Inside Chanel’s Edinburgh ‘nightclub’, where lipstick lasts until dawn

In the summer of last year (2023) Chanel staged an ephemeral pop-up boutique in Edinburgh, located at No.8 Charlotte Square. Celebrating Gabrielle Chanel’s close ties to Scotland, the neoclassical Robert Adam-designed building became a showcase of its Métiers d’art 2023 collection. It was designed to feel like a ‘charming temporary home’, with a light and airy ambience embellished with soft furnishings and antiques.

This month (March 2024), however, there’s a new beauty-focused takeover to discover, that transports you from Mme Chanel’s 1920s drawing room to a 1980s-inspired nightclub. It marks the launch of Rouge Allure Velvet Nuit Blanche, a limited-edition range of lipsticks, accompanied by a campaign starring a leather-clad Margot Robbie.

Chanel’s Rouge Allure Velvet Nuit Blanche lipsticks go all night long

I took a trip up from London to preview the space, which is now open to the public until March 30, 2024. As the lipstick collection hones in on the transformative power of after-dark make-up (with eight different shades taking you from 12am to 7am) the townhouse has been decked out with a cinema with red neon signage, digital clocks displaying times between midnight and the morning, a nightclub replete with disco balls and DJ decks, and an illuminated make-up school, where Chanel-trained artists are on hand to offer product demonstrations and trials. The cinema itself screens the Rouge Allure Velvet Nuit Blanche campaign video, with Robbie recounting anecdotes from her life about lipstick and colour, set to a soundtrack of Grace Jones’ 1981 hit Nightclubbing. (Of course, we were offered Chanel-branded popcorn and a glass of champagne as an accompaniment to our viewing.)

Each lipstick is held in a white case with a black trim, a departure from Chanel’s usual glossy black and gold packaging, so a little easier to find when rummaging around your handbag in the corner of a dancefloor. And, each takes its name from the 24-hour clock, with colours that mirror the trajectory of a party.

There’s 00:00, a sienna red, and 01:00 a brick orange, followed by 02:00, an orange-toned red and 03:00 a vibrant fuchsia. These four shades are meant to reflect the early parts of the evening, when the clock strikes midnight and a wild soiree gets in full swing. The hours that follow include 04:00, a warm brown, and 05:00, a dusky purple, as the evening begins to wind down. As the sun comes up and a new day begins, any ill-advised behaviour is swiped away with the cool-toned 06:00 – a rosewood hue – and 07:00, a fresh pink.

As a die-hard night owl and lipstick obsessive, I can attest that the Rouge Allure Velvet Nuit Blanche lipsticks perform exactly how you would want them to. Although the textures are matte, with concentrated pigments providing an excellent payoff and staying power, an infusion of a moisturising jojoba oil derivative and shea butter means the formulas certainly live up to their velvety name, too.

The lipsticks come as individual tubes, or in a set of two or four. So you really can wear a different colour for every hour, if you so wish. The ‘walk of shame’ is now a walk to remember, thanks to Chanel.

The Rouge Allure Velvet Nuit Blanche Pop-Up is located at No.8 Charlotte Square, Edinburgh, EH2 4DR, Monday – Saturday 10am – 6pm, until March 30, 2024.

Rouge Allure Velvet Nuit Blanche is available now, £42.

chanel.com