I expected the experience to be something like the movie French Kiss, where Kevin Klein teaches Meg Ryan about life, love, and good wine. “Smell this… now taste the wine again.” —And I was interested in going for the education. I know not-enough about fragrance, and very little about Guerlain fragrance, and I was curious to learn.

The experience, however, was nothing like what I expected. (Well, Marie Line IS French, so the accent is there.)

It was like seeing a fragrance psychic. We sat down. She said “may I?” and brushed my cheek (to feel my skin). She sniffed my (unfragranced) wrist. And with no further preamble, she pulled three fragrances for me to try.

“Your skin is sweet,” she said. “It will be complimented by spice.”

Marie Line worries when people choose fragrances based on the static smell — the way they smell on a card. She says to experience perfume, you have to try it on your skin. She explained that everything about your skin changes the way the perfume behaves (like whether you’re oily or dry).

“The perfume doesn’t perfume you; you perfume the perfume,” she said.

Like me, Marie Line loves fragrances that change, that tell a story. She called these “vertical” fragrances (because they have a top, heart, and a base) — and Guerlain’s definitely are.

She handed me a square of dark chocolate (“to cleanse your palette,” she said. Okay, twist my arm). She started with Angelique Noire on one wrist. “This is perhaps something you would wear while reading a book, curled up by the fire,” she said. I liked it. She followed with La Petite Robe Noir (“little black dress”) on the other wrist, then Chypre Fatale on the back of one hand (“for when you’re feeling flirtatious,” she said).

I was surprised to really love all three. I consider myself a “difficult” scent person. I’ve sniffed random Guerlain fragrances before (Neiman Marcus Northpark has an especially well stocked counter, and after the launch of Rouge Automatique, I wanted to like the fragrances that shared names with my favorite lipsticks… that didn’t work out so well). I thought maybe Guerlain just wasn’t a brand for me — now I think the few I picked up just happened to be wrong for me.

Not only did I like each of the three scents, but they were harmonious with one another. Wearing them in proximity to one another wasn’t overwhelming or headache-inducing at all. It was an incredible experience, and I will definitely be returning to the counter for Marie Line’s next visit.

Unfortunately, Marie Line’s trunk show is almost at its end.

• On Friday, November 25th, she’ll be at Neiman Marcus Troy (248-643-3300).
• On Tuesday, December 6th, and Wednesday, December 7th, she’ll be back at Neiman Marcus Northpark (214-363-8311).
• On Thursday, December 8th, and Friday, December 9th, she’ll be at Neiman Marcus Houston (713-621-7100).
• On Wednesday, December 14th, and Thursday, December 15th, she’ll be at Saks Boston (617-262-8500).
• And on Friday, December 16th, and Saturday, December 17th, she’ll be at Neiman Marcus King of Prussia (610-962-6200).

While Marie Line doesn’t always travel with her trunk, her skills are inate, and she does tour the country pretty extensively making appearances. If you get the opportunity, I would definitely get a “fragrance reading” from the master.

This collection was inspired by the 1933 Guerlain fragrance Vol de Nuit (Night Flight) — which, in turn, was inspired by a book of the same name by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (author of The Little Prince).

Furthermore, this year’s limited edition bottle of Vol de Nuit shimmer powder was patterned after the original bottle of perfume — which is not only beautiful 1930s art deco, but is also intended to evoke an airplane’s propeller. I’m just swooning.

Enough about the packaging; let’s get to the swatches. First, there’s a new, limited edition eyeshadow quad, 10 Les Ombres de Nuit ($59). WOW. It is not the color combination I’d expected for holiday, but it is gorgeous just the same.

This palette includes a cool grey-silver shimmer; a dirty, muted aqua blue with subtle gold and green shimmer; an incredibly rich blackened sapphire shimmer; and a near-black (brown-grey, very dark taupe) matte. The matte is slightly chalkier than the other four shades, but it certainly doesn’t want for pigment (and you may not even notice the textural difference in application).

There are four holiday lipsticks, though Rouge G 26 Gardner is actually supposed to be exclusive to Europe. Somehow (glitch in the matrix), my counter got a tester to swatch — but no product to sell. It’s a warm, very fall, almost orangey rose with very subtle orange and gold shimmer.

Rouge G Le Brillant B21 Bianca is a repromote, a sheer warm red-pink. Both Rouge G and Rouge G Le Brillant lipsticks are $47.

There are also two limited edition holiday Rouge Automatiques ($35, with a “capless,” slide-to-open mechanism). 169 Flirt d’Un Jour is a beiger pink than Bianca, with tiny, subtle blue, green, and purple sparkles. It’s quite sheer. 170 Nuit d’Amour is also sheer, a red-plum violet berry.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a holiday collection without highlighters, and Guerlain gives you several to choose from.

