Lorac Croc Palette

Lorac makes some of the best coordinated makeup palettes that take the guessing out of creating a polished, put together look. I've been using the Snake Charmer for several years now (even though the blush is too bright for me nowadays). It's my go-to item for a shimmery evening look (and it slides easily into the slimmest clutch), but it's a bit bold for daytime. I don't remember why I never paid more attention to the understated Croc palette, but I recently rediscovered how great it is.

The muted rose blush is Soul, one of my current favorites. Three of the eye shadows have delicate shimmer that is daytime appropriate, and the fourth is a suede brown that creates depth. It's not dark enough to use as a liner, but it definitely works well in the crease. The shadows have a delicate smooth texture and they blend together seamlessly. The pigment, like every Lorac product I've ever tested, is rich and the color payoff is great and very true to what you see in the pan. I like playing and creating lighter and darker variations, according to the mood, but I mostly blend the highlighter with one of the darker colors for an effortless, polished but almost bare look. Used over a primer, the eye shadows hold for 14 hours easily with no creasing and minimum fading.

Collection Essentielle de Chanel Paris-L.A. Palette

As promised, here are photos and full descriptions of the colors in the Collection Essentielle de Chanel Paris-L.A. Palette. You will have to forgive me for the lack of swatches-I just haven't had the time (I'm trying to keep several balls in the air as we speak and I still owe several of you emails and replies. I'll get to it as soon as I post this).  I did my best to give as detailed a description as possible.

The palette contains:
3 eye shadows
3 lip colors- 1 is a liquid lipstick, two glosses
2 cream concealers
1 cream blush

General observations:
1. Collection Essentielle de Chanel is quite neutral in coloring and mellow in pigments. The eye shadows lean a little cool (just a little, though), the lip colors are on the warm pink side and a little shimmery, the blush is warm  apricot beige and both concealers are yellow toned.
2. The overall look you will get from the palette is almost-nude. It's office-appropriate and is perfect for a French-inspired face. All you need to add is a black eyeliner and mascara.
3. The color intensity could have been better. The shades are very low-drama and I haven't been able to build them. At all.
4. The applicators are crap. I don't even like the lip brush because it has a blunt end.

Eye Shadows:
What you see in the pan is exactly what you get. All three shadows are matte, which I love- very different from the Holiday Quad and its baked glitter texture. They are reasonably smooth but lack something to feel truly luxurious. The ivory one does not show on my skin at all. It's comparable to Bobbi Brown's Navajo and I guess would work in a similar manner if you subscribe to Bobbi's way of doing eye makeup of starting with a layer of invisible base color. I don't and this annoys me to no end. I would have liked a delicate non-shimmery highlighter that opens up the area under the brow bone.
As for the two mauve-plums, they are nice and create a natural almost-naked-but-not-quite look. The lighter shade is nearly the natural color of my lid. The darker one is not dark enough to be a real liner on me. At first I hoped these colors would make an elegant and subtle smoky eye, but they're simply not smoky enough.

Lip Colors:
The lip colors are best described as warm reddish pink. The dark(ish) liquid lipstick loses the very little shimmer it has in the pan when applied and is a very pretty light berry color- dense but not completely opaque. It's flattering and easy to wear alone or topped with a gloss.
The ligher gloss is a sheer shimmery pink. My natural lips are too dark for it to show, so I only wear it atop a lipstick. The texture is lovely- Chanel really knows how to make a lip gloss. The middle color is a red berry with golden shimmer. It's pretty and can be lightened by mixing with the light gloss or used to give the cream lipstick some extra punch.

Blush:
We don't get many cream blushes from Chanel, at least not as singles, so this is exciting, especially since it's a great product. My skin tone is probably the darkest that can work with this specific color. If you have a tan or are naturally darker than my pale olive skin (NC 30-35ish, but not quite) it's probably too light for you. The blush is sheer and shimmery- on a darker skin it might actually be a very nice highlighter. I can wear it alone but think it's prettier over a powder blush- it tones down the more aggressive Nars Dolce Vita, for example. I apply it with Julie Hewett Cheeky blush brush.

