Estée Lauder Pure Color EyeShadow Duos from Modern Mercury Collection for Fall 2011

Tom Pecheux, Creative Makeup Director for Estée Lauder, has created one extraordinary, visionary collection after another, and his Pure Color Modern Mercury Collection for Fall 2011 extends his Midas touch. The limited-edition collection, inspired by modern avant-garde architecture features molten, metallic eyes; a soft, shimmering face; edgy matte lips; and a "twisted" shade of green for the nails.

"My inspiration for this collection comes from the creative reflections found in modern architecture, in the phenomenal modern buildings that are like pieces of art. The buildings never, ever look the same color because they are reflecting what is around them. It is the same idea with this collection, you are wearing the same makeup, but you never end up looking the same way," said Pecheux.

I think the superstar piece in the collection is the Pure Color Illuminating Powder Gelée. I'm going to tease you and make you wait until tomorrow to see it. I want to get photos worthy of a superstar. Today, I'll show you three gorgeous Pure Color EyeShadow Duos - two from Modern Mercury and one from the revamped True Color permanent collection.

The collection's three new EyeShadow Duos ($30), in Modern Mercury, Khakis, and Black Chrome, present a powerful mix of textures that highlight and illuminate the eyes with reflective hues. Oddly, the display at Neiman Marcus only showed two of them; someone had substituted a duo that wasn't part of the fall collection. I am always annoyed by that, but on this occasion it allowed me to discover Platinums, which I might have overlooked. If you look carefully at the display photo above, you will not see Black Chrome.

I purchased Modern Mercury, Khakis (of course), and Platinums. I also purchased additional duos from the entirely revamped True Color EyeShadow permanent collection. I will show you those this week as well. There is a wealth of new makeup at your Estée Lauder counter. Kathy Shoreman, who knows I have enough eye shadow for life, kept asking me, "Are you sure you want all this?"

Estée Lauder's press photo of the three duos is shown above left. The photograph of the Khakis duo is not true to color. It's much prettier - lust-worthy, actually. I took a few photos of the three duos from the display in full, mid-day sun. They are presented below. In the photo immediately below, Platinums is shown at left, Modern Mercury in the middle, and Khakis on the right. I also had trouble capturing the marvelous, green shade, so I think Pecheux hit the nail on the head when he remarked that the shades reflect what's around them.

These trios are magnificent, in my humble opinion. Here's another shot of Khakis below right. Hopefully, you can see the sophisticated charcoal khaki, despite Blogger's recent photo challenges.

I swatched all the shades with a sponge-tipped applicator, applying them heavily and taking my photos in full, glaring mid-day sun. The photo at left shows the Khakis duo (with the light shade at my wrist) at the top of my arm, Platinums in the middle, and Modern Mercury at the bottom. The shades shimmer and dance in the sunlight, with the exception of the base shade in the Platinums duo, which has a satin finish.

Khakis has a lightly shimmering beige base shade and a shimmering charcoal-khaki that will knock your socks off if you like khakis as much as I do. Platinums has a satin white base and a shimmering taupe-mauve accent shade - extremely wearable. Modern Mercury offers a shimmering white-grey base with a shimmering pure grey accent. I hope you can see the difference in the reflectiveness of the shades on my arm photo above.

I plan to get better swatch photos - hopefully tomorrow. In the meantime, Khakis is swatched above right, Platinums at left, and Modern Mercury below right. When I attempt to snap more photos, I'll try to select a time of day when the sun isn't blazing. Even with the reflections in these swatch photos, I hope you can see that these are incredibly desirable - and wearable - shades.

I'm under Mr. Pecheux's spell. He has brought Estée Lauder to the forefront of creativity, making the once-predictable brand a must-see on my list of seasonal collections. I purchased my pieces at Neiman Marcus Tysons Galleria. Neiman Marcus will be offering an Estée Lauder gift with purchase starting Friday. The woven shoulder bag filled with useful samples should delight you. What a perfect time to buy!

Update 7/27: More swatch photos. These photos were taken today in morning sun, but it was very bright and direct. Khakis is shown at left. I'm still swooning. Modern Mercury is shown at right below. I think this is a better photo than the one I published yesterday. At the bottom, there's a new photo of the Platinums duo.

My best recommendation? Go play with these shimmering shades. I'll bet you find at least one duo you will want to take home.

Update 7/28: I got one thing wrong in the original post, and a sharp-eyed reader caught it. I went back to the press release and checked. It is the Khakis duo that is new, but not part of the collection. Platinums is part of the collection, per the press release. So, the three duos that are part of the Modern Mercury Collection are Modern Mercury, Platinums, and Black Chrome. My annoyance with the product specialist's substitution on the Modern Mercury Collection display continues, but it was just a different switcheroo than I mentioned originally.

Photos courtesy of Estée Lauder and by Best Things in Beauty