Product Reviews

I’m having a very hard time not referring to Laura Mercier’s new $20 Stone Grey Eye Pencil (from the Arabesque Spring 2013 collection) as, “Stone Cold Grey.”

And it’s all this man’s fault: Stone Cold Steve Austin.

I watched a lot of pro wrestling with my younger brother when he was kid, and back then Stone Cold Steve Austin was, like, a big, big deal.

For the record, it was usually my brother’s idea. I’d walk into the room while he was glued to the TV, his eyes wide with excitement, and ask, “Why are you watching that? You know it’s all fake, right?”

“Shut up, it’s real!” he’d reply, only taking his eyes off the action for a second.

Now, all these years later, I know how he must have felt, because the same thing happens to me when I’m watching The Hills…

Okay, tangent! Back to Laura’s Stone Grey. 🙂

One of two pencils in the Arabesque collection, this rich, pigmented cool-toned grayish blue, a limited edition piece (the other Arabesque pencil, Midnight Bleu, hails from the permanent collection), has a matte finish — almost like Stormy Grey liner’s shy cousin.

I think it looks lovely layered beneath Blue Zen eyeshadow — the one from the Free Spirit Palette — or by itself along lower lash and water lines.

If you’ve been wanting to test the waters with a blue liner but haven’t felt like diving into the deep end with a shockingly bright electric blue, this is the pencil for you. The grey really tones it down, keeping it quiet and soft.

It’s the kind of thing you could wear to work without your co-workers saying, “Ohmigod! Are you wearing blue eyeliner today!?” between TPS reports.

On my lash and water lines, it lasts from 5-6 hours, with minimal fading around the 4-hour mark, but touchups are easy, thanks to a soft, smooth texture.

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This — THIS! — is one of the reasons I love Laura Mercier. First time I saw her new $48 Baked Eye Colour Palette in Free Spirit, I thought, “There’s no frickin’ way I’ll be able to pull that off.”

I thought the colors were way too cool for me, and that the pastels would appear chalky and entirely unwearable on my warm skin tone.

But then I started playing…

And, like she does so often, Laura came through. 🙂 Again, she found a way to make seemingly safe shades interesting, unusual and, I think, totally wearable.

At first glance, these colors might not get your heart pounding, but give ’em a chance. Dig a little (NOOO! — not literally into the pans, of course!), and you might just find something surprisingly beautiful hidden within something so seemingly subtle.

It happened to me with this palette.

A couple of its pastels do seem pretty typical, like the lightest blue, Soft Cloud. It’s pretty much your run-of-the-mill shimmery blue.

And then there’s Pink Tutu, the light pink on the far right — a competent but uninspiring shimmery pink. Neither one will set any records for originality, and you can probably find dupes from other lines.

Oh, but the remaining three shades — the dark blue on the far left, and the two darkest shades guarding the center — they hold the keys to this palette’s true power.

My favorite’s the one in the middle, Satin Ribbon, a gorgeous coppery bronze with blackened undertones.

SO BEAUTIFUL! It makes my head spin. And so complex. If you wet your brush first before applying it on your lids, the copper tones come out to party, looking rich and bright. I didn’t expect something like it from a palette with pastels.

Bare Yoga, seated to Satin Ribbon’s right, also blew me away. It’s my second favorite of these colors. Despite how basic it looks in the pan and when swatched dry, this mauve really grooves when you start buffing, revealing a purply brown personality. I love the way it looks blended into the crease with Satin Ribbon on my lids.

And then there’s Blue Zen, the darker blue on the far left, and the Clark Kent of this palette. A mild-mannered mid-toned blue by day, he flexes his stormy gray muscles when faced with buffing.

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