First is the Parure de Nuit pressed powder and blush ($67). In terms of packaging, this compact will probably remind you of last spring’s stunning Blush G Serie Noire (that compact’s brush had pink bristles, this brush is dark teal). The powder is decorated with stylized peacock feathers, and that pattern is the key to the powder/blush designation.

Guerlain says to swipe your brush vertically over the powder to pick up a pale pink highlighting powder. Swipe it diagonally across the peacock feathers (which are predominantly red) for a blush that’s cool pink with fine silver shimmer. I suppose you could even avoid the feathers altogether if you wanted a non-pink highlight.

I’ve remarked before that Meteorites Perles (the loose, multicolored balls that are perhaps Guerlain’s signature product) are nearly impossible to swatch. There is a new and limited edition set for holiday (Meteorites Perles de Nuit, $56), and they’re so pretty I had to TRY swatching them. So I rubbed each color one-by-one onto my swatching sponge (for an even distribution of the shades), then transferred to my arm.

The pearls are pink, orange, white, pale gold, and a sparkly silver that actually comes off SO subtly. The mix is a heavenly, pale gold, ultra fine shimmer. I don’t think my camera captured the effect, but I absolutely love it.

And finally, for as long as I can remember, Guerlain has released a limited edition shimmer powder atomizer for holiday (here are bottle pics from 2008, 2009, and 2010). The bottles are exquisite, and they dispense an ultra-fine shimmer powder suitable for face, body, or hair.

This year (for the first time), the powder is scented — with Vol de Nuit — and the spray is a rainbow of very fine sparkles. It’s $87.

I’ve been waiting most eagerly to see the new eyeshadow quads, which looked like edited versions of last year’s brilliant six-pan eyeshadow palettes.

The new palettes are $59 each, and will replace Guerlain’s existing eyeshadow quads. (The six-pan palettes aren’t going anywhere.)

The first two quads are each a fantasy on a color theme. Les Violets (the purples) features a somewhat-dry-feeling (but pigmented) rich royal purple/plum. It’s matte, with a few very tiny sparkles. There’s also a satin lilac, a satin blue-purple (which is somewhat sheer and a little chalky), and an iridescent, shimmery steel-blue-purple.

Sheerness may not be a drawback, depending on your skintone and makeup aesthetic. On Marcus’s last visit, he used Les Verts on my eyes, but applied with such a delicate hand that I wondered, “how did he get THIS look out of THAT palette?” (His finished look wasn’t particularly green.) If that’s your makeup style, I don’t think you’d have any complaint of sheerness.

Les Bleus (the blues) includes a somewhat sheer, somewhat dry, blackened midnight-blue satin, a shimmery sky blue, a satin cerulean blue, and a shimmery silver-blue.

Les Verts (the greens) offers a dark, cool, matte, dry-but-pigmented brown, a shimmery apple green, a mossy, muted, army-drab, blued, dirty green. (It’s satin/matte with a few very tiny sparkles.) And the fourth shade — rowr! — is a heavenly, cool, wet sand/cool oatmeal grey taupe satin with a few very tiny sparkles.

Les Bois de Rose (rosewood) features a dark, warm, shimmery brown with very tiny, iridescent pink-blue-green sparkles. It also includes a frosty white-pink, a deep satin red/mauve tea rose (the color of rhodonite, actually), and a beautiful purple-brown taupe satin.

Les Gris (the greys) is delightfully surprising. Its colors include a matte, muted blue-green-grey, a low-shimmer champagne-sand-grey, a vibrant, shimmery evergreen teal with very tiny gold sparkles, and my favorite color: mossy, wintry, silvery grey-green. It’s shimmery/sparkly. Not what I expected at all from a “grey” palette.

Les Fumes (the smoke)… beautiful, but strangely not smoke-like. This palette features a soft, satin, bunny-brown ash-cool taupe. There’s a mauvey rose-dust satin, a dark cool brown taupe in a satin finish, and a frosty pink-purple champagne.

Les Cuirs (leather) is very approachable matte/satin palette of neutrals. Its shades include a warm, satin, chestnut brown with tiny sparkles. There’s a manila-folder yellow-cream matte, a satin dusty rose-purple-neutral, and a biscotti-neutral-peach.

Les Perles is the only quad to offer a theme on a finish, rather than a color. Each of these four shadows has a pearly, iridescent shimmer. The jewelry counter stands between my cosmetics department and the door leading outside, and I found myself discussing this quad with one of the sales people there. She said, “ah! Grey pearls, white pearls, Tahitian pearls, and pink pearls.” I love that way of thinking about this palette. The shades are shimmery, iridescent silver, pearly/shimmery iridescent white, shimmery iridescent muted grape, and shimmery white-pink.

