Preview: Marc Jacobs Beauty

Hi folks!

Yes, I know I’ve been gone for a looonnnggg time (and an even longer story) but I’m back and guess what I’ve brought with me? Not just a preview, but some nice picspam of the new Marc Jacobs Beauty collection that premiered at Sephora on August 9th!

Marc Jacobs Beauty coming to Sephora on 9 August 2013!

Marc Jacobs Beauty has come to Sephora as of 9 August 2013!

Sephora addicts, I mean, VIB’s got the chance to purchase from a select few items for 48 hours and the two products I chose were the Magic Marc’er eyeliner and Lust for Lacquer lip vinyl in ‘Stolen Kisses’.

Standard Disclaimer > I own stock in LVMH which is the parent company of Marc Jacobs Beauty.

‘Stolen Kisses’ Lip Vinyl by Marc Jacobs Beauty – $28

Close-up of ‘Stolen Kisses’ Lip Vinyl from Marc Jacobs Beauty. Does my new digital SLR camera take great pics or what?

Me being the lip gloss junkie that I am, I picked up Stolen Kisses–a lovely deep raspberry with shimmer and a sheer finish. Reminds me of a Wet & Wild lipgloss I could barely afford when I was a high school student in the 80’s (yes, dating myself here). Wore a really nice few hours (about three) through Wawa coffee, a glass of water and tea. I reapplied it after a few hours purely because I love the tingly feel. It just feels good to put on!

However, at the $28 price tag I was a bit torn about purchasing another. My gold standard in lipgloss, Illamasqua intense lip gloss, comes in at around $20 and has more staying power and intense color. But in Marc Jacobs’ favor his lip vinyls have a little ‘paddle’ foot applicator (Illamasqua’s has a small brush) which is wonderful for gals like me who have very full lips. Now I did get a chance to see the entire lip vinyl collection in person and was pleased to find out that unlike Stolen Kisses, there are more opaque lip vinyls that literally were packed with color. Truth Or Dare and Boom Boom! are tops on my list for my next haul.

Magic Marc’er in ‘Blacquer’ – $30

Picked this calligraphy-style eyeliner pen in Blacquer. Love,love, LOVE how balanced this felt-tipped eyeliner feels in my hand to produce such a precisely lined eye it’s to die for. When I say ‘balanced’, I mean the design makes it easier to concentrate on where you want to exactly line your eyes and it is very easy to use whether you are a novice or an expert. The black is very black. One of my biggest pet peeves about black eyeliner is that most of the ones on the market are ‘off black’. This one is anything but.

If I had to buy just *one* item from the Marc Jacobs Beauty collection it would be this eyeliner. The fact this eyeliner is manufactured in Japan is not to be overlooked. Once you hold in in your hands, and see how easy it is to line your eyes, you’ll wonder what you ever did without this. On a side note, you could tuck this baby in with your folio alongside of another pen and who would know the difference but you?

Main Picture One (Magic Marc’er lining eyes, Stolen Kisses Lip Vinyl on lips)

For more Marc Jacobs Beauty items that have caught my eye, and some ‘in the wild’ pics I took of the collection at Sephora, beam on over to my Pinterest board. To purchase, head on over to Sephora.com, MarcJacobs.com or your freestanding Sephora store.

Marc Jacobs Beauty Nail Polishes — Love the bottle design and the colors.

Love the photography on this campaign! Also, the Vamp eyeshadow palette (erroneously labeled as The Lolita) is my favorite for Fall. I wish the case wasn’t plastic though.

Lip Glosses and Nail Polishes by Marc Jacobs Beauty.

More nail polishes, blushes and face powders by Marc Jacobs Beauty

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Preview: Tom Ford Fall 2012

I daresay Tom Ford has knocked it out of the park with his Fall 2012 beauty offerings!

