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You don’t have to be a crazy cat lady (or a rotund tabby cat with a low-hanging belly) to appreciate a strong cat eye liner look with bold lips. It’s an enduring, timeless combination that looks great on almost everyone.

The new 19-piece MAC Stylishly Yours collection, a limited edition release for eyes, lips and face (pieces $14-22 each), embodies this tried-and-true classic in a modernized, 21st century way.

The collection purrs onto MAC counters, stores and maccosmetics.com on December 26 and stays put through January 11, 2011. Tabs, being the ho for brights that he is, can’t wait.

A few MAC Stylishly Yours products clockwise from the mascara wand at the lower left: Zoom Lash Mascara in New Hue, Cream Colour Base in Virgin Isle, Lipstick in Neon Orange, Cream Colour Base in Movie Star Red and Fluidline in Dark Diversion

With Stylishly Yours, MAC offers fans fun, fast ways to give makeup looks a shot of dramatic color (without having to think too hard). Eyes in the look are kept simple, clean, and simultaneously dramatic with matte black and burgundy gel liner and mascara. Bright coral, pink, magenta, red and violet leap onto lips and cheeks in lipsticks, cream blushes (they double as lip colors, too!) and loose pigments with creamy and shimmery finishes. But that’s not all — two pink pressed highlighting powders imbue faces with a lovely soft sheen.

What I really like about the release are how the brights are both sophisticated and easy to use.

When you know you want to wear something bold but don’t want to invest the time into a super complex drag queen eye with teal, gold and purple, you could slip into one of these lipsticks instead, top it off with a layer of Clear Lipglass, and strut out the door.

Or, you could quickly do a swipe of thick burgundy cat eye liner with the blackened plum Fluidline in Dark Diversion, add a few layers of the burgundy New Hue Zoom Lash Mascara to your lashes, and blend one of the Cream Colour Bases (Virgin Isle’s my fave!) on your cheeks and lips.

MAC Stylishy Yours: Swatches on NC35 Skin

Cream Colour Bases from left: Virgin Isle, Tickle Me Pink, Movie Star Red, Madly Magenta

Lipsticks: Neon Orange, Something New, Cockney and Style Curve
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I would like to propose a toast, friends — my very first serious toast ever — and I think there’s something fitting about it being dedicated to makeup. If you’ll bear with me for a moment, please raise your glass, be it filled with bubbly, wine, water, chai latte or anything else, to the MAC Cham Pale collection, one of the most inspiring neutral releases this lass has seen this year.

Launching right after Christmas (Dec. 26), the limited edition collection is a relatively small one for MAC, with just 26 pieces for the face, eyes, cheeks, lips, nails and skin in prices ranging from $14-36.

As much as I love neutral colors like gray, beige and and peach, collections dominated by them run the risk of venturing into snooze territory, especially when the finishes are mostly matte. They may be practical as all getout, but matte beige and gray don’t exactly set the world on fire, ya know?

Which is why I’m so surprised by MAC Cham Pale. The collection does for neutrals what Glee did for musicals on television. Like a mimosa on the beach, these finishes — which range from soft, pearly shimmers to high shine frosts — sparkle in the light. MAC made something practical into something inspiring, and I think it’s a refreshing take.

Some items from Cham Pale, clockwise from the peach pan in the lower left: Special Reserve Highlight Powder in Rose Ole, Paint Pot in Dangerous Cuvee, Paint Pot in Vintage Selection, Eye Shadow x 4 in Caviar Dreams, Special Reserve Highlight Powder in Chez Chez Lame, Lipgelee in Luxure, Nail Lacquer in Soiree

The color palette almost looks like someone started by melting a gilded gold and silver jewelry box and siphoned the colors into makeup pans, tubes and pots. Quiet pink, cool gray, warm peach and inky onyx weave their way into the metallics, keeping the colors soft and wearable. Nothing’s either too warm or too cool, and I’m betting these shades are going to look fabulous on a wide range of skin tones.

I love everything in this release, but the eye makeup is exciting me most, especially the Paint Pots and the quad.
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