Gucci Beauty has arrived in the US. I ordered several items sight unseen from Saks based on online stock swatches, crossed my fingers and hoped for the best. After a few days of testing I am happy to report that I very pleased with my purchases, especially since I ordered everything without seeing them in person first.
The items I ordered:
- Magnetic Color Shadow Mono ($37 each for 2g/0.07 oz) in Starlight, Sunstone and Oxydus
- Magnetic Color Shadow Duo ($49 for 2.6g/0.09 oz) in Aristocratic
- Audacious Color-Intense Lipstick ($39 for 3.5 g) in Spring Rose
- Vibrant Demi-Glaze Lip Lacquer ($32 for 6 ml) in Spring Rose
My favorite items out of my first look at Gucci Beauty include the Magnetic Color Shadow Mono eyeshadows. The colors I ordered are all shimmery with a very smooth and velvety texture. The shimmer is finely milled and the colors have a complex mix of sparkles making them multi-dimensional and quite naturally stunning on the lids. I find them to have medium to full coverage. These apply naturally on the lids but have buildable and layerable pigment. I used all three shades together and found that they layered on top of each other quite nicely. Starlight is a cool champagne with slight taupe notes, Sunstone is a warm peachy champagne in the pot but goes on neutral-cool on my olive skin, Oxydus is a warm bronze with a hint of olive.
The Magnetic Color Shadow Duo in Aristocratic has a soft matte neutral-cool brown and a medium-toned purple shimmer. Both of these are also very soft and easy to blend with decent pigment. Aristocratic ordered has a softer look and finish compared to the singles I ordered, but still shows up on the lids. It’s a good basic everyday kind of duo although if I had seen it in person I would have probably skipped it. If you’re a lover of matte shades or colors with a slight hint of shimmer this is a good option. For me, I need something more pigmented with more pop, I find NARS Brousse to be a similar but better choice.
For the lips, I ordered Spring Rose in the Audacious Lipstick and Lip Lacquer. Both are very nice. The Spring Rose Audacious Lipstick is a neutral pink beige rose cream that gives rich smooth coverage. I found it glided over the lips very easily and covered the entire lip with two swipes. Some full coverage lipsticks can look dry and I found the Gucci Lipstick gave a nice soft lush velvety finish. It has a noticeable sweet floral-candy like scent which I found nice and non-irritating. The scent fades on the lips after a minute. Lasting power of the lipstick is quite good. I’m very impressed. I have mixed feelings about the Spring Rose Vibrant Demi-Glaze Lip Lacquer. I found mine to be very sheer. It is similar in color to the lipstick, but sheerer and lighter in color and has a little bit of sparkles mixed in. Based on the name, I expected a full coverage or at least medium coverage gloss. Spring Rose isn’t invisible, but rather in the sheer-medium range. I would have liked more coverage but it does show up alone and it layers nicely over the lipstick. The scent of the gloss is significantly stronger than the lipsticks. For me, it’s not a deal-breaker and I’ve been able to wear it with no issues. (I can’t wear older Lancome or Estee Lauder lipsticks, glosses, juicy tubes etc. because those are too strong, but I am able to wear the Gucci.) Those who are super sensitive to fragrance may want to wait to try before buying.
All items swatched side by side with different lighting (please excuse the typos below, the Aristocrat Duo label is supposed to say Aristocratic Duo):
Close ups:
Without flash:
Overall I’m really pleased with the items I bought. The quality of the Gucci Beauty line is quite excellent and I think the lasting power and textures are exquisite. I will definitely be purchasing more of the lipsticks after I see the line in person. I’ll be investigating the eyeshadows more as well, but the online swatches make it difficult to tell the true color or complexity so I’ll be testing before buying any more. If the rest of the glosses and duos are as sheer as the ones I bought I’ll be skipping the rest of the other options. I’m undecided about the packaging designs. They are distinctly Gucci and quite sturdy, but I’m not sure I like the look of the beauty line packaging. It seems flashy to me, but I shouldn’t be so judgmental about it since it’s functional, sleek and well-made.
You can find Gucci Beauty online at Gucci, Saks and Neiman Marcus. I ordered mine items from Saks. If you’ve tried anything from Gucci, I’d love to hear your thoughts!