From left: Dominatrix nail lacquer, Emerald Lust eyeshadow quad, Aphrodesiac lipstick

Tom Ford Fall 2012 blesses us with a palette of strong jewel-toned colors which is a wonderful exception to the usual sage greens and dusky browns from most other makeup brands. As I like wearing royal purple, kelly green and deep pinks in the fall, I chose the products I felt I would use most and go with what I wear. Dominatrix is a gorgeous jewel-toned dark purple with gold-bronze shimmer. The Emerald Lust palette (which I think should have been titled Teal Lust) combines a seafoam green, royal blue and blue-green shimmer shade with a sparkly white shade. And Aprodesiac, a stunning fuchsia pink, is the perfect strong pink lipstick to go with those having cool skintones (much nicer than Flamingo).

Emerald Lust eye shadow palette by Tom Ford for Fall 2012

Tom Ford is a straight-up luxury product. The nail polishes flow beautifully, the eye shadows are nicely pigmented and made in Italy (where the best powders are made) and the lipsticks are so insanely pigmented and wear so well it is my favorite ‘brown girl friendly’ go-to lipstick.

Tom Ford Fall 2012 collection is available now at NeimanMarcus.com, Saks.com and their freestanding stores.

Dominatrix nail lacquer by Tom Ford for Fall 2012

Aprodesiac lipstick by Tom Ford for Fall 2012

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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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Guerlain Terracotta Sun In The City Illuminator: The Rundown

Florida is known as the ‘Sunshine State’. Little did I know Guerlain had managed to press it into a compact and have it waiting for me on my trip to Disney World this past Easter.

Guerlain’s Terracotta Sun In The City Golden Illuminating powder–sun in a compact

I had no intention of buying this product. That all changed with the MUA at the Guerlain boutique in the France pavilion at EPCOT swiped it on my skin once and raved at how it looked on me. I was about to tell her she was blowing smoke up my skirt but one look in the mirror and I was floored.

And so I bought it.

Close up–the imprinting on this compact is insanely detailed.

Part of Guerlain’s Summer 2012 collection, the Sun In The City golden glimmer powder is a shiny addition to the Terracotta bronzing line this luxury brand is famous for. Weighing in at a hefty 15 grams (.52 oz) it comes in a plastic mirrored compact imprinted with the words ‘Terracotta’ on top and is about the size of an adult’s palm. As with other memorable Guerlain pressed powders it has an imprint on it designed to impress. Sun In The City has a gorgeous wavy imprint that makes it look like gold weaving in the wind. It almost makes you not want to use the highlighter so you don’t mess up the pattern but trust me, you’ll get over it. You need very little to get a rich brush of gold on your skin.

Closer shot of Sun In The City highlighter on my cheeks and nose bridge. Brings warmth and definition to dark skin.

The reason I love highlighters so much is because you can use them so many ways. I like to use them to highlight the bridge of my nose, under my browbone and to emphasize my cheekbones before applying blush. And of course there is the most common and alluring way to use a highlighter—to emphasize the tops of ones cleavage/décolleté.

Sun In The City highlighter on my cheeks (under Chanel Joues Rouge Contraste blush in Malice) and on the bridge of my nose.

As compared to two of my other favorite highlighters, Guerlain’s Sun In The City highlighter is more golden than theBalm’s Mary LouManizer and not at all pink and iridescent like Guerlain’s Cruel Gardenia released this past Spring. I don’t own the Bobbi Brown Gold Shimmer Cheek Glow but it does look similiar to Sun In The City. According to Temptalia.com, Guerlain’s highlighter is more opaque which is good for olive to dark skin. If you are fair to medium-skinned and price is an issue, I think you could use the Bobbi Brown gold shimmer cheek glow as a suitable dupe.

Highlighter comparison swatches from top: Guerlain’s Cruel Gardenia, Guerlain Sun In The City, theBalm Mary LouManizer (with Flash)

For those with deep to dark skin you need to be careful to choose a highlighter that is translucent enough to give you a glow and not look ashy. Guerlain’s new highlighter, as with all of their highlighters I’ve tried, does this and more. Try blending it with their Terracotta bronzer in #3 (yellow undertones), #4 (red undertones like mine) or #8 (all ebony skintones) to deepen the gorgeous warmth of dark skin. The effect is similar to combining theBalm’s Mary LouManizer and Betty LouManizer but more opaque and richer color.

Guerlain’s Terracotta Sun In The City highlighting powder is great on dark skin!

