Giorgio Armani Beauty Night Viper Collection for Fall 2010

At last, I got my hands on the collection! Loyd Cassler and I swatched at Saks Fifth Avenue in Chevy Chase, Maryland today. He's good at it!

Let's start with the Maestro Eye Shadow Quad ($59) with icy brown, inky blue, dark brown, and silver shades - all inspired by the deep tones of night. We had to wet the shadow brush to get a good picture of these shades. As a result, the colors here appear concentrated. Applied dry, they are very sheer. That's something I love about Armani eye shadows. I can easily control how they appear on my eyelids. When I apply them dry (most of the time), I can build the color to the level I prefer.

As we started to swatch, I was instantly smitten. I would purchase the palette for the icy brown shade alone! Fortunately, all the shades are beautiful. I know I'll have fun with the combos I can create with the palette. When I'm not on my lunch hour, I'll go back and play with the shades with Loyd.

The shadows are swatched in two photos, top to bottom as they appear in the compact. The photos were taken in strong indoor light in the store. The blue shade appears to have some lavender in it in this photo. It's more purely blue than it appears here.

Loyd is so clever! Look at how he chose to show you the new #7 Eyes to Kill Palette ($59 and swatched below right)! There are rings of pure mauve (satin finish), ink black (satin finish), and aubergine purple (metallic finish). We knew that we would have to wet the shades if we used a brush, so he created this "artwork" swatch with his finger - in one fell swoop. Isn't this cool? I zoomed in on the pretty swatch. It was in focus in our photo, but the close-up blurred it a bit. No matter! You can see the shades perfectly.

The new Rouge d'Armani Lipstick ($30) colors for fall, as shown top to bottom below are: #602 - soft pink, #603 - black purple, and #604 - deep ruby. My personal favorite is #602, and I do plan to purchase it. I had to give my credit card a rest this week! As you can see in the photo at left, #603 isn't all that "black," despite the Web site description, and #604 has a lot of blue in it. I would even call it fuchsia.

The limited-edition Blending Blush Duo in Shimmering Pale and Dark Raspberry (note: $49) is drop-dead gorgeous. Loyd had to finger paint it onto my arm - literally - for the swatch photo. Picked up with a blush brush, it was just too light to show up in a photo. Naturally, you can blend the two shades when you apply these soft colors - or you can use them individually. Your choice!

I need to tell you that there was a significant error on the Armani Web site, and I notified them. The Blending Blush Duo is not $85! It's $49. Remember when I gave you a sneak peek at this collection, and I mentioned my sticker shock? I'm happy to report that you can purchase this blush duo for a lot less today at Saks, and I'm sure my friends at Armani Beauty will correct the Web site soon. They have already tried, actually. The $49 price comes up, but if you wait a few seconds, it oddly flips to $60 - right before your eyes. Glad I don't have to fix that one! Hopefully, by the time you read this, it will be OK.

To the right is the new Eyes to Kill Mascara ($30) in Blue Grey Night, a very attractive greyed navy. Both Loyd and I thought the swatch on my arm appeared to have a slight purple cast (same issue with the blue tone of the eye shadow above). I don't know why. The color is actually very close to Armani's little square swatch on the Web site. I didn't think I would purchase this (I'm not really "into" colored mascaras), but it was too pretty to pass up. It came home with me. Eyes to Kill is an award-winning mascara for good reason, so I decided to be less conservative for a change.

Along with plums, deep blues for the eyes are clearly a fall trend! Armani, Guerlain, Chantecaille, Estée Lauder - to name just a few of the beauty companies featuring midnight blue - have all made the shade a centerpiece. I think we will be seeing a lot of it. The new blue smoky eye will be very trendy! You can create it with the Maestro Eye Shadow Quad and the new Eyes to Kill Mascara. Magnifique!

You can purchase the items from the Night Viper Collection at Saks. The other department stores that carry Armani Beauty should have the collection soon, if they don't already. You can also purchase at the Armani Beauty Web site, but wait for the price correction if you want the Blending Blush Duo. When my $85 version arrives in the mail, I will have to return it. Glad I bought one at Saks today! I'll be wearing it tomorrow.

Some photos courtesy of UrCosme
Swatches courtesy of BTiB and Loyd Cassler