The single shadows are all such beautiful colours!
nueyork.blogspot.com
Ooooo so tempting! Those eyeshadows look gorgeous! Great post 🙂
I think that you can use the eyeshadow as a highlighter, they seem so beautiful. Sunstone is my favorite ones. I hope that the inci of these products is good because they're really expensive.
Thank you, Sabrina! With your help of your tasteful choices I know now that Gucci make up is not only blue-green shades, like it was shown on many promos and other bloggers reports :).
Your comment made me smile 🙂 I was relieved to find some good neutrals for conservative makeup lovers like myself 🙂
these colours are amazing, perfect, love them so much 🙂
The shadows are pretty and the lip products are simply gorgeous. I am eyeing on that lippie. I super like the shade.
Love the duo!!
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I wanted gold nail polish, & since my favorite line, CHANEL, had none, I ordered the 2 gold polishes from Gucci. I sent them back! How often does that happen, especially with nail polishes? But here's why I sent them back, & I'm sure you'd agree: They turned out to be the most hideous colors I have ever seen. Worse, it took all day for the polish on my toes to dry, & the polish on my fingers NEVER dried but remained sticky & tacky. When I went outside to see if the outdoor air might dry my nails better, my husband took one look & said what an awful color! That was enough for me. Tuesday I bought the entire holiday collection from CHANEL with 2 gorgeous nail colors, & that's a lesson learned for me.
I bought the Iconic Ottanio nail polish and found it to be gorgeous. No drying problems, easy to apply and lasted 4 – 5 days without chipping with base and top coat (same as Chanel and Dior, slightly poorer than Tom Ford). Susan, London
I checked out the nail polishes at the Gucci boutique on Rodeo Dr, they didn't have all the colors out for testers, but none really spoke to me. I might give one or two a try, but I'm still a die hard Chanel lover a heart.
The Aristocratic Duo looks promising. Both shades look complex and sophisticated.
I expect high quality from the brand, but I'm not sure if they're priced right. I was hoping somewhere in the same range as Giorgio Armani.
Gorgeous – been super curious about this collection. I'll have to make a personal trip to my local Saks to test this out in person.
I think those eyeshadows are gorgeous and so user-friendly. The shades will work with anything you are wearing.
Hi Sabrina, I was wondering how heavily you swatched the duo on your arm? From your swatches it looks like both colours have really good pigmentation, but your description makes it sound like they're somewhat lacking in that department. Just curious! I agree with you about the packaging. Not quite as luxe and elegant as one would expect from Gucci.
I swatched the duo heavily with about three swipes back and forth with a brush.
The duo is good, I wouldn't say that the quality or pigment is bad, the duo just didn't have the same pigment as the singles. The pigment in the duo is there, I didn't have to pack it on to get it to show up, but I had to layer a bit and build it on my lids.
Mileage may vary depending on skintone too, so you might want to check out other reviews 🙂 HTH!
The eyeshadows look exquisite! The lipsticks look moisturizing on – or maybe those are just your luscious lips doing all the work. Never really been tempted to try anything from Gucci but seeing your swatches now make me want to try the single shadows. But dang the price!!
I've never been a huge fan of gucci as a brand but their beauty line has been intrigued. that eyeshadow duo is stunning~!
Chloé⎪ à la foliee
Love the lipstick colour!!
Lots of love, xx
http://www.marysreturn.com
http://www.marysreturn.com
I've ordered a few of the nail polish from http://www.gucci.com who are delivering from London. Free Express UPS delivery and polîsh is £20 a time. Innovative triangular brush apparently so I shall report back as to how I get on and how lovely the parcel looks on receipt. There are 27 polishes in the collection and some of the colours look lovely. I beleive Louboutin are releasing 'Louboutin Undenail' next week but I have no updates as to what and if a holiday beauty schedule may or may not be. Xx
The colours look amazing. I hope these come out in Australia. I had to laugh about your comment on packaging, I'm just as judgemental! x
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Great color choices, Sabrina! And just another reason you keep me coming back-they are exactly what I would choose to see. Lovely. Thanks for sharing during what must be a hectic time with the move! Enjoy your weekend.
Thank you michelle! Yes, it's been hectic but we are making progress with the move 🙂
Beautiful picks! Everything looks quite wearable and flattering. I'm loving the look of Oxydus in your swatches and the duo as well 🙂