Finally, here’s the review many of you have been waiting for – my October Le Metier de Beaute Vault VIP box. It arrived early, but I was just too busy to review it right away, and now I am finally catching up and crossing off things from my backlog spreadsheet, so I had some time to play with it. I half-expected to get something pink, because, you know, #BCA and everything, but instead we received a gorgeous Limited Edition “Goldfinger” Eye Kaleidoscope. This kaleidoscope is exclusive to Vault VIP program, and will not be sold in stores. You could always check eBay, but I can’t imagine there being many people who would want to part with theirs.
HOW IT WORKS
As a Vault VIP for $348/year you will receive a full-sized product or assortment of products every month, curated by our Beauté experts. Members of The Vault will also have the opportunity to try exclusive, limited-edition items and pre-releases of the brand’s latest and greatest before anyone else gets their hands on them.
The sign ups will become available again only in July 2015.
According to a tiny product card, Goldfinger kaleidoscope was inspired by a famous Hungarian-born architect Ernő Goldfinger. A quick trip to his Wiki page revealed that he was in charge of constructing some of the first high-rise residential buildings in the UK in the post WWII period using reinforced concrete.
The kaleidoscope includes four one-pan eye shadow drawers [top to bottom]:
Golden Function – a shimmering gold [my take: shimmery sandstone]
Violet File – an opalescent grey-violet [my take: satiny pastel violet]
Peacock – a deep satin cyan [my take: satiny cornflower blue]
Gun Metal – a smoldering gunmetal [my take: shimmery gunmetal]
On the back of the product card LMdB kindly reminded us that they design Kaleidoscopes with their signature color layering technique in mind, they call it Couches de Couleur [“the layering of color”]. Of course, the pans can be used however you want, but the company’s Creative Director and MUA Mikey Castillo recommends layering them from top drawer to bottom to achieve a unique look that offers incredible color depth. I tried it with other kaleidoscopes and I gotta say, it does look pretty rich.
As always, I am blown away by the quality of these eye shadows. Each pan provided great pigmentation, longevity, and smooth-as-silk application; they all blended beautifully, and wore with zero fallout [even the shimmers]. My favorite pan is Golden Function from the top drawer, I’ve been wearing it in the crease as a subtle pop of color over some basic nude cream eye shadow from bareMinerals, and it looked very chic. I also experimented with that cornflower blue and wore it as a double liner along with plain black, and that worked out well.
This is GORGEOUS. That alone would make me want to sign up for the Vault!
pretty pigmented