Les Noirs (the blacks) is a fascinating proposition for anyone who’s really dedicated to the smoky eye. It includes a matte black, a frosty white-pink, a shimmery, iridescent black, and a dark, industrial, stormcloud grey satin with very tiny sparkles.

This collection introduces three new, limited edition Rouge G de Guerlain lipsticks ($47). I separated them so the colors wouldn’t distract from one another.

71 Girly (aptly named) is bright! hot! pink!

Garçonne means “boy” in French, but has a feminine suffix. The term was coined by French author J.K. Huysmans in 1880, to describe women who wore men’s clothing and hair styles. In the 1920s the word came to refer to flappers. 25 Garçonne is a juicy, ripe, pink-red. The fairer you are, the more red it will look; on darker skintones I would expect this to pull pink.

70 Gigolo (a male prostitute… does this word have any other meaning that I don’t know of?) is a red-violet-berry-magenta with a delicate shimmer.

Guerlain is also using this collection to expand its range of pencil liners, Crayon Yeux (which it describes as “eyeliner and kohl,” which I assume means they’re for lashline or waterline). The Crayon Yeux felt rather hard against my arm, especially compared with some of the super-creamy eyeliners I’ve been swatching lately. My sales associate said she thought that was because the formula didn’t contain much wax, and she assured me that they wear very well.

01 Khol Me Black was an existing shade (I say kohl, Guerlain says khol. Both spellings are correct). New are 20 Khol Me Navy, a softly shimmery lapis lazuli, 30 Khol Me Ebony, a very dark brown, and 40 Khol Me Jungle, a very muted, mossy, greyed army green. These pencils are $30 each.

And though there are only three new lipsticks for fall, the display features eight. The other five are repromoted permanent shades, previously swatched here.

Gabrielle is light warm pink with tiny, delicate pink shimmer. Gina is warm strawberry red with tiny, delicate gold shimmer. Garconne is pink red (cooler than Gina). Girly is bright Schiap pink. Grenade is blue rose-pink with tiny, delicate silver shimmer. Gracia is dusty mauve rose with tiny, delicate gold shimmer. Gigolo is electric berry. Gala is cool cherry red (deeper than Garconne).

Whew! Thoughts? See anything you love?

The new eyeshadow quads will be a permanent addition to the line, which means that Guerlain’s existing eyeshadow quads will be discontinued (most likely, counters will just sell through the stock they have until it’s gone).

So I thought I’d better swatch the to-be-discontinued quads while I had the chance. If you’ve been meaning to pick one of these up “someday,” don’t wait too much longer. They are $59 each.

441 Brun Mordore originally launched in July of 2009. Its colors are sheer, shimmery, warm, pale beige-gold; shimmery mauve-sand; satin warm wood brown; and satin dark cool brown with gold sparkles.

481 Bronze Dore includes a shimmery gold-copper, a satin ecru (creamy off-white), a satin apple-green, and a frosty gold-olive-green.

480 Perle d’Argent features a shimmery ice-blue-white, a satin blue-purple-grey, a shimmery grey-silver, and a shimmery charcoal navy-black.

490 Turquoise Cendre includes a shimmery white, a low-shimmer muted periwinkle, a satin ice-blue, and a sheer, low shimmer teal-turquoise.

461 Violette du Soir includes a satin lilac, a satin orchid-purple-pink, a sheer pale purple-grey, and a rich, shimmery black-violet.

460 Rose Boise offers a shimmery peony pink, a satin bubblegum pink, a satin rose-beige-sand, and a shimmery red-brown.

See anything you love? Or are you saving yourself for the new quads?

Well seeing these liners in action last weekend (Marcus Monson was in town, working his magic at the Neiman Marcus counter) reminded me of my swatching intentions. The lipliners seemed so nice — both in formula and shade range — I could put them off no longer.

Guerlain’s lipliners are $29 each and mechanical (twist up, retractable).

Weird side note: I asked about the price of these at my Neiman Marcus counter, and heard $29. NeimanMarcus.com lists them for $35 (the price of a Rouge Automatique), but SaksFifthAvenue.com lists them for $29. I live-chatted with Neiman Marcus to ask them if they’d made a mistake. They said no, but they’d price-match Saks. Weird, right?

