Face, with Le Metier de Beaute Devotion Kaleidoscope

Don't hate me because I'm beautiful. Hate me because I have gotten my hands on a legendary-rare Le Metier de Beaute Devotion Kaleidoscope.

Released for Summer 2010, when the brand still was establishing itself, this kaleidoscope mostly passed under the radar. Now, it's at the top of many collectors' wish lists. How I got one (and at retail!) is a bit of a long story, which I'll save for the end.

What you really want now is to see the kaleidoscope in action. Cafe Makeup has wonderful swatches of the individual colors. I jumped right into experimenting with them on my eyes.

My initial impression of the colors in the pan was that they were too dark for a summer palette. Once I began to apply them, though, I saw how brilliantly pigmented each shade was, and how they all worked together in harmony to create dramatic yet warm looks. The third (orange) shade was especially amazing: a ray of brilliant, molten sunset. The fourth shade also was extraordinary, maintaining its midnight blue purity in gorgeous contrast to the orange. I found that I could tone down the blue simply by layering more orange on top, and vice versa.

For this eye, I lined my upper lash line and inner rim with Le Metier de Beaute Dualistic Eye Pencil in Champagne; I also ran the pencil along the outer half of my lower lash line. I then simply layered on my eyelid the first three shades on top of one another. I avoided the inner corners of my eyes. The first shade, a beautiful shimmering dark wheat, also was swept along the outer half of my lower lash line. Lastly, I took the midnight blue shade and lined my upper lash line, then smudged it upward. For my upper lashes, I used Dior Diorshow Mascara in Mitzah, a shimmering tawny brown that went very well with the summer theme.

 

The orange shade dominates this look. My intent was to keep things light for a daytime look by keeping the brow bone bare and not playing up the crease; the excess color simply gathered in the outer corners. I really liked how leaving the inner corners bare made it look like the eyeshadow had naturally grown out along my lash line, like a pair of butterfly wings.

The rest of my face required some thought. For my cheeks, I chose Guerlain Terracotta Blush Sun Shimmer Highlighter in Sunny Pink. The beautiful intense coral-pink shimmer with gold and orange flecks made the perfect accompaniment to Devotion. For my lips, I layered Kevyn Aucoin Liquid Cyber Lip Gloss in Datura (Gold) over Dior Rouge Lip Color in Versailles. I had received the Liquid Cyber Lip Gloss as a Barneys beauty bag GWP, and I was delighted by its flawless performance. Warmer than Estee Lauder Pure Color Lipgloss in Citron Kiss, Liquid Cyber Lip in Datura added a juicy orange sheen that made my lips look fuller.

These are my real nails!

Gorgeous, but I wasn't ready to stop playing with Devotion. I decided to see if I could shift my daytime look to one for the evening. I added more of the midnight blue shade, and blended the crease upward to the eyebrows.

Voila: a smoky eye for summer.

Gazing into the mirror, I was entranced by how the streak of rich burnished sunset-orange melted into the midnight blue depths. Now that you have seen the full glory of the Le Metier de Beaute Devotion Kaleidoscope, don't you really hate me?

The backstory: the Aurora Lip Kaleidoscope had sold out everywhere, even online, and I was frantic at missing out. Then I remembered a post on Messy Wands where a LMdB representative in Las Vegas named Alyxandra Joy had shared her services as procurer of kaleidoscopes. I texted her, and she got back to me saying yes she could get Aurora for me, and was there anything else I would like? Purely as a casual offhand hail mary, I told her Penelope and Devotion. She found both. She said I must be lucky, as she had tried and failed before to find Devotion. Well! I may not have won Mega Millions, but I got something as good: the Devotion Kaleidoscope.

Thank you so much for reading my feature (and making it this far). It was my pleasure to show you this beautiful kaleidoscope.

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