As far as I know, in the US, the items are exclusive to each category listed above. I did not have in person access to any of these, but thanks to the blogs Café Makeup, Makeup Magpie and The Stash Archives, I was able to find out more about these colors and make a purchasing decision.
Up first: Chanel Liberté Rouge Allure Extrait de Gloss #54 is a soft peachy-pink with subtle shimmer. The texture is creamy and thick yet smooth with medium coverage. The color is gorgeous but close to my natural lip color so it looks sheerish on my lips. (No lip swatches yet, it’s been cloudy and dark so I can’t get good lip photos.) I called up Nikki from Dolce & Gabbana at Saks Houston as soon as I spotted the Liberté gloss online and luckily she located a few for me. I can’t rave enough about how awesome and helpful she is (more D&G reviews to come soon). Definitely check out Makeup Magpie and The Stash Archives for more amazing swatches/reviews from different points of view.
Compared to a few other RAEs, #55 Confidence and #56 Imaginaire, the exclusive Liberte is more peachy pinky, similar to Candy Glow Aqualumiere Gloss (scroll down for swatches):
Up second: Baroque Rouge Coco #30 is a hard one to describe and extremely difficult to photograph accurately. In the tube, it’s a browned plum, leaning more towards brown, but depending on the angle you hold it, you will see it flash plum. On the lips, it’s a deep brownish-red-brick type color. I don’t own anything like it, but Sycamore Rouge Coco seems to be in a similar color family. I like it for holiday/fall but it will probably be too dark and dramatic once spring (the real spring season that is) arrives.
Finally: Berry Precision Eye Definer #58 is a beautiful taupe-plum frost. Hard to envision, but it’s like a silvery purple. (Scroll down below to see swatches.) I love how different this is from anything I’ve ever seen. Not a straight plum, not quite brownish, not taupe – but rather a mix of all three. The application on these pencils is smooth with rich pigment. Staying power is average. It doesn’t fade or disappear fast, but it definitely won’t last from morning to night.
On the nails, OPI Holiday Glow (from 2009) over Dior Aztec Chocolate
Overall:
Liberte – I love this color, it’s right up my alley, but it’s better when layered over a lipstick. By itself I find it too sheer. I think it will complement colors like MAC Ramblin Rose or Chanel Muse Rouge Coco well. For some reason, peachy colors blend in more naturally for me. The other pinks like Confidence (reviewed here) and Imaginaire, although similar in intensity (or lightness) show up significantly more because they are pinkish rather than peachish. Weird, right?
Baroque – Beautiful rich dark, but not too dark. Like Amy from Cafe Makeup says, it’s good for right now.
Berry – Love. Definitely check out Amy’s review (linked here). Her photos are better than mine and capture that beautiful silvery quality that is hard to photograph.
Swatches below (detail can be viewed better if you click on these images for larger viewing):
I told myself I wasn’t going to buy another $95 kit so I blame this purchase on The Non-Blonde & Best Things in Beauty. Ok, well not entirely. I sat in my Le Métier de Beauté makeup artist’s chair at my local Neimans and fell in love with what she did with the new Splendid Frost Kaleidoscope Eye Kit. The colors are luxurious, highly pigmented and just breathtaking. Even at a jaw-dropping $95, it’s still worth every penny (if you do the math, it comes out to about $23 per shadow not counting the compact). The texture is smooth and easy to blend. Even the high-frost shades are extremely wearable, so those who can’t pull off high shimmers need not worry. Beautiful for the holidays, going out, and yet appropriate for day-wear if worn with a lighter touch.
The colors, described by me are as follows:
First tier – a brassy gold high frost shimmer, if you remember Bobbi Brown’s Platinum Metallic from last year, this is a slightly more golden/brassy type of color but similar in concept
Second tier – soft matte grey but full-pigment, it’s a true neutral grey on me
Third tier – coral-pink infused with gold shimmer, this one just glows, it’s not too peachy/pinky that you can’t wear it on the eyes, but I would recommend applying with a soft hand
Fourth tier – my favorite, a deep navy with just the right amount of brightness so it doesn’t appear black, comes with tiny red and gold microglitters that make this one of those colors that make you gasp “wow”
Close ups of each shade:
I’ve heard different things about the packaging this season. Some who purchased from Bergdorf Goodman received their kit in the regular black packaging. I can’t confirm if their packaging is different or not though. The one I bought from my Neimans came in a beautiful frosted white case.
L to R: Regular Packaging, Holiday 2010, Lip Kits
Swatches:
Overall – L O V E!!!! It’s so pretty, I nearly died when I saw it in person. I couldn’t find it anywhere online yet. I recommend calling your local Neimans to see if they stock Le Metier de Beaute. Chances are if they do carry the brand, the holiday kit is in stock since they recently had their InCircle events going on.
