Archive for the 'Laura Mercier Makeup' Category

In typical Bay Area fashion, grey, overcast skies quickly replaced the sunny, warm weather we’d had for a few days, but I refuse to let go! I wasn’t up for this uber-red MAC look here, but I still wanted to try something bright and lively. So, this morning I gave this summery bronze and gold eye a try, featuring colors from the MAC Fafi and Laura Mercier Gold Digger collections. I first thought about going for broke with false eyelashes, too, but those will have to wait ’til next time.

Matte coral cheeks and shimmery coral lips complete the look. Now, all I need is a warm beach, a pair of flip flops and a large Jamba Juice (Orange Dream Machine, yum)!

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truancy (noun, plural): the state of being idle

It’s hella hot out here in the Bay Area today, so I made the executive decision to play hooky and blog from Ocean Beach in San Francisco. 

Well… to be honest, I didn’t actually do any “blogging” at the beach, but I thought about it.

My truancy today also involved cruising around in the 4Runner with the sunroof open and all the windows down while bumping Ray J.’s Sexy Can I.  

You’re a dirty birdy, Ray J.

But you know your girl — I couldn’t stay away from the Internets and had to sneak in a Makeup and Beauty Blog-related something, tom foolery or not.

My nails were thrashed after the beach, so I did a quickie manicure at home. Because it was so frickin’ hot this afternoon — like Christian Bale hot — I chose a cool, icy shade, going with Laura Mercier’s Nail Lacquer in Sterling ($15). 

Other than the beach and a manicure, I did a whole lotta nothing today and ’twas glorious! Of course, now the pangs of guilt are making themselves heard. Back! Back, evil guilt!

How was your Saturday, homie? Did you have chores to do, or were you able to catch up on some quality slacker time?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

If I ever make it back to the tropics, Laura Mercier’s Gold Digger collection is coming with me. Set to debut this spring, Laura’s summer collection is all about gold and bronze shimmer and includes two travel-friendly products that caught my eye: Colour Pots and Lip Glace lipglosses. I predict both would go perfectly with a surfer girl tan.

Each Colour Pot houses a cream eyeshadow base, with a coordinating loose powder shadow tucked away beneath it (so very James Bond!). Both products work well separately, but they’re intended to be layered one on top the other for an intense metallic shine.

I prefer to pack lightly when it comes to makeup and travel, so the idea of two products in one handy and compact package moves me. I welcome anything that lightens my load and means a bit more room for souvenirs in my carry-on bag.

Laura Mercier has made three gilded shades available — White Gold, Solid Gold and Bronze Gold.

As if you haven’t noticed, the gold theme continues. I’m excited about picking up all three new Lip Glace shades — Bronze, Gold and Platinum. Lip Glace lipglosses are non-sticky and don’t chap my lips or make them peel.

Here are a few pics, along with details on the rest of the collection. Read the rest of this entry »

For many, Sunday is a day of rest. Let me just say that those people are lucky bastards. Except for a few brief beauty breaks, my booty has been planted in the chair at my computer desk all afternoon.

On one of my breaks I snuck away from the keyboard to play with yesterday’s Laura Mercier loot. I took a few snapshots of a shimmery eye done using Laura Mercier’s Fairytale Creme Eye Duo, a combination of two cream eyeshadows, one pink and one violet. Both produce a near-transparent wash of color.

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Your girl did a lil’ hauling today at the Macy’s Union Square Laura Mercier counter. I picked up some cream shadows from the Dreamy Collection, along with a navy blue cake eyeliner and a flat eyeliner brush.

Here’s a pic of the haul sans camera flash:

I know I’ve moaned and groaned about my one bad incident with a Laura Mercier cream blush brush, but when Frank, a cool makeup artist at the Union Square counter, showed me how to use a flat eyeliner brush to apply Bleu Marine Eye Liner on my waterline (to make my eyes look bigger), I had a moment. Read the rest of this entry »

It was love at first sight yesterday when I laid eyes on Laura Mercier’s newest spring color collection, Dreamy. With six new sheer lipsticks, four delicious pastel shimmer cream eye shadow duos and a highlighting shimmer bloc, the collection is sexy and effortless — my makeup style to the Nth degree!

I wish I had better product pics, but here’s a stalkery phone picture of the display until I can get better ones:

Remember the bout of makeup indecision I suffered last week, trying to decide between the spring NARS Shanghi Lily and Laura Mercier Seduction collections? Well, I experienced absolutely none of that with Dreamy. My heart literally skipped a beat when I saw the eye duos and lipsticks, and I worked out the makeup math (aka, trying to justify buying it all!) in my head, LOL.

