Laura Mercier Holiday Colour Collections | Christmas 2012

Hi everyone. MERRY CHRISTMAS!! This review might be a bit late since it's already Christmas day but I hope it will still be an interesting read for you. Also, I think that most of the items are still available so you can still pick it up for yourself/ a loved one as a year end treat. (Who says that gift-giving is only for Christmas?)

Laura Mercier released several holiday collections this year. There is a Signature Collection that is the most luxurious and high-end of the releases (LINK). The packaging for the Signature Collection is very luxe and gorgeous but it comes with a hefty price tag too. A Body and Bath Collection was also released with limited edition sets of Laura Mercier's beautiful candles, lotions, hand creams and bath products (LINK). There's also a collection called the "Art Deco Muse Collection"(LINK). The Art Deco Muse Collection has colours that are perfect to create a luxurious festive party look. 

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The Holiday Colour Collections is the only one that caught my attention. This part of the collection contains:

• Glamour Wardrobe- Dual Decker for Eyes, Cheeks & Lips
• 2 Colour-to-go Portable Palette for Eyes, Cheeks & Lips (Cool Neutrals & Warm Neutrals)
• 2 Mini Lip Glace Collection (Rich Berries & Soft Nudes)
• 2 Mini Baked Eye Trio (Smoky Metallics & Golden Metallics)
• Deluxe Travel Brush Collection
• Smoky Effects Mini Kohl Eye Pencil Collection
• Artist's Palette for Eyes (Sephora Exclusive in the US)

Here's what I got from this collection. The glossy and reflective packaging made taking photo very difficult >-<

I got the Glamour Wardrobe- Dual Decker for Eyes, Cheeks & Lips, the Colour-to-go Portable Palette for Eyes, Cheeks & Lips in Cool Neutrals, both the Mini Lip Glace Collections and the Artist's Palette for Eyes. 

I also got some samples with my purchase. How cute is that mini lipstick?? 

GLAMOUR WARDROBE- DUAL DECKER COLOUR FOR EYES, CHEEKS & LIPS

Size comparison with my palm. 

This palette is housed in a semi hard case lined with faux snake skin fabric with a zip closure. 

Information on the back of the box.

The first level of the palette houses 8 eyeshadows and 2 mini eye brushes.

The first level swivels aside to reveal the second level of the palette with 5 lip colors (lip glazes), 4 cheek colours (sheer creme colors) and 1 mini lip brush.

Top row from left: Buttercream (matte, pale light beige), Peridot (luster, shimmery olive green with a gold lean), Heather Plum (luster, shimmery deep plum) and Midnight Navy (Sateen, blackened navy).

Bottom row from left: Coffee Ground (matte, deep chocolate brown), Cherrywood (luster, shimmery copper), Sandstone (sateen, pale peachy pink) & Sable (sateen, taupe with a subtle sheen).

The matte shades (Buttercream and Coffee Ground) are beautiful. The texture is smooth and finely milled and the colour payoff is excellent. It applied so smoothly and blends very nicely. Peridot and Heather Plum are my least favourite shadows in the palette. The payoff is so-so and the texture is a little stiff and dry for my liking. The other shades in the palette all have soft smooth texture that applies and blends well. I tried out the shadows and they last for about 6 and a half hours without primer. Without a primer, the shadows would have faded considerably by hour 8.

This palette comes with 2 eye brushes. From top: Pony Tail Brush and dual-ended Smudge/Crease Brush. 

The brushes are decent for mini brushes that come with palettes. The bristles are soft and quite dense, so it picks up and applies shadows well. The handles are also sturdy so the brushes don't feel cheap.

Top Row from left: Lip Glaze in Chambord, Sugarplum, Papaya, Dolce & Brick.

Bottom Row from left: sheer creme colours in Rose Glow, Pink Veil, Golden Glow & Bronze Veil.

Lip Glazes, from left: Chambord (blue base red), Sugarplum (sheer pinky nude), Papaya (peachy coral), Dolce (brown nude) & Brick (brown tone dusty rose).

The Lip Glazes have good colour payoff and a nice glossy finish. The colours show up nicely on the lips while the texture is not too heavy or sticky. There is no obvious scent which some of you might appreciate. It wears well on the lips, being to last for almost 3 hours. The gloss fades aways slightly quicker but the colour remains. 

