Learning to love Laura

Laura Mercier that is. This brand has always been under my radar but I always get sidetracked by other French cosmetic lines: NARS, Chanel, Dior...

Lately, I have been paying more attention to this line - I love using the combination of the oil-free primer and the tinted moisturizer in Caramel. Therefore, I have added a few new things to my collection - THANK YOU SEPHORA V.I.B. sale!

Today I will focus on Black Karat from the Baked Eye Shadow collection:


Black Karat with NARS Shadow Stick in Aigle Noir



(L to R: Aigle Noir, Black Karat on NC 42 forearm)

 The color itself looks like a black with gold glitter at first glance but once you lay it out on your arm (like I did) you'll see it's more of a super dark brown with black woven into it and the gold is hard to not detect.

This is my kind of color for a one-pan smoky eye look!

You can use this dry or wet - depending on how intense you want this color to be:

Top - I swatched it wet using a MAC 266 brush
Bottom - Dry swatch using a MAC 239 brush

The gold is bolder when wet but the dark brown base seems to stay the same.

Either way, I like it!

I layered it on top of the Aigle Noir shadow stick. I then took my MAC 266 brush and applied Black Karat wet to my lower lash line. I applied MAC Arena to my browbone and finished with a couple of coats of Dior's Extase masacara.

Please also check out Gaia's reviews and pictures of Black Karat. She has better photos of this lovely shade. Her LM reviews are basically the reason I have been tiptoeing to that counter recently!

I will attempt to do a comparison between this shade and any MAC Mineral Shadows I may still own. I have lost a few in transit - one slip and it's a messy spill on your bathroom floor, sadly!