My Le Métier de Beauté Adventure, Part 1: Lips

Recently, I had an opportunity to meet with Kim McFadden, a makeup artist for the cosmetics brand Le Métier de Beauté. In this two-part post, I'm going to share with you some of the products she showed me, starting with two lip colors. On Wednesday, I will write about eye color.

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Back in the day--also known as my sophomore year of college--I was a lip gloss junkie. I had a little Caboodle full of tubes ranging from reasonably-priced drug store brands to impulsively purchased designer tubes. I tended toward nudes and light pinks. I thought the spell would never break. But then something changed: I became (gulp) an adult.

My life being what it is now, my attachment to high-maintenance cosmetics has fallen by the wayside. I swear by eye color more now, partly because I have to line my eyes or they disappear and partly because eye color doesn't require repeated applications throughout the day. However, I have met two lip colors to lure me back to my old ways.

First, there's the aptly-named Sheer Brilliance Lip Gloss. This line boasts eleven colors; Kim used Uma Paro for me. On first sight, it looks to be a burgundy purple, but, as Kim said when she first showed me the tube, "Don't panic." Because when you put it on, it turns into a lovely berry shade that works even with my pale skin (I almost always have to get the lightest, or next-to-lightest shade of foundation). Since it has a sparkle to it, this gloss makes your lips shine more than an ordinary gloss.

Sheer Brilliance Lip Gloss is formulated with Vitamin E--like several other Le Métier products--so your lips will not dry out quickly. The down side is that, for me, it didn't wear as long as I would have liked, but on the other hand, it is non-sticky and comfortable to wear, so reapplication is a cinch.

Kim also used, on my cheeks, the Creme Fresh Tint in Poppy. Strictly speaking, this is a creme blush; however, the label also indicates that it can be used for lips. Since my skin is so sensitive, I shy away from blushes and bronzers, no matter how good they look, but I knew I had to give Poppy a go on my lips.

Turns out that this is the pink lip I've been looking for all my (cosmetics) life: like Malibu Barbie had a kid with Madonna circa "Material Girl." Yet it's not an overbearing color--rather, the coverage is the perfect balance between a lipstick and a lip gloss. However, I do recommend putting a clear gloss over the Creme Fresh, as the texture is a bit dry when you wear it alone. The Creme Fresh Tint comes in four other colors, each one suited to a different skin tone.

Here are swatches, with Uma Paro on the left, Poppy on the right:

Sheer Brilliance Lip Gloss retails for $32.00 per 0.22-ounce tube; Creme Fresh Tint retails for $28.00 per 0.17-ounce pot. You can visit the Le Métier de Beauté website here for more information.

Don't forget to come back on Wednesday for Part 2: Eyes!

-Cate-