Laura Mercier has released another collection this fall called the New Smoky Eye Collection. While the highlight is on dramatic eyes, I was personally more drawn to the new nude shades of Lip Glacés. (The smoky eye palette and caviar sticks were indeed lovely but seemed dupeable within my existing stash so I passed.) There are 6 shades of Bare Glosses in this collection ($22 each):
- Bare Pink is a cream pastel pink
- Bare Peach is a light peach with subtle shimmer
- Bare Naked is a nude beige with a slight sparkle
- Bare Baby is a pale pink with a soft sparkle and a slight hint of peach
- Bare Beige is a repromote, a neutral caramel nude-brown
- Bare Blush is a pink-taupe cream
Being the neutral-obsessed that I am, I ended up with 4, Bare Pink, Bare Peach, Bare Naked and Bare Baby. These have the signature Laura Mercier vanilla scent and have sheer coverage. I’ve had good experienced with Laura Mercier’s Lip Glaces in the past. Her colors have a diverse range of finishes from cream to fine shimmer to tiny microglitters. In general, the darker shades have a better pigment payoff. The lighter colors are more sheer. The Bare colors are rather pale. I can’t speak for all, but I do think girls with pigmented lips might not be able to pull these alone as these may end up looking chalky or ashy.
I tried Bare Peach and Bare Baby and while these are pale, they are sheer enough to work with my skin/lip tone. I have not tried the others on the lips yet but have swatched these below. Based on my swatches, I don’t think you need both Pink and Baby (the SA actually put Pink in my bag on accident instead of Bare Beige, but I’ve decided to keep the Pink).
Here is Bare Baby on my lips alone. It’s a borderline wash-out color for me. If you can pull off colors like YSL Rouge Volupte 1 or 2, MAC Angel, MAC Hue etc easily, then you will love this one. For me, it’s going to be more of a higher-maintenance nude. I suspect it will look better when layered over a pencil like Laura Mercier Chestnut or when blended with brighter lip shades.
Comparisons to other Laura Mercier and Le Metier de Beaute neutral shades are shown below. The * indicated the color was either limited edition and has been discontinued. From the photos below you can see the new Bare gloss shades are different from a number of existing Laura Mercier shades. Since most of the shades are sheer and blend out when applied on the lips, I tried to swatch these unevenly so you can see a variation of a heavy versus blended out swatch.
Have you seen or tried these yet? Can you pull of these gorgeous neutrals on your lips? Or are you like me and find many paler shades too pale on the lips?
