My love affair with Dior began back in the 2000s, when I was young and ate pop culture for breakfast. I'd devour every magazine I could get my hands on, ripping out the pages and making collages. Between them, there was one common thread: celebs wearing Dior, specifically its handbags. It's the iconic saddle bag I remember most, in the French house's signature cannage fabric. Slung nonchalantly over the arms of Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, and Eva Mendes, naturally, I wanted one.
I quickly realised that it wasn't quite accessible for 13-year-old me.
Something that was however, was a Dior lipstick. There was something inexplicably gratifying about their sleek, weighty casing, beautiful textures, and impeccable shade range. With each trip to the shopping centre, I made a beeline to the counter, swatching every Rouge Dior lipstick I could (until I ran out of space on my arm, and the assistant ran out of patience).
My first purchase was the 999 lipstick. A shade of red that Christian Dior himself created in the 1950s, for models to wear on the runway. Purchasing it was a steadfast way to feel part of Dior.
Diorwww.boots.com
Fast forward 10 years, and it's still the red lipstick I lean on time and time again. It is my chicest make-up stalwart, and now it comes in a range of textures, from velvet and matte, to metallic.
I'm not lamenting my love for Dior and the iconic 999 shade for the hell of it. Today, the brand has launched three new coffrets in their signature couture velvet cannage fabric. My excitement palpable, I am already thinking of the ways I can repurpose the midnight blue box. Containing Rouge Dior 999 in the new velvet texture, this offers a more dimensional finish on the lip than its matte counterpart. The colour is deliciously opaque, and - as is true for all the Rouge Dior lipstick formulas - feels comfortable on the lips.
Diorwww.harrods.com
Alongside it comes the 000 Diornatural lip balm (undoubtedly, one of the chicest). It floods lips with moisture, making for a pretty perfect base for matte - or in this case, velvet - lipstick.
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As well as the classic 999 lipstick and lip balm, this contains the ultimate blue pink shade, 720, as well as Instagram's favourite nude, matte 100.
Much like the saddle bag, this final coffret in this limited edition range is a true investment piece; one that beauty lovers will, inevitably, adore.
Diorwww.harrods.com
To me, this lipstick wardrobe is quintessentially Dior: outrageously beautiful and endlessly luxe. Containing 35 lipsticks, I just know that younger me would've snipped this one out of a magazine before racing to the Dior counter.