Laura Mercier Cheek Mélange in Canyon Sunset ($40) is “a cheek colour with sunset inspired hues perfect for adding warm glow to the face.” This is a new product for fall from Laura Mercier. It’s a beautiful embossed cheek powder that gives a beautiful luminous darkened pink. Canyon Sunset has three colors with a lovely overspray. From top to bottom: light powder pink, medium plum-brown-pink with silver sparkles, medium darker peachy pink. On me it goes on very warm-toned, not quite bronzer like, but with a heavy hand, it feels like a pink bronzer. The overspray disappears after a few swipes. The pigment is medium, soft, luminous and natural like Laura Mercier’s regular blushes. The shimmer is very soft and makes the skin glow.
Without flash in natural light, still with overspray on
I used a MAC duo fibre brush to apply for a soft sweep of color. Here’s what it looks like with the overspray removed. The powder underneath is still soft and luminous.
Swatched on arm, separately and then blended, on the arm it looks more pinkish, on my face it darkens slightly for a more browned peachy pink look (probably because of a heavier application on the face)
A Chanel Graphite detail feature plus comparisons on the nail. Also previously featured here and here. To quote The Non-Blonde and Café Makeup, I am almost Chanel-ed out, but still can’t get enough of Chanel. It seems to be all that I’m reaching for these days.
There are three Rich Lip Colors featured for fall Twig, Soft Coral and Soft Nude along with three High Shimmer Lip Glosses in Bare Sparkle, Citrus and Beach. All the colors looked lovely at the counter, but I left with just one: Soft Nude Rich Lip Color ($23). Soft Nude is just that. A soft nude with a hint of pink. It’s a your-lips-but-better kind of color with full rich smooth coverage. It’s very natural but I love it. Soft Nude is one of those nudes that works perfectly. No tweaking or fixing required.
Compared to a few other Bobbi Brown shades, it’s most similar to Heather Pink (previously reviewed here). The difference is Soft Nude is less mauve/pink while Heather Pink has more pink/mauve.
The Bronze Palette swatches will be posted early Friday morning 🙂
Bobbi Brown’s Fall 2011 Tortoise Shell Collection features two gorgeous palettes of classic neutrals along with beautiful naturals for lips. I had vowed to not cave for another BB palette, but my resolve was weakened by KarlaSugar and Best Things In Beauty. I opted for the Bronze Tortoiseshell Eye Palette (a double decker eyeshadow palette with 8 shades) and Soft Nude Lipstick (a lovely full coverage true nude-pink). Initially I was a bit concerned the Bronze Palette might be too warm for me. Today, DSK Steph’s lovely feature confirmed that the Bronze option is gorgeous, wearable and naturally flattering.
Details, swatches and review on each to come separately very soon.
Since reviewing Chanel Péridot 531 Le Vernis last week (see all three fall shades here) I’ve received a few questions asking to describe this color in a bit more detail. As fall trickles in-stores and you see more reviews of this color, you will see that Péridot is such a complex unique color making it almost impossible for to describe in words. Looking in the bottle, I see glowing yellow gold that flashes different variations of brown, green and yellow pearl. The closest thing I can think of is that it reminds me of a scarab beetle. Depending on the angle I hold my hand, sometimes I see a lot more green than gold – but regardless of lighting and angles, I always see more than one color and my fingers glow.
On my fingers it’s predominantly yellow/gold and the green flashes on the edges. Initially I did not like. After playing with it a few more days, I still am not completely won over. No matter what angle I look at it, Péridot just appears so unflattering on me. Still it’s extremely unique and the complexity keeps me interested. I hope these photos will give you a better idea of how it might look in real life.
See Péridot swatched here on these other amazing sites as well:
The last items I have to review for Chanel Fall 2011 include the new Rouge Cocos and Precision Lip Definers. For the lipsticks, we have Plumetis 79 (a nude pink-peach with silver flecks) and Étole 80 (plum brown). For the lipliners we have Coralline 46 (coral with silver shimmer) and Rose Cuivre 47 (rose brown with shimmer).