44 Bois de Santal is mauve-pink. 45 Terre de Sienna is a warm, muted, watermelon rose (love!). 63 Rose de Mai is cool, medium pink. 64 Pivoine Magnifica is brighter cool pink. 24 Rouge Dahlia is cherry red. 25 Iris Noir is deeper violet-red. 43 Feve Tonka is a warm yellow-brown leather-tan with a slight violet reflect.

Do you own one of these? Do you love it?

Any conversation about Rouge Automatique has to start with the packaging. The tube is a “one-hand” open. Instead of a removable cap, the top of the tube has a trap door, which — at the push of a lever — swings open and slides the lipstick up. The design was inspired by a 1936 Art Deco piece from Guerlain’s archives.

The design seems smart and purse-safe (there’s no cap to lose). The packaging is also (thankfully) much lighter than it looks. I don’t know if you’ve ever carried around a Rouge G, but it’s a form of weight training.

At $35, Rouge Automatique falls between Kiss Kiss ($31) and Rouge G ($46). I’m trying to remind myself that it’s still a $35 lipstick, but I can’t help comparing it to Rouge G and thinking, “It’s only $35!”

I’ve swatched the colors according to Guerlain’s shade groupings; let’s start with Les Beiges. Apres L’Ondee is mauve-rose. Voilette de Madame is muted peach-rose. Ne M’Oubliez Pas (“forget me not”) is warm nude; peach-brown. Chant D’Aromes is slightly shimmery, a brighter, peachier, peach-rose-natural. Jicky is a little deeper and a bit more brown (and rose). Vol de Nuit is red-brown.

I swatched Les Oranges and Les Rouges together. Mitsouko is a sheer, muted warm pink with gold sparkle. Quand Vient L’Ete is bright warm pink with gold sparkles. Fleur de Feu is coral with gold sparkles. Nahema is also a bright warm pink with gold sparkles, it’s lighter and brighter and more pink than Quand Vient L’Ete.

Coque D’Or is a warm, sheer, red strawberry/raspberry with gold sparkles. Rouge D’Enfer is a bold pink-red. Liu is a cooler, deeper, more red pink-red. Habit Rouge is a warm, tomato red (though the cooler shades on either side of it are distracting). Samsara is a beautiful berry red. Vega is a deeper, darker,  redder berry.

And Les Roses! Bal de Mai is a deeper, muted (and slightly mauvey) rose. Cherry Blossom is ribbon pink with a slight shimmer. Bloom of Rose is brighter and more pink, with the same shimmer. Rose Bengale is more intense, more saturated than Bloom of Rose. Chamade is a bright, warmer, rose pink. Champs Elysees is bright and cool. Shalimar is cool medium pink with gold sparkle. Guet-Apens is violet plum. L’Heure Bleue is a red berry.

Rouge Automatique lipsticks smell like roses (though the scent doesn’t linger). They have a very enjoyable lightweight-jelly (or gel-creme) feel which is both moisturizing and comfortable to wear. I haven’t yet gotten to try on all the shades that piqued my interest, but I’m attracted to all of the Oranges (of course!), Violette de Madame, and Coque D’Or. And maybe also Chamade. Habit Rouge looks bold, but I still want to try it on.

Have you had the chance to try these yet? What do you think?

Sur Mes Levres introduces a new and limited edition six-pan eyeshadow palette. Unlike the five permanent palettes released last fall, this palette doesn’t have a number. It’s just “Rue de Rivoli,” named after Guerlain’s first boutique in Paris, at 42 rue de Rivoli (founded in 1828).

I think I have to swatch the eyeshadows again; I’m just not happy with how the pictures turned out. Rue de Rivoli starts with a matte shade that has the dusty, muted quality of tea rose, but it’s too purple to be called tea rose. I’ll call it tea grape. There’s a matte dusty lavender; a mother-of-pearl, shimmery opal pink-white (see why I have to photograph these again?); a shimmery, sheer white (similar to the white single); and a satin fuchsia. The liner shade is a shimmery black violet when swatched dry. It’s actually lighter when wet: a metallic iced violet. It’s pretty thrilling both ways. The palette is $84.

There are also three new, permanent singles ($35 each). 143 L’Instant d’Une Etreinte is a shimmery bright white. 186 L’Instant d’Une Ondee looked like a shimmery elephant grey, but it photographed so blue/purple! 187 L’Instant d’Un Soupir was a warm, shimmery brown.

With the spring collection, Guerlain released a new (and permanent) incarnation of Meteorites. We’re familiar with the “balls,” and the very expensive Voyage refillable compacts (pressed balls). The new Meteorites Compact is a skin-toned powder — but Guerlain assures us that the color-correcting hues are still there, in very tiny, multicolored particles.

These new palettes are not technically foundation, but Marcus Monson recently used Teinte Rose in place of foundation on me, and I was pretty happy with the look.

