I'm Loving This!

I'm a sucker for seasonal limited edition items from my favorite beauty brands.  Actually, I've never been a huge fan of Lancome--it's not that I have anything against them; it's just that I've never fallen hopelessly in love with any of their products--but I've changed my tune lately thanks to the Daria Werbowy Brazilian Earth Colors collection.  Daria is a much buzzed about model who you might have seen in ads for Hermes, Roberto Cavalli, Prada, Missoni, H&M, and others; this spring, Lancome decided to team up with her and come out with a collection of colors inspired by her.  Although she's actually Canadian (of Ukranian descent), she decided to do a collection inspired by the beauty of Brazil.  (Brazil is big right now in the land of beauty--it must be because of Gisele and her tribe of Brazilian Victoria's Secret Model hotness--hence the ingredient Acai popping up everywhere, and the presence of Brazilian inspired products from the department store to the drugstore).  

I had the chance to play with some of the lip colors from Daria's Lancome collection the other day at Sephora (where it's exclusively sold), and I was pleasantly surprised!  The colors: Color Fever Lipstick in Beige Caracai, and Color Fever Gloss in Nude Prainha.   First of all, the packaging is fabulous--very modern, urban, and refined, using dark, reflective gunmetal and clear deep browns (these products look great in my makeup bag next to my Becca stuff).  I was drawn to the lipstick and gloss initially because both are very creamy, nude beiges, but unlike other pale beiges I've used before (Kevyn Aucoin's Caramellina is my old standby; I like NARS Belle de Jour as well), these are cool toned instead of warm.  I mean very cool--they almost look greyish in the tube.  But on me: wow!  I layer the lipstick and the gloss, and both are great.  The lipstick formula is very smooth and sheer, not unlike Kevyn Aucoin's or YSL's amazing Rouge Pur Shine, but just like those it still offers pigment density and coverage.  The gloss is also fantastic--I love its smoothness and the hollowed out applicator is ingenious, allowing you to apply more gloss in one swipe without disturbing your lipstick (better than the old doefoot; perhaps not as good as a brush, though).  The only downside is that both formulas are so smooth and moisturizing that they're not particularly long wearing.  Still, I don't care: I'm almost out of Caramellina, and there's none available anymore on Kevyn's website.  Get these two winners while you can!  They're only available at Sephora and they're limited edition, so when supplies run out, it's over and on to something else.