Holiday 2011: Laura Mercier Book of Nudes and NOTD OPI Meep Meep Meep

One of the things I bought for Sephora's Friends and Family sale is the Laura Mercier Book of Nudes. This palette contains 8 shadows, 1 cake liner, and 3 cream cheek products. Most of the eye shadows are smooth and buttery, but Tiger's Eye is an unpigmented, hard pressed mess. The other shadows are somewhat sheer, but very buildable. All swatches were taken in a mix of natural lighting and OTT lighting over UDPP, roughly 3 swipes each (except Tiger's Eye)

Buff is a matte beige.
Tiger's Eye is an warm brown with gold glitter. It's hard and unpigmented and easily forms a crust on top. I had to really dig in to get payoff. I think this was 6 swipes or so with my brush, and I had to really pack it on.
Sandstone is a shimmery beige pink.
Bamboo is a warm, slight antiqued bronzey taupe.
Baroque is a warm orange brown with gold shimmer
Fresco is a matte, pinked brown.
Granite is a deep, matte grey.
Cocoa Brown is a reddish brown with slight bronze shimmer. The shimmer doesn't really transfer onto the skin.
The cheek creams in the palette have a smooth, kinda oily texture. The only one I found somewhat pretty is the cheek veil which is a slightly corally peach shade. Bronzer veil reminded me kind of like baby diarrhea...it didn't look particularly pretty swatched onto my arm. Glow veil is a golden highlight shade. The only one of these I tried on my face was the cheek veil. It was easy enough to blend, but I didn't like the payoff on my face. Each of these swatches was maybe 4 swipes. They're definitely quite sheer.

I did neglect to swatch the cake liner, but you can find a swatch of it with the LM Luxe Color portfolio I swatched earlier this month if you're interested. Overall, the palette is okay, but the colors themselves don't particularly appeal to me. If you're torn between getting the luxe color portfolio or the book of nudes, my personal preference would be towards the luxe color portfolio. The Book of Nudes is quite a bit cheaper though, so if you like the colors, it's okay to get, but it doesn't excite me whatsoever.

Here's a look at yesterday's NOTD as weel; OPI Meep Meep Meep. This polish is a slightly pink red, that I found was somewhat jelly-like in color payoff (I can still see my nail line a bit after 3 coats). There's some multidimmensional shimmer to it as well that I feel like my camera didn't capture so well. This photo was taken under OTT lighting at the end of the day shortly before I removed it.