Not gonna lie, but I was feeling a lot of dread wading into the realm of 2016’s holiday makeup collections. Would they be good? Exciting? Swoonworthy, even? I was afraid that I could already tell how the collections would look like without even knowing about them – like, Dior: classic holiday red and gold. YSL – something opulent and smokey. Armani? Nudish understatement. Isn’t beauty ennui just THE WORST? But let us go through this together – I’ll point out for you what is totally worth getting, and what is not.
Chanel – Collection Libre: Synthetic de Chanel
After Lucia Pica’s ‘Rouge’ collection for Fall, we get ‘Synthetic’, inspired by ‘cityscapes’ and ‘urban materials’, for Holiday. Conclusion: Pica doesn’t give a damn for seasonal makeup. Or does she? Looking behind the pretentious concept, we have a blue-toned smokey eyeshadow quint that will look gorgeous at Christmas parties and New Year’s Eve (swatch). Accompanying that, there’s a bright, bright coral blush to liven things up. Lips are glossy and either coral or nude (Rouge Allure Glosses) like in the promo pic (which is giving me a serious 60s vibe) or velvety berry or red (Rouge Allures) (some more swatches). Then there’s a black gel liner. Exciting! (Not.) The polishes are a streaky silver (perm), a pearlized pink and a nude crème. I wouldn’t touch them with a stick. What happened to Chanel’s iconic nail polishes?! Douze points for veering away from that old gold and red holiday theme, but then, I can’t see anything what might interest me. Of course, the palette, blush, and lip products are all perfectly nice, but I can get nice anywhere, anytime for one dime a dozen. Sorry.
Dior – Splendor Collection
Every year since the dark ages Dior trots out their heavy gold ‘Diorific’ packaging for the holiday collection. Every year, it leaves me stone cold. If it makes your heart a-flutter, you’re in luck: they use it again this year. Let’s start with the nail polishes, because at this point, you could tell me that they’re the same as last year, and I wouldn’t even know. Red, pink, gold, dark purple and a glitter topper – same procedure as every year. Really, Peter Philips, where ARE you?! Hm, okay, I can see him in the promo pic, truth to be told. Also in the most surprising product of the collection – the Diorific Matte Fluid, a liquid cheek and lip colour in four colours. Maria tested and liked them a lot. The colours are pleasantly unusual while still wearable, so thumbs up for them. Two quints (one blue-grey, one bronze-plum), a blush and a golden highlighting powder (in the US, makeup addicts get a re-promote of the Fall highlighter, lucky them!) are all pretty decent and unimaginative with a beautiful embossed pattern of sequins (swatches). Lipsticks (gold, nude, pink, red, purple – yawn) and a Dior Fusion eye shadow (the ones with the ‘bouncy’ texture) in gold (yawn), and we’re done with this Holiday’s most foreseeable collection. The only product I’m curious about are the Matte Fluids. For any beauty aficionados that aren’t as jaded as I am (and whose stash isn’t as large) I can see some nice products (the quints swatch quite well). But really, do we have to do the basically same collection again and again, year after year?!
Guerlain – Shalimar Collection
Let me tell you a secret – I’ve yet to encounter a Guerlain promo featuring Natalia Vodianova that I like. This one isn’t different: Natalia looks like the cover of a romance novel set in the olden times. Can you see it? A virtuous blonde is captured by an evil maharadscha and becomes his concubine. Of course, later they fall in love and have lots of steamy sex. Luckily, the collection doesn’t need any enticing by Ms Vodianova, because it stands happily for its own. Like last year’s collection, it’s swoonworthily pretty. It’s small, featuring only half a dozen products, but I’d happily all invite them to my chamber (instead of evil maharadschas). There’re of course Guerlain’s famous ballz (pardon my French) aka Perles de Légende Météorites. Giving a light golden shimmer to the face, these should suit nearly everybody – the effect is subtle. There’s also a Terracotta bronzing powder (Terracotta Terra India) that’s perfect for winter (warming up that pale winter complexion) and the pink-red Rouge G 821 Rouge Saphir. They are my favourite products (some swatches), but there’s also a Shalimar-scented shimmery body spray, a golden eyeliner, a pink KissKiss lipstick, a duo eye shadow (gold and purple) and a pen illuminator along the lines of Touche Eclat. Nice, but not as stellar as the aforementioned trio which embodies what Guerlain does best – bronzing powders, meteorites and the luxurious Rouge G lipsticks. Treat yourself this Christmas, huh?
YSL – Sparkle Clash Collection
Poor Cara, sitting on the floor with a really bad hangover and wondering why this sparkly stuff rolls around on the floor (I’m speaking about the promo pic in case you’re wondering). The packaging is gold and sparkly, the lipsticks embossed with stars, and if you’re thinking I’ll go on a diatribe about gimmicky products, you’re wrong. The Rouge Pur Couture lipsticks are fabulous (if you want to experience their fabulousness at a cheaper price point, you can just buy the same colours in plain packaging from their perm line), same with the Touche Eclat. I don’t like the star product, the Multi-Usage Palette, just because it mixes powders (four eye shadows, one powder) with cream products (two lipsticks) and those palettes always reminds me of Duty Free shops and Toblerone. The highlighting powder though! (Lumiere Divine Highlighting Finishing Powder Palette) (swatch). Yes, gimme! The nail polishes, though, are disappointing – we’ve seen those from so many different brands lately (Essie did them, MAC did them, even Maybelline did the gold one some time ago!). Nevertheless, I can’t be mad at this collection. But somebody get poor Cara some water!
