My makeup bag started this week with only 4 items (EB Daydream, Lancome Juicy Tube, mini blush brush, Chanel Boy Rouge Coco Shine), but since Monday it’s accumulated quite a few more things this long work-week. Today, what is inside my Laura Mercier zebra print makeup bag:
NARS Tzarine Eyeshadow Duo
MAC Blonde MSF (limited edition from January 2009)
Burberry Misty Blush (new for spring, review to come soon)
Chanel Boy Rouge Coco Shine
Laura Mercier Mini Double Sided Brush
MAC Wolf Pearlglide (limited edition from 2008ish)
Lancôme Yayoi Kusama Edition Juicy Tube in Dot Apricot (now at Nordstrom)
Edward Bess Daydream Bronzer (my holy grail bronzer, reviewed numerous times here)
Le Métier de Beauté Sheer Brilliance Lip Gloss Ibiza
Le Métier de Beauté Sheer Brilliance Lip Gloss Captiva
I’m sure you’ve already seen the previews of the holiday colors from The Lancome Blog. One can never really tell what to expect from backstage or runway photos. I was expecting a steel grey with a hint of blue but what arrived was a blue with slight grey tones in a metallic finish. The red shade Le Rouge L’Wren 020 (reviewed last week here) seems more holiday-appropriate but the blue shade is still lovely nevertheless and it is indeed swoon-worthy.
Here it is with 2 coats, no base or top coat:
I was prepared to do a full comparison to steely greys but since it’s definitely more blue, I searched through my stash for blue-greys. Here it is compared to a few other blueish shades, l to r: NARS Full Metal Jacket, Rescue Beauty Lounge Stormy*, Lancome Le Gris L’Wren 021, MAC Blue India
* The Nars & RBL shades were previously featured here.
Overall thoughts: Lovely color but I prefer the red one released in the holiday collection. In terms of the finish/texture Le Gris L’Wren gives full coverage with 2 coats but I found it slightly goopy making it a bit difficult to apply evenly. Do note that I am a bit clumsy when it comes to self application of nail polish. Not everyone will find this hard to work with. The metallic finish makes it a bit streaky if not applied with a steady hand. To me, Le Gris L’Wren seems like a pearl version of MAC Blue India. Still Lancome has caught my attention and I hope they will continue to release more shades in the US.
Lancome and stylist L’Wren Scott have released two mini nail polishes for the holiday collection in Le Rouge L’Wren 020 (deep sparkling red) and Le Gris L’Wren 021 (shimmery steel blue-grey). Both are indeed swoon-worthy and I opted for the red one today since there’s nothing like a good red nail polish to make a woman feel like a woman.
Le Rouge L’Wren is a deep wine red with tiny red micro-sparkles that are slightly brighter than the base. From arm’s length you can’t really see the shimmer but the finish is glossy and the red is uber sophisticated. It has just the right amount of red to prevent it from being too vampy. I know I have similar shades in my nail polish stash – I just haven’t pulled any to compare. Off the top of my head I don’t think any have the same red sparkle quality. Now if I could only find a lipgloss the same color …
The holiday nail polishes ($14.50 for 6 ml) come in a mini version of the full size ($18 for 10 ml). It has the same style packaging but comes with a black twist off cap instead of silver. They are too cute!
Here is Le Rouge L’Wren in action:
Applying Bobbi Brown’s Kir Sugar Lipgloss over MAC’s VGVI Lipstick:
Getting ready to go out:
Just posing:
I did get the blue-grey one too. That color will be reviewed soon.
I was finally able to jump on the Lancome Erika F bandwagon which was possible thanks to my UK blogger contact (thank you a million times over again). It is even more gorgeous than I had imagined. I’ve seen it described a number of ways – so I was really curious to see what it looked like in real life. I’ve read it described as a lovely taupe – but to me, it’s more of a silvery greenish shade rather than a taupe. To me it’s a complex silvery green sparkle with maybe the slightest hint of taupe. Maybe it’s just my skintone, but I find Stila’s Diamond Lil to be green and I know many disagree with me.
The Lancome Erika F is very unique and the pigment is superb. I haven’t been a huge fan of Lancome eyeshadows, but this one has definitely changed my mind. Now if only they would release this formula & packaging in the US!
I pulled out my other greenish-taupe-silver shadows to see how it compared. Here it is compared to Benefit Where’s the Smoke, MAC Greensmoke, Paul & Joe #18, Bobbi Brown Pewter Chrome & Stila Diamond Lil. I feel that the Lancome Erika F is truly unique!
Swatches on bare skin (note again, please take swatches with a grain of salt, I have a light-medium complexion, if your skintone is different from mine, of course this will look different on you, and also, I’d like to point out again that my swatches are not the best):
Two more views of swatches, same order, different lighting:
Anyone else have this shade? What other colors do you use to compliment this color? I need inspirational ideas!
I want to thank you again for everyone who submitted feedback in my recent survey. Next week I will be doing a series on reader requests, focusing particularly the topics that received at least 3 or more mentions.
I just received a package from London, thanks to one of my favorite UK bloggers who was so kind to arrange a custom purchase for me. I was ecstatic to be able to get my hands on the Lancome Pop Petrol 014 Le Vernis Nail Color and immediately ran out to get a manicure.
How would I describe it? It’s not quite as teal as the promo pictures showed, but it’s still stunningly gorgeous. I’d describe it as a complex murky deep ocean blue-green. In natural light, it looks dark and almost black, but when the sunlight shines on it, the color flashes smokey greenish blue.
