For me, I coveted eyes. I’m as blond as the day is long, my hair is blond, my eyelashes are blond, I’m fair, so without eyeliner and mascara, I have no eyes. People often comment when they see me after I put on mascara that they had no idea I had eyelashes at all, much less such long ones. Ack.
Five hours of misery, and — I have eyes! I leapt into permanent eyeliner. Basically, they tattoo eyeliner on you. and it was miserable. I have the most sensitive eyes. They water easily, hate bright lights, swell up. I’m not a pretty cryer at all – swollen, red, just horrific looking. And I found out my eyes have lots of nerves and blood vessels, but sloughs off topical anesthetic like it were popcorn. My eyes only numb up for maybe a few minutes at a time, then they start hurting when the needles starts again. Normal people do not have this experience, it’s a lot easier for them. I’m nothing near normal.
But I don’t care. It was worth it plus. I don’t put on makeup, but I have eyes, you can see them, they have definition, I can skip mascara. It was worth it, and I’d do it again. Well, maybe. I need to go back for a touch-up, but I need a couple of weeks to get temporary amnesia.
And that takes us to Cartier II L’Heure Convoitee, the latest L’Heure entry. The coveted hour. Red – lipstick, love, heat, fire, passion. This scent also has a coolness to it – red icy heat. Lipstick, iris, carnation. I waffled on how much I liked this at first, but I wound up loving it in the end. It feels like the burlesque it was inspired by, and that’s why I’m enamoured of the work Mathilde Laurent has done with this whole series. It is art, it takes its inspiration seriously, creating what it is, not mucked around in by PR people who make it something else entirely that may sell better or be more widely loved, but will have lost its way.
I spend a lot of time thinking about perfume and art. Well, some people daydream, I think about how smell can be art, or can it? I’d like to think so, except I know how undefinable that can be. But the same way a beautiful painting can make my eyes well up with tears, so can a perfume that captures perfectly a moment, an idea. So I completely embrace what Cartier is doing with this series, and I’d love to see more of it. Plus I really like wearing convoitee, especially when I covet.
Do you like the L’Heure series? Or do you find it arty, but it doesn’t speak to you in a “I really wanna wear that!” kind of way? I’ll do 4 samples of the Convoitee to four lucky commenters that I pull by random draw next week.
I haven’t tried any of the Heures fragrances, but this one definitely sounds up my alley….
That scent sounds fantastic! I’d love to try it- I haven’t been able to try any of the series so far, since nowhere nearby carries them. :(
Congrats on your tattoos! Ironically, I have the opposite problem- my hair is a light golden blonde (naturally), but my eyebrows are several shades darker. Everyone accuses me of dyeing my hair, but I swear I don’t!
I’m dying to try this one (I’m still looking for the perfect carnation scent), so I’d love to be entered into the draw.
I never thought about tattooing my eyes, but I have dark hair with very light lashes and eyebrows, like one of those medieval paintings. I keep meaning to get my eyebrows dyed, so I can at least have eye brows when I wake up in the morning….
Like some, less keen on others but it doesn’t matter because I really admire the ambition of Cartier Les Heures. Would love to try the new one.
Hi Patty,
I’ve never smelled Cartier II L’Heure Convoitee (or any Cartier for that matter unfortunately) but I do believe that fragrance is art. As a symphony or a painting or even a food dish can be a composed piece of art, so can perfume! And I’d love to try this one. :) What a great article, I’ve never known anyone who had the permanent eyeliner done but I’ve seen the posters for it and always wondered if it was worth it! Now I have my answer.
sorry your eyes are having trouble with the tattoos – but hopefully they will settle down and feel great.
i LOVE this series! i think she has done a lovely job, and i wish i could afford the whole shebang. i have two, and they make me very happy. need to sniff the newest heures – the one you mention sounds right up my alley!
do you know la mome by balmain? underrated, and very femme fatale and retro makeup-lipsticky. love it.
I applaud your courage and I’m glad you like the results.
