Thursday, July 14, 2011

Tutorial: Daytime Smoky Eye with Le Metier de Beaute Penelope

A little less than year ago, I procured my first Splendid Frost Kaleidoscope Eye Kit. I puzzled over its construction, gasped at the texture, and distrusted that the colors were supposed to go together (matte gray, light pink, and midnight blue. What?). I ordered it based on reviews, so I already heard about the couches de couleurs technique. I layered the shadows from top to bottom on my eyelids and called it a day.

My current proximity to Bergdorf's has led me to too frequent visits and one too many makeovers from Dustin. I am grateful for this because he is very knowledgeable in his craft. Every time he touches a brush to my face, I drop a little coin into my learnt-a-new-technique jar.

However, I know there are a lot of people out there who do not have access to a Le Metier de Beaute counter, and a quick Google search shows there aren't many kaleidoscope tutorials lying around the web. I remember how, as compared to now, I was absolutely clueless about that fold-out palette that came in the mail. I wrote this in the hope of sharing the knowledge I've accumulated from all those hours sitting on a Bergdorf lavender chair. The procedures outlined below is my attempt to emulate as closely as possible Dustin's method of application, with a couple of tweaks of my own.

I hope this tutorial will be of some use to you. Let us begin:



Products used:
  • Face (not pictured): Le Metier de Beaute Peau Vierge Shade #2, Guerlain Terra Inca Sublime Radiant Powder
  • Eyes: Burberry Eye Shadow in Trench, Le Metier de Beaute Dualistic Eye Pencil in Champagne, Penelope Kaleidoscope, Liquid Liner in Noir, Diorshow Iconic Mascara

The main focus of this tutorial is to demonstrate the Le Metier de Beaute couches de couleurs technique.  

happiness comes in the form of a fold-out kaleidoscope


Here's how I looked when I first started. In this picture, I've already prepped my face with Le Metier de Beaute Peau Vierge in Shade #2, concealer, and shaded in my eyebrows.


Start by applying a base/eye primer. I usually use the Champagne eye pencil all over my lid and blend it out with my ring finger. 


L-R: blended, not blended

Once your base is set, proceed to layer the first three shades of the kaleidoscope on top of each other with an eye shadow brush.

First, the golden brown shade

Then, the lilac shade

L-R: first shade, first and second shade layered

And finally, the taupe

I like to work the green into the crease for more definition. Tip: If you used to be like me and not know where your crease is, place your finger on your lid area and feel around for your browbone. Your crease is directly below it.


Draw a thin black line on the top lashline.



Dip a liner brush into the fourth shade in the kaleidoscope. With it, go over the black line.


After that, dip your liner brush through all four layers of the kaleidoscope. Gently pull it through the bottom lashline to complete the look. 


Use an eye shadow one shade lighter than your skin to highlight the area underneath the brows. Apply mascara onto lashes.



Finish up the rest of your face by applying blush/bronzer/contour and a lipstick and lipgloss of your choice. I recommend pairing this eye look with lighter lip shades.

Contoured

LMdB Lipstick in Thailand

LMdB Lip Gloss in Bondi Beach

Done!

L-R: how it looks on a monolid, how it looks on a double lid


I wore this look with a quintessential summer outfit.




... and tried to curl my hair ala Bombshell Blake, but that woman has magical powers (read: professional stylists with teleportation abilities) so I just took what I could get.

One last close-up:

Fin

26 comments:

  1. Absolutely freakin gorgeous! Like I told you before...you look like a model! Love what you did and I apparently NEED that brush. That applied so much better than how mine do!

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  2. @PerilouslyPale Thank you as always :) Yes that brush completely changed my life. At this point I have everything but the blush brush and the flat eye shadow brush, but guess what Gaia just posted about...

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  3. Thank you so much for this! This was really useful!

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  4. Hey pretty lady, you look great! You have many lust-worthy products in this post too!

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  5. @Anonymous My pleasure!

    @Hopeless Devoted To Makeup <3 anything in particular catch your eye?

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  6. You got great bone structure. You really do look like a model.

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  7. Thanks so much for this tutorial, I just received my Penelope kit in the mail and was scratching my head over how to layer the colours. I have monolids too so yours is the perfect tutorial. You are gorgeous by the way! I'm glad I found your blog.

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  8. @Anonymous Aww stop it I'm blushing!

    @Jacqueline Thank you so much! I wrote this hoping people without access to a counter will find it useful. :)

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  9. I. Love. Everything. If you have time can you make a tutorial for contouring? Thanks!!

    Cheers,
    B

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  10. @B It's like you read my mind. I just bought NARS Multiples so I'm going to feature them with a mini tutorial on contouring/highlighting some time this week. :)

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  11. You might very well be my new beauty idol. I mean, seriously, you have great taste (your outfit! your natural makeup!) and you actually have similar features to mine (something which is rare in beauty blogs, sadly, despite the brilliance of most of them). I'm about to start blogging about beauty so I hope to have lovely long chats with you about makeup soon :D

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  12. @Niki.W Aww thank you for saying all those kind words, but I'm far from being any sort of idol at all :)

    If you'd like, you can add me on twitter - my feed is essentially beauty-related stream of consciousness. I'm on there most days. Good luck in starting your own beauty blog! I look forward to reading you.

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  13. ahhh i love this. your pictures are so clear. yep...im definitely getting that kaleidoscope

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  14. I'm a new follower and I think this is so helpful! I've been trying to find a tutorial on the technique Le Metier de Beaute uses. Thank you! :)

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  15. @kellyyes Thanks! Penelope is a great one to have

    @Charisse Thank you! I'm glad it helped. Stay tuned for other Le Metier updates, I'm planning a lip one!

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  16. I'm so jealous...
    Love your nails too.

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  17. Love this look! Make a video tutorial for this!

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  18. What color are you wearing on your nails? Looks like Chanel Particuliere, but a bit more lavender?? Btw,love your blog!

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  19. i absolutely love reading your blog... i want everything LMdB that you post... thank you!!!

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  20. Just ordered this kaleidoscope after seeing how gorgeous it looks on you (never really thought to purchase lmdb as I don't have a counter nearby). I am quite fair, so I do hope it works half as well for me as it does you. Would love to know what nail polish you are wearing in this post.....
    Thank you!

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  21. @ge :D

    @Anonymous Thanks! It's a Julep nail polish called Whitney

    @madly101 Thank you :)

    @Anonymous aww thanks! I'm sure it'll look great on you. I've seen Penelope on fair ladies and they look phenomenal. It's by a brand called Julep in Whitney!

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  22. I just found your blog! I am just loving it! <3 I don't normally wear eyeshadow but it is something I am getting extremely interested in! The colors in this eye kits are just beautiful! Do you think that this is a must have product? or could you do a post on your holy grail products?! :)

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  23. Would you mind giving the details on the brushes you are using here? Thanks so much in advance.

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  24. I have monolids so this is very helpful--do you have one monolid and one double lid (apologies if that is a stupid question...)? What do you do differently for the monolid?

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  25. Just found your blog and loving it so far. Thanks for the great tutorials!

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  26. Pretty face but that must be the worst eyebrow shapes i've ever seen :O

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