small so that you can really get in there with the tiny corner lashes, sculpting and curling and making lash mountains out of molehills. As for the rest of the lashline, it behaves like a much bigger brush with the ability to lengthen and volumise diligently thanks to the spacing and texture of its bristles. It copes extremely well with multiple coats and applies so smoothly (which isn’t always the case with lengthening formulas), and one strip of bristles is slightly longer than the rest to comb through your lashes and ensure clean separation.

I purposefully didn’t curl my lashes before using Be Long to see how much the formula and special wand could do by itself. My eyelashes absolutely refuse to stay curled under any circumstance, so I wasn’t surprised to that there wasn’t a huge impact on their curvature after use. What I was surprised about is the fantastic lift that the mascara gave me – talk about a wide-eyed effect!

My favourite part of the Be Long mascara is most definitely the wand.  The fine bristles separated my lashes out really nicely, (I wiggled the wand through my lashes a little bit to create the baby doll look above), and the varying length of the bristles creates lovely texture. I’m a bit of an overuser when it comes to mascara, two coats just aren’t enough, but Be Long coped with my heavy-handedness really well. The formula was applied smoothly and evenly with each coat, and volume and length was built up beautifully. Shop Clarins Be Long Mascara here.

Clarins Eye Quartet Mineral Palette

Every few seasons Clarins produces a new colour harmony in their beautiful Eye Quartet Mineral Palette, a quad of soft and highly pigmented pressed mineral shadows. This autumn it’s all about intensity in a mix of dark, earthy tones.

Open the signature golden palette up to reveal four complementary shades for colouring, highlighting, lining and contouring the eye. There’s a full-sized mirror in the lid, and two applicator sponges, one pointed and one rounded.

The four shades are inspired by the earthy colours found in the forest, from the deep mossy green of the leaves, to the glint of the sunlight shining through the trees. The texture of the Clarins mineral eyeshadow is lovely: soft, luxurious and ever so slightly creamy. Use dry for a wash of pigmented colour, or wet for added intensity.

The Forest colour harmony is made up of khaki satin, an ultra shimmery white gold, a deep burnished bronze with golden glitter, and a taupe satin with a metallic sheen. It’s a beautiful combination of colours: deep and intense, but with wearable, shimmering textures to brighten things up  a bit. I think Forest is a perfect natural step for those who are used to wearing neutral and brown shades. If you’re wanting to switch things up a bit for autumn, look no further. Shop the Clarins Eye Quartet Mineral Palette here.

Clarins 3-Dot Liner

The Clarins 3 Dot Liner made its first appearance in last year’s autumn collection as a limited edition. The demand was so great for the innovative tool that this year, Clarins has brought it back as a permanent product!

It’s essentially a felt tip liner with three evenly spaced ‘prongs’. The benefit of this shape, according to Clarins, is that it allows you to fill in the spaces between lashes with a more natural finish, and enables you to easily create precise lines.

There are all sorts of effects you can create with the unique liner tip. From graphic triple-lined eyes, to smoother and more impactful cats eye flicks and ultra natural barely-lined eyes, it’s such a handy tool for those who love eyeliner but wish it was a bit easier to apply. Shop the Clarins 3 Dot Liner here.

Clarins Crayon Khol

The Clarins Crayon Khol is perhaps my favourite product of the entire collection. I do love an eyeliner! This particular one is a very nice formula indeed, marrying intense colour with an ultra gentle, eye-safe formula that lasts from day to night. The glide of these liners is absolutely lovely.

The colour selection is fantastic, too. The shades are a vibrant and intense mix of both matte and metallic finishes, with a lovely gel-cream texture that doesn’t tug at the skin.

01 Intense Black is just that, rich jet black with a matte finish; 02 Intense Brown is medium chocolate brown with a matte finish;  03 Intense Blue is deep navy blue with a metallic finish; 04 Platinum is steel grey with a lovely silver shift;  05 Intense Violet is deep indigo with a subtle metallic sheen; 06 Bronze is blackened moss green with a golden shift; 08 Taupe is rosy beige with a metallic finish; and 08 Smoky Plum is a dusky lilac with a metallic finish.

At the other end of the Crayon Khol is something that I know will grab the attention of liner fans – instead of a smudging tool, the pencil comes complete with a small integrated brush. That means you can create a well-blended smoky eye on the go (not just a slightly smudged line of colour).

See? A line of pure colour turned into a wonderfully diffused smoky effect in seconds. Plus, once it’s on, this liner formula truly does last and last until you want it gone. Shop the Clarins Crayon Khol here.

Clarins Joli Rouge Lipstick

Last but not least, the support for the main acts: the Clarins Joli Rouge Lipstick. There are three limited edition shades created especially for the Graphic Expression collection, an on trend mix of bold and intense shades infused into that famous Joli Rouge mango butter lipstick base.

736 Pink Camellia is a sweet pop of medium pink that leans ever so slightly cool; 737 Spicy Cinnamon is a gorgeous brick red/terracotta shade; and 738 Royal Plum is a muted burgundy plum. All three have a medium to opaque finish and are very creamy indeed, which means you can sheer them out quite easily for a subtle wash of colour.  Shop Clarins Joli Rouge here.

So, that’s it! Are any of the new shades and textures taking your fancy? Discover the entire Clarins Graphic Expression collection here.