I’m thrilled that one of my favorite brands Le Metier de Beaute has really taken off in the past year. When I first discovered the brand there were virtually no reviews or photos of the line except from a few lucky New Yorkers. The line was very exclusive to a few select locations around the US. Everyone else (myself included) had to order products over the phone or online sight unseen. For me it was a bit of a risk spending so much on lipglosses and eyeshadows that I had never seen or tested – but I was pleasantly surprised by the beautiful colors and high quality. I’m glad the brand is expanding and making itself more accessible. It’s definitely a splurge but the items are indeed lovely.
Today, I have a lovely guest post from a NYer who goes by the screen name Panties on Makeupalley. She took a number of photos from the Le Metier de Beaute counter and was kind enough to e-mail me with a set to share. Check out her profile on MUA for additional photos of Le Metier products among other wonderful things (EB, MAC, Shu Uemura to name a few). These eyeshadows come in a round mirrored black compact and currently retail for $30 each.
I think she’s sparked a few more lemmings for me. I asked her what her thoughts were overall or if she had any favorites? Her response:
“Their eyeshadows are their best products aside from their lip cremes. I’m in love with Chameleon because it really is a unique shade. I actually use Canvas a lot more often than expected because it evens out my eyelids.”
I have to agree with her on Canvas. For me it’s more of a contour color but it does even out the lids. Chameleon does indeed look intriguing – it’s not one that I recall seeing while in San Francisco or Beverly Hills. It definitely looks very unique.
I am still dreaming of the day when I can get to the East Coast! But for now, I am grateful for all the NY makeup aficionados that bring a bit of the city to the rest of us 🙂
One thing I love about San Francisco is that they have the most beautiful stores. I stopped by the Neiman Marcus in Union Square and it was breathtaking. I was thrilled to find that they carry Le Metier. I’ve had my eye on Le Metier de Beaute’s Summerland Sheer Brilliance Lipgloss $32 for quite some time and finally indulged my cravings. Luckily they had 1 left in stock. It was meant to be.
* click photos for larger viewing of the sparkles *
Summerland is the Sheer Brilliance formula, but I find this to be one of the more pigmented ones. It’s packed with loads of shimmer and swatches on the hand very frosty. I would describe it as a complex bronzey peach that has slight pinkish tones with a silver sheen and tiny micro sparkles. It’s probably the most complex gloss I own making it hard to describe.
In the tube, it flashes bronze, peach and has slight pink reflecting shimmers.
On the back of my hand, it swatches with a silvery sheen and diamond-like micro sparkles. It’s so complex swatched on the hand it’s almost blinding.
On the lips, the shimmer is more subdued but still significantly more glitzy than most other Le Metier glosses (which I find are similar to Chanel’s Aqualumiere Glosses in the finish, only the Le Metier glosses surpass Chanel in their complex shimmers and unique colors). It looks silvery, bronzey-pink and bronzey-peach with silver depending on the angle. I find it very complicated.
Swatched next to other bronzey peach glosses, Summerland almost looks pink. (Scroll to the bottom.)
There’s a soft scent – it reminds me of cotton candy and vanilla, but it’s not overpoweringly sweet which I like. The texture is glossy but less slippery than the other glosses from the line. It seems to be in between the Sheer Brilliance Lipgloss and Lip Creme formula.
Swatched blended out & swatched heavily:
I couldn’t find a similar shade, but pulled a few other glosses I thought would help for comparison purposes.
Left to right: Bobbi Brown Spun Gold, Dior #522, Le Metier Captiva, Le Metier Summerland, Le Metier Papaye Creme, Laura Mercier Ambre Rose
Odd how, when swatched next to other shades, Summerland almost looks pinkish. While I would say it’s clearly not a straight pink. But then Papaye Creme is deceiving as well. Looks like a deep melon red in the tube, on the lips it applies like a light warm melon-gold shimmer.
Le Metier de Beaute is available at Bergorf Goodman, select Neiman Marcus stores. Check their websites for listings of other retailers. They recently launched on Nordstrom.com as well. The price points are indeed expensive, but I find them to be a true luxury brand. I’ve been pleased with the quality and exquisite colors of 90% of the items I’ve purchased.