 From left: Rose Glow (shimmery rosy pink) & Pink Veil (Peachy coral)

 From left: Golden Glow (shimmery warm gold) & Bronze Veil (tan brown).

The sheer creme colours are smooth and creamy to the touch and it blends nicely on the skin. I am not a big fan of Rose Glow since it's too pink for me as a highlighter; I also don't like it as a a blush as it tends to emphasize pores on my cheeks. Pink Veil is a gorgeous blush shade and I do really like Golden Glow, especially for night time looks. Bronze Veil blends away very nicely so it is relatively easy to use even for people who are not too used to applying bronzers. This colour is best suited to people who have fair to medium skin tone. However, one thing I don't like about Laura Mercier creme cheek products is the lasting power. On me, these only last for around 4 hours.

COLOUR-TO-GO PORTABLE PALETTE FOR EYES, CHEEKS AND LIPS- COOL NEUTRALS

 Size comparison with my palm. 

This palette is made of plastic. I wish the case is made a little better. As you can see, the seam of the bottom level is not as smoothly aligned as I would like. 

Information on the back of the box.

This is what it looks like when you open the first level of the palette. There is a well at the back that houses a mini Lip Glace and there are 3 eye colours (Pink Diamond, Plum Smoke & Provence Purple) and 1 tightline cake eyeliner (Violet Asphalt).

The eye colours, from left: Diamond Pink (luster, shimmery white), Plum Smoke (matte, grey tone plum), Provence Purple (Sateen, eggplant purple), Violet Asphalt (tightline cake eyeliner, black base with a violet sheen).

Although I am not a huge fan of super shimmery eyeshadows, I like Diamond Pink. It is very shimmery and the shimmers adhere well onto the skin so there isn't a ton of fall out. Plum Smoke is not as pigmented as I would like, especially when other mattes from Laura Mercier that I have tried are all so smooth, buttery and very pigmented. Provence purple has poor colour payoff as well, as I needed to layer several times for the colour to show up well. The texture of Provence Purple is also a little dry and stiff. These shadows wears well for over 5 hours without a primer.

Violet Asphalt is a tightline cake eyeliner that is activated with water. I like the colour but it just doesn't work well on my oily lids. It tend to smudge after 3-4 hours and makes me look like a panda. After about 6 to 7 hours, it will start to flake off and become very uneven. 

You have to close the first level before opening the entire upper layer to reveal the second level. You can access the Lip Glaze here and there's also a Bronzing Pressed Powder in Golden Bronze and a Second Skin Cheek Colour in Heather Pink.

From left: Golden Bronze (bronzing pressed powder, warm golden bronze) & Heather Pink (Second skin cheek color, matte baby pink).

The textures of Golden Bronze and Heather Pink are fine and smooth and they blend well on the skin. The pigmentation is also good for both of these. Golden Bronze is a very subtle bronzing shade since it has a peachy lean. Heather Pink is a very pretty baby pink blush colour. Both of these last well on the cheeks and I tend to get about 6 to 7 hours of wear time with these.

This palette also comes with a mini Lip Glace in Raspberry. 

Other mini Lip Glaces will also fit into the palette.

Lip Glace in Raspberry is a sheer berry pink.

Laura Mercier Lip Glace is not too thick or heavy. It does impart some colour onto the lips and it leaves a gorgeous glossy look on the lips. Laura Mercier Lip Glace has a caramelly/ toffee type scent that is not too noticeable once applied. On my lips, this lasted for approximately 3 hours without eating or drinking. 

MINI LIP GLACE COLLECTION- RICH BERRIES

From left: Rose, Violet, Cerise, Sangria & Brownberry.

Swatches, from left: Rose (rosy pink with fine gold shimmers), Violet (shimmery mauve pink), Cerise (cherry pink with a slight orange tone), Sangria (burgundy with fine gold shimmers) & Brownberry (medium bronze tone brown with fine shimmers).

Laura Mercier Lip Glaces are not usually pigmented but the ones in the Rich Berries set have great color payoff. The colours in the tube do show up like so on the lips. The texture feels slightly thicker (which I don't mind at all for the better pigmentation) but it is not heavy or sticky. There's the typical toffee/ caramel-like scent and the lasting power are slightly better than other Lip Glaces. On me, these stay on for over 3 hours.

