Ah, holiday collections! That time in the year when lids are sparkly, eyliner is winged, lips are red and everything exudes glamour. And sameness. And boredom. Or isn’t it? Let’s have a look at this year’s holiday collections and see the must-haves and the not-so-much-must-haves. As always, I try to include brands that are easily available for all our readers all over the world and also tell you about the most unique products, and items on my wish list.
MAC
As it is their wont, MAC comes out with a ginormous collection that is split in three parts and is released one after another. For the sake of simplicity, I’ll just give an overview of the colour collection, which is the first part that’ll be released and is called Magic of the Night. (The other two parts are Enchanted Eve – Palettes and Sets – and Irrsistably Charming – multi-product palettes and gift bags.) Release date is October 18th/22nd for the US and around November 1st for European countries. It is colourful (although it of course includes a gold eyeshadow and red lipstick for the holiday mood), the packaging is a metallic delight in blue, turquoise and purple and it leaves me stone-cold. MAC, MAC, MAC. You used to be so fashion-forward, so edgy, so unique. Now we get a mixed bag of Extra Dimension Skinfinishes (they’re actually quite nice if you want a highlighter that’s bam in your face), the usual four lipsticks in pink, red and purple in a matte finishes that’s always a crowd pleaser and a new eyeshadow formula (Colourdrenched Pigment). The vibe I get from the colours is more tropics than holidays, and I do find the mix of products rather jarring. But maybe I’m just bitter that there’re neither blushes nor more Extra Dimension products. The Colourdrenched Pigment Eyeshadows seem nice, but for 26€ I’ll be skipping. Sorry MAC, no hard feelings, eh?
NARS
Another brand that always throws a lot of products at us during Christmas-time, meaning a colour collection and gift sets. Why does nobody around me EVER gives me beauty gift sets?! It’s a mystery. Anyhow, same deal as with MAC – there’re gift sets, I won’t review them or we’d be here tomorrow. NARS collaborated with Steven Klein on this collection, a fashion photographer with the edgy and over the top aesthetic that suits NARS. The makeup, though, is completely wearable with neutral eyes, berry or nude lips and a duo blush and highlighter that will make you stand out in a crowd. Veeeery nice. You can’t go wrong here: a grown-up and sophisticated collection that’s well worth checking out. This launched already on both Narscosmetics.com and Narscosmetics.eu
Tom Ford
Oh Tommy boy, what’s the promo pic supposed to tell me? Does this makeup move me to tears? (No, btw.) Has the model something in her eyes? Do you enjoy making women cry with your prices? This is a rather pared down collection called ‘Noir’ (Black) with special matte black packaging, and this is what you get – a cream and powder eyeshadow duo in a sparkly navy that’s clearly the star of the show, black mascara (waterproof in case of tears) and a blue and a gold mascara topper, blue eyeliner, nude lipstick, and sparkly black nailpolish. If you wanna go goth this Christmas, this is your collection. Launched in the US already.
Armani
And now something completely different than Tommy’s 80s glamour aesthetic. Ahh! Armani’s holiday collection is called Luxe is More and is supposed to remind you of the glamour goddesses of 30s and 40s movies, like Marlene Dietrich and Rita Heyworth. And do you know what? It certainly does. It has all the components of their iconic makeup looks – a porcelain complexion, softly shaded eyes with a strong liner and bombshell lips. What it also does? It makes my wallet cry with the key piece of the collection, a $140 palette that includes 10 eyeshadows and two highlighting powders and two contouring creams (please insert my usual diatribe about cream products in a powder palette here). It also includes a mini Ecstasy Lacquer in No. 402. The eyeshadows look rather ‘naked’, the highlighting and contouring products rather fair, so this might not be for you if you aren’t quite pale. But there’re other things in it for you! Might I tempt you with three new neutral Eye Tints? Or five new liquid lipsticks in the Lip Maestro formula in different shades of red, with shimmer and without? Oh yes, thought so.
Guerlain
The ultimate snow queen collection. So clever Guerlain, so clever! Give us the most gorgeous packaging I can remember and trust in Make-up addicts everywhere to go nuts. Because this packaging? Is everything. It has snowflakes, people! Snowflakes! And there’re stars in the Meteorites! STARS! The collection is called Neiges and Merveilles and just looking at it I want everything. Well, nearly everything. Ok, one or two pieces maybe. But if I win the lottery tomorrow I’ll get three of everything. Oh yes. Let’s have a look at the individual products and open with a bang – the Meteorites Perles de Neige. The whole collection is supposed to brighten up dull winter complexions, and I don’t doubt that the Meteorites will do so splendidly – there’s a mix of nude, gold and white balls and stars in there that you can use all over or as a subtle highlight. The Meteorites Compact is, as every year, incredibly pricey. It houses an equivalent of the Meteorites Voyage Pressed Powder and can be used as a finishing powder that gives you a soft-focus effect. But well, yeah, $180… *sigh* The eye and blush palette is the only thing in the collection I’m rather meh about. It houses five nude, warm eyeshadows, and four teeny tiny blushes in a second tier. I find the eyeshadows rather uninspired and the blushes too small to bother. The Rouge G with the prettiest, etched packaging is a rosy pink called Merveilleux Rose. The matte liquid lipstick in Fleur de Givre has the same colour as the Rouge G, but with a different finish. The nailpolish sticks out like a sore thumb and is purple. It already launched in the USA and on Escentual (for the Europeans), and will launch here in Germany end of October/beginning of November.