It’s been a while since I’ve added anything to my Le Metier de Beaute collection, but raves and reviews from Josie and Gaia have peaked my interest. My newest discovery is their eyeshadow in Corinthian ($30) which I credit to Josie. (BTW have you checked out her new blog, The Eyes Have It?) Not having in-person access I had no idea what this looked like since there were no reviews or swatches online. She came across this at Bergdorf Goodman and e-mailed me that it was “the most beautiful taupe ever.” Immediately I was sold and ordered it online. It is indeed gorgeous. Complex, frosty, loaded with shimmer. It’s love. I can’t wait for her review and swatches to show up on her blog.
Here it is compared to some other Le Metier Eyeshadows Mulberry & Jojo. Also compared to MAC Satin Taupe and Bobbi Brown Brown Stone Metallic. No dupes in my opinion. The particles in Corinthian are so complex with silvers and taupes, swatches and photos cannot capture how beautiful it is.
Some have asked me how and why I started blogging. There were several reasons why I started and I have many to thank for their inspiration and help getting me started. Karen at Makeup and Beauty Blog occasionally asks for guest writers and being a regular reader, I thought it would be fun to submit an article to her.
At that time, about a year ago, I had recently discovered Le Metier de Beaute and I had scoured the web to find photos, swatches or reviews but could not find anything other than press release images and stock photos from Neimans and Bergdorfs online. I decided it would be fun to write about my thoughts on the products I had tried from the line to see if anyone else shared the same love.
My experience doing a guest post for her was so much fun as we wrote back and forth brainstorming ideas I decided to try and start my own. So I have Karen (among many others) to thank for helping me get started! This post is a spinoff of that post focusing on the Persephone Eye Kit by Le Metier de Beaute.
Those familiar with the line are well aware of their high quality, beautiful packaging and stunning colors. I can’t say I love everything in the line, but most of the products I’ve tried I have fallen in love with. It’s exclusivity makes it a bit difficult to locate and often times colors are sold out and are on back order due to the high demand.
They have a few kaleidoscope kits in the form of a stacked swivel type design with a flip top mirror. Very innovative, a bit bulky, a bit complicated to use, but fun nevertheless. The Persephone Eye Kit is no longer available, but it is one of the few kits that contained colors permanent from their regular line, so luckily you can still find these shades.
The colors include range from frost, to satin to matte:
Rose Champagne (frost) – a complex but soft shimmery pale rose-pink
Alexandrite (frost) – a beautiful a sparkly eggplant amethyst
Canvas (satin) – a soft, satin, neutral beige-yellow with subtle shimmer
Sequoia (matte) – a medium-dark chocolate brown
Rose Champagne:
Alexandrite:
Canvas:
Sequoia:
The eyeshadows are highly pigmented and easy to blend. My favorite shades are Rose Champagne and Canvas, but all shades work well together. What I typically do is:
Step 1: Use canvas on the lid (from lash to 1/2 way up the eye)
Step 2: Apply Alexandrite with a small shadow brush on the outer corners of the eye blending inward and up towards the middle of the eye
Step 3: Take a smudge brush, mix Alexandrite with Sequoia to line along upper lashes
Step 4: Take Rose Champagne with a light bluffly brush and blend over the eye from brow bone down to blend everything together
I like that the kit has a mix of neutral and cool making it extremely versatile to coordinate with other colors for lips and cheeks. Today’s look combines the Persephone Eye Kit with the new Tenne Tint (reviewed here) and Ibiza Lipgloss (which I thought I had swatched but haven’t yet).
Le Metier de Beaute was exclusively available at select Neimans and Bergdorf Goodman, but they are expanding their distribution. Check out their website for details on locations.
Do you have any favorites from the line? I’d love to hear your favorites 🙂
Le Metier de Beaute recently came out with a few new items and I couldn’t resist ordering their Crème Fresh Tints which are described as giving “a sheer wash of color to brighten cheeks and lips for a radiant glow.” The blush comes in two colors, Tenné (a nude pink brown) and Poppy (a brighter pink), and both retail for $28 for 5g/0.17oz each.