Concealers:
Chanel makes excellent face products and these concealers are no different. They are on the yellow side and I wear the lighter one better but mix a little of the darker concealer in it for custom color where needed. They give excellent coverage and blend perfectly.

Bottom Line: Collection Essentielle de Chanel is nice but a little underwhelming and is definitely not for those with darker skin tones. If you're trying to decide between this one and the other limited edition, Les Regards de Chanel eye palette (back in stock for now), I'd recommend the latter, unless you're utterly in love with the blush.

Collection Essentielle de Chanel Paris-L.A. Palette ($85) is available now from chanel.com.

All photos are mine, including these two bonus ones starring Lizzy and Sophie:

Collection Essentielle de Chanel Paris-L.A. Palette- Sneak Peek

While I passed on the entire Chanel Holiday 2010 Collection, the newly released limited edition Collection Essentielle de Chanel (aka the Paris-L.A. Palette) had me clicking "add to bag" faster than my Buffy can say "purrr". By the way, the highly-coveted Les Regards de Chanel eye palette is back in stock for a limited time, so those who missed it the first time around get another chance to buy it.

This is just a little preview since I only got the Collection Essentielle de Chanel the other day and didn't even swatch it yet. I plan on wearing it exclusively over the weekend so I'll have something to report early next week. In the meantime, here's a quick overview and impression of the collection:

The Paris-L.A. palette looks nicely edited. On the website they call it "a plum harmony", though the cream blush is more of a beige peach and the lip colors (two glosses, one cream lipstick) seem red-based in the pan. The eye shadows are ivory and two plum/mauve colors that look neutral and polished. There are also two shades of concealer, which is an excellent approach- it allows you to mix and customize your concealer for a perfect match and tailor it to your needs in different areas of the face.

The applicators that come with the palette are tiny and other than the lip brush not too useful (a sponge applicator? seriously?). They are placed inside special slots in the Chanel velveteen pouch, which is an improvement and a nice touch. All in all, I can't wait to start playing.

Stay tuned.

Collection Essentielle de Chanel Paris-L.A. Palette ($85) is available from chanel.com

All photos are mine (a lot more to come). Model: Buffy.

Laura Mercier Fall Favourites Face Palette Collection (Saks Exclusive)

One of the most beautiful and practical sets of the season comes from Laura Mercier. The Fall Favorites Face Palette Collection is centered around the color palette, but also includes a a full size black mascara and three brushes- cheek, lip and eye. The brushes have short travel size handles but are otherwise full size, high quality and help one get the most of the palette. I wish Bobbi Brown would take notice and do the same with some of her face palettes.

The colors are neutral, wearable and very flattering. I already have a full size pan of Coffee Ground, a matte taupe, which I use often and always pack for travel. As you can see, it coordinates well with the other shades Laura Mercier has included here- Bamboo, Rose and Stellar. The four eye shadows are versatile, perfectly coordinated and are truly great for a day-to-night look. I swatched them very lightly, but the colors can be built for more drama if needed. They have a soft texture and a luxurious finish that fits this set very well.

The blushes are quite universal. I can wear both and also like mixing and blending them together. I could have lived with less shimmer, but it's not too bad. I swatched the colors more heavily then I wear them, to make sure you can see the difference between Spice and Apricot Blossom. A lighter application gives the face a natural healthy glow.

Out of the three lip colors, Crystal is a sheer gloss with very little pigment. I don't wear it on its own, but it's great either mixed with the other two or topping a different lipstick. My favorite thing to do here is blending Black Currant and Orchid together for a juicy and rich neutral color that's dark enough to look sexy but isn't too bold.

