October 6, 2008

Guerlain Midnight Butterfly Review

It’s not too difficult to fall in love with the Guerlain Holiday Collection 2008 entitled Midnight Butterfly.

Over the years I never fail to fall deeply in love with the holiday collection from Guerlain and this year is absolutely no different from years prior as Guerlain releases a perfectly stunning collection filled with elegant, beautiful, and highly collectible pieces.

While last year concentrated on gold this year Guerlain took on silver and purple, two colors, in my opinion, that clash wonderfully well together. Although I don’t associate purple with the Holidays I must say that Guerlain took purple and owned it. Pairing softer lilac, with a darker purple and touches of silver and gold create a pure perfection for a Holiday face!

Although I’d have liked to indulge in the entire collection of beautiful items I concentrated on nabbing some of the more important pieces in the collection such as the eye palette, mascara, meteorites, and radiant powder.

None of the lip items appealed to me thankfully however my eye was caught and captured by the $160 USD Guerlain Meteorites Pressed Powder in Radiant Butterfly. Truly it was a stunning powder but honestly at $160 USD it was way, way above what I’d have liked to spend on a compact!

I was both saddened and disappointed that Guerlain has raised its prices this year. One item in particular, the Guerlain Sublime Radiant Powder, costing $82 USD compared to $78 USD last year. The powder wasn’t the only price raise, other items were effected by a higher cost this year as well.

Aside from the minor disappointment of raised prices the collection has absolutely nothing to not love in it! All the items are luxe, posh and a pure, spoiled indulgence for the Holiday!

Of course, my very favorite item in the collection is the Guerlain Sublime Radiant Powder. This is a atomizer of fine, sparkling silver powder. Stunning both inside and out this powder is perfect for face or body! This is housed in a slick, feminine, vanity worthy perfume style bottle with a lilac butterfly attached. The butterfly is detachable and has a pin on the back so you can use it a as a cute accessory to a suit or a shirt. Last year I purchased a back up of Forever Gold but this year I was a bit more reserved and only indulged in one of the powders. I’m still debating with myself if I should go back for a second since the collection is so very limited!

The Guerlain Eyeshadow Palette in Mysterious Butterfly is my second favorite item in the collection. Consisting of four shadows at $57 USD this item was not effected by the price raise thankfully and still remains the same price as last year. The palette has two shades of contrasting purple shadow, one liner shadow, and a highlighting shade. The two main shades are a sheer lilac and a dark aubergine. A bright gold is included to highlight with and a purple brownish shade is used for lining the eyes. The four shades make up the design of a fine silver butterfly. Sadly, the butterfly almost instantly disappears upon smoothing your applicator on it however the touches of silver mixed with the shadow creates a rather nice sparkling effect. The shadows are housed in a slick, lilac compact so the outside is just as stunning as the shadows. The shadows are all smooth and silky however don’t expect a dramatic eye look using these, Guerlain keeps it simple and elegant with a touch of sheer color that has a tiny touch of sparkle.

With Flash

Without Flash

The star of the Guerlain Midnight Butterfly collection would have to be the Meteorites. In comparison to last year the pearls are three times bigger in size which makes for easier application. Although last year’s version had touches of shimmer, this year the pearls have a matte, silky powder finish. The color is a universally flattering champagne shade that brightens and lightens to complextion while setting makeup and creating a nice glow to the face. I love the larger size this year as it makes the application super easy and mess free, the container is twice the size as normal Meteorites. In keeping with the lilac theme the Meteorites are housed in a lilac container with the emblem of a butterfly on top. The size wasn’t the only item that became inflated this year, the cost of the Meteorites raised from $51 USD to $65 USD which was a considerable raise in price compared to previous years.

My final purchase was the Guerlain ‘Le 2 de Guerlain’ Mascara in Butterfly Sparkle. For the most part this purchase was spurred from the gorgeous packaging however ‘Le 2 de Guerlain’ is a fine mascara as I already own the gold version and I’m very happy with it. The mascara is a dual sided affair which allows for application of upper and lower lashes. The upper part of the mascara is black while the lower end is purple with a tiny bit of silver. Lining the lower part of your lashes with the purple and the upper with the black reflects beautifully off an eye look created using the Guerlain Eyeshadow Palette in Mysterious Butterfly!

Right now, faced with an economical crisis, Guerlain Midnight Butterfly is not exactly the first collection you may have your eye due to it’s high cost however the Muse is approving it for purchase as it’s a stunning Holiday Collection! It has some highly collectible pieces in the collection for the makeup connoisseur or the makeup junkie. Face with so many options for the Holiday Season it’s difficult to choose which items are stash and which are trash! In the Muse’s opinion Guerlain’s Holiday Collection 2008 is a stash item! Truly an outstanding job on this one Guerlain! The Muse loves it!

I did a quickie look this morning using everything in the collection! I fear it didn’t come out as well as I wanted to as I was rushed for time today but it’s not too bad.