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Le Metier de Beaute

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Le Métier de Beauté East Meets West Nail Lacquer Collection Fall/Winter 2011

August 28, 2011

Messy Wands and The Ultimate Makeup have had us all drooling over Le Métier de Beauté’s East Meets West Nail Lacquer Collection for Fall/Winter 2011 for weeks. I was initially under the impression that the Fall/Winter Silk Road Collection would be limited to the new lip and eye kaleidoscope kits, both of which I felt would be too warm-toned for me. After seeing more news, I was happy to learn that Le Métier has quite a few other items scheduled for release this fall to choose from including nail polishes, lip cremes, plus deep wine colored lip & nail sets (see a few sneak peeks at Best Things in Beauty).

The East Meets West Nail Lacquer Collection consists of four shimmering rich jewel toned colors:

  • Dynasty – a deep shimmering fuchsia
  • Urban Dweller – a rich chocolate plum with gold
  • Anatolia – a rich plum illuminated with bronze and gold shimmer
  • Silk Road – a metallic bronzed copper
All four shades were kindly sent to me by Le Métier as samples for review. I already had my eye on Anatolia  the moment I saw it on other blogs. From the outset, it appeared to be a shade I suspected would rival the long discontinued Tulipe Noire by Chanel. After testing all four shades out, I was surprised to discover that I was most drawn to the chocolate and copper instead of the plums and reds (scroll down for more details).

Dynasty is a fuchsia red shimmer. With one coat a blueish sheen is more visible but with two coats, the color transforms into a deep reddish fuchsia. The formula with this shade was the best out of the fall shades with a smooth easy-to-apply consistency. It does require two thin coats for an opaque finish (one coat isn’t quite rich enough for my preference). The shimmer is very tiny in this so there are no streak marks and the result is a smooth shimmer. Dynasty has a thinner consistency than most nail polishes I’ve tried so I found it dried very quickly.

Urban Dweller is one of my favorites for the color. It’s a rich shimmery chocolate with gold. I love that the brown has just the right amount of plum to prevent it from being too warm. The gold shimmer prevents this from looking too dark. The only downside I found was that texture of this shade is a bit thick making it trickier to apply for me. It’s still easily manageable – just apply with a few single layer strokes and let it dry completely before running the brush over the nail color for a second coat.

Anatolia is a high-sparkle plum red with gold. I thought this would be my favorite but felt the others were more unique. Still this is a stunning shade. The red is slightly transparent and it’s packed with plum and gold shimmer making it look multi-dimensional on the nails. Since the base seems to be slightly jelly-ish, it requires two thicker coats to achieve full coverage. To date, this is the closest shade I’ve seen to Chanel Tulipe Noire,  not a dupe but close. Comparing the two, Le Metier Anatolia has a bit more kick, attitude and dimension since it has a more sparkly finish. I see this as a shade that can be worn year round but will be particularly fun for the holidays. The formula of this shade is slightly thicker than Silk Road (copper) but not as thick as Urban Dweller (chocolate). Apply this one slowly and let the first coat dry before applying a second.

Silk Road is a metallic orangey copper. I never thought I’d wear a darker warm coppery shimmer on the finger nails. Orange pumpkin colors do not typically flatter my olive skintone. It’s a color I avoid in clothing at all costs. I adore Chanel’s Golden Sand, & Dior’s City of Gold, but those are more golden rather than copper. It was surprise to me how much I love Silk Road on the fingers. The texture of this shade is thinner but the pigment is just amazing. It’s swatched below with just one coat. This shade is proof that I need to go outside of my neutral makeup comfort zone and try different things.

Here they are all lined up and swatched next to each other plus comparisons:

Although $10 is steep for these tiny bottles, I agree with assessment from The Non-Blonde & Cafe Makeup that with this size, one does indeed have hope of using these up. I’ve spotted the Silk Road collection already in stores at Neiman Marcus on the West Coast. I highly recommend you check your local counters if you haven’t already.