I tried to do light swatches, but you couldn’t see anything between the black lines. Teinte Rose has a bit of a pink tint to it; Teinte Beige is light yellow; Teinte Dore is golden, and slightly deeper.

I asked Marcus who/what foundation shades would wear each compact, and here’s what he said:

For the Teinte Rose #01, think Nicole Kidman. It works with our lightest foundations: 12 Rose Clair, 02 Beige Clair, and maybe 13 Rose Natural. Teinte Beige #02 is for Kate Hudson or Sandra Bullock. Choose this one if you wear foundation in 03 Beige Natural, 04 Beige Moyen, and even 13 Rose Natural. Teinte Dore is for someone like Jennifer Lopez. Choose this shade if you wear 03 Beige Natural, 04 Beige Moyen, 05 Beige Intense, or any of the darker shades.

The spring item that really had folks fainting in the aisles was the limited edition Blush G Serie Noire. The presentation is stunning: a huge, shiny black compact, a matching pink-bristled brush, and four stripes of glorious spring color (with a few gold sparkles). It was $67, and I think Guerlain seriously underestimated how much we would all love it. I’m pretty sure it’s completely sold out, but Bergdorf Goodman and Neiman Marcus say “Back Ordered,” so maybe there’s a tiny chance you could still get one.

For a long time now, Guerlain has been making very, very sheer, subtle, lightly pigmented blush. (Exhibit A. Exhibit B.) I think a big part of the enthusiasm for Blush G is that there’s something there.

There are four Serie Noire Rouge G lipsticks, and these surprised me. First, the colors were more sheer than I expected (I layered my swatches so you could see the actual colors). Second, Guerlain abandoned its “every shade name starting with a G” rule. 45 is Orange Euphorique (sheer melon/coral); 24 is Rouge Sensuel (sheer strawberry); 71 is Rose Desir (sheer warm pink); and 70 is Fushia Delice (sheer cool, medium pink). The lipsticks are $47 each; up a dollar from Rouge Gs in regular packaging.

There are three Kiss Kiss Glosses. 867 is the color of raspberry sauce. 850 is a rosy brown with iridescent silver sparkles. 849 is a peach-pink with lots of gold sparkles. These are $30 each.

I always learn something new at events like these, so I thought I’d show you my finished look and tell you what Marcus used (I’ll do a second, TFMA post on what I learned).

PREP
Orchidee Imperiale Cream and Eye Cream (Guerlain’s top-of-the-line moisturizers)

FACE
Meteorites Compact Powder 01 (new for spring) — this is actually a powder (not a foundation, per se). But when I explained to Marcus that I have a fear of heavy, “Texas”-looking foundation, he said, “why don’t we just use the new powder?”  I thought results were beautifully soft-focus.
Precious Light Rejuvenating Illuminator in 01 (as concealer)
Blush G Serie Noire

EYES
Precious Light Rejuvenating Illuminator in 01 (as eyeshadow base)
Rue de Rivoli palette (new for spring)
Le 2 Mascara (gold tube) – top lashes
Le 2 Volume Mascara (black tube) – bottom lashes

LIPS
Rouge G lipstick 71 Rose Desir (new for spring)
Kiss Kiss Gloss 849 (new for spring)
just a dab of the shimmery white shade of the Rivoli palette in the center of the lip for long-lasting shine

I really loved this look!

I got the scoop on what she was wearing for this shot, so I thought I’d share:

Lingerie de Peau 02 Beige Clair
Precious Light 01 Beige Clair
Terracotta Moisturizing Bronzing Powder
Meteorites Perles 02 Beige
Eyeshadow palette 93 Rue de Passy
Le 2 de Guerlain mascara in Noir 2 Noir
Brow pencil 02 Chatain
Rouge G Le Brillant B60 Beatrix

Lingerie de Peau’s English name is Invisible Skin Foundation. It’s supposed to deliver incredibly natural, semi-matte, light texture, long-wearing coverage. A 1 oz. bottle is $56.

I’m ashamed to admit it took me this long to understand Guerlain’s foundation nomenclature, but I finally get it.  If the first digit is 0, the foundation has beige undertones (and all the shade names start with “Beige”).  If the first digit is 1, it has pink undertones (“Rose”). And if the first digit is 2, it has golden tones (“Dore”).

It is also worth noting that Lingerie de Peau a strong floral scent (I think it’s the same as their Kiss Kiss lipsticks, in case that bothers you).

I quickly swiped 02 Beige Clair and 12 Rose Clair on my cheeks, hoping to find my shade match. The lighting was weird, and the application technique was certainly less than ideal, but they both seemed really yellow.