Laura Mercier Archives - Page 7 of 14

Loving Right Now

May 31, 2012

I’m always drawn to matched lip and nail collections. I loved the Chanel Extrait de Gloss Collection (from 2010, see summary on Karla Sugar) and the recent MAC Fashion Sets, in particular Angel and Please Me (see lineup on Temptalia here, here and here). Right now I’m loving something that’s a little more mixed lip/nail combination and something a little less matched, but still in the same color family. Here are a few mixed and matched combination sets I’m loving right now. Swatches below as well.

Glowing neutrals
Left to right: YSL Golden Sand #54 Gloss
YSL Golden Shell #51 Gloss
Chanel Island #597 Le Vernis
Chanel Pêche Nacrée #515 Le Vernis

Corals and golds

Left to right: Chanel Nakkar #149 Glossimer

Dior Brown Panama #432 Addict Ultra Gloss

Chanel Holiday #617 Le Vernis

Chanel Delight #607 Le Vernis

Snapshot of jewelry from J.Crew’s Published June Style Guide and online at J.Crew here (I need one of those bracelets!) (Online versions of the J.Crew catalog are published on their website, currently May’s Style Guide is available to browse, I suspect June’s will be uploaded soon)

Pink lavenders
Left to right: Laura Mercier Nude Lilac Lip Glace
Dolce and Gabbana Lilac Nail Polish
Dolce and Gabbana Raspberry Lip Gloss
NARS Ratin Jot Nail Polish

What are lip and nail combinations are you loving right now?

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Coral Nail Polishes for Spring and Summer

April 7, 2012

Coral seems to be all the craze this year for spring and summer nail polishes. My peachy-coral obsession for blushes has now transitioned into nails. I’ve already reviewed a number of new peachy corals this year: Chanel June, Laura Mercier Cabana, Dior Riviera and Chanel Distraction. Many have asked about the newest from Dior Bikini. From promo photos it can be difficult to identify differences between so many similar shades. I gathered what I could find online, here they are lined up:

In real life, here is what I see below, they are all more similar than promotional digitized photos appear to be. (Many thanks to my Twitter friends who let me know Dior Bikini arrived online at Sephora.com.) Here is the verdict, left to right:

Chanel Orange Fizz – is the lightest and brightest, it’s more orangey than all the rest
Dior Bikini – has the best coverage, it’s more of a true peach, with slight reddish tones, slightly darker
Chanel Distraction – semi-sheer medium jelly finish with the subtle iridescence
Laura Mercier Cabana – most jelly-like, slightly more pink undertones
Dior Riviera – most vibrant coral red

A few more swatches to other oranges, peaches and corals: Rescue Beauty Lounge Coral, Revlon Demure, Dior Sweet Orange 334, Dior Bikini 231, Chanel Distraction, Dior Riviera 537, Laura Mercier Sizzle, Chanel Orange Fizz, Chanel June, Chanel Miami Peach, Laura Mercier Cabana.

Overall, if you have Chanel Distraction or Laura Mercier, you do not need Dior Bikini. I do believe Dior Bikini has the best formula and richest coverage. I really do love it (even though it’s almost identical to other corals) and it would be my vote for the season’s best coral. At this time I haven’t seen Dior summer anywhere on counter on the West Coast (Southern California), although it has just arrived online at Sephora.com and Nordstrom.com as well. I suspect it will arrive any day in store.

Have you checked out any corals for nails this summer? What is your favorite? Or do you have a classic coral in your collection that you’re loving right now?

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Laura Mercier Très Chic Nail Lacquers for Spring 2012

February 8, 2012

Laura Mercier’s new nail polishes from her Très Chic Collection this spring are the perfect mixture of bright and colorful but manage to be soft enough to be appropriate for work. I have a couple nail polishes from past limited collections and wish she would introduce a permanent line (or sprinkle a few more releases here and there for nails). There are 5 new shades for spring, all limited edition and $18 each. The colors come in a square bottle and a perfectly sized brush that is slightly flattened/wide for easy application.

The colors are all creams without shimmer:

Oh La La is a soft pastel pink (sheer)
Flamingo is a bright pink
Cabana is coral-peach perfection with a soft cushy finish
Sizzle is a hot coral red
Luscious is a bright fuschia purple

The colors are bright and punchy and I love each of them. I could have passed on Oh La La which is the weakest shade, but I find sheer pale pinks weak in general. There are slight streaking problems with this color but evens out with 2 thick coats. The other shades have a decent formula which applies smoothly with 2 coats. I found Laura Mercier’s applied best over Deborah Lippmann’s Moisturizing Base Coat (thanks to Café Makeup for the recommendation, read her review here). I haven’t worn any for an extended period of time (over 2 days) but so far, the results are good. I’m still partial to the formula of OPI, Chanel, Dior and Rescue Beauty Lounge when it comes to nail polish formula, but the Laura Mercier comes quite close. With the proper base coat and a good glossy top coat, the result is smooth, rich and all out gorgeous.