All content copyrighted. Please do not republish, hotlink or post on other websites or message boards. Thank you.
This year our beloved Karla Sugar had a brilliant idea to put together something called BeautyBloggers.org – a collaboration of almost 50 different beauty bloggers and brands. In the spirit of the holidays, we wanted to make a meaningful contribution to charity — knowing that the most effective donation to any charity is cash. So we’ve donated some of our makeup on the auction block. Winning bids will be donated directly to Doctors Without Borders.
We’re raising money for Doctors Without Borders because women are always disproportionately affected in any disaster. This organization is committed to bringing quality medical care to people in crisis, regardless of race, religion, or political affiliation. They treat rape victims in Papua New Guinea; they make sure women don’t die in childbirth in Pakistan; they helped flood victims in Mexico and earthquake victims in Haiti. They work in 65 countries around the world, and your donation will make an immediate impact. Click here to learn more about MSF.
As a reminder, the auction is live now, and will close on Monday, December 20 at 5 pm CST. Don’t miss out! There are some great hard-to-find items many have generously donated.
I’ve been eyeing Dior’s Aztec Chocolate #886 Nail Polish on Sephora.com for a while and was hoping it would arrive instore. Unfortunately, it’s labeled as “online only” and I couldn’t find it anywhere else. When the VIB $20 off promo came up, I couldn’t resist.
I had seen Aztec Chocolate featured on Vampy Varnish and The Nail Phile and both blogs showed the complex nature of the product. I wondered if it was more plum or chocolate. The product that arrived proved to be both, but it’s definitely more plum on me. Depending on the angle and lighting you’ll see one color dominate over the other. Also, there’s pretty gold veining throughout that you can see in the sunlight. This doesn’t really show up on the nails but it makes for a pretty bottle.
It comes with the new chiseled-style brush (similar to the brushes on Timeless Gold & Czarina Gold reviewed back in October). The color is beautiful with three coats, but the formula is a bit sheer and hard to work with. The first coat is pretty sad, but if you have time and don’t mind waiting for each coat to dry, you can get full coverage with three.
The same polish, Dior Aztec Chocolate, with and without flash:
In direct sunlight, definitely plum:
So how plum or taupe or chocolatey is it? Well, it depends on how you look at it.
By itself it looks like a plummy brown in the bottle
Next to other shades, it looks brownish
On the nails, it’s more plum with a slight brownish base
It’s just very hard to describe since it looks so different in the bottle v on the nails
I pulled out what I thought might be similar which includes NARS Tokaïdo Express, OPI YDKJ Suede, OPI Holiday Glow, Dior Lemon Balm and Dior Bronze Libertine.
Conclusion: When compared to others (as seen below) it definitely looks brown in the bottle, however when it’s applied on the fingers it’s clearly plum.
A closer detail. While Aztec Chocolate is definitely more plum on me, it looks brownish in the bottle compared to some of the other shades. You can see Lemon Balm is similar, just slightly more purples in the swatch.
L to R: Aztec Chocolate, Lemon Balm, OPI Holiday Glow
Overall, like the color, but not the formula. Have any of you been able to see/test this in person? As far as I know, it appears to be a Sephora exclusive, but I could be wrong.
If you’re on the distribution list for the Bergdorf Goodman Catalog then you’ve probably already seen the lovely preview of the new lipsticks and glosses from Edward Bess. Also, Amy from Café Makeup provided us a swatch sneak peek along with the color names here. The new items have finally arrived in-store at BG in two special sets. Trios which are each $75. One has the 3 lipsticks, the other has the 3 glosses. I found these to be a good deal since each lipstick and gloss is $30+.
New Lipsticks L to R: Blush Allure, Demi Buff, Rose Demure
New Glosses L to R: French Lace, First Kiss, Amor
The lipsticks are all natural and neutral. Even though the packaging is different, the scent, textures and formulas all seem to be the same quality. All (as usual with Edward Bess lip products) are a cream finish-formula without any shimmer. At first glance, the lipsticks all look similar, but you’ll see the differences when swatched below. Here are my descriptions:
Blush Allure is a pastel neutral nude-pink, it seems to be a pink version of Pure Impulse
Demi Buff is a neutral pink-brown
Rose Demure is a neutral-cool mauve pink
French Lace is a light grey-beige-pinkish nude
First Kiss is a vibrant healthy pink glow (love this one)
Amor is a deep raspberry almost fuschia reddish color
The lipsticks are full coverage and lipglosses semi-sheer with a high gloss finish. You can read my previous reviews of Edward Bess to get a more detailed idea of his lip products, but overall are high-quality, fig-scented, naturally flattering and beautiful. In this next photo you can see the subtle underlying differences in tone for the lipsticks. Blush Allure is more nudish, Demi Buff is the most brown, Rose Demure is more mauvey.