I think of this serie as “an excercise in art” cosistent and original
I would be glad to try “l’Heure Convoitee”, please enter me the draw
thanks and speedy healing
Whoa. You are brave! I am a coward with stuff like that. Would love to try the Convoitee! Thanks for the draw.
I’m a fair strawberry blonde(at least I was in childhood). Has anyone had success with dying their eyelashes? I’d be willing to try that.
Having eyeliner tatooed on scares the daylights out of me.
Of course, if it were possible to have my undereye circles tatooed out (in? out?), that’d be a completely different story!
I love carnation but haven’t found my HG yet. Maybe Convoitee will be it…
You can have it done, but it’s not something you want to do yourself. Certainly not with conventional hair dye.
I have the same issue with my eyelashes as Patty. Mine are blonde (despite the dark eyebrows and medium brown hair. That and I’ve worn sunglasses since I was a teen, so I get a sort of reverse racoon thing going on. But hey, no crows feet!
So you get SoCal glamour with the sunglasses AND no crows feet! Nice!
My lashes are brown at the base but end in blonde tips. My mom has used glaucoma drops for years and has fabulous lashes: long, thick, and black — and no brown spots in her medium grey eyes, either. I have blue eyes, and worry that I WOULD end up with spots from something like Latisse…
I absolutely LOVE La Treizième Heure. Smelled it at Saks two years ago and went back the next day to buy it. It became my go-to scent for the cold winter days. I swear it makes me feel warmer :d
I couldn’t ever quite do the treizieme, not sure why. I admire it, but just can’t wear it often.
Not even thinking about the eyeliner thing…
As for the hours, I liked IV and XIII but they lasted all of half an hour on me, even with the !!SIX!! sprays the nice SA encouraged me to put on. (I originally did 2 of XIII; but when, after 10 mins’ chatting, nice SA herself could smell nothing on my arm, she decided we had to go to town a bit)
Number Two (as it were) smells unfortunately on my skin of apple blossom-turning-to-plain-apples plus toilet-bowl cleaner. Money saved! :)>-
I’m always baffled about the differences in people’s skin something. They all stick on me, which may be why I like the line so much too.
I am so afraid of even the slightest pain, I’m not sure I could have had permanent eye-liner done. I admire your bravery. Over all I like the L’Heure series. I like that they are interesting and not dumbed down. So yes, artistic would be a good way of describing them.
I coveted eyes more than I cared about the pain, seriously. After I saw all the before/after pictures, I was compltely sold, and I just was willing to suffer to get there.
A close friend had her brows tattooed and I swear it took twenty years off her; the tattoo-er must have been genius. I only wish you could do eyelashes, I’ve never really had any!!
As for the Cartier Hours, I find them lovely but very fleeting, almost timid, I wish they would push the boat out and power up the sillage and tenacity a la Serge, but lets face it, thats just not the zietgeist any more. I got a sample of Convolutee (sorry re spelling, in a hurry) and I feel like I just splash it on like cologne. My favorite remains Mysterieuse, but I’ve never bought a bottle because I find it fits the same “spot” for me as Onda which just blows it out of the water….
Mind you I think these have a lot of that sweet laundry musk in the base ans I fear I’ve become somewhat anosmic!
The eyebrow pictures I saw were genius, and for a lot of people with basically no eyebrows, the difference was like night and day.
Weird, the Cartiers all stick on me. I put on the Convoitee this morning, and it’s still lingering.
I hear you on the pale coloring! I’m very fair (white blond as a child, thin hair, pale skin — aaargh!) and have sensitive eyes. The eye liner tattoo is farther than I’m willing to go, but I have found that some felt tip eyeliners work well enough (light color, easy to apply, no flakes. So far, the most important make-up for me has been eye brow pencil — a bit of color there really enhances my whole face. I’ve thought about Latisse (the eyelash stuff) but that is way too much maintenance for me. So, I’ll just keep my invisible eyelashes for now.
