Neiman Marcus Archives - Page 6 of 8

Le Metier de Beaute Summerland

September 5, 2010

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.

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Bobbi Brown Black Velvet Metallic Eye Shadows

August 21, 2010

Bobbi Brown has released another collection this fall called Black Velvet consisting of new lipsticks, creamy lip colors, eyeshadows and kohl eyeliner pencils. The standouts to me were the three Metallic Eyeshadows Black Berry, Black Charcoal and Black Cocoa ($20 each).

Those familiar with the Metallic Eyeshadows from Bobbi Brown know they have a luxurious texture – soft, pigmented and easy to blend. The new Metallics from the Black Velvet collection seem a bit different from her usual formula. They’re a bit harder in texture with a black base and different colored sparkles. The colors show up well when swiped on the finger but seem sheer when applied on the skin. They remind me of NARS Night Shadows – black base, sheer sparkle. I recommend that you apply these over a cream-based product such as a darker cream shadow or eyeliner – something a bit more emollient to pick up the actual color.

My descriptions:

Black Berry is a burgandy wine in the compact, but applies a deeper wine-plum shimmer
Black Charcoal is a charcoal silver color, applies a soft smokey grey
Black Cocoa is a glimmering chocolate gold, applies a smokey chocolate

Note that all apply well swiped on the finger, but when applied on the skin, you get a black base with bits of the colored micro-glitter (very tiny glitters):

More photos and swatches:

Swatches:

Swatched without a base, then swatched with a base:

Overall gorgeous and unique for Bobbi Brown – at least compared to all her other eyeshadows but I was disappointed in the finish of these eyeshadows because I was expecting the soft velvety texture that her Metallics usually have. When I think of the name of the collection Black Velvet, I think rich and lush textures and pigments. These are more of a soft smoke type of finish. Still good for a soft smokey eye, but alone, the colors are more subtle and you’ll get a slightly different variation of greyed black on the eyes with subtle bits of sparkle. To bring out the color you’ll need to use them over a cream base. I wouldn’t recommend using them wet simply because I think a wet brush will ruin the surface and texture of the eyeshadows. Perhaps using a soft damp brush might work, but I personally wouldn’t risk it. I was able to test them out at the counter and wasn’t quite sure if my fingers were just picking up the colors weird but after getting home and playing around with them a bit, I found out that they were indeed not the typical metallic finish.

I put Black Charcoal on my eyes as soon as I got home and it seems like even with a base it’s hard to see the shimmer. Bottom line is that I’ll need to experiment more with these. I think the intended result is a soft smokey eye rather than a shimmery smokey eye. This may be very much like last year’s Style Black collection from MAC, which took me a few tries to figure out just how to apply them on the eyes the right way.

So don’t write them off simply because I don’t know how to apply these. My regular Bobbi Brown artist wasn’t at the counter today when I stopped by so I didn’t get a chance to have her apply these on me. I’ll probably go back in the next week or so and ask for her tips. She’s a genius when it comes to applying makeup.

I passed on the other 2 matte shadows, I personally prefer the texture and color of Caviar and Smoke. The sparkle shadows that were supposed to be released were not at the counter yet. The lipgloss seemed really sheer. The creamy lip colors were black and then another that reminded me of Clinique’s Black Honey which I might go back for. I didn’t try the new lipstick or metallic lipstick. The Eye Kohls seemed pretty basic and I prefer her gel liners so I skipped those.

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Chanel Paradoxal 509 Le Vernis Nail Colour

June 28, 2010

The Chanel Fall 2010 collection is trickling in stores and finally arrived at a Neimans near me. Among the things I picked up, the most anticipated item for me was the new Paradoxal 509 Nail Polish. I saw it featured by Jen at Beauty Moogle and fellow Chanel fan Leslieal sent me pics of it swatched on her. It’s an odd shade because it looks so different depending on what lighting your fingers are in making it a bit difficult to tell what it really looks like. If you’ve seen the photos on the web you may be wondering, “so which photo is the most accurate?” My answer is: they all seem to be accurate, it just depends on what light you’re in.

