LORAC Close Up: Real Life To Red Carpet Natural To Dramatic Face Tutorial Kit Fall 2011

The LORAC Close Up: Real Life To Red Carpet Natural To Dramatic Face Tutorial Kit is brand new for fall and has one of the longest names ever. It includes everything you need for a complete look- shadow, mascara, eyeliner, blush and gloss, plus a tutorial chart/booklet that walks you through each look step-by-step!

It includes: A Starry-Eyed Baked Eyeshadow Trio in LORACstar, a powder blush in Soul, a Couture Shine Liquid Lipstick in Trend Setter, Multiplex 3D Lashes Mascara in Black, a Front of the Line Pro Liquid Eye Liner in black and a Close Up: Real Life To Red Carpet Natural To Dramatic Face Tutorial guide.



The face tutorial guide is six pages with instructions in English and French. It has directions and illustrations for two looks plus a list of makeup tips from LORAC creaotr and pro artist Carol Shaw. Another handy feature: it stands up so you can turn the pages easily and glance at the instructions without having to stop what you're doing.

LORAC powder blush in Soul.

LORAC Starry-Eyed Baked Eye Shadow Trio in LORACstar (flash / no flash).


LORAC Multiplex 3D Lashes Mascara in Black.


LORAC Front Of The Line Pro Liquid Liner in Black.


LORAC Couture Shine Liquid Lipstick in Trend Setter.


Swatched over bare skin, with flash and without. LORACstar trio, Soul blush (applied heavily), Trend Setter gloss, Front of the Line liner.

Here's a look I did using the items in the kit:
It looks a little darker in these pictures than it does on my eye in real life, but the shimmer in the shadow comes out well. I used:
Too Faced Shadow Insurance Lemon Drop
LORACstar trio lightest shade on inner third of lid and on browbone
LORACstar trio darkest shade on entire lid, in crease and on lower lashline
LORAC Front Of The Line Pro Liquid liner
LORAC Multiplex 3D Mascara

This is a modified version of the 'Dramatic Night Look' from the tutorial booklet. I skipped the medium shade because it looked too warm and bronzy with the smoky eye.

What I liked:

• Includes everything you need for a complete look and everything goes together.
• Great packaging- note the glitter in the shadow compact and the holo mascara tube.
• The Front of the Line Pro eye liner has an actual brush tip! I like this more than any other liquid liner pen applicator.
• Shadows have a creamy, dense texture and are perfectly pigmented and blendable.
  
• The tutorial guide has pictures of the makeup on a model, not drawings or face charts.
• Good value. Everything in here is full size and the whole kit only costs $39.
• The lightest shadow color used with the darkest color makes the easiest, most foolproof, gorgeous shimmery everyday smoky eye.
• The Couture Shine gloss smells awesome, like sweet, creamy vanilla frosting.
• The liner dries really quickly and still looks a bit glossy after it has dried.
  

What I didn't like:

• The color selection is a bit dupe-able.
• The eyeliner seems to bleed/feather a bit on me- it doesn't do it every time, but it does happen.
• The Couture Shine gloss in Trend Setter is way too dense and frosty for me applied straight from the tube, but blotted down it looks fine.
• The mascara doesn't do much for me. It's not necessarily bad, just average.
• This is not so much a downside as it is an observation, but the liner isn't waterproof.
  

Overall, I'm once again impressed. LORAC's baked shadows are amazing and they have really made me change my mind about baked shadows. Like I've said before, I normally find baked shadows to be flaky and weird to apply, but these are a dream. I'm obsessed with this shadow trio right now- the light shade and the darkest shade together are perfect for a super fast eye that looks like you put more effort into it than you did. I've worn it for a week straight, the sparkly taupe smoky eye just makes me feel so pretty and only takes about three minutes to do.

I love the liner in this a lot- the pointed brush applicator is excellent and is the easiest to use of any liquid liner pen I've tried. I just wish the formula didn't occasionally bleed when I use it.

The blush is good on me, the mascara is okay but I wouldn't buy it again and the gloss is good once you blot it down, but, in my opinion, the shadow trio and the liner are the star items in the kit.

It's available now at Sephora.

(This was sent to me for review.)