For the holidays this year, Guerlain introduces the Imperiale Collection designed to bring luxury worthy of royalty to every woman. I’ve been having such a wonderful time playing with the press samples I received. I need the holiday parties to start rolling in, especially after I got a lesson with Guerlain’s top makeup artist Marcus Monson. I had the good fortune to sit down with him when he was in town recently.

Marcus describes the collection as a way to get a “delicate dazzle” with subtle radiance. I find the colors and finishes to have a really nice balance of holiday glamour and elegance – definitely festive but not over the top.

As usual, Guerlain knocks it out of the park with luxurious packaging that makes each piece a luxe accessory. They’ve created a lovely vintage, boudoir feel with white gold finishes and black lace and jewel accents.

The Shadows

Like all Guerlain shadows, the shadows in the 407 Bal de minuit Ombre Eclat 4 Shades ($58) are exquisitely silky with a great dose of color. But these have a different finish than most Guerlain shadows. They’re more metallic and pearlescent while retaining an elegant look, because the neutral hues are on the soft side.

There’s plenty of shimmer to make them work for holiday parties and any special occasion. But they can also work for everyday wear if you apply them lightly. It’s a great multi-purpose set. Marcus suggests applying the darkest shade wet to use it as a liner. He also showed me that the medium brown shade (bottom right) works well to fill in the brows.

The Mascara

I adore Le 2 de Guerlain with its two brushes that grab each lash and make them so long and full. Marcus showed me how to use it to curl the lashes by simply holding the lashes back for a second (much easier for me than using a lash curler).

For the holidays, the 12 Reine de nuit Le 2 de Guerlain ($35) has a super black shade with the main brush and a sparkly gold formula with the small brush. The gold is meant to be used alone or over the black on the bottom lashes and on the tips of the top lashes. The effect is subtle so you can’t see it well on the video. But it’s very pretty.

The Lip Colors

For the lips, they’ve introduced two new shades of Rouge G, their incredibly luxe lipstick with the case that flips out to reveal a mirror. It can also be engraved since the case is metal. For the holidays, these two lipsticks have ornamental black jewels on them.

Marcus used 11 Grace (bottom lipstick shown below) on me. It’s a subtly pearl, lingerie pink that’s now one of my all-time favorite pinks (the other shade is called 12 Gems). Marcus topped Grace with 807 Perle de Lune KissKiss Gloss ($29, middle below), a delicately sparkly, light opalescent pink. There are also two darker shades: 808 Ambre Précieuse and 809 Rubis Rose.

The Powders

The collection includes three powders. Météorites Perle Impériales ($53), the loose pearls of powder Guerlain is famous for, has three new shades to correct and brighten the complexion, as well as give it “evening-out” sparkle. It comes in a black, sparkly, lacy container.

There’s also a new luxury edition of the Météorites Voyage Impérial pressed powder ($180) in a white gold metal compact adorned with black Swarovski strass crystals evocative of a constellation of stars. I haven’t used that. But they say it has “fine-tuned formula” with a “one-of-a-kind formulation” that’s gently pearlescent, and easier to blend and customize.

Perhaps the most unique piece in the collection is the Éclat Impérial ($85, on right below) powder for face and body. It’s silky, sheer, lightweight and gives the look of tiny little diamonds on the skin. It comes in the most exquisite atomizer with a long black tassel so you apply it like perfume – talk about luxe.

The Makeup Lesson

Marcus was in town for a big beauty event at Nordstrom in downtown San Francisco. He shared more great tips and tricks in this makeup lesson video. I love that after all these years of sitting down with makeup artists I can still learn something new. My favorite tip was about how to properly blend eyeshadow in the crease by sort of dabbing at the shadow instead of sweeping back and forth.

It’s also nice to sit down with someone who knows the ins and outs of the products so I can use them to their fullest potential, so to speak, like how to use the mascara to curl the lashes. I also learned that Rouge G has a primer built into the formula so there’s no need to use primer before applying.

I must forewarn you that I had some trouble with this video. I sat down to review what I shot and found that the last third disappeared – vanished into thin air (sigh). I did my best to work around it with photos and such. But there is an upside: I had more time to show more of the eye makeup application, so you can see more of Marcus’ excellent techniques (YouTube has a time limit so I usually have to cut out a lot of great stuff).

Where to Find the Collection

The collection is available now at select Saks Fifth Avenue, Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, Sephora, Bloomingdales, and Bergdorf Goodman stores.

Do Tell

So what do you think of the collection and Marcus’ lesson? Do tell.

P.S. Check out the Beauty Resources page for some amazing beauty deals from amazon.com, beauty.com, Sephora, and more.