The newest Le Métier de Beauté Sheer Brilliance Lip Gloss ($32) to hit the counters is called La Belle. "Beautiful" in French is a beautiful lip gloss in any language.I would describe this luscious shade as sparkling grape with a hint of red. Others might call it plum or more simply red-purple. Although it might look brown in the tube, it's not. That's the magic of Le Métier de Beauté's lip glosses. You have to try them or see swatches to select the shades. Looking at the tube could lead you to dismiss a shade you might love!
It's hard to show in a photo taken on a cloudy day how exuberant the color is. It's rich without being opaque and sparkling without being glittery. It's darker than one of my favorite Dior glosses #877, Lurex Plum (now discontinued), but very much in the same color family.
La Belle is darker than Uma Paro, another recent Sheer Brilliance favorite of mine, and it has more red in it than Uma Paro. If you click on the Uma Paro link here, you will also see Monaco, a shade that is actually brown. There's no comparison. I am mentioning this because I had read several "sneak peek" descriptions that called La Belle brown. It's not.
This gloss is gorgeous without any lipstick underneath, and it has a wonderful quality: the color lasts a long time. When I first swatched it on my arm, I noticed that it didn't wipe off. In the store, we used makeup remover to tidy my arm. At home, where I put even more on my arm, I couldn't remove it completely with soap and water. It took long-wear makeup remover to take off every last trace. It has the same wonderful quality on the lips.
I was recently introduced to Sheer Brilliance and quickly became a convert. Every word Le Métier de Beauté says about Sheer Brilliance's features is true.
- Elegant, semi-translucent, glossy color
- Universal shades
- Vitamin E and lanolin for soft supple lips
- Silky texture and easy-glide formula
- Never heavy or sticky
You can purchase La Belle Sheer Brilliance Lip Gloss at Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman. Nordstrom is now offering Le Métier de Beauté from its online site only. None of the sites have La Belle available online as I write this, but it should be available online soon. You can always call Lisa Lingis at Neiman Marcus Mazza Gallerie to order at (202) 966-9700, extension 2240, or visit your favorite Neiman Marcus.
P.S. Sooner or later, I'm going to get all the accent marks straight!
Photos by BTiB