Now onto the packaging. I have a love/hate relationship with packaging changes. I tend to like it when packaging changes are minimal because I like consistency for storage sake. For Edward Bess, the lipstick packaging is now square and made of a plastic casing. The new case is very sturdy and the benefit is that now there will be less rolling off the table casualties. However, I really loved the sleek metal round tube he used to have. Weight/product wise, the older lipstick tubes were .14 oz/4 g while the new ones are now .13 oz/3.8 g. Not a huge difference so it’s not something I think anyone will make a fuss about.
The lipgloss packaging seems to be virtually the same to me. The old and new are very similar and the differences are slight, but I feel the newer tubes are less angular and have a slightly softer look. The old packaging glosses were .19 oz/5.8 ml if made in Italy or .16 oz/4.4 g if made in the USA. The new packaging glosses are .20 oz/5.9 ml.
Packaging L to R: New, Old, Old, New
Swatches:
Overall I find them very different from the existing EB lipsticks and glosses. This is the first time he has released lighter neutral pinkish colors. The closest ones Tender Love, Pure Impulse and Natural Attraction are all significantly darker/deeper.
Those not familiar with Edward Bess’s line, check out the tag/label below for past reviews and info on where to buy etc. I’ll feel like a broken record if I repeat where the items are found or can be purchased again since I’ve done so numerous times already. Also you can reference the tear-out from the catalog up above 🙂
I haven’t had time to try these on the lips yet so I can’t say for sure how these look on the lips. They literally arrived a couple days ago from Bergdorf Goodman and I haven’t had time to test them fully. Lip swatches to come soon.
I am anxiously waiting for Chanel Spring 2011 to arrive instore. I watched the Spring-Summer 2011 Fashion Show at Chanel.com and once again became inspired to pull a few of my dark murky greenish-blackened teals. I can’t pull off the dramatic looks that were on the runway, but when these darks are used with a lighter hand or as a smokey liner the result is lovely.
What am I loving now?
Chanel Black Jade Intense Eye Pencil – blackened jade with slight shimmer
Laura Mercier Black Turquoise Kohl Eye Pencil – beautiful deep teal shimmer
NARS Rajasthan Eyeshadow Duo – LOVE, featured here
MAC Deep Blue Green Pigment – intense frosty deep teal
MAC Moonlight Night Pigment – glittery deep green
Laura Mercier Caviar Dreams Nail Polish – dark blackened teal
MAC Dark Soul+Moonlight Night Pigments mixed – my ideal smoky teal-grey shadow
What I love about these specific colors is the complex nature and deep base making them dark enough to not be a straight teal, but also green enough so they aren’t a straight black. They all change color depending on different angles and lighting. Below you’ll see what I mean.
Swatches L to R: Chanel Black Jade, Laura Mercier Black Turquoise, NARS Rajasthan, MAC Deep Blue Green, MAC Moonlight Night, Laura Mercier Caviar Dreams, MAC Dark Soul+Moonlight Night mixed
In different lighting you can see the green more:
The thing I am looking forward to the most is Chanel’s Black Pearl Nail Polish. You know I’ll be doing a comparison as soon as I get my hands on it! To satisfy my current craving for that deep black-green murky nail polish, I did a Laura Mercier Caviar Dreams manicure (shade is from 2008). I know some of you will be cursing me as this shade is no longer available, but I think it can be easily duped. (More comparisons to come once Black Pearl is released). In the meantime, here are my fingers at the moment.
See the beautiful duo-chrome in the bottle:
On the nails it’s a different story though:
Didn’t get enough green/teal? Go back into the archives, back from last June 2009 where I featured Blues and Greens in my Smokey Eye Series. There you’ll see more colors to observe.
I have been featured as a guest writer on Andi’s blog Saltwater Dreams. She was kind enough to ask me contribute to her wishlist series. I am a huge fan of her blog – she features a great mix of beauty and fashion posts. I love her polished style which is also modern and chic. I wish I could have her as my fashion stylist! Check out her blog if you haven’t already and you’ll see what my holiday must-haves are this year.
* Must clarify, these items were on my wishlist at some point but have become holiday must-haves for me as I’ve acquired them all by now!
On the nails, OPI Holiday Glow (from 2009) over Dior Aztec Chocolate