Rouge Coco comparisons to Stunning, Secret, Patchouli, Baroque.
The colors are pretty and will be usable year-round. I’m not wowed by them this season but perhaps this is because I already have too many lipsticks and lipliners. Lasting power is incredible though. The lipliners go well with the lipsticks, when used first they really extend the wearability of the rouge cocos.
Thanks to Becca for the question: How do the Spring Ombres Perleés de Chanel compare to the new Illusion d’Ombres for Fall?
Price: The Spring Ombres Perleés de Chanel retailed for $65 (see my review here) and was packaged in a black mirrored compact. I searched online and it appears to no longer be available for sale anywhere. If you’re still looking for this I highly recommend searching instore to see if they still have stock. (Do it now before they are gone forever!) The Fall Illusion d’Ombres retail for $36 each and come with a capped angled brush.
Texture: The Spring Palette is softer and smoother in texture with a slightly powder feel. The Fall shadows are stickier in texture, mainly because of the jelly-gel like consistency. They are not sticky upon application though.
From what I see (might not translate to what you see on the computer screen):
Spring White is a pearly white, cool-toned
Fall 81 is a brighter white, even more cool, with glitter flecks/chunks
Spring Pink/Peach is a pearly frosted pink with a slight hint of peach
Fall 82 is a straight peach, but on my skin looks strikingly similar to Spring
Spring Purple is a complex fusion of purple, red, blue shimmers
Fall 83 is a straight purpley-grey shimmer, almost lilac, no red
Spring Green is a multichromatic green that flashes pink, dark green, light green (no silver)
Fall 84 is a khaki silver, no pink tones, more metallic, more silvery
Spring Blue-Grey is a blue-grey smokey shimmer, also complex
Fall 85 is a black with blueish tones and big silver chunks
Pigment and Shimmer: I found the Spring Palette to be high-shimmer, but is more finely milled and luminous. The Fall shadows are high-shimmer and highly metallic with visible flecks of sparkle. They are more chunky. Pigment of both are layerable and blendable for either a sheer or pigmented look. I would say the Fall Shadows have the ability to be layered for a more intense look though (emphasis on intense).
Lasting Power: As mentioned in my previous post, I have not yet had a chance to test lasting power of the fall shades. I found the lasting power of the Spring Palette to be medium-wear. It did not last the full day from 6 am to 8 pm, but it did last well into the afternoon.
Application: I used fingers for the spring palette. For the fall shadows, I prefer the brush since it helps pick up more color and allows for more control.
Swatches in different lighting/angles/etc.
The colors: Are the colors the same? I would say no. They have similar undertones. The shimmer blinded my camera and when you add the cloudy lighting, it was hard to get an exact photo. The Spring Palette shimmers are multi-colored. The Fall shadows are metallic with different intensity of flecks and sparkles but not quite as multi-colored as Spring.
Overall: I personally prefer the Spring palette by far. While it might look untouched, I’ve actually used this palette on a regular basis with my fingers. (Finger application seems to smooth out the surface.) I had ordered everything from Fall sight unseen so I didn’t really know what to expect. I know these won’t make me look like the models on the Chanel runway, but I couldn’t help being completely blown away by the gorgeous looks Peter Philips created for the metallic smokey eyes. How could I resist trying these?
I will need to experiment more with the new Illusion d’Ombres to find an application technique that is wearable for me (as in not-too-metallic). I think they are definitely worth checking out. Even if they don’t seem to be “you” (they aren’t very “me”) it’s always nice to try something different once in a while, even if it’s just for fun.
Availability: I bought mine from Bergdorfs. The whole collection is on Chanel.com. I haven’t seen it anywhere in-store on the West Coast although I suspect any day now. Last year Fall hit stores on June 27th. (No, my memory isn’t that good, I just looked at my archives.) From what I heard last time I checked my local Nordstroms and Macys – all sales associates said “sometime in July.”
And to answer 1 more question: what camera do I use? See this post here.