Have you picked up anything from the Silk Road collection? Thoughts? What are your favorite Le Métier nail polishes?

The items featured in this post were provided by Le Metier without charge for review.
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Le Métier de Beauté Kontagious Koral & Chanel Coromandel

August 15, 2011

I’ve been craving something red especially after having a lengthy discussion with Jonesy this weekend about finding the perfect red nail polish. She had recently found her holy grail red (she has promised a post on this soon) and had to call me asap because she knew I would understand her excitement =) I, on the other hand, have about a dozen “perfect reds.” My favorite is still Chanel Dragon, but I’m always open to trying something new. After a 9 to 1 vote on Twitter for bright red cremes (versus dark red shimmer), I put on Le Métier de Beauté Ken Downing’s Kontagious Koral  (exclusive to Neiman Marcus & Bergdorf Goodman) & Chanel Coromandel #473 (discontinued).

Le Métier de Beauté Kontagious Koral is a limited edition shade created by Neiman Marcus Fashion Director Ken Downing. It’s a hot vibrant warm red coral that I believe is universally flattering. (Proof can be seen on The Ultimate Makeup, Perilously Pale & Pink Sith to name a few.) It’s one of the brightest reds I own but still very wearable. To those who wanted a red version Dior’s Aloha, this will be the answer to your prayers. It applied beautifully with just one coat but I almost always prefer at least two. The finish is smooth, even and rich.

Chanel Coromandel is an old favorite. It’s a warm coral red with a hint of shimmer in the bottle. On the nails the shimmer does not really show up though. Compared to LMdB’s Kontagious Koral, it’s a deeper almost more mature kind of warm red. I believe it’s been discontinued now. This is a classic shade I wish they would bring back.

Here I’ve tried to show the difference (Chanel has a bit of shimmer):

I couldn’t get a good shot showing them on the fingers and toes side by side. The cloudy weather made the colors look the same with my camera. I did try a swatch comparison with a few other colors. No luck here either. For comparison purposes, you can see Dior Trafalgar is more orangey than Le Métier de Beauté Kontagious Koral. I’ve compared it to Chanel Rouge Fatal a deeper red to show the brightness of the other shades.

They are both fairly similar but not exact dupes. Bottom line is that I can’t stop staring at my nails. The Kontagious Koral is listed as limited edition but you can still get it online at Neimanmarcus.com. What are your favorite bright reds?
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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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Le Métier de Beauté True Romance Nail Lacquer (Nordstrom Anniversary Exclusive)

July 18, 2011

I couldn’t resist the oh-so-cute mini nail lacquer set called Rock ‘n’ Romance by Le Métier de Beauté. At $25 for four gorgeous shades, how can anyone pass this up? Every color in this set looks amazing on everyone I’ve seen it on. There’s not a bad shade in the bunch. I tried True Romance first. It’s a beautiful complex shade, described on Nordstrom as “a delicate pale rose with a subtle metallic nude finish.” The color changes depending on how the light reflects on your hands. Sometimes it looks like a rosy-bronze. Other times it looks like a soft metallic rose-nude. At certain angles you see a soft silver cashmere taupe.

Le Métier True Romance is in a similar color family to Chanel Trapeze and Quartz. I would say the Le Métier is more metallic/frosty while the Chanels have a multi-colored sparkle making the colors even more complex. They are all just a tiny bit different in undertone. Here are the shades compared to each other. As you can see, the colors transform depending on the light.

Overall LOVE. The tiny bottle is to die for (so cute) although the size does make it a bit hard to apply. I have small fingers to begin with and still found it a bit challenging to hold the top while applying. It can be a bit streaky because of the metallic finish, but I still love it. The color is not too warm and not too cool. It’s a perfect metallic neutral. I haven’t bought a Le Metier nail polish in over two years (see my original post on Lenton Rose, Phlox, Violaceous Splendor and Black Orchid linked here from 2009). I simply found them too small for the price. The Nordstrom set  however is priced just right in my opinion with to-die-for colors that will be perfect as we transition to fall.
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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.

