Preview: Guerlain Fall 2012 Rouge G L’Extrait and Blush aux Joues

Yay! It’s Guerlain Fall 2012!

Guerlain is my favorite luxury cosmetics vendor and their Rouge G lipsticks have hooked me for life. While a new crop of Rouge G lipsticks are slated to debut for Fall 2012, the real stars of this collection are the new Rose Aux Joues blush duos and the Rouge G L’Extrait liquid-to-matte lipstick. For a quick rundown of all the items contained in the Guerlain Fall 2012 collection, please see my article up on TheStyleAndBeautyDoctor.com (yep, I’m contributing over there as well).

Guerlain’s new Blush Duos for Fall 2012 – my fave is Red Hot!

New for Fall 2012 are these gorgeous blush duos from Guerlain. Each shade is paired with a complimentary highlight shade comes with a slanted applicator blush for precision shading, and is packaged in Guerlain’s trademark brass mirrored compact. As with all Guerlain products it has that wonderful violet smell I’ve come to associate with this brand. The shade I purchased, Red Hot, is very complimentary on dark skin and looks like a pairing of NARS Sin with NARS Orgasm.

Slightly elongated applicator for Rouge G L’Extrait

Also new for Fall 2012 and what I have been eagerly awaiting ever since Chanel discontinued their Rouge Allure Lacque, is Guerlain’s Rouge G L’Extrait. This is the celebrated Rouge G in liquid lipstick form that dries down to a flexible matte finish that looks amazing and is beyond comfortable to wear. The packaging is elongated slightly but still carries a hefty weight. That is a small matter compared the color impact and the ability to precisely put this where you want it to go. I picked up M69 (Orgueil) which is a dark plum wine color that screams fall.

Guerlain Rouge G L’Extrait from left: (M69) Orgueil, (M25) Colere, (M27) Luxure, (M71) Gourmandise, (M06) Avarice

More Guerlain Rouge G L’Extrait swatches

Testers of Guerlain Rouge G L’Extrait at Neiman Marcus

Guerlain Fall 2012 Red Hot blush duo and Rouge G L’Extrait in Orgueil

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Preview: Estee Lauder Brasil Collection

So who knew about this Macy’s exclusive Estee Lauder Brasil Dreams collection in advance because I sure didn’t!

Estee Lauder’s Brasil Dream collection–exclusive at Macy’s!

I’ve recently gotten into taking Samba classes so when I saw this display in my local Macy’s my eyes were immediately drawn to the bright colors. However, the real stars of this collection are the insanely pigmented blushes! Check ’em out!

The real stars of the Brasil collection–the blushes! Women of Color, haul these immediately!

I can tell you that after swatching these in store they are all very, very pigmented and you need very little to get it to show up on you if you have dark skin. Whether swatched with my finger or with a brush I was pleasantly surprised at the color payoff and how easy it was to build intensity. Out of all three of these, Fearless is my favorite with The Siren close behind. None of them contain any shimmer so for those of you who are glitterphobes I think you will enjoy these. I ordered mine from Macys.com and they are scheduled to arrive early next week. I will do swatches as soon as I can and a review a few weeks later.

The blushes retail for $28, are limited edition and are available at Macy’s counters and at Macys.com.

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Sneek Peek: Daphne Guinness for MAC

Swung by my usual MAC store today and the display for Daphne Guinness for MAC was out. I’m not particularly wowed by the colors so I’m not sure if I will pick anything up.

So enjoy the pic!

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Hervana Blush by Benefit: The Rundown

In general I’m a big fan of Benefit’s blushes. Bella Bamba and Coralista are among my favorites. I figured the case would be the same with Hervana but I was sadly mistaken. This is the first product I have ever returned to Sephora because I was truly dissatisfied with it.

Hervana blush by Benefit. You are too pretty to require so much effort.

What should have set my ‘do not buy’ radar was the large amounts of white pigment in this blush. Swirled together all of the colors looked a powdery orange-pink. Press photos seem to hint this color leans towards a cool pink. Swatches I’ve seen on fairer-skinned ladies seems to show the same thing. So I have no idea if it is because of my undertones this color went on the orange side or what.

The color itself wasn’t bad but it seemed I had to get a lot of product on the brush for it to even show up a hint on my skin. I hadn’t had this problem with other Benefit blushes so I was very disappointed to have it happen with this one. There is no discernable shimmer in this blush but it is very powdery and ‘dusty’ which translates to ashy on dark skin unless you use a cream blush base. And even with that it seems to take a lot of product for it to even show up. In terms of value this is a deal breaker. Why should you go through a $28 blush so quickly just because you have dark skin and the pigmentation is light so you have to use more product? I have NARS blushes that are matte (my beloved Gilda) and the pigmentation is amazing with no ashiness.

Overall I’m very disappointed with this product. I wouldn’t recommend it to dark-skinned folks who are say, deeper than NC/NW30. But even if you are fair to medium skinned, I don’t think the quality is as up to par with Benefit’s other blushes. Definitely swatch in-store to see if it is for you.

Unlike other Benefit blushes, this box is hinged. An absolute pain in the butt.

From bottom: Hervana heavily swatched alone, over NARS Lokuom cream blush, over MAC Shine Mixing Medium

Wearing Hervana without anything beneath. Can you see it?

A closer look. Can you see HerPurgatory, I mean Hervana?

Let's try Hervana again this time over NARS Lokoum cream blush

To paraphrase Dolly Parton, it takes a lot of work to make Hervana look good.

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Sneek Peek: NARS Danmari Blush Palette

A little gift idea for the luxe blush gal in your life. Available exclusively at Sephora. Unfortunately it’s showing as out of stock on the website but I’ve seen it in stock at the stores. My advice is to call/flatter/bribe your favorite SA there to get your hands on one of these!