FOTD NARS Essential Eye + MAC Blushbaby.

a FOTD of few months back. very subtle and natural complexion & lips, slightly darker on the eyes.

for the face:

foundation: Vichy Aera Teint Pure foundation in 23 Clair/Ivory (1 - review) applied with the BeautyBlender (2 - review)

under-eye concealer: Edward Bess Platinum Concealer in Soft Beige (5 - review) applied with Hakuhodo 212 brush (6 - review), setted with Laura Mercier Secret Brightening Powder (7 - review) and applied with RMK Eyeshadow Brush M (8 - review)

finishing powder: Guerlain Météorites Perles in #1 Teint Rosé (3 - review) applied with Le Métier de Beauté Powder Brush (4 - review)

blush: MAC Blushbaby (9 - review) applied sheerly with RMK Cheek Brush (10 - review)


for the eyes:

brows: MAC Copperplate eyeshadow (1) applied with MakeUpShow H07 Small Shader Brush (2 - review)

eye make up: with NARS Essential Eye Palette (3 - review): Nepal (bottom left in the palette) in the inner part, Ondine (bottom center) on the middle of the lid and Thunderball (bottom right) applied in the shape of a superthick winged liner and blended out into the crease.
Nepal and Thunderball mixed on the lower lashline.
everything applied with MAC 242 brush (4) and blended with Edward Bess Luxury Eye Brush (5 - review)
Koji Eyelash Curlers, Maybelline and Shiseido mascaras.

lips: MAC Patisserie lipstick (9 - lip swatch)

with flash:

eye candy ♥ !

some items that arrived me over the last week - have i told you that i really love it when the postman rings the bell? ;)
i ordered some pieces from the holiday collections by Chanel and Guerlain, a primer by Laura Mercier and the Perfection Lumière foundation by Chanel in "my" shade that is not available in germany -.-
look forward to some interesting reviews and comparisons soon!

Laura Mercier Translucent Loose Setting Powder

i have had this powder for months now, but never came to review it just because i'm absolutely underwhelmed by it. funnily enough, that's the case with many Laura Mercier products i've tried so far. i always see so many rave reviews for them, but with exception of Second Skin Cheek Colour in Orange Blossom (review) none of the LM products ever wowed me, and i tried quite a bunch.

the Translucent Loose Setting Powder comes in the normal LM tub with shimmery dark brown lid. it contains 30g of product which is in this case too much to go through ;) i bought it on ebay and paid about 26€.
the powder is very fine and smooth, it's a light yellowish cream colour and has a brightening effect that i think would appear as a white cast on deeper skin tones.
it sets foundations nicely but leaves me with a dull (but not totally matte) finish that i don't like for my powders. it doesn't contain any shimmer bits. this is not a bad powder by any means, but it's just not anything special. no refining effect, no glow (until few hours after application when it starts to melt into my natural oils).
even though this doesn't seem to contain bismuth, i still found it a bit itching on my skin when i wore it back in summer days.
the only thing worth mentioning is the excellent oil control ability when i wear it with Laura Mercier's Silk Crème Foundation (review). unfortunately this won't apply to combinations with other foundations. LM products just seem to work very well together, but i want to include excellent stuff into my make up routine, not only a hand full of mediocre products only because they work well together...
however, i haven't completely written off this brand, i still hope to someday, in some condition find them to work perfectly for me.

blended in

tihilw

no powder - with LM TLSP

ingredients: Talc, Magnesium Myristate, Nylon-12, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Ethylhexyl Palmitate, Zea Mays (Corn) Starch, Tocopherol, Ascorbyl Palmitate, Sodium Dehydroacetate, Polymethyl Methacrylate, Lauroyl Lysine, Methicone, Methylparaben, Propylparaben, Butylparaben, Ultramarines (Cl 77007), Iron Oxides (Cl 77491, Cl 77492, Cl 77499.

foundation overview #16: Laura Mercier Silk Crème Foundation.

i've been testing the Laura Mercier Silk Crème Luminous Coverage Foundation over the past few months. i bought it on ebay for about 30$.
it comes in a opaque squeeze tube and contains 35ml. i chose the shade Cream Ivory.

it claims to give you    "The ultimate in flawless natural coverage. Silk Crème Foundation is a beautiful, light-diffusing formula offering advanced light-reflection properties which cause fine lines and wrinkles to optically vanish. Laura created an innovative foundation that delivers flawless, buildable coverage in a long wearing rich hydrating base."

and i must say, i'm not very impressed.

Cream Ivory is a shade too light for me, i'm about NC22 in MAC right now. it might match NC15-20, with peachy undertones. i think i will only use it for the palest of pale days in winter times. but other than that i think that it doesn't feel lightweight at all, it's a rich, creamy texture and has a very high coverage that you must blend out and buff in well to avoid it looking mask-like. fortunately it spreads very nicely, i like to use a dense synthetic brush the best. but still, i find that it sits like a heavy cream on my face as if it contains a bit too much of titanium dioxide. it has a weird scent, too. like from fermenting fruits...
the finish isn't very luminous either, it's quite dull and semi-matte the first two hours after application and needs to emoliate with my skin's natural oils to become more satiny/glowy. it doesn't oxidize on me. i like that it sets dry to the touch and stays on quite well, even after 9 hours i still had good coverage and not so much shine. it does settle into fine lines a little bit when worn alone without a powder.
setted with the Translucent Setting Powder by Laura Mercier though, this makes the best oil-controlling combination i've tried so far.
i think it's quite nice for oily skin like mine, but i don't like the feeling at all. i might mix it with lighter foundations or with a serum...