I live vicariously through you, since you’ll try things that I just won’t . The only good news in all this is that nobody can tell if I shave my legs or not..
well, I’m all blonde, but at least my hair is thick as can be. I’ve tried everything on my eyes, but everything comes off of me – mascara, eyeliner, fingernail polish. I’m a sloughing machine! :)
I do the eyebrow tinting when I get my every six weeks wax, and she went darker than normal last time. After a day of thinking I was snidley whiplash, I got used to it and decided I look better with a little darker eyebrows. But then I get all nervous about really going a little daker.
Latisse works great for me, I attribute my eyelashes to it. I finished off a bottle, didn’t get another one, and in about 5-6 weeks, my eyelashes were so much stubbier. So I restarted it about two weeks ago. It’s amazing stuff. Just use it sparingly, and you can stretch a bottle out to 2-3 months.
Do you have blue eyes? I know a lady who got brown spots on her iris from Latisse, and I have seen it happen to people who take meds for glaucoma, so I do believe that’s what caused it. It’s what keeps me from wanting to use it, because I have seen amazing results with my girlfriends who use it!
Count me in as one who would love to see before and after pics. This is the one cosmetic procedure I am tempted to have done.
I have yet to try any of the Cartier L’Heures; I tend to like Cartier fragrances,and the price point on these has held me back, since I’m sure I’d love most of them. But carnation is one of my favorite notes, so this may be the one to splurge on. Thanks for a chance to try it!
Okay, okay, I promise! It may be 3 weeks before I get them since I need the befores and good afters.I’ll e-mail her, though, maybe she can send them to me.
I’m right there with you on the pale eyelashes/eyebrows thing and haven’t yet had the courage to do the permanent stuff. Yet. That day may come soon (when my dread of needles is overcome by my desire not to resemble a rabbit in any shape or form!)
I haven’t tried any of this series yet but would love to! Perfume IS art – no doubt about it!
Oh, I hate needles. I got used to them in acupuncture, and somehow they just stopped bothering me, even up to getting the tattoos on my wrists and now this. Huh. That was a long journey from a little girl who howled through shots and even as a young pregnant mom, begged the doctor that I’d do ANYTHING to avoid stitches in my big cut, and he made me scrub it with a scrub brush and antiseptic before he let me leave. The stitches would have hurt less, I’m positive.
I have samples of three of the Heures but haven’t settled down to explore them yet. That doesn’t stop me from wanting a sample of this Heure Convoitee, though. Please enter me in the drawing!
I know. I have more samples sitting around here than any one person should have, but it doesn’t stop me from wanting to get ahold of everything else!
I really like the Cartier L’Heures altho I own none. I also think they seem pretty wearable, both inventive and a little old school, if that makes sense. L’H Fougueuse makes me happy!
Please enter me — I haven’t tried II yet, don’t know when I will get to!
Fougeuese is pretty much a winner for a lot of people. there’s so much to love in that one!
Congratulations on your eyeliner tattoo. I have thought about doing that but I am a total chicken when it comes to pain. I do adore carnation scents so please enter me in the draw. Thanks.
I’m a big chicken too, but I wanted eyes more than I wanted to avoid the discomfort of a few hours.
Glad you have your eyes!!!!
The heures series has some nice fragrances and I like the concept, but non has moved me enough to go FB – I just don’t think they are worth the price.
I’m curious to try the new one! cool red lipstick – sounds very intriguing.
I think that’s part of the problem when it goes more towards art, you have to commit to the vision, which may mean the scent isn’t one that you think you’ll wear enough to buy a bottle of it. Luckily my tastes run to the weird, and they do stick on me enough that I’m happy with them.
At least your eyelashes are long! Mine with 2 coats of mascara are like most people’s without any makeup on!
I adore carnation. Please enter me in the draw!
I use that stuff that makes them longer. Not revitalsh, the expensive stupid stuff, but it does work, unfortunately. I wish it didn’t, but I stopped using it, and my lashes slowly started gettting shorter. but it takes me like 3 months to go through a bottle of it, so I’ve figured average $30 a month to have eyelashes isn’t that bad.
I am wearing L’Heure Convoitee today, and really like it. You describe it perfectly.
Don’t know if I would splurge for a full bottle–am wearing some of my small decant from you wonderful ladies at TPC–but I am happy to wear it today and until I finish my decant.
