Guerlain Fall: Russian Beauty

Guerlain’s fall collection is called Russian Beauty (Slavic Beauty outside the U.S.), and it is absolutely gorgeous. I’m not a fall makeup person. I love the pinks and corals of spring and summer, and usually feel a bit sad as colors go dark for fall. There is nothing to feel sad about in this collection.

There are two eyeshadow quads ($58), the limited edition Tsarina (406) and a new addition to the permanent line, Brun Mordore (441).

Guerlain’s limited edition items often come in special packaging. Tsarina’s compact is dark purple metal, and the shadows have a decorative overspray instead of the usual interlocked Gs. (This overspray doesn’t affect the color at all, and will be worn away on first use.) The shadows themselves are like the Russian ballet in a palette: sparkly cantaloupe, fire orange, berry, and purple. In terms of quality, Guerlain’s quads just keep getting better: the shadows are extremely soft and pigmented (the most pigmented I’ve seen from them).

Brun Mordore is pure perfection. Its shades are pale gold, cool beige-brown with a hint of purple, MAC Teddy-in-eyeshadow-form, and deep, cool, sparkly purple-brown. I’ve never talked dirty to a palette before.

There are also three mechanical eyeliner pencils (Retractable Eyeliner Pen, $29). I’m not sure why they’re called “pens;” they are most definitely pencils. They are very pleasantly soft, and, according to my sales associate, suitable for lashline or waterline. Gold and Silver (permanent shades) are sparkly, Bohemian (limited edition) is a lustrous, reflective purple.
There’s another limited edition palette in Russian Beauty. I think the Volga Princess palette was actually one of the first product photos from this collection to be released. The $69 palette includes two eyeshadow shades (greyed lilac and purpled grey) and two lip colors, both very cool and somewhat more sheer than I was expecting (you can build the color).

There’s also Russian Doll, a limited edition liquid blush in a pump-top tube ($42). The blush is very pigmented, so you won’t need more than one pump (sheered out) for both cheeks. Russian Doll has a rosewater scent.

Russian Beauty also brings two new, limited edition shades to the ($45) Rouge G lipstick family. Giovanna (67) is a shimmery, sparkly berry rose. Graziella (44) is a bricky rose. Click here to see the other 25 shades of Rouge G lipstick, or learn more about the formula. I also need to make a correction: I originally reported that these had no scent. It turns out they do, but the testers lose theirs after prolonged exposure to air.
There are a few more pieces to the collection, which went unswatched. There is a limited edition shade of Le 2 de Guerlain Mascara (the baton with a brush at either end, $35). The limited edition shade is 51 Nuit 2 Boheme, and according to my sales associate, it’s an intense plum, a slightly deeper purple than the available permanent purple shade.

There’s also a new shade of Parure Foundation (pressed powder): 14 Rose Intense.

Finally — this slipped by me altogether — there’s apparently a new lip balm formula. It’s called Kiss Kiss Baby, sheerly tinted, SPF 10 balm in the same heavy cases as the Kiss Kiss Stickgloss. I’ll have to double-back and swatch these.