Here are the shades swatched individually, 2 coats each over Deborah Lippmann’s Base Coat, but with no top coat:

Comparisons were difficult to photograph because from my digital camera and iPhone, some of the brights look identical although in person there are distinct differences. As you might suspect with classic brights, there are definitely dupes out there. I personally liked Cabana the best as the perfect soft but bright peachy shade, although there are similar colors, Cabana has the right mixture of softness to prevent it from being too harsh or orangey. As you can see below, there are similar shades, but I really love each of the new ones from LM.

If you’re on a budget, I’m sure there are many OPI shades that will give you a similar effect. I’m personally looking forward to seeing the Holland Collection once it’s launched at Ulta. Still the Laura Mercier shades manage to look classic and polished for brights without looking cheap like some bright shades can.

My top 2 picks: Cabana and Luscious.

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Wearing Tomorrow for New Year’s Eve

December 30, 2011

BeautyLookBook NYE by sabrilina on polyvore.com

Many have asked me to share what I’ll be wearing for New Year’s Eve. I’m still working on the outfit but I’ve already planned the makeup look. Here’s my first Polyvore attempt (not sure if I pulled in all the right items for the above photos, but the look is detailed below):

Dolce & Gabbana Perfect Creamy Foundation in Natural Beige 120 mixed with a pale highlighter
Chanel Poudre Universelle Compacte in Rose Merveille 120 dusted all over
Armani Sheer Blush #10
Armani Jacquard Face Palette to highlight
Laura Mercier Metallic Crème Eye Colour in Gold
Chanel Beige Lamé 417 Soft Touch Eyeshadow
Armani Eyes to Kill #6 Khaki Pulse
NARS Larger than Life Volumizing Mascara
Bobbi Brown Gel Liner Caviar Ink
Armani Gloss d’Armani Pink 502 + 507 mixed
Chanel Black Pearl #513 Le Vernis
L’Artisan Mûre et Musc

I’ll be offline for a few days but I’ll be checking in here and there to publish comments/questions via my iPhone. I’m running out the door right now to get a Black Pearl manicure 🙂 Toes will be covered so I’m passing on the pedicure this week. I wish everyone a Happy New Year!

What will you be wearing tomorrow night?

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Laura Mercier Bare Pink, Bare Peach, Bare Naked & Bare Baby Lip Glacé

August 5, 2011

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?

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Laura Mercier Cheek Mélange in Canyon Sunset

July 12, 2011

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)

Overall love.

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Love To Layer

May 10, 2011

I love layering and blending out colors, especially for makeup. Layering different textures and shades allows me to create extra depth and also helps to give that slight glowy finish. Layering multiple products is something I usually only do when going out for a special occasion. In the mornings, I’m always running 5 minutes behind. Makeup for work is usually kept as simple as possible, except for the rare occasions that I am able to wake up an extra 30 minutes early.

My makeup looks usually revolve around my clothes/outfit of the day or night. This past weekend I wore a simple floral strapless dress (shown here). It was fairly neutral so virtually any look would go with it. I realize this would be more helpful if I had a photo of my face to go with this, but this is more for my own personal reference since I was quite happy with the result. The numbers in each photo indicate the order of application.

Cheeks: I applied Armani’s Fluid Sheer #10 on cheeks and then applied Dior’s Aurora on top as a contour. I then took a separate blush brush and applied Chanel Espiègle just on the apples.

Lips: Simply line with liner. Fill with a sheer gold lipstick. Top with a sheer coral gloss.

Eyes: The first step was to apply Laura Mercier’s Metallic Gold Creme shadow on the lids as a base. I took the white side of NARS Exotic Dance and and dipped MAC’s 242 (a stiffer brush) into the frosty white and patted it on 1/2 way up the eyes. Taking a larger fluffy brush, I swished it into the golden tan shimmer of Exotic Dance and loosely applied it all over. Next, I took MAC’s Spare Change and applied it along upper lashes in a messy smudgey line and layered Le Metier’s Splendid Frost taupe on top to blend. Last steps were to add a clean fine black line along upper lashes and outer corners on the bottom. Finishing step was with Armani’s Eyes to Kill Mascara.

Giorgio Armani Fluid Sheer #10 – shown here
Dior Aurora Bronzer – reviewed here
Chanel Espiègle #65 Blush – swatched and reviewed here
Paul & Joe Lip Pencil Duo – Melon (01) – partially swatched here
Bobbi Brown Candlelight Shimmer Lipstick – shown next to Beige Gold Metallic here
Chanel Pensée 277 Glossimer – here
Laura Mercier Metallic Creme in Gold
NARS Exotic Dance – white applied with a stiff MAC 242 brush patted on lids
NARS Exotic Dance – gold applied with a loose fluffy brush all over lids, here
MAC Spare Change eyeliner – applied in a smudgey line along upper lashes, swatched here
Le Metier de Beaute – Splendid Frost, top shade applied along lash line smudged on top, blended, also reviewed here
Bobbi Brown Caviar Ink to finish as liner – swatched here
Giorgio Armani Eyes to Kill Mascara