Le Metier de Beaute is one of those harder to find luxury brands. They were originally exclusive to select Neiman Marcus locations and Bergdorf Goodman, but have been expanding into various boutiques and other counters. I purchased these from Neiman Marcus. Check out Le Metier de Beaute‘s website for locations. I spotted the line at Fred Segal in Los Angeles as well.
Here they are compared to Whisper & Fresh blush:
Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by these. The texture is smooth and blendable, but they have decent pigment. Similar to that of Stila Convertible colors in pigment, but a lot easier and smoother to blend without being too sticky, thick or dry like some other cream-lip-cheek products can be. For another swatch, London Makeup Girl has swatched Poppy here. The Non-Blonde has also written a fabulous review + has a great swatch on Tenne.
After wiping it off my arm, I did see a stain left – to me this is a good sign that since they stain a little the lasting power should be better than your average cream blush. I have on Poppy today on my lips and cheeks so we’ll see how well they last.
Le Metier actually had creme blushes available for their custom kaleidoscope kits in the past where you pick out a concealer, powder, bronzer and cream blush. This was not available online and I heard from a few that this was a limited edition thing and not permanent. Tenne seems similar to one of the other cream blush shades I have but the texture is slightly different. Both are fabulous though.
Overall another winner from Le Metier de Beaute! Those not familiar with the line or new to my blog – click on the Le Metier de Beaute tag/label beneath this post and you’ll find all the other posts and articles related to the brand. You’ll find more info about the items I’ve tried so far and more resources. My current favs are The Non-Blonde, London Makeup Girl, and Visionary Beauty.
I’ve been wanting to get the Maldives Magic Bronzer for sometime now but it *always* seems to be out of stock, so decided to do a pre-order for it when they had a recent GWP online for a full sized lip creme. (FYI, the advertised lip creme was Gilded Joy, but Sorbet came in the mail instead.) I’ve been waiting for over 1 month to receive this bronzer and can say this was clearly worth the wait.
Maldives Magic has to be the prettiest looking bronzer I have ever seen. It has the prettiest gold sparkles in it, but unfortunately the shimmer doesn’t really show up on the skin. I was worried it would be too dark, but when applied with a fluffy bronzer brush it gave a nice tanned look. It’s a few shades darker than Edward Bess Daydream and more brown than Bobbi Brown’s Bali Brown. Girls who are lighter than MAC NC30 might find this too dark.
Sugar Eyeshadow
Sugar Eyeshadow is a pretty pale white shimmer. Next to a pure white, it looks more like a cream, but on the skin it definitely shows up white. I compared it next to actual sugar (yes, call me silly) but it’s somewhere in between granulated white sugar and sugar-in-the-raw.
It’s not as cool-toned as Bobbi Brown Navajo Metallic, but pretty close. It’s not as white as Bobbi Brown Champagne Shimmer Wash.
Sorbet v Vanilla Rose I don’t have a swatch of Sorbet because I’m saving it for when I use up Vanilla Rose, but you can see a swatch of Vanilla Rose here. It’s a soft milky pink shimmer that’s not too pale.
Overall thoughts: I wouldn’t say these are the most unique colors, there are definitely duplicates with less expensive lines (even with high end luxury brands too). I didn’t have access to the line in person, so I ordered these sight unseen. The quality and pigment are excellent – the texture of the products are finely milled and easily blendable. I find the quality superior to most other brands, but overall you can get a similar effect with other products at a fraction of the price.
Here’s November’s List of Ten Things I’m Loving Right Now. As always, I want to hear your lists too! And they don’t have to be beauty/makeup related.
1) Henri Bendel Candles from Bath & Body Works $26 – these are the best candles I’ve tried with so many feel-good scents. My favorites are Vanilla Bean, Fig, Quince, Pomegranate – and my husband loves these too.
2) L’Occitane Holiday Sets – Still loving the scented hand creams, in particular the Shea Vanilla and Frangipani scented ones! I wish they weren’t limited edition. Also love the Shower Celebration set – wish all the scents came in larger sizes (I believe the only one available individually right now is the Almond Shower Gel).