The only issue here is the size of the pans. The eye shadows are quite narrow and cross contamination is very easy, especially when using good brushes (like the ones that came with this collection). Still, as long as one is mindful things can be kept fairly clean. I've been putting the palette to good use in the last few weeks and have a feeling I'm going to run out of several colors within 6 months or so.

Bottom Line: Between the pretty packaging, tools and the work horse colors, this is a big winner.

This particular Laura Mercier Fall Favourites Face Palette Collection ($125) is a limited edition and exclusive to Saks (in store and online). Other department stores have different sets for fall 2010 with other colors and products (Neiman's has no lip products but includes more eye shadows and a pencil liner).

All photos are mine.

Giorgio Armani Fall 2010 Maestro Eye Shadow Quad

The star of Armani's Night Viper collection for fall 2010 is this Maestro eye shadow quad. Like several other brands, the Giorgio Armani creative team chose a rich dark blue as the bait to catch our attention and tempt us with its subtle shimmer. What can I say? It works.

While this is no Guerlain, the much lighter weight of the compact and easier to digest price tag give Armani major points. The combination of of one stunning color and three accessible neutrals is very appealing. One can create several looks for day and evening, play and blend as desired. There's a little insert in the box with suggestions for four combinations. It's a great place to start, even if the one titles "smocky evening look" is most likely a misspelling.

 If you're familiar with these Maestro shadows you know how soft they are- any novice can blend them and enjoy working with these colors. As is the case with the other Maestro quads, they require a primer for best results (I didn't use one in the swatches) and a bit of brush maneuvering because the individual pans are very narrow. It's worth the hassle, though as the results are beautiful and the colors are so easy to wear.

Bottom Line: Poor Armani would have gotten a lot more attention if it weren't for Guerlain.

Giorgio Armani Fall 2010 Maestro Eye Shadow Quad ($59) is available from Saks, Nordstrom and Barneys and directly from giorgioarmanibeauty-usa.com.

All photos are mine.

Guerlain 2 Place Vendome Fall 2010 Eye Shadow Palette

This is one of those posts that write themselves. It starts with the photos that no matter how tempting they look, they still don't compare to the very gorgeous real thing, and continues with a product that performs so well it makes you wonder why isn't every makeup item this good. I'm not even talking about the packaging- the compacts of the Ecrin 6 Couleurs should win Guerlain some serious prizes for the beautiful design. This is what a luxury product should be like.

As I've mentioned before, I chose two of these Guerlain eye shadow palettes. One was the warm mauves of 93 Rue de Passy, and the other one is this- 2 Place Vendome. The shimmery blue eye shadow in the center is the star, of course, as are the blue eye shadows other brands have been featuring lately (Le Metier de Beaute Le Cirque, Bobbi Brown Denim & Rose, Armani NightViper, Nars (coming soon. I couldn't resist) and Givenchy Midnight Look (ditto). But the other colors in th are character actors- full of depth and deserving of love.

The compact creates the impression these shades are on the cool end of the scale, but as you can see they are actually quite neutral and pick warm tones from the skin, making all of them very wearable and adjustable for various makeup looks. You can use only one or blend several colors together to shade and highlight. The eyeliner is more muted on skin than it appears in the pan.  I like it a lot more in this compact than the charcoal from Rue de Passy because the color is not just more unique but also looks as an integral part of the palette. I like using it to smoke out Bobbi Brown's Denim Ink gel eyeliner, but it's fine by itself or over a black liquid liner.

The texture and pigment of these eye shadows is just as superb as in Rue de Passy. My swatches don't necessary reflect it, because I didn't use a primer and my skin was already raw from swatching other items when I took these photos, still I think you can get a decent impression of the pretty.

Bottom Line: Made of awesome.

2 Place Vendome Fall 2010 Eye Shadow Palette ($84) is available from Guerlain counters everywhere.

All photos are mine. It's really bad karma to steal them and not give credit. I'm just sayin'.