Le Metier de Beaute Ecumes D'Or Summer 2011 Lip Kaleidoscope Kit

Le Metier de Beaute kaleidoscope palettes always look and feel like little treasures. The packaging and the incredible textures of the creamy lip colors and/or unique eye shadows tell you right away you've got something special there. These are  true luxury products that I savor every time I apply them.

The summer 2011 collection from Le Metier has already given us some great beauties- Penelope Eye Kaleidoscope and the Gods & Goddesses nail colors. Like the previously released summer colors, the new Ecumes D'Or lip kaleidoscope (created by Dustin Lujan, a man who knows color and can make me wear the unthinkable) is also Mediterranean-inspired with and sea theme.

As usual, there are four colors in the mirror-topped kaleidoscope. They're meant to be layered, mixed in different ratios or worn alone: you can and should customize a look and make it your own. And it's especially easy with this combination. The two shades at the bottom, Calm Phoenix (looks like a raspberry sorbet) and Deep Sea (a rich shimmering mauve) are perfect by themselves, mixed together or topped with the glossy two top colors. Both leave a very long-lasting stain on the lips that can be re-glossed or intensified when you touch up.

Morning Light is that scary golden sun in the second tier. It's beautiful, of course, adds warmth and a beachy look to naked lips or adjusts and changes the lip color you use underneath. I wish this one came in vats, because Morning Light is great for mixing with so many shades to make them summer-perfect. Soft Dew is a nude opalish pink that doesn't show up on my lips on its own but it tones down any plum or purple to make them more wearable this season. Mixed with the other Ecumes D'Or shades it gives them lightness and a pink boost.

The colors can be mixed and layered in many ways, either using Le Metier de Beaute's Couches de Colour technique (starting from the bottom shade and layering as you go up), or in any other way, adding more of the pigmented colors or the glossy ones to achieve the desired effect. I also experimenting using the nude Soft Dew as a base and adding a dash of either Calm Phoenix or Deep See for color. I loved the bitten look that resulted (see below).

The texture of Ecumes D'Or is as expected from Le Metier de Beaute. Light and comfortable to wear, kind to the lips and offering the line's characteristic grown up complex shimmer that is more of a glow, as there are no visible particles upon application.

Bottom Line: a beauty.

Le Metier de Beaute Ecumes D'Or Summer 2011 Lip Kaleidoscope Kit ($95) is a Bergdorf Goodman exclusive. It's already at the counter and available for phone orders (212-872-8612). The one here is a press sample sent by the company.

All photos are mine.