"The glittering lights of the Eiffel Tower dazzle in the distance. A gentle, magical breeze kisses your neck. An electric, captivating energy envelops you. This is Paris at dusk. Lancôme invites you and your readers to be swept away by the mystical aura of Paris at midnight with Midnight Roses, the hypnotizing fall collection that evokes the twilight hours when a woman’s beauty comes into full bloom." To make one feel as though she is a part of this magical scene, Lancôme introduced Moonlit Rose, a pink highlighting powder that takes the shape of (surprise – not!) a rose. I haven't been able to get my hands on it because I don't think it was released in the U.S. However, I'm intrigued by the combination of textures – the petals have a perfectly smooth, satin-like finish while the background resembles whisper-thin gossamer threads.
(image from flare.com)
What I enjoy most, though, is the interplay of positive and negative space. Although the petals and background are the same color, the rose shape is easily visible due to the petals' raised surface.
It reminded me a little of this work by Brazilian artist Vik Muniz. His White Rose (2003, from the Monads series) utilizes a similar concept, only reversed – the negative white space is the rose, formed by thousands of plastic toy bugs. The series "consist[s] of small objects
which tell a story by themselves, linked, simultaneously, to the larger
story of the whole image they form part of…In White Rose, Muniz composes the image of a pure white rose out
of various insects and animals which, in a certain way, contribute to
the birth, life and death of the rose." (source)
There is also the idea that things are not what they seem. At first glance we can tell the shape is a rose, but it takes a few seconds of looking at the photo to see what is comprising the outlines. In this way the artist "honors, questions and subverts the
traditions of representational art, treading the line between reality
and illusion, representation and abstraction, idea and image, means and
ends."
(image from cavetocanvas.com)
You can read more about him at his website.
I have so many rose palettes, but I think this one also belongs in the Museum. The design is simultaneously simple and complex, and it is the perfect shade of pink – not overly girly or shimmery.
What do you think?