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“SNOW DAY!”
Two words I have never spoken in my life, although I’ve always wanted to, but growing up here in this part of California, the only snow we get is on TV, except for the fake kind they use at the mall by the scary Santa…
No offense to any mall Santas out there, but the ones I remember were terrifying! They were just so big and loud and red and sweaty…
Wait — what were we talking about?
Oh, yeah! Guerlain…
Hold me close and kiss me deeply, MUFE, as we snuggle by the Christmas tree and the roaring fire…
Hello, holiday collections! MUFE, you had me at glitter and hot pink. 🙂
Make Up For Ever’s holiday 2015 collection is cutie-cute-cute, and as for the packaging, there’s no man junk visible within a three-mile radius.
The collection includes six limited edition sets, and here’s a look at three of them (not shown are the lash kit, the gloss duo and the mini brush kit). They’re some of the best deals I’ve seen so far this holiday makeup season.
The colors themselves are all re-promotes from the permanent line, so these aren’t brand new products, but you may not mind, even if you already have a few of the colors…
And the reason for that? Price break!
Gray does not grandstand in the new NARS Steven Klein holiday 2015 color collection, but if it did, and there were more gray in the release, [THIS] would be right about where I’d insert a 50 Shades of Grey joke about my cat’s never-ending need to dominate my life.
Um, yeah! You know how NARS is with their holiday collections — they like to take the road less traveled, which in this case means nothing too candy cane-covered or outwardly holiday-ish. This year’s color collection, a collaboration with fashion photographer Steven Klein, has an artsy edge to it, and by “artsy edge,” I mean that if a billionaire playboy were ever to invite you to the secret playroom in the back of his mansion, this collection would suit your favorite pair of shiny dominatrix boots quite nicely.
As NARS puts it, imagine “Fantasy. Roles. Rules.”
Shiny vinyl-like finishes play a big part in this 15-piece limited edition launch of pieces for eyes, cheeks, lips and nails. As they are with the Steven Klein holiday gifting sets we looked at last week, lip products are again the stars of the show. There are three lipsticks and three glosses in a completely new formula called Killer Shine, and they’re so glossy and bright that your dominatrix boots be totes jelly.
NARS also carries that same concept of lovely lusters over to the products for eyes, cheeks and nails.
And now that I think about it…there’s very little, if any, matte here, so if you’re drawn to glitter and shimmer like a moth to a flame, then holla! — you’ll probably find something to like in this release.
Why do I suddenly feel the urge to wear neon and listen to Wham!?
Oh, maybe it’s this: the Benefit holiday 2015 collection and its candy-colored, ’80s theme.
My goodness, girlfriend. It just occurred to me that, depending on your age, you may not have heard of Wham! — which is a thought that makes me want to take a long walk off a short pier (dramatic much?).
Seriously, though, they’re one of the quintessential ’80s party bands.
Speaking of parties, this year’s Benefit holiday 2015 collection Best of Benefit kits sure look like they’re having a blast (look at those bright colors!). I’m getting distinct notes of out-of-control New Year’s Eve parties that can’t stop, and won’t stop, until well after dawn.
Whatever you do, if you are prone to procrastination, or if you have a deadline you can’t move or somewhere you have to be at a specific time, under absolutely NO circumstances are you to start playing with the NARS Pro Palette builder tool on narscosmetics.com.
I repeat, DON’T EVEN GO THERE! — because if you do, you will fall down a rabbit hole of endlessly arranging and rearranging your dream palette of eyeshadows, blushes, bronzers and powders, and before you know it, two hours will have passed, and your cat will be giving you the death stare because you haven’t taken him out for his walk yet.
Sure is fun though! 🙂
Earlier this month NARS did something very cool. They introduced two NARS branded empty palettes (a large one and a small one) that are fillable with whatever your makeup-loving heart desires.
Now, the idea of the empty palettes isn’t new. Other ones exist, like the Z palette, which you can get at Ulta for $20 (versus $14 and $18 for these two), but these have the NARS logo, and they’re also joined by a new line of NARS refill pans.
Years from now, in the distant future, when historical beauty buffs/artistic archeologists look back on MAC’s 2015 limited edition releases, the award for Best Dressed Collection could easily go to MAC Guo Pei.
This one is a beauty! — and the packaging is also unusual for MAC. The compacts, lipsticks, brushes and glosses are all wearing fabric accents with floral flourishes (there’s even a cute little lady bug on the print) and have details like real stitching on the fabric sides.
Unfortunately, the designer treatment also results in one of the more expensive MAC collections around. The two eyeshadow quads are — brace yourself for it — $70 each (!).
Yes, that’s crazypants.
Thankfully, the shadows are up to par for MAC. Unlike the shadows in some of MAC’s other limited edition quads and palettes, which for me are sometimes hit or miss (some feel harder than usual and aren’t as pigmented as their permanent collection counterparts), these are of comparable quality to the shadows in the permanent line.
Thank goodness for that.
All of the shadows in the two quads swatch beautifully, and I haven’t had any problems with blending, skipping, fallout or patchy/uneven application.
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“Energy Noir” = “Energy Night” or “Night Energy.” That’s the name of Tarte’s fall 2015 collection, which has been out for a while now. Thank you, high school French. Or, rather, merci beaucoup, high school French.
Geez…I could have sworn that “noir” meant “night.” Well, someone clearly wasn’t paying attention during vocab in high school French class… Guess who that someone was. 🙂
Energy Noir! You may have strolled by Tarte’s fall 2015 Energy Noir collection recently at Sephora. If it aroused your curiosity, but you’re wondering if it’s worth your time, here’s a closer look at three of the 12 pieces, including the $38 Energy Noir Clay Palette (thumbs up!). I’d even go so far as to call this eyeshadow and cheek palette one of my fall faves.
It’s kind of funny that I’m wearing something in this video review called Energy Noir, because when I filmed it — this was a couple weeks ago at the height of Baby Girl’s first trimester antics — I had absolutely NO energy at all, and as for energy at night? Forget about it. My mom called me one night at 7:15, and I was like, “I gotta go to bed now!”
Haha! It’s so true though.
Geez, it’s September already!? Wow, we better get a move on. It’s time for another bad-@ss holiday palette from Hourglass.
Yup, Hourglass has released a new holiday palette in each of the past couple of years, and they’re doing it again. The new one arrives next month — well, technically, there are a whole bunch of complicated release date machinations, but I’ll get into that in the video.
The latest palette is also Strunk & White-approved!
Har-dee-har-har, kidding. 🙂 Sort of. It’s called Edit. It’s the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Edit Palette, and it’s the biggest one so far (it’s also $80, which isn’t a bad deal at all considering the quality and price level of Hourglass products). It has six pans, one of which is a brand new shade called Iridescent Strobe Light.
Three of the six pans are Hourglass’s awesome Ambient Lighting Powders (including the one brand new shade). The other three pans house two blushes and a bronzer.
All but one of the colors are re-promotes, so if you’ve been hoarding (LOL!) Hourglass for a while — hey, nobody can blame you — you probably already have them in your collection.
The Ambients are gorgeous, though, particularly if you like that “glowy” look, and I mean, who doesn’t?
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