Hugs!
and to you!!!
I adore L’Heure Convoitee!! It is already blocked in my mind as the first perfume I buy when I start going to school in NYC in the fall; I tend to buy things where I sniffed them first and theoriginal Saks was where I sniffed this (my local Saks,if they carry the line, are keeping it extremely well hidden)
Oh, yeah, another Convoitee admirer! I think Saks in NYC has an exclusive on the line, I don’t know that they carry it in any other Saks, maybe SF or another big store, but should be available through Cartier.
Hi Patty and Rena, it’s in several Saks across the country from what I understand. I’ve only seen it firsthand in Atlanta, but think it might be in several others (Chicago, Miami?).
My cousin tattoos for a living and she started by doing makeup tattoos. I was very surprised when she told me how popular and natural looking it is. I’m terrified to do it but wish I had the nerve to do brows. Mine are non-existent and just horrible. I have no idea what I’m doing in that area, lol. Glad the pain was worth the beauty and self confidence it provided for you!
Please enter me in the draw. I absolutely believe that smell is art and wish I had more time to devote to the experience. Maybe when the kiddos get older…
P and I were talking about brows, when she was scaring my eyelids off with this liner-thing. My brows are so sparse and it takes a LOT of work with pencil/gel/brush/powder/brush to get them looking decent and not-fake. Dyeing is a disaster – sparse is sparse, no matter what color they are – I wonder if they make eyebrow plugs?
xo >-)
If you find out, Musette, let me know!
will do! I suspect they do all sorts of things now – and way better than they used to (back in the 17th-18th century, women used mouse pelts! 😮 ….and remember the early ‘hair plugs’ for men? b-(
They’ve got to have better options than those, right? 😕
xo >-)
Musette, try using RapidLash on your eyebrows. I went from sparse to medium thick in a few months.
😮 😕
xo >-)
It’s pretty amazing what they can do. People who have early hair loss in their eyebrows get a great set of eyebrows, they do a technique where it looks like a hair because of the way they apply. This is one thing I was incredibly careful about who to get, it’s permanent.
I do tint my brows, but now I’m thinking… maybe? I have eyebrows, but, again, blonde and nonexistent or barely existent.
I LOVE the L’Heure series and would love to sniff this new addition. I just wish they were less uber expensive (if they were under 200 (199.99)- I would probably own several instead of just one. And when I bought my bottle (XIII)- they gave me deluxe samples of the series that I promptly sold on ebay to help defray the cost (even tho I would have loved to have kept them…)
I know. I remind myself that the Hermessences are up over $200 now, and that seems to be the new luxe perfume price point, which makes me slightly nauseous, because then you know it’s going to over 300.
Wonder whether the perfumes are at the local Cartier store. Their LoV perfume was sadly a scrubber…
I’m not sure if all of the Cartier boutiques are carrying them or not. ithought they did, but I’d call and ask first!
A picture would be great Patty. I love hearing about you adventures, beauty and otherwise.
I’ve not smelled these Cartier’s. This one sounds de-lish.
I’ll definitely get the snaps from the artist who did it.
she specializes in aureola reconstruction through tattooing for breast cancer survivors, and after seeing the pictures of what she can do, it’s an amazing thing to do for women who have been through so much.
My eyes teared up reading this too. I have sampled two of these perfumes and they were FANTASTIC. Just what I like in perfume. Deep interesting. Beautiful. Leather-y.
Well, yeah. I teared up again writing about it.
I had Convoitee on the back of my hand yesterday…and I can still smell it this morning. Interesting you mention the L’Heures as art! I thought the exact same thing yesterday while sniffing Convoitee. The L’Heures to me seem like experimentations – expressions. Totally love that. Every one I’ve sniffed has made me think – interesting! Some may not call them proper perfumes, but I love that they’re each a representation of a specific image, as with Convoitee – RED. My favorite is La Treizieme Heure.