Chanel
Rouge Noir. The nailpolish of my teenage years. The first nailpolish that I lusted for. Now the colour has its own collection, which is called Rouge Noir Absolument in which nearly everything is that vampy shade of blackened red. The eyeshadow quad called Les 4 Ombres Signe Particulier and reminds me very much of the Harmonie du Soir quad from a few years ago. There’s a Joues de Contraste in a soft peachy nude (Coups de Minuit) and three stunning polishes in – of course – Rouge Noir, a rosy silver called Rose Fusion and a glitter topcoat with golden flakies (Lame Rouge Noir). Items in Rouge Noir colour are one Illusion d’Ombre, a Le Volume Mascara, a Le Crayon Khol, a Rouge Allure lipstick, and a Glossimer lipgloss. To offset all this vampy red, there’re also some items in lighter colours – a light pink Glossimer, a Rouge Double Intensite Ultra Wear in a muted pink, Rouge Allure Velvet lipstick in La Merveilleuse (perm), Rouge Allure lipstick in Vamporeuse (light pink purple) and a stunning Eyeliner in gold (Le Crayon Yeux in Or Safran). While it has already released all over the world, in Germany we’ve to wait until November 7th for it, which is something I don’t get. Christmas isn’t later around here! But otherwise, a very well rounded collection, and a very clever move on Chanel’s side, to build a collection around a shade with such a cult following like Rouge Noir. I like it a lot – although I very likely won’t get anything. Yes, really. I feel that the Rouge Allure in Rouge Noir really should’ve been a Velvet and I’m quite firm in my stance on the Illusion d’Ombres – their shelf life is quite short, and I’ve had some dry up on me, so I don’t buy any at the moment. The palette is a stunner for sure that I might be tempted to get if I didn’t own the Harmonie du Soir quad. If I were you, I also wouldn’t get the flakie topcoat – other brands do those as well, for a lesser price, and I rather doubt the tinted base will do anything.
YSL
A collection (Kiss & Love) that’ll be a success for all the wrong reasons – its oh so cute packaging that’s gold with a printed pattern of red lips that are also engraved on the actual lipsticks. Its centre piece is a notebook-like palette with four neutral eyeshadows, a blush and two lip products (insert my usual diatribe against different formulas in palettes here …). It looks cute, and that’s all I can say about it. Another collector’s piece is the Touche Eclat highlighter pen with the same red lip pattern. Then there’re two fiery red nailpolishes (new), four new Rouge Volupte Shine, and four Rouge Pur Couture lipsticks (all perm) in red, purple and nude. Those have an excellent texture, so if you’re in the market for a basic colour with a nice texture and cute packaging, I can heartily recommend them. Everything else is skippable (although cute).
Dior
And here we have it, the quintessential holiday collection that is basically red and gold. It’s even called State of Gold! As last year (and the year before, and before that, and…) we get the gold packaging with the funny gold bobbles on top of the Diorific nailpolishes (two reds, a shimmery nudey taupe and a textured gold glitter, yaaaaaaawn) and the four new Diorific Met Velvet Colour Lipsticks in pinks and reds (new formula alert!). We also get a highlighting powder that’s gold in and out (gold compact, gold shimmery nude powder inside) and two rather nice looking eyeshadow palettes that are called Blazing Gold and Eternal Gold. One has a burgundy and soft pink colour scheme, the other one is rather green and taupe, and given the last hit-and-miss quints by Dior, I’d definitely recommend swatching before committing. There’s also a gold lipgloss and a Mono Fusion Eyeshadow in – you guessed it – gold. So far, so good, so boring. Nothing about this excites me at all.
Recommendations and conclusion
All in all, a rather diverse bunch of collections, which pleases me greatly, because I’m all about diversity everywhere. I’ll be getting the Guerlain Meteorites, because STARS, and, after swatching them, one of the new Armani Eye Tints, because I want to find my perfect everyday nude Eye Tint. You can’t go wrong with Chanel’s and Nars’s collections which are well-rounded and don’t include any bad products. If you’re a highlighting fiend, I’d also encourage you to have a look at the Extra Dimension Skinfinishes by MAC, I love the formula. Another excellent formula is the YSL Rouge Pur Couture lipsticks that also look extremely cute. Let me know if I missed anything spectacular from this year’s holiday collections and I would love to hear from you about your purchases! What are you planning to pick up?