I took quite a few photos to try and show you how it looks at different angles and with different lighting. I hope this gives you an idea of how the color looks.
Please do not republish these photos, thanks!
With flash:
No flash:
With flash against Balenciaga First in Anthracite (2007 s/s):
Without flash against Balenciaga First (2007 s/s):
I did another post on some other teal-greenish nail polishes here. The closest color I have is Lippmann’s Don’t Tell Mama. They are extremely close to each other, the Lippmann is just greener and Lancome has a more smokey finish.
Overall thoughts: I love the color. It’s a beautiful unique smokey green. The formula itself isn’t easy to work with, but it’s no different from other dark greens which seem to have a very sheer/streaky blackish base. Like all the other greens I have, the first coat looks horrid, but after the 2nd and 3rd coats you get the full frost finish. The salon put on 2 thick coats which took really long for it to dry. I would have rather had her apply 3 thinner coats, but was in a rush for a meeting. Overall, huge thumbs up. I’ll try and update in a few days after I see how it wears.
Lancome is one of those brands I’ve never really ventured into because of the heavily fragranced lipsticks and glosses. I do have a few of their blushes which I love and recently added the new spring Pop N’ Cheeks in Coral Flirt to my stash.
The newest addition in the US to the Lancome line is their Limited Edition Chris & Tell L’Absolu Rouge Lipcolor by Chris Benz. This purchase was enabled thanks to the amazing Karlasugar (thank you!). I loved the way it looked on Joeybunny in her review here at Pink Sith.
I hear this sold out really fast due to its exclusivity and I’ve been searching everywhere for actual pictures of it versus the stock photos. I assumed since there was so much buzz about this before it was released that there would be a lot more reviews, swatches and blog posts on this. If you have any links, please let me know! I’d love to see how other people are wearing it.
*UPDATE* The lovely Martha posted in the comments that she reviewed it on her blog Planet Martha. (TY!) Check out her blog linked here for her review and photos.
The photos and swatches:
* Note the flash makes this look a bit lighter than it does in real life
* Note the flash makes this look lighter than it does in real life
This is the brightest lipstick I have. Josie warned me that it was bright. From the stock photos and looks from backstage, I had a feeling it would be on the brighter side, yet I still was willing to take the risk and had myself put on a waitlist for it. We both discussed our thoughts on this new lipstick and I think we both agree that while it’s nice, it’s borderline unflattering.
I applied it with a medium hand and sure enough – it’s a vibrant coral pinkish peach that made me feel kinda hoorish. I think Martha from Planet Martha described it perfectly (check out her review to read her thoughts). Perhaps this is why I haven’t been able to find more reviews on this. I think blondes will be able to pull this color off better. Not that I’m saying they are hoorish in anyway – it’s just my blonde friends have the ability to pull off these brighter corals better than me.
The texture is smooth, soft and creamy. I’m a bit worried it might break at the base. When I applied it, the lipstick moved around a bit so now there are scuff marks from the inside of the lipstick tube on the actual lipstick. The product smells kinda like a potpourri/playdo combination and tastes terrible. Luckily the scent fades after a while.
So – if you bought this and tried it, what’s your verdict? I’m going to have to play around with it more by blotting it, topping it with a paler gloss, etc. In a high flash photo, on me it looks exactly like it did on Ashley Greene (see her photo on Karlasugar’s blog here) – BUT that’s only when the flash is high to wash out the color a bit. It will probably suit my coloring better if I apply it with a lighter hand or just blot it down or just sheered out a bit.
I haven’t tried much from Lancome with the exception of their blushes and Bifacil makeup remover, so I’m not really familiar with the line. I assume their product launches are similar to Dior where they release different items in different countries. I know for holiday, Asia got that pretty pink cherub highlighter while the US only got the golden bronzey one. It appears there are 2 versions of the Pop N’Cheeks Gentle & Lasting Color Powder Blush as well, I only saw 01 Coral Flirt at Nordstrom, but the Asian catalogs show another pretty peach/pink blush 02. I believe I saw a few different glosses that are not shown in these previews as well (the ones in the round tubes).
Someone please correct me if I’m am wrong. I would be THRILLED to know if the 02 blush is available in the US anywhere! (There’s one more scan a few posts down from January 1.)
The new tester unit caught my eye as I was browsing through Nordstrom. I am sorry to say I can’t remember anything else I saw, although I wish I had paid more attention. I only remember looking at the glosses thinking they were too sparkley for my taste and then moved on.
The Coral Flirt Blush is designed in an abstract rose pattern. The gold is only an overspray. The tester I saw had no gold left on the product, so I got to swirl it with my fingers. It gives a very sheer soft peach blush. If you’re familiar with Benefit Coralista & Georgia, I would say the new Lancome is in between those 2 shades once brushed on your cheeks.
Close up with flash
Close up in natural sunlight
Since I know many of you insiston swatches, even though I hate mine, here it is swatched on three fingers. The first finger has the gold sparkle, the second and third have progressively less overspray-sparkle, but it’s a bit hard to see. I highly recommend testing in person.
Overall a nice soft and sheer peach. You’d probably get more pigment with MAC Pinch O Peach (also more pink) or Laura Mercier Orange Blossom blush. It’s good for a natural cheek and the bonus for me is that there is no detectable scent on the product.