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

Swatched, two views with different lighting:


One last view:

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Le Metier de Beaute Ibiza & Ibiza

May 5, 2011

With all the new lipsticks coming out in sheer or glossy formulas I was craving something different for a change. I’ve had a few lipsticks from Le Metier de Beaute for quite some time but never really got into using them because the texture is more of hybrid matte-stain/lipstick kind of formula. They can be a bit dry when applying on the lips, even if the color is rich and the texture smooth once you actually have them on. So I pulled out my favorite Le Metier gloss in Ibiza and it’s counterpart in the lipstick formula – hence Ibiza and Ibiza. Both are soft warm shimmery pinks. The Sheer Brilliance Lip Gloss ($32) version is very sheer and gives a soft tint with a high shine. The Colour Core Lipstick ($32) is a high frost complex coral-pink with silver shimmer (think along the frost lines of MAC Lamé, Sequin or Plastique).






Overall: I like Le Metier de Beaute Ibiza and Ibiza. The gloss is one of my favorites from the line. The price is high and formulas are ok though – nothing I feel is a must-have. I still prefer Chanel, Dior and Edward Bess.

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Diorskin Nude Glow – Healthy Glow Summer Powder in Aurora 001 and Sunset 002

April 22, 2011

The summer collections this year have some of the most beautiful bronzers I have ever seen. I’ve been trying to find Aurora and Sunset everywhere – it appears Saks received their items first in the US and finally Nordstrom just received them this week. (On Saturday Aurora and Nude Tan Quint were both sold out already.) Being the bronzer-obsessive woman that I am, I jumped on both bronzing powders, Aurora 001 and Sunset 002.

The Diorskin Nude Glow Healthy Glow Summer Powder couldn’t be better named. They both give a warm healthy glow. Each shade has a beautiful woven pattern with four different shades in each. Both have visible shimmer and if you swipe your finger into the palette you will see a highly pigmented frost. On the skin, however, the shimmer tones down and you get a beautiful glow. The shimmer, to me, is barely detectable on the face.

Aurora 001 is the lighter softer version with soft peach and different shades of brown and tan. It’s fairly warm, not quite peach, not quite brown, but a peachy-brown hybrid.

Sunset 002 is darker, warmer, deeper and it was borderline orangey when applied with a heavy hand – but I have gotten a bit of color so I think this will be gorgeous on Chanel Beiges/NC35’s (not quite there yet, but almost!). A bit of blending out and it looks just fine on me but I don’t mind a strong bronzer. I always want to be more tan, and unfortunately I’m really fair right now!

Side by side, blurry but hope you can see the undertone:

I couldn’t find any dupes. The woven pattern makes this easy to mix and blend all the colors together so you don’t end up with stripes on the face. Plus the combination of colors makes both of these unique.

Comparison Set 1: MAC Shooting Star MSF, MAC So Ceylon MSF, Dior Sunset 002, Dior Aurora 001, MAC Sunny By Nature MSF, MAC Warmed MSF, MAC Gold Deposit MSF



Comparison Set 2: Le Metier Maldives Magic, MAC Refined Matte Suntan, Dior Sunset 002, Dior Aurora 001, MAC Refined Golden, NARS Irresistiblement



Lucky girl Café Makeup has been able to play with Dior Summer for a few weeks since she found them in Paris. Definitely check out her series to see what Aurora looks like on Liz and Amy’s arm (both are lighter and cooler toned than me).

Overall I love both. I think once I get to be at NC35 I will be able to wear the Aurora 001 and have it show up. Sunset 002 is darker and more orangey but not too orangey for me. If you’re fair like Chanel Cameo or MAC NC30 – it may too much for you.

For reference, I’m currently Chanel Shell Teint Innocence, in between MAC NC30-35. My arm underneath is probably closer to a NC30 because the sun does not hit that area.

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