In the bottle Paradoxal is a greyed mauve plum with visible purple shimmer. On the nails, the shimmer disappears, much like Vendetta (Spring 2009) and Jade Rose (featured here) which has been repromoted with the fall collection. In the sunlight there is a subtle sheen to the polish but from arm’s length, it appears to be a flat-cream finish. The formula and finish on this shade is pretty good. I was able to get a full color application with 2 coats. While I would have liked the shimmer to be more visible, I did like that it applied smoothly without streaks. I took a number of photos in different lighting:

Swatches all applied with 2 coats, no topcoat:

Photo with high flash:

Photographed in artificial light:

This is what the color looks like in natural light:

Compared to NARS Tokaïdo Express & Chanel Vendetta 483:

Artificial light (shimmer is not as visible):

With high flash (shimmers visible here):

Outdoors, natural light:

I found the collection at Neimans, but I’ve also heard reports that it’s available at Macy’s. My Nordstrom and Macy’s both said they weren’t expecting the shipment until right before July 4th. So those still trying to hunt the collection down – it will most likely be in store near you within the next week.

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Tom Ford Private Blend Lip Color in Pink Dusk

June 10, 2010

I swore to myself that I wouldn’t even look at the new lipsticks from Tom Ford. I was less than thrilled with the boxy packaging, high price tag, and unappealing ad campaign. The fact that the lighter shades sold out online within days made me feel like it wasn’t meant to be. However my friend and I just happened to see these in LA and the rep at the Beverly Hills Neimans made the experience of trying on these lipsticks so fun, I could hardly say no. I caved and shelled out $45 for Pink Dusk and I have to say I am really happy with my purchase – no regrets at all.

I tried the four lightest shades and wanted to love the nudes but they looked like concealer on me. Pink Dusk was the only one that worked for my skintone (within my comfort zone) and is a lovely light neutral creamy pink with a very slight hint of shimmer in the tube. The formulas to me are the equivalent of cashmere sweaters. Creamy and smooth. They have the most wonderful soft vanilla scent (like Sprinkles Vanilla Cupcakes). If you like YSL Rouge Voluptes, you will like these. The Tom Ford is not quite as soft, but almost as creamy.

A few lip swatches, but it’s been a cloudy day so it was hard to get a good swatch. First in natural light, no flash.

Since I know there’s bound to be at least one of you to ask if there’s a dupe, I went through my stash of lipsticks to see. No dupe to be found. In my mind (off the top of my head) I had thought it was similar to Chanel Naive Rouge Allure, but upon pulling it out – I found I was way off. The most similar ones I could find, left to right:

Bobbi Brown Blondie Pink
Chanel Naive Rouge Allure
Tom Ford Pink Dusk
NARS Catfight
Bobbi Brown Uber Pink

You can also see it swatched on Karla Sugar’s Arm and London Makeup Girl’s Lips too.

Overall Thoughts: The color selection was a bit limited in my opinion. The nudes were mostly too pale and then there were 2 middle shades and then the rest jumped to brights and darks. I had my eye on Bruised Plum but knew there was no way I could pull it off.

Are these a must have? No. Especially not at $45 and especially not for a natural your lips but better color. But I am happy with my Pink Dusk and see myself getting regular use out of this shade. That being said, I definitely don’t plan on purchasing more.

$45 is still $45 and there are probably other better things I could have used my money on.

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Mini Shu Uemura + Laura Mercier Haul

April 19, 2010

I had a $50 giftcard to Neimans that expired on the 18th and since Shu Uemura was going to be pulled from the store soon, I decided to look at the line to see if there was anything I could find. I found two shadows that I didn’t recognize in IR Brown 850 and P Purple 781, and to reach the $50 minimum for my gift card, I decided on one of the new Laura Mercier summer lipglosses in Glistening Sand. I also had a few cards I received in the mail for a mini Rouge Coco in Legende and a mini DiorShow. I had received the cards in the mail about a month ago – but they didn’t get their samples in until recently.

Laura Mercier has 3 featured glosses for the summer collection: Glistening Sand (a beige with gold sparkles), Bon Bon (repromote, a bright salmon coral pink), and another bright coral (forget the name). She reformulated her bronzers with a wave-like pattern, but as far as I could tell they looked the same as the older ones. There were also 3 new eyeshadows which I neglected to pay attention to, one was a teal, the others were golden. Glistening Sand seems pretty sheer unfortunately – but it will be pretty over other beigey-nude lipsticks. (I don’t test glosses at the counter for sanitary reasons.)

