Softly Sometimes

I have a love-hate relationship with Le Métier de Beauté, that’s actually more of a love relationship with a very serious side-eye at the price point. I’m not going to sugarcoat~ it or anything—this brand is pretty dang expensive. And yet I am lured in, all the time. It’s been a few months since I bought makeup from LMdB (not counting the Beauty Vault VIP items), though. As I mentioned in my last Beauty Vault VIP post, I’d be happy to swatch my Le Métier de Beauté eyeshadows for um, you know, science. Sunny said she’d like to see them, so here they are.

In hindsight, I don’t have all that much, but hopefully this helps you out! The tricky thing with LMdB is that their production is so freaking limited, I almost always just give up on something Limited Edition and hope for the best. The singles are permanent, though, but I don’t have a lot of them. 🙂

I’ll start with the LE palette that I did hound: The Mélange de Colour Fashion Eye Palette. To date, this is, I think, their biggest palette release with 18 shades in really tiny pans. The shadows are (mostly) so creamy, though.

One finger swipe on bare skin:

If you want my full review on this, click here. The Ultimate Makeup did a swatch comparison with some of her existing LMdB shades. I think this particular palette has no dupes of permanent shades, but some shades from other palettes are resurrected.

Anyway, moving on! Here are my Kaleidoscopes and singles (and a duo from a GWP my gurlfran got for me). See? Not that much. I’ll start with the singles swatches!

From L-R, I’ve got: Naked, Peachy Keen, Tamarack, Corinthian, Goldstone, Alexandrite, Midnight Sky, Noir, and the shades from the GWP/Brown as a Berry duo. Singles are $30 but have much more than twice as much product as MAC eyeshadows.

Texturally, the smoothest, best shades are the shimmery ones, i.e. Corinthian (a most beautiful taupe!), Alexandrite, Midnight Sky. I don’t think they do mattes exceptionally well. Noir, for example, is kind of a pitiful black. The other mattes (Naked, Peachy Keen, Tamarack) are OK, but nothing particularly note-worthy.

I don’t have any other “iconic” LMdB shades, other than Corinthian. I am most intrigued by their bolder shades, like Fire Lily and Water Sapphire, since that’s what they seem to be super good at. The thing with LMdB eyeshadows, is that they were made to be subtle, because of the Couches de Couleur (layering of color) technique that they often use and employ.

Xiao of Messy Wands has a great comprehensive post on the technique here. LMdB is known for releasing quads called kaleidoscopes that you can use on their own or using the couches de couleur technique.

Basically, it relies on layering four shades, each with a specific purpose: to Brighten, for Warmth, Focus, and Depth. A simple determinant also is this sequence of layering: Cool, Warm, Cold, Hot. Xiao’s post has a chart that determines how the single shades can be used and how they are grouped.

The Painted Lily has a post on trying out the CdC, which I think is a pretty good demonstration of what I mean when I say “complexity.”

Here’s a video demonstrating couches de couleur:

And now, for the quad/kaleidoscope swatches.

L-R, I’ve got: Northern Lights (my first Kaleidoscope!), Silk Road, and Gravité.

As you all know, I’m a sucker for palettes, and the color stories of these Kaleidoscopes are usually too beautiful to resist. These palettes are truly special because of their often unique combinations. I love how using all of the shades in Northern Lights, for example, yields this soft look where you can see the hints of purple and rust:

The formulation of the eye shadows makes it so that your eye looks, despite layering, won’t turn muddy, but instead produce a beautiful complex eye look that enhances the beauty of your eyes. I have passed on a lot of them since getting into the brand (Saint-Domingue is my one true regret), just because the pans are too big + they are $95.

Still, I’ve been pretty happy with all of my LMdB purchases. I don’t think I’ve met a dud; just colors that didn’t suit me, etc. It’s hard to jump in on a brand that’s not so accessible, is pretty expensive and relatively polarizing (ONE TRU MAKEUP LUVV vs. OVERHYPED), but I truly love about 90% of everything I’ve bought from them and use at least one LMdB product on a daily basis.

Do you have Le Métier de Beauté eyeshadows? Which ones are your favorite?

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