Le Metier de Beaute Beauty Vault VIP August 2014 Review, Pictures, Swatches

August officially marks the first month of Le Metier de Beaute Vault VIP 2014 program. If you read my previous reviews, you know that all members who renewed for the second year would receive a special gift as a token of appreciation along with their first shipment. As promised, I got my extra gift, and it was beautiful!

Le Metier de Beaute Beauty Vault VIP August 2014 Box

Vault VIP subscribers received a questionnaire to help customize their future shipments.

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.

The main product this month is a beautiful After Dark Total Look Kaleidoscope, that includes two eye shadows, a bronzer, and a blush for creating a stunning evening look. This kaleidoscope is available through Vault VIP membership in August, and at Neiman Marcus counters late September.

Le Metier de Beaute After Dark Total Look Kaleidoscope

Le Metier de Beaute is actually famous for their eye shadows [and their award-winning Peau Vierge line], and these two followed suit nicely. I would describe these colors as shimmery patina and shimmery brown-ish mauve [which is very similar to Mocha Sheen from Dark Orchid LE Kaleidoscope]; and both of them are intensely pigmented, long-lasting, blendable, and can be mixed together to create a third, unique shade. I personally love how on-trend these are! One look at Fall/Winter runways and beauty editorials, and we see these same shades advertised as being some of the hottest picks of the season. By the way, I mentioned this before, but for those of you reading my LMdB box review for the first time I wanted to point out that these pans are quite a bit larger than most eye shadows on the market and contain 30-40% more product, so even if you were to buy singles, they would last a loooong time.

After Dark Total Look Kaleidoscope – two top pans contain the eye shadows

The bronzer looks to me like a universally flattering medium brown, that will suit people with both warm and cool undertones. It was not as pigmented as the eye shadows, but I wouldn’t want my sculpting product too intense anyway. LMdB recommends using it for contouring, but I think it will work as a bronzing powder just as well.

After Dark Total Look Kaleidoscope – bronzer and blush

And finally, the blush is a neutral medium mauve, that looks more shimmery in the pan than it does on the skin. Just like the bronzer, it’s also a universally flattering shade, suitable for all undertones. Unfortunately, it wasn’t very pigmented, so I had to really swirl my brush to grab enough product. Despite its not-very-high-end pigmentation, the lasting time was as good as the rest of the pans.

If desired, both the bronzer and the blush can easily be used as eye shadows, since they feature that same finely-milled texture with minimal fallout, while being blendable and comfortable to wear.

Le Metier de Beaute Classic Flawless Finish Loose Translucent Powder

The bonus item for second year subscribers turned out to be Classic Flawless Finish Loose Translucent Powder, which is Le Metier de Beaute‘s way of saying “Thank you!” to everyone who trusted them with a large sum of money upfront without knowing what to expect last year. This setting powder is so fine, it actually makes me sneeze each time I use it, lol!

Classic Flawless Finish Loose Translucent Powder – the jar is HUGE!

It’s invisible on the skin, and keeps my face looking matte longer than any other setting powder, while also softly diffusing the light and making my complexion appear smoother, just like my favorite Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder. The jar is huge and I couldn’t be happier about that, because apparently my skin has expensive taste, so now it’s my new HG product.

Swatches of everything. Notice that the blush is not as pigmented as other pans.

THE VERDICT
Needless to say, I am very happy with my first Vault VIP 2014 shipment! The Kaleidoscope has colors that are on-trend and universally flattering, and I am especially in love with that olive patina pan; I think I will use it more often than other three. And, of course, I could not be more thrilled with the discovery of translucent powder, which is now officially my new makeup staple. I’ve been using it literally every single day since I got it, and it did wonders for my combination skin at almost 100% humidity and smoldering heat outside. We’re off to a good start!