Le Metier de Beaute Kaleidoscope Flawless Face Kit

I love this kaleidoscope.  Its shape doesn't immediately seem travel-friendly - whenever I think of travel-sized makeup products, I think small and flat, with smaller amounts of product - but the barrel-shaped Kaleidoscope is perfect.

The kaleidoscope comes with four products:  Classic Flawless Face Finish Translucent Compact Powder; Highlighter in Whisper, Rouge Radiance Powder in Echo; and a Bronzer.  The powder was too light for me so Lisa, Mazza Neiman Marcus' Le Metier Rep, replaced it with the Eye Brightening and Setting Powder.  After applying the Peau Vierge and concealer,  I apply the Brighening and Setting Powder on my entire eyelid, the bronzer as contour in the cheek hollow, the Echo Powder Rouge on the center of the cheek bone, the Whisper highlighter on top of the cheek bone, all with the same brush, then set it all with T. LeClerc loose powder.  Having four products in one palette that swing out easily and are big enough to drip the same brush into is perfect and fast.

From left the right:

The Bronzer

"Echo" Blush

"Whisper" Highlighter

Brightening and Setting Powder

 I use loose powder on my lids to create a smooth and oil absorbing for eye shadow.  It's my version of primer and works for most eye shadows.  The Eye Brightening and Setting Powder does this well, provides a good highlighting color for eye shadows that one might use, but the real the bonus is that though it's supposed to set under eye concealer, which it does well, it's also a great under eye concealer by itself if your under eye circles aren't too dark.  I brushed it on quickly before I ran out to do errands last weekend and did a double take after application.  My under eye circles looked less dark, and face generally brighter.  It does not settle into the small lines around my eyes.  This is a great multiple-use product.  It is also sold in a compact by itself.

I was little skeptical about the Highlighter, because it seemed too light and too pink, but it worked for me too. Since it's a highlighter, I use it sparingly, just on top of the brow bone, blending into the rouge. It looks a little pale and light at first, but settles in to highlight imperceptibly. I'm going to try it as a highlighter under the brow bone the next time my makeup color palette is pink or purple. "Too light" seems to be one of my recurring first impressions, which has turned out to be wrong many times. I should press on past it from now on.

The Echo Powder rouge is a perfect blush. I can't imagine that it wouldn't look good on everyone. I fell in love with the tester, and was very pleased to find that it was included in the palette. It's a peachy pink - the peach or the pink will dominate depending upon the other colors in your makeup palette on a given day. For example if your eyeshadow and lip color are in the pink family, the pink in the blush would stand out; the peach would stand out with a brownish palette.

The Bronzer is golden brown, making it a great universal bronzer, but not too golden that it can't be used for contouring.  Contouring doesn't seem to be a standard practice any longer, but I find it useful to apply a little just under the cheek bone to accentuate the hollow, and a little in a straight line along the jaw line to deflect some jowly areas that are developing there.  Done with a subtle hand, it tricks the eye into seeing a slimmer face.  I have also used it as standard bronzer on my cheeks and it was perfect.  Another multiple use!  The Bronzer is sparsely infused with silvery flecks, but they're not evident on the skin. 

Used altogether, these products create a subtly chiseled face.  These colors would complement many complexions.  I'm not sure that Le Metier intended the palette to be customizable - it's not advertised as such - but if one of the Kaleidoscope's standard products doesn't work for you, ask your Le Metier rep if she's willing to swap it out for a product that does.  There's a little pin hole on the underside in which you could insert a pin or the end of a paper clip to push the pan out.  Or you could do it yourself if you already own other products you'd rather have in the palette.