Although Dreamy is a spring collection, I get a laid-back, beachy, vacation vibe from it. These are colors I’d wear on a tropical getaway. To finish the look, I’d need a shade of cream eye shadow on my lids and a pink sheer lipstick on my pucker. And a surfboard. And a margarita. LE SIGH!

Here’s the lowdown on Dreamy…

Eyes

Creme Eye Duo ($28 each)

• Daydream - peach and bronze
• Enchantment - yellow and green
• Fairytale - pink and violet
• Mesmerize - sand and silver

Each Creme Eye Duo contains two contrasting cream shades which blend and work well either together or separately. The colors are shimmery but don’t have giant chunks of glitter in them. While the pastels are subtle and light, they aren’t so light as to look stark or unwearable. I’m excited about Daydream, Enchantment and Fairytale. The sand and silver colors in Mesmerize didn’t really move me, though, so I’m skipping that one for now.

I swatched the shades with my finger at the counter. Each of the colors appeared sheer on my skin. I think that’s by design because the product marketing is all about the suggestion of sheer — not in your face — color. I did notice I could apply multiple layers of any shade to increase the intensity of a shadow, so, on days in which I’d want bolder looks, I’d have that option, too.

The formula is long wearing, non-greasy and crease resistant — I swatched my arm and after three hours the colors had barely budged!

Lips

Lip Colour - Sheer ($20 each)

• Baby Lips - sheer warm pink
• Bare Lips - sheer rose beige
• Healthy Lips - sheer rose
• Nude Lips - sheer neutral beige
• Sexy Lips - sheer sangria rose
• Tender Lips - sheer brown rose

Each of the new lipsticks in Dreamy’s Lip Colour - Sheer collection, the newest additions to the Laura Mercier lipstick family, have a sheer wash of color and a semi-matte finish. Each little pretty is supposed to hydrate, plump and condition lips. Laura Mercier used a long-wearing formula infused with a special lipstick technology they call Laura Mercier Lip Complex, which “delivers a soft wash of color in just one swipe.” I’m psyched about all these colors, but the ones that move me most are Bare Lips, Tender Lips and, of course, Sexy Lips.

I couldn’t get decent swatches of the new Orchid Mosaic Shimmer Bloc ($38). Here’s a shot from the Laura Mercier Web site:

Truthfully, Orchid Mosaic didn’t move me as much as the other new products did. It’s a highlighting powder with a pearl finish and four separate colors you can either use alone or together on your eyes, cheeks or body. The pinks were a little too sheer on my skin, and I’m afraid the color wouldn’t display unless I really laid it on thick. Unless I can get a Laura Mercier makeup artist to show me a secret way to get the most out of Orchid Mosaic, I’ll probably skip this one.

Sadly, the forces of makeup nature were aligned against me, and I wasn’t able to buy anything from the collection yesterday, boo. When I arrived at the Nordstrom counter, the Laura Mercier makeup artist had just left for her afternoon break, and, because the collection was so new, none of the makeup artists from other lines could find where the collection items were stashed. I’ll return later today with a few gift cards that’ve been burning holes in my pocket, wheeee!

How’s your Saturday coming along? I hope you’ve got plans to do some relaxin’ this weekend.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Today I suffered a debilitating case of makeup buying indecision at the Neiman Marcus Beauty Event, a national event (in-store and online) in which visitors to Neiman Marcus stores who purchase $100 in beauty or fragrance products through March 2 receive a batch of six sample products along with their choice of tote bags in hot pink, teal or neon green.

Cute bag, yah? I entered the San Francisco Union Square store on a mission. I cruised the beauty department with my homegirl Jo-money, scoping out spring products from both Nars and Laura Mercier, but I couldn’t decide what to get.

I love both lines, but today I was caught between NARS Shanghi Lily and Laura Mercier Seduction. I knew I couldn’t get everything I wanted, but instead of actually getting anything, I ended up snapping pictures, assuming that as the day wore on I’d choose from one collection or the other.

I went to lunch thinking food might help (hey, it always does) and took a long walk down Market Street in SF, but the answer never came to me. I couldn’t decide between the two collections and went home empty handed.

Yeah, I know I should have just chosen a few products from each line, but I have until March 2 to make up my mind. Laura? Nars? BOTH? *Wallet throbs* HELP! What should I do?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen