Do you have more limited edition products or permanent products in your makeup collection, and what are your current favorite LE and perm products?
Because of reviewing things and the blog, most of the products in my closet, a.k.a. “a hoarder’s dream come true,” are limited edition, but a good chunk of my core makeup collection of products that I love and use all the time is permanent.
That’s mostly because I like to know that I can replace something great when I run out of it with a trip to Sephora or Target or Ulta. Like, I’m totally not freaking out right now even though I’m halfway done with my favorite Urban Decay tinted moisturizer because I know my car has enough gas to take me to the Sephora down the street.
The scary thing is, just because something is permanent doesn’t mean it always will be. I was thinking about this talking to Fran in the comments the other day (‘sup, Fran?). I said that one of my favorite blue eyeshadows of all time is in this duo by Hourglass called Prism, which used to be permanent, until Hourglass discontinued their eyeshadow duos…
I still love using it, but every time I do, I think, “One day it’s gonna be gooooooooone!” even though I can’t remember the last time I actually finished a pan of blue eyeshadow (seriously, can you?!).
Regarding my favorite perm products right now, gosh, I don’t even know where to start! Maybe with my MAC essentials… There’s Soft Brown, Cork, Saddle, Soba and Swiss Chocolate (leave it to me to start with browns right off the bat, haha!). And then there’s Powersurge Eye Pencil and Woodwinked.
Oh, and the stuff from NARS that I adore, including Kalahari, Alhambra, Abyssinia, Sophia and Bengali.
And these NARS Blushes, of course: Dolce Vita, Amour and Albatross, which I’m having a major moment with right now.
Those are all among my favorites of my faves, but seriously, if I were to list them all, we’d be here for days. Possibly months!
In terms of limited edition products, the MAC Nordstrom Naturals Palette is one I use A TON, but I don’t know if it counts as LE because the shadows in it are from the permanent line…
Oh! — and I can’t forget about Chanel Jade nail lacquer, which I don’t wear all the time, but I derive so much joy from just seeing the bottle in my closet that I count it as a fave. If it were to ever have an encore performance, I would hoard like five bottles of it, no joke. I LURVE YOU, JADE!
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
P.S. TGIF!
I own more permanent products than LE. At some point I stopped caring about LE products because it wasn’t going to lead to a lasting relationship, and I get too attached to certain products to keep feeling upset over a beloved product finishing without having the chance to repurchase.
I love NARS Galapagos, Urban Decay Naked 1, Bobbi Brown gel liners, and many Revlon lipsticks. I always repurchase Spicy Cinnamon lipstick and Colorstay Ultra Suede in Catwalk. Revlon is the company that is always breaking my heart because they have discontinued so many of my favorite lip colors. I still miss Raspberry Bite and Mulled Wine.
The only limited edition product I will always invest in are Chanel nail polishes. The shades are too beautiful to pass up, and it takes me such a long time to finish a bottle I don’t mind that it’s LE.
I own more LE products than permanent ones, because I just to buy everything I liked from the LEs. After all, it was LE! And these days, my stash is filled with amazing things that have barely a dent in them, so I don’t buy anything new as long as I have something similar already. At least that is the plan.
Permanent. I seldom look at them until they are. Didn’t buy champagne pop until it was made permanent. Why bother? The one exception is I bought the Chanel blush this fall. But Chanel doesn’t run the shortage game (Mac) so I had time to hear rave reviews on it. But that’s it. That’s my one LE product. I don’t buy palettes. I prefer Singles and Duos for eyeshadow. And then the LE palettes suck (Mac), so again not worth it.
99% of my stuff is permanent, but man, I worry about not finding them, and am starting to always have a backup ready. My fave no make-up liner by Stila (metallic umber) was out of stock for over a month when I ran out the last time.
My holy grail eyeshadow is a holiday release cream shadow stick by Bobbi Brown, it came in a pack of three colors, and Of Course, I don’t care for the other two colors. I have bought 2 more of these sets off eBay, giving away the extra 2 colors, but they are getting really hard to find now. I keep buying taupe pearl cream shadow pencils and sticks, hoping they will match, but after 2 years, no joy. I keep going to the Bobbi Brown counter hoping to find they re-released it. Sigh.
I definitely have more permanent products than LE in my stash. That said, still upset Armani changed the formulation of their blushes and discontinued my favorite number. Same with Hourglass and the duo eye shadows. Even NARS is guilty of discontinuing my favorite blush in Douceur. That said, I need time to play and think about a product before I spend money. If I decide too quickly, I often find I regret my purchases and they feel like wasted money. So I rarely buy LE products.
More permanent! I hate not being able to replace a product.
I’m tossing a bunch of makeup this weekend when I clean out my vanity – I have a lot of stuff I don’t like and never wear that’s just taking up space. I also found a few stinkbugs in my vanity drawer 🙁 But I also like the idea of having a more streamlined collection of things I actually like that are convenient to wear.
I’m sure my collection is much more permanent. I have a bunch of LE MAC lipsticks because I collect limited edition MAC lipstick packaging (like when it’s the same shape as usual but with different colors or designs, I don’t collect lipsticks with different shaped packaging. It’s weird, I know). Other than that though, I tend to buy more permanent products for whatever reason. I’m leery of LE products because either they won’t be good, or they’ll be great and I’ll be sad when I run out!
I totally know what you mean about permanent products getting discontinued though. One of my favorite matte eyeshadow formulas of all time was the Matte2 by MAC and they discontinued it! I’m still afraid my favorites will run out someday.