3) Paul & Joe Lip Lacquers $20 – You’ve seen these in my look features earlier in the month and my regular readers know that I bought practically every color. They are absolutely fabulous and I hope these are here to stay. They are great alone or over a liner/lipstick. I can’t rave enough about them. Cute packaging, nice pigment, non-sticky texture, very wearable colors. I’ve purchased my Paul & Joe items from Bergdorf Goodman, The Primping Parleur’s Online Boutique, Beautyhabit.com and Dermstore.com – but check the Paul & Joe Beauty website for locations around the world.
4) PhytoSpecific Integral Hair Care – this is a spray hair treatment which is supposed to “restore moisture, smooth, redefine curls, detangle, make setting easier, and protect hair from heat damage.” I have thick slightly wavy hair which I cannot air dry because it poofs up into a huge frizz ball. Up until a year ago when I started using this, I religiously blow dried and straightened my hair daily. I tried a number of no-frizz serums and straightening sprays, but I still had to go through the daily ritual of blow dry/straighten. This spray is incredible for me and once I spray and comb through, it allows my hair to air dry without turning into a huge frizz ball. I haven’t tried any of the other PhytoSpecific products, but I do love the shampoos in the regular Phyto line.
5) Dolce & Gabbana Caramel Blush $44 – I love nude blushes and this one is pretty without looking muddy on my skin. You can buy D&G online at saks.com, but I highly recommend ordering through the Saks NY or Beverly Hills counters because you get excellent customer service and the makeup artists who run the counter are very good at recommending colors. If you have any questions about other products, you can ask me too! I’ve accumulated quite a few things from them since they launched the line.
6) Edward Bess Daydream Bronzer $48 – By far my favorite powder bronzer of the moment. Wasn’t so thrilled with the hefty price tag, but I have to say that it gives that natural tanned glow. My skintone is on the pale side right now, I’m the equivalent of what’s in between MAC NC30-35. Normally I’m more of a NC35-40ish. You can purchase Edward Bess at Bergdorf Goodman or online at EdwardBess.com. Compared to some other bronzers:
7) Le Metier Eye Brightening & Setting Powder $36 – I’ve always been skeptical of brightening powders mainly because I usually don’t see a difference when using them. This, however, is every bit as great as Ellyn (from Neimans King of Prussia) and Lisa (my fellow Le Metier fan) have both raved. I use the shade Revive which is good for medium-tanned skintones. The next shade down Refresh is quite a bit paler. Seems like they need a shade in between. I use it after I apply my foundation in place of concealer under the eyes and it is an instant-brightener/evener all in one. (FYI – Neimanmarcus.com has free shipping with code and a promotional Peche Lip Creme with any Le Metier purchase, good as long as supplies last.)
8) MAC Pigments: Naked, Fairylite, Your Ladyship, Shimmertime – I like light/neutral pink shimmers for a natural barely-there all over eye color. I believe all of them have been discontinued except Naked, but you can get a full sized Shimmertime Pigment in one of the MAC holiday sets and Naked is also available as a mini in one of the holiday pigment sets.
The swatch picture couldn’t capture the real color, so I’ll try my best to describe the differences:
Naked is the most neutral
Fairylite has the most pink and most visible silver sparkle/micro glitter
Your Ladyship has a golden sheen to it
Shimmertime is the most pink/frosty throughout
9) MAC Style Black Mineralize Eyeshadows: Gilt by Association, Cinderfella, Young Punk $19.50 each – Yes, I do like MAC products even though I don’t write much about the line! I was afraid these would be too glittery, but they work well when applied with a damp brush or over a gel liner for a pretty smoky eye. It appears they are sold out online, but most MAC stores usually still carry seasonal stock so check your local store.
10) Hot Chocolate – I know many of you prefer I stay on the beauty topic, but I really love this time of year because it’s the perfect time for hot chocolate, apple cider, and warm teas. A classic favorite is the Williams Sonoma Hot Chocolate that they only carry during the holidays. I’ve seen a few at Godiva and Crate & Barrel that I’m dying to try out. I know Trader Joes has a lot of holiday ciders and goodies, so I’m hoping they have a hot chocolate too. Do you have a favorite hot chocolate?