At $70 the price for Guerlain’s Sun In The City is steep however, there is more product than in Cruel Gardenia or Meteorites perles. Because of its pigmentation and neutral coloring, and it’s manufacture in Italy (the best pressed powders seem to come from there) there is definitely value in this luxury product. Unlike with Cruel Gardenia and Meteorites I didn’t notice the trademark violet scent. This was somewhat dissappointing to me as I love the smell of violets synonymous with Guerlain products.

Sun in the City Illuminator is a limited edition item and is available at Nordstrom.com, Sephora.com and in freestanding Bloomingdales and Neiman Marcus stores.

Another shot of Guerlain’s Sun In The City highlighter (w/ flash

Guerlain Sun In The City Higlighter–heavily swatched and sheered out (w/ flash)

Highlighter comparison swatches from top: Guerlain’s Cruel Gardenia, Guerlain Sun In The City, theBalm Mary LouManizer (without flash)

HIghlighter comparisons from left: Without flash, with flash.

Gorgeous Guerlain Golden Goodness

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Guerlain by Emilio Pucci Capri Eye Shadow Quad: The Rundown

Finally! I have gotten around to reviewing the Guerlain by Emilio Pucci Terra Azzura Capri eye shadow quad from the delightful Summer 2012 collection. I’ve had a few weeks to road test this product and see how versatile it is and how the shadow formula behaves.

Guerlain by Emilio Pucci Eye Shadow Quad in Capri–French Riviera memories!

The Product Details

There are four (4) colors in this quad chosen to replicate a feeling of being in the French Riviera at summertime are as follow:

A shimmering ecru
A smokey brown
A satin pink
A semi-frosty peach coral

At first glance if you think you’ve seen a quad like this you probably have. MAC’s Call Me Bubbles quad that came out for Spring 2012 for Shop MAC/Cook MAC is almost identical at first glance. But unlike with MAC’s quad, I found all four colors in the Guerlain palette to be buttery smooth with amazing color payoff. More often than not I got too much product on the application with less effort than with my MAC shadows. For darker-skinned beauties NC/NW40+, these colors will definitely work for you however I would suggest using either a white eyeshadow on the lid, or a light color eyeshadow pencil such as Make Up For Ever’s Shadow Pencil in Pearly Peach (26E) or Urban Decay’s 24/7 Shadow Pencil in Sin.

Guerlain’s new eye shadow palette by Emilio Pucci–Great for everyday!

The palette seems like it is all warm colors but there is enough neutrality for it to look nice on all skintones. Even with my screaming red undertones all of colors complimented me very well and I found myself reaching for this palette more often than not. Out of all of the colors, the cool dusty brown and peachy orange are my favorites for a surprisingly wearable summer smokey eye. The pink color is nice but as I have the Les Roses palette and this one is more matte, I use to enhance the peachy orange shade moreso than on its own. The beige color is fabulous as a highlighter or a light wash of shimmery ercu across the lids.

Guerlain by Emilio Pucci swatches from bottom: Kohl Kajal, Eye shadow palette (no flash/HDR)

I would highly suggest using the included custom applicator to apply the shadow. My MAC brushes didn’t seem to play very well with this. And if you have oily eyelids as I do, definitely use an eyeshadow primer like Too Faced Shadow Insurance and a cream shadow as a base such as MAC’s Quite Natural or Painterly paint pots, or Maybelline’s Color Tattoo 24hr cream shadow in Tough as Taupe or Pomegranate Punk. Total weight by volume of all four shadows is .24 oz which is a very healthy amount compared to MAC’s usual .17 oz total weight for a quad.

Final Recommendation

While the price point is quite high ($59), the different finish of the case and quality of the eyeshadows (and big mirror in it) more than qualify the price. For women of color, the shadows do not turn ‘ashy’ but to make them pop I would suggest using a cream shadow underneath either a few shades lighter than your coloring or use a white shadow pencil. All colors are easily blendable and while this pallete is showcased for Summer, it is a lovely one to have year-round for olive to dark-skinned beauties.

The Guerlain by Emillio Pucci Capri eye shadow palette is a limited edition item and is available at Nordstrom, Sephora.com and NeimanMarcus.com