My permanent line favs are the Tarte Amazonian Airbrush powder foundation; Shiseido bb cream (but sadly they are discontinuing this :(). Revlon’s matte color crayons (ESP in Sultry); and a brand new favorite is Shiseido Synchro Skin foundation and translucent powder both the loose and pressed powders.
For limited editions, I really like my Urban Decay’s Naked on the Run palette, especially the 24/7 eye liner which isn’t in their permanent line.
I think I probably have more permanent than LE. It’s really tempting when a brand GP crazy on hype for a new, limited edition collection, to feel the need to get four of everything RIGHT NOW-but I don’t like that pressure!!
My favourite non-LE things are ABH’s brow wiz and Modern Renaissance Palette, MAC Satin Taupe, NARS Dolce Vita, and The Balm’s Bahama Mama.. I don’t think they ever leave my makeup bag!
I definitely have more permanent products than limited editions, but one of my current favorites is LE (I think!): it’s the Chanel quad in Candeur Et Expérience from the Le Rouge fall collection.
Some of my permanent favorites are the YSL Rouge Pur Couture The Mats lipstick in Fuchsia Fetiche, the NARS Duo Eyeshadow in Isolde, and the Chanel Les Beiges Healthy Glow Sheer Powder in shade 50.
Hrrmmm, it’s probably a good balance of the two for me. One thing is for sure, I hope MAC makes the Soft Serve formula permanent! I don’t think I can live without Quite Yummy anymore.
Aw, thanks for the shout-out, Karen! I’m still mourning the lost opportunity to acquire Prism… do you think there’s any chance that Hourglass will ever bring it back? Such a gorgeous blue…
Actually, my feelings about missing out on that have altered my beauty-product-purchasing habits somewhat. At the time it just seemed like too much to pay for two eyeshadows. Now I feel more that, if I really love a product, it’s worth paying more for. Of course I have to actually buy it and use it to find out if I really do love it, but stores like Sephora and ULTA have made it easier to do that — now even most department stores and drugstores have become more gracious about accepting returns of cosmetics that just didn’t work out for the purchaser.
Which leads me to say that most of my collection consists of products from permanent ranges. I often feel that brands don’t put their best efforts into LE products, that the quality there is more uneven. Not always, of course, but I think it happens a lot, and I think that, while somewhat understandable (after all, it makes sense to put your best efforts into products that will be around for years and years), I think it’s a big mistake. I think a lot of people buy what looks like a value-packed holiday set as a way to sample a lot of products from a brand when it seems like buying that many products individually would put them over budget. I know I certainly did when I first started getting back into makeup! But then so often the products in those sets disappoint, and so the consumer loses enthusiasm for the brand, instead of loving it and going on to purchase permanent products from the line. Just sayin’
One of my new loves from Hourglass is their crazy-expensive Curator lash artist tool, Ascent primer, and Realist mascara. I’m one of those people on whom all mascara smudges. Well, except tubing mascaras, but some of those flake on me. Even waterproof mascara. Normally, to get mascara to stay on, without dark smudges under my eyes, I have to prep lashes with Hourglass Veil mineral primer or NARS Pro-Prime eyeshadow primer, apply a separate mascara on my bottom lashes and for the corners (IT cosmetics tightlining mascara with the skinny little wand) because mascara application wands are too big for my little eyes, and finish it all off with a waterproofing top coat. With the stainless steel applicator I get *all* my lashes, top and bottom; applying the primer is much easier; and no topcoat needed, so results are much softer (not crunchy) and more natural looking. Much easier to take off at the end of the day than my usual layers, too! The price is crazy, though — I think it’s worth it only if you have a mascara-related problem that you think the system would solve.
I have the same problem and have a similar process. Glad to know I’m not the only one who has the melting mascara issue. Will check into those products you mention.
What palette is that in the picture? It looks gorgeous, and matte! I’m looking for some good matte shadows, and I love palettes — they make putting together an eye look SO much easier!
I have a mix, I tend to like LE because it follows trends for colors.
I have a mix of LE and regular, but it’s more LE because they usually are more trendy.
I definitely have more permanent beauty products than LE. But I’d say my LE products are amongst some of my favorites. Right now I’m loving my Pat McGrath Lust 004 lipstick. I was lucky enough to get both the Flesh and Bloodwine colors. I also love my MAC Kinky Boots and MAC Fashion Revival Matte lipsticks. My ride or dies are my NARS Orgasm blush, NARS Eye Shadow Primer, Tom Ford Cocoa Mirage and Nude Dip eye shadow palettes and my NARS Dual Intensity Cheek Palette. I also really love the Tom Ford Illuminating Primer.
I really enjoy LE eyeshadow palettes. I feel like it is a fun adventure. I’m so slow to ever make a dent in any shadow pan that I don’t mind the whole LE thing.
I would never buy LE foundation (but who would make that?!) or mascara. I know what you and Fran mean about discontinued permanents. There is only one blush I regularly use (an old Mally) and it’s long since discontinued. I obsessively love it, so I got multiple backups on ebay (I think I own all there is on planet Earth of that blush, LOL).
I do stockpile backups of favorites. In my opinion, anything can be ome LE if its not a big seller! I have a whole shelf for backups. I have backups of an eyeshadow palette (ebay) from not just a discontinued LE – no, the whole company is gone (Sue Devitt)!