ingredients (click to enlarge)

one drop of: Laura Mercier Silk Crème Foundation in Cream Ivory - MAC Pro Longwear in NC20

Laura Mercier Silk Crème Foundation right after blending out

Laura Mercier Silk Crème Foundation 10 minutes after blending out

tihilw

Laura Mercier FOTD.

i did a FOTD mostly with Laura Mercier products some days ago when i tested her Silk Crème Foundation (to be reviewed soon). i think it's fun to do such brand-FOTDs (like i've done with Chanel and Guerlain once) and will do with Armani, Hourglass and Dior soon. it's quite unusual that i use most products of one brand while mixing and matching different products from different brands is the daily routine ;)

here is what i used:

for the face

 

• 1 - Laura Mercier Silk Crème Foundation* with BeautyBlender (5)
• 2 - Laura Mercier Translucent Loose Powder* with Lunasol Powder Brush N (6)
• 3 - Laura Mercier Secret Brightening Powder for undereye area and as a face highlighter with RMK Eyeshadow Brush M (8)
• 4 - Laura Mercier Second Skin Cheek Colour in Orange Blossom with Rouge Bunny Rouge Blush Brush (7)

for eyes and lips

• 1 - MAC Eyeshadow in Copperplate to fill in the brows with Louise Young Brow Brush LY30 (10)
• 2 - MAC Eyeshadow in Smut in the outer corner of the lid and crease with MakeUpShow Shader Brush H06* (14) and Le Métier de Beauté Crease Brush (15)
• 3 - Essence Gel Eyeliner in Berlin Rocks with For Your Beauty Lip Brush (11)
• 4 - Paul & Joe Eyegloss Duo in 05 Rock and Roll* gold side as a eyelid base with Sigma SS217 travel size (13)
• 5 - Laura Mercier Eyeshadow in Topaz* on the entire lid with MakeUpShow Shader Brush H06* (14) and blended out with Stila Eye Brush #9* (12)
• 6 - Chanel Stylo Yeux in Rose Platine for lower lashline
• 7 - Maybelline The Falsies Waterproof Mascara as base coat to hold the curl
• 8 - L'Oreal Volume Million Lashes Mascara as second layer
• 9 - Laura Mercier Lip Glaze in Baby Doll
• 16 - Shu Uemura Eyelash Curlers

eye make up

and again, the completed look:

 

products marked with a * are still waiting to be reviewed in the near future. for almost all other products i have done reviews or swatches, you can look them up with the search engine on your upper right if you want.

Laura Mercier Secret Brightening Powder

this is a product that have been raved about over and over again, not only this particular one, but also the product type in general. a fine powder that contains light reflecting particles to use on the under eye area, alone or over cream/liquid concealer to brighten up the under eye area and to conceal any darkness.
i was curious about such products for a long time but have not purchased the Benefit Powderflage (which is the first of this kind that i got to know) yet - i only tried the cheaper version by Alverde. the effect with the Alverde product was not very visible, so i was ambivalent about such powders. are their effect really so little or is it only because i bought a drugstore one?
in the last year i heard many good reviews and recommendations for the Laura Mercier Secret Brightening Powder so now i bought it to try, i was just too curious.
i bought mine in #1 (the light version) on ebay, it contains 4.6g and did cost about 27AU$/~20€.
the amount will last me forever, seeing how little i need to use every time.
it comes in a small simple jar, here you can see my little Laura Mercier powder family for size comparison ;)

the biggest is the Translucent Loose Powder, the medium size is LM Mineral Foundation and the baby jar is the Secret Brightening Powder

it's a very fine and fluffy white-ish powder that feels very smooth and gliding due to the silica and silicones contained in it. it's sheerly white and contains many very fine shimmering bits. applied on my forearm, i could still see the shimmer in bright sunlight but in the shadow it's totally invisible. moving my arm around i could really see how it lightens up the area where i applied the powder in different angles even though it was blended out quite well.

Laura Mercier Secret Brightening Powder in sunlight

Laura Mercier Secret Brightening Powder in the shadow

now on the eye area i would use a fluffy synthetic blending brush to apply it. i use it on top of my undereye concealer to set it and also to give me some extra-brightness. i would only put it on the edge of my dark circles and then blend out. it applies evenly and glides on the skin effortlessly. although looking straight into the mirror the effect is not that apparent at first, i can clearly see that it brightens up this area especially when i'm looking down (where my cirles would be most visible). on the eye area i haven't noticed any shimmer even in different lights. it does set my concealer and doesn't creep into my undereye lines but i don't find it prolonging the wearing time of my concealers that much.
i have also tried it as subtle cheek highlight but don't like the white-ish bright effect as much as a slightly golden regular highlighter, especially in the summer. but i think it can be used on every other area of your face were you struggle with shadows (like sometimes the areas below the corners of my mouth appear darker, or beneath your nostrils).
i don't have very dark under eye circles so i find the effect very nice for me - it will definitely amp up the brightening effect of your regular concealer, but if you suffer from very dark circles i don't think that this is the miracle solution for you to erase all these problems. for deeper skin tones (maybe NC40+ ?) i would recommend the #2 slightly tinted version of this as this one would definitely look ashy on WOC beauties.
all in all a very nice product - the effect is much stronger than of my Alverde equivalent.

here i want to show you its effect worn alone (without concealer but only foundation): i'm wearing it on my right eye (so the left from your perspective) - on the other eye nothing than a bit of blended out foundation.

i think the effect is undeniable, i also like how it smoothes out my under eye area.