The Shu Uemura eyeshadows have good pigment when applied over a base or with a damp brush. IR Brown 850 is a taupe with a slight greenish tinge on my skin. P Purple 781 is a matte purple-brownish base with silver micro-sparkles.

Eyeshadows are swatched wet (with a damp brush) and dry:

Minis: DiorShow Mascara + Chanel Legende Rouge Coco

All in all, not bad for $15!

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Chanel Rose Paradise Le Vernis Nail Colour

March 6, 2010

This is an up-close feature of the new Chanel Rose Paradise Nail Polish I purchased from Neimans a week ago from the Beauty Week Event. (Read about the other Neimans Exclusive Items Here.) In the bottle, it looks like a complex warm bronzey-pink shimmer, but on the fingers, it went on a bit lighter than it looked in the bottle. I guess it depends on what angle you hold the bottle at. I wouldn’t call it a duo-chrome, but there are so many different colors of shimmer in this little bottle, it looks different depending on how you hold it.

Here it is, 2 coats, and it’s pure love:

Compared to some other Chanel Pinkish Colors:

I am super picky with pink nail polishes. Chanel usually comes out with great pinks. I love other brands like OPI and Essie, but warmer pinks don’t always work for my skin. They end up looking too coraly or have some color in it that makes my skin look very yellow.

I was so smitten with this new color I went back and got a couple more for my sister and mom. It was available on neimanmarcus.com a week ago, but it appears to have sold out. Call your nearest counter – you might have better luck finding it in store. The color is also available at chanel.com as a limited edition color.

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Chanel Gardenia Rouge Coco & Rose Paradise Nail Polish (Neiman Marcus Exclusives)

February 27, 2010

My friend and I just checked out the new Chanel Rouge Coco Lipsticks and we hit up all four major department stores near me to investigate on any store exclusives (yes, we went to all four). We found that only Saks and Neimans had exclusives and we both were delighted with the ones at Neiman Marcus: Rose Paradise Nail Polish and Gardenia Rouge Coco.

In addition to their full Rouge Coco display, Neimans also has a mini unit featuring:

* Rose Paradise #185 Nail Polish (Retails for $23) – a warmer pink rose frost

* Gardenia #13 Rouge Coco Lipstick (Retails for $30) – a soft warm pink base with & cool pink shimmer

* Bel Air #147 Glossimer (Retails for $27) – this is the second repromote for this shade, it’s a classic creamy pink-rose (pinker than giggle)

We both had to get the newer shades and I already had Bel Air from the Les Naturels Collection from last April/May 2009. All the Chanel reps were either wearing the exclusive Gardenia #13 or Mademoiselle #05 (featured on Vanessa Paradis in the Rouge Coco ad). Both colors were stunning on all the artists regardless of skin-tone and coloring.

To clarify – the lipstick is not an exact match for the gloss. It appears they simply decided to repromote the Bel Air to compliment the new lipstick. The artists told me they were also combining Pagoda Glossimer (another favorite of mine) with Gardenia Lipstick for their makeovers.

No flash, natural light:

It looks like Rose Paradise Nail Polish is available on Chanel.com, but it’s currently Out Of Stock which makes me think they might not have got it in quite yet. So perhaps these aren’t really “exclusive” as the little display showed. I’ll do a manicure post on this later in the next week or so, but here it is compared to a few other shades, Ming, Rose Blossom, Paparazzi. The Rose Paradise is a warm shimmery rose, similar to Tarte Love Child Cheek Stain in a nail polish form.

I am sad to see the Hydrabase go away, but the new colors and formula is amazing. I swatched as many as I could fit on my hand and ended up coming home with way too much. If you had or tried any Hydrabase colors you know that there was a strong floral scent and that some of the shades felt a bit dry to apply. Once on the lip they were perfectly fine, but the texture tugged the lips a bit upon application.

The new Rouge Coco Lipsticks have a creamy moisturizing formula that just glides on the lips without feeling too shiny or glossy. I find that it really is the best of all Chanel lipsticks – like if you mixed all three formulas from Aqualumiere, Hydrabase and Rouge Allure together. There is a slight scent, but I could barely notice it. I am thrilled with the new colors and formula. You really can just apply and be done in one swipe. No liner or gloss needed in my opinion.

One last view:

You can see a swatch of Bel Air here.