Your story of your fair coloring reminds me of a roommate in college who was also very fair. She usually wore makeup. One day she went au naturel, and our guy friends thought she was sick or something. They were truly concerned, “Lisa, are you OK? You don’t look well.” Uh, hey guys, it’s called no makeup!!! :-)
That’s my experience, so I’m perplexed why it lasts so long sometimes and not so long with others.
Yeah, that’s my experience. I just don’t look “bright” or something, drab and colorless!
I’ve tried a few from the series, and while they were nice, they really didn’t do much for me. I would, however, like to try Convoitee because the description sounds great. :)
Tough to resist an old burlesque perfume. :)
Hi, Patty. Glad you’re happy with the eyeliner results, but sorry it hurt so much. Ah, the price we pay for beauty. I’ve only tried the Convoitee once but immediately thought it would be a must-try for lovers of carnation scents. I’m impressed with the line as a whole, very classy (despite costly) and even the ones I don’t like, I find are well done. My fave is the 12th hour, but 13 is nice, as is the Defendue, Fougeuese, and several of the bright ones (Brillante?).
Brilliante is reallyl, really pretty. That one grew on me and turned to love.
I am a great fan of carnation. Please enter me in the draw. thanks
love, love, love l’heure fougueuse, tried a few others in the Cartier boutique in Chicago, but wasn’t as thrilled. Haven’t sniffed convoitee, but I’m a fan of carnation, excited to sample.
Fougeuese and I think it’s brilliante are big love, and I really like diaphane just because it’s pretty. I’d wear most of them at any point.
Yes, a photo please, Patty! We would love to see what you look like now. I don’t know any of the Cartier Les Heures series but hope to get to them at some point.
Okay, I’ll get some!
I’ve never smelled anything from the series!
How about a before and after eyes shot? Would be fascinating! Your Botox information was extremely helpful.
I dont’ have a good one, but she took pictures. I’ll get them from her, but I want to wait until she does the 4 weeks after one because the one right after is swollen and red and has the antiseptic ointment on. Mine aren’t as dramatic as some people’s because I just wanted a fine line that looked like it was a natural one.
Now I’m thinking lips? Eyebrows? I tint my eyebrows, but I’m nervousing about those.
I tend to be more ginger-ish than blonde-ish, and my eyes are very sensitive, so I know what you go through. People tell me that I look “tired”. (I’ve never understood why anyone would say that; why not just say “you look like poop.”)
I have not tried any of the L’Heure series, but would love to sample one! I do love the name: Convoitee. It’s kind of sexy.
Yeah, I would get that, my eyes just don’t look “perky” without some kind of makeup on them because they just look like eyeballs in my face. 🙂
I do like the series. I finally had a chance to smell them now that they’re at the Sak’s in Detroit, and I was enamored of a few of them indeed. I think they were a bit fleeting on me, and as such I couldn’t see buying them at that price point. But if they were to fall into my lap, I’d gladly wear them. Are they arty? Hmmm….to me they do speak to art in the Aphroditic sense: lovely, aesthetic, sensual pleasure that is beautiful because it dies. The mortality lends the poignancy. Survival of the fittest, not the loveliest. Again, I would indulge in that fleeting loveliness were it not so costly!
Weird, they last on me. Maybe it’s skin chemistry or something in the base. the convoitee sticks on me for hours, as does the Fougeous – oh, crap, however you spell that!
Wow! I can’t imagine tattooing eyeliner on my eyelids…makes me hurt just thinking about it! I don’t think I could do it. Hats off to you for enduring it!
I haven’t tried any of these, but would love the chance!
I’m not sure how I managed it, really. She talks about a touch-up, and I keep thinking it looks great!! Let’s do do anything else.
I’m naturally very light blonde with eyelashes and brows so pale they’re invisible. I totally understand your plight, pale sister-friend! ;)
I haven’t tried Cartier II L’Heure Convoitee yet but I’ve been all about carnation lately so I’m looking forward to it and would love to win a lil’something. I do like Defendue although it’s not something I reach for often, (I have a small decant.) I don’t think that’s a bad thing as it does nothing but please on the occassions I do break it out.
It’s such a gorgeous carnation. I’m glad to see the carnation back in vogue again!