Hope you had a wonderful holiday, readers!
If Santa left you a gift card to Sephora or left you some pesos to spend on anything you desire, you may want to consider grabbing some pieces from the Guerlain Vol de Nuit Holiday 2011 Collection, a luxurious banquet of delicious color cosmetics inspired by the enigmatic indigo, teal, midnight blue, silver, black, and blackened plum shades associated with winter nights.
For me, the center piece of the collection, the czarina of you will, is the Guerlain Ecrin 4-Couleurs Eyeshadow Palette in 10 Les Ombres de Nuit ($59 at Nordstrom.com and NeimanMarcus.com), which features shimmering whitened silver, blackened blue, and silvery, greenish teal blue colors along with a sooty matte black color. Perfect for an updated smoky eye with frosty hints of silver and blue, this palette is a must-have for the season (check out swatches of the shades after the jump!).
Another standout is the Guerlain Météorites Perles de Nuit ($56 at NeimanMarcus.com and high-end department stores), a limited edition version of Guerlain's illuminating Météorites packaged in a cylindrical, deep teal metal canister with a removable top lid featuring a dahlia-like adornment, its center petals a blackened shade. The Météorites Perles de Nuit relies on six different colors of spherical pearlescent beads that, when applied to the skin, help to correct any problems such as redness or uneven skin tone, conceal dark under eye circles, and give the skin a halo-like glow. How do they work? Well, the pale pink pearls help to even skin tone, while the darker pink pearls give the skin a healthy flush. The bluish green pearls combat any redness, while the white pearls illuminate the skin, the gold pearls boost radiance and convey warmth, and the champagne-toned beads reflect any beams of light that hit the skin. If you use a power puff and press it against the mixed pearls, then lightly tap your visage using the puff, you'll notice the way it transforms your complexion.
The collection also includes two new Guerlain Rouge Automatique ($35 at NeimanMarcus.com and Saks.com) shades: Nuit d'Amor 170, a black cherry color that feels luxurious rather than goth, despite its dark color; and Flirt d'un Jour 169, a soft, dirty rose color with a sheer, glaze-like finish to keep the pout understated when you rock darker eye looks.
Last, there's the Guerlain Parure de Nuit Powder & Blush ($67 at Dillards.com ), which features a peacock feather design that isolates the pale pink, white, salmon pink, and teal colors contained in the blush formulation. You can use this as a skin tone-evening pressed powder by blending all the hues together, using a powder brush an gliding it up and down the surface of the palette, then swirling the mélange of pigments onto your skin or, for targeted use as a blusher, you can concentrate on the golden peach tone along the top and bottom corners, sweeping this shade onto cheeks.
Below, you'll find swatches of the four shades in the Les Ombres de Nuit compact. As you can see the silvery greenish teal shade and the whitened silver both have a frosty but angelic feel to them, while the midnight blue has black undertones that make the final shade rife with intrigue and the shimmer particles add an elegant, opulent feel. The black, of course, serves as the perfect finishing touch, allowing you to intensify smoky looks or to better define eyes by using it as a liner.
