Lavish Some Laura Mercier With Her Luxe, Colour Portfolio for Holiday 2011

Lovely. That’s how you will look when you apply the beautiful makeup in Laura Mercier’s Luxe Colour Portfolio for holiday 2011. This exciting makeup just launched! Inside a hard-sided, brown satin, lizard-trimmed “portfolio” that opens and closes with a magnetic clasp, is a grouping of trendy (but wearable) must-have eye and cheek products, plus three gorgeous Laura Mercier brushes to apply them

One of the things I’ve always loved about Laura Mercier products is the generous size of the products. Six generously sized squares of pressed powder eye shadow offer five shimmers, one matte in earthy tones of plum, taupe, brown, peach and ivory. Below them are three rounds of intense, solid eye liner in brown, black and wine. And below that, two squares of blush in rose and deep pink, will add just the rish amount of glow to your face.

The colors are truly, universally flattering. There won’t be a single color you will avoid, or find hard to work with. Some of the eye colors look quite deep, but they are so blend-able you can wear them nearly sheer for a wash of color, or add more for a smokey eye or an intense lid look. A few are more shimmery for night-time allure (e.g. African Violet and Primrose (peachy shimmer), but none are so glittery you would blind someone in the daytime. Wet the flat liner brush and swipe it along one of the three eye liners to finish the look. Get creative! Mix a little Ground Espresso (dark brown) or Black Ebony (black) with Burgundy Wine and change the tone to match your mood. When it comes to the blush duo, Rose Petal, the lighter of the two blushes may be too pale on it’s own for someone with a deeper complexion, but mixed with the deeper, City Pink blush, it makes a great, medium-toned flush. Laura Mercier’s blushes are always believable.

Although the products are easy to use, layerable, and long-lasting, good application is key to a great look, and great brushes help make the look, even better. So on the other side of the portfolio are the three brushes Laura believes you should have to create all the eye looks you want from this beautiful makeup palette: ponytail, crease, and flat eye liner brushes. I wish she’d have included a blush brush as well, since when you travel, you’ll have to remember to take a blush/powder brush along. Laura Mercier brushes are excellent, and these three all have graceful, brown, 3″ plastic handles and full-sized bristle heads. Although these brushes fit neatly into foam indentations for travel and storage, you may want to use these at home.