MINI LIP GLACE COLLECTION- SOFT NUDES

 From left: Bare Pink, Sweetheart, Bijoux, Bare Baby & Bare Blush.

I lost the image of the back of the packaging with the ingredients list and all. You can see the ingredients list here (LINK) if you are interested.

 From left: Bare Pink (milky pastel pink), Sweetheart (sheer peachy pink with micro shimmers), Bijoux (sheer shimmery gold beige), Bare Baby (milky pink) & Bare Blush (light nude brown).

In comparison to the Rich Berries Set, the Lip Glaces in the Soft Nudes set are more natural and not as pigmented. Bare Pink, Bare Baby and Bare Blush do lighten my lip color a little and the colour do show through ever so slightly. Sweetheart mainly imparts a glossy shine and a hint of colour while Bijoux is mainly sheer but it does leave behind a gorgeous shine (great for layering on lipsticks in my opinion). As usual, the texture is not too thick or heavy and it feels like a balm on the lips. There is a toffee/ caramel scent which cannot really be detected once applied and these also can last for 2 to 3 hours without food or drinks.

ARTIST'S PALETTE FOR EYES

 Size comparison with my palm.

This palette is in a padded case lined with faux snake skin fabric. The closure is magnetic. 

There's 12 eyeshadows in this palette. Top row contains sateen and luster finish shadows: Chocolate, African Violet, Sable, Guava, Cameo & Sunlit. Bottom row are all mattes: Vanilla Nuts, Plum Smoke, Cafe Au Lait, Coffee Ground, Deep Night & Rich Coffee.

Top row shadows, from left: Chocolate (luster, dark brown with pink and gold micro shimmers), African Violet (luster, pinkish violet with gold shimmers), Sable (sateen, taupe with a subtle sheen), Guava (sateen, pinkish gold), Cameo (luster, satin finish peach) & Sunlit (luster, light gold).

Bottom row shadows are all matte. From left: Vanilla Nuts (pale beige), Plum Smoke (plum with a hint of grey), Cafe Au Lait (medium tan brown), Coffee Ground (deep chocolate brown), Deep night (deep blackened navy) & Rich Coffee (deep brown black).

There's two things I would like to point out about the shadows in this palette. The Plum Smoke in this palette is much smoother and more pigmented than the Plum Smoke in the Cool Neutrals Colour-to-Go palette. I didn't need to build up the colour for it to show on the skin. The colour Coffee Ground in this palette is not as rich and intensely pigmented as the Coffee Ground in the Glamour Wardrobe palette. I am not sure why such discrepancies occur, maybe I just got a bad one. 

Anyhow, I really adore this palette. I love that there's half mattes and half luster/sateen (kinda reminds me of the Lorac Pro Palette, which I don't have). The colours are mostly neutrals so this is a great everyday palette. The quality of the shadows is nice across the board with smooth texture and great pigmentation. The shadows are all very blendable and there's minimal fall out during application if you tap off the excess. Lasting power without a primer is also good as these stay on the eyes well for nearly 7 hours without a primer.

I used the Glamour Wardrobe Dual Decker for Eyes, Cheeks & Lips for this look. I used Sandstone on the part of my top lids and bottom lashline, then I used Cherrywood on the outer corners. I had Pink Veil sheer creme colour on my cheeks.

I used the Artist's Palette for eyes for this look. I used Guava all over the lids as a colour wash and then I used Sable half way down my lids in a wing shape. I then lined my eyes with a gel pencil eyeliner and I used Deep Night to set it to add a hint of blue to my eyeliner. I also used Coffee Ground to fill in my browns and Vanilla nuts to highlight my brow bone. On my lips, I wore Sweetheart Lip Glace with Chambord Lip Glaze blended in on the middle of my lips.

For this look, I used Plum Smoke all over my lids. I then used a sheer wash of Diamond Pink on my inner upper lids and I pack it on my lower lashline. I lined my eyes using the Violet Asphalt tightline cake eyeliner. I wore Heather Pink second skin cheek colour on the apples of my cheeks and I added a sheer dusting of Golden Bronze towards the back of my cheeks. On my lips, I used the Raspberry Lip Glace. 

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