Tom Ford – Soleil Color Collection
This collection makes me extremely cranky, just because it thumbs its nose at us poor slobs who don’t spend their winters at those private sunny islands (it’s not just a sunny island, it’s a PRIVATE sunny island! Of course!) it gets its inspiration from. Let me quote:
“Tom Ford introduces the Soleil Color Winter 2016 Collection, a curated resort collection of cosmetics and skincare inspired by remote private islands where summer lasts all year long.“
Instead, why don’t we all buy some expensive TF products instead to commiserate and to enable TF himself to spend his winter at said tropical private island? A brush kit for 850$ (four brushes and a pouch) should be a first step in that direction (for Tommy, of course. Not for you or me.). Like I said, it makes me extremely crabby. Ok, deeeeeeeep breath. What do we have? Two palettes (cool and warm) that include four eye shadows, a blush and a highlighter (some swatches). Thank you, makeup gods, for not including a cream product. Six metallic lipsticks in various shades of bronze, a dry oil (Soleil Blanc) and a sunscreen.Done and I can forget about this. Phew.
Armani – Night Light Collection
Thank you, Armani, for always staying classy. Expensively classy, but never ridiculous. Because, after all, the key piece palette (90$) gets you a lot of bang for your buck. It houses 10 neutral eye shadows with different finishes and pops of colour in gold and black, and on a second tier a face powder and two shades of Maestro Fusion Foundation. Sadly, that’s where it falls short – because the inclusion of the second tier makes it extremely limited in use, and the target demographic is suddenly quite pale. Really sad, because the eye shadows look extremely wearable, and the case isn’t something to frown upon, either. There’re also three new shades of their Ecstasy Lacquers, a hybrid between lipgloss and liptint. If you’re fair and have 90 bucks laying around, have a look at the palette!
Nars x Sarah Moon
This collaboration with Fashion photographer Sarah Moon is stunning. Inspiration was Moon’s fascination with Japan and the iconic silent movie Metropolis, meaning red lips and nails feature heavily in the collection. The packaging is simply stunning – Moon’s pictures are on the lids of palettes etc. – and the content isn’t shabby either! The color collection is small and stunning (swatches). We’ve got four matte lipsticks in either nude or red, two smokey eye shadow duos (lavender/taupe and burgundy/grey) and two rather unusual blushes – coral-pink and rosy lavender. Truth to be told, I’d wear the whole collection in a heartbeat. It’s that good. Very smokey-vampy, right on point for holiday parties.
The star products of the gift sets are the sets that include Dual Intensity eye shadows/blushes – the ‘Non-Fiction’ set includes two Dual Intensity blushes, a Light Reflecting Powder (my love for this one is well-documented), a mini lipgloss and mini mascara. The other is the ‘Give in Take Dual Intensity Eye and Cheek Palette’ and includes six neutral Dual Intensity Eyeshadows and three Dual Intensity Blushes (swatch and look). The trouble with sets is, though, that you rarely find exceptional or unique products in there. On the other hand, products are likely to appeal to newbies, beginners, travellers or people who don’t swim in makeup, so, in the end, a rather big chunk of the populace. Makeup junkies like you and me, though, will be a bit meh, though.
MAC Nutcracker Sweet
MAC, though, hasn’t only that problem. Their bigger one is to keep thinking that their customer base doesn’t get any older. In conclusion, they churn out the same holiday sets year after year in some sort of Groundhog day fashion. I honestly couldn’t point out different sets from different years if you’d strip the packaging away. How sad is that? In polar opposition of growing a brand, they just repeat. This year’s repetition is a huge and sprawling beast of a collectionas always, split into the colour collection and sets. A word on the sets – most have rather good value, so if you fancy everything and the packaging floats your boat, go for them. IF you’re in the US, though, it’s rather likely that a lot of sets end up at a CCO. For everybody else – tough luck, no CCOs… I rather like the Creamsheen Glass Sets (especially the red one), would always skip the eye shadow palettes because quality has been seriously in a decline for some years, and don’t buy the brush sets! Just don’t. Quality is sub-par, and you’ll likely get better budget brushes.
It’s a marvel how MAC ended up with something pink, red and gaudy that cites a classical ballet (The Nutcracker), and I’m divided whether I like it or not. The color collection is also not here nor there but throws a variety of products at us. You can point out MAC’s usual suspects – a matte purple lipstick (other colours: pale pink, coral, red – yawn), a pink and peach blush, and some single eye shadows in the pink and peach range (find a lot of swatches here). Also, three kohl pencils. Ho-hum. Dare I say – boring? Dare I say that the gaudy packaging is supposed to kind of distract you from the boring interior? Anyways – people are getting excited about the blush sets – beloved Extra Dimension highlighter Whisper of Gild is repromoted in a set with a pretty ED blush (Copper Face Compact). There’s also a lighter and pinker ED blush/highlighter set, which sounds intriguing (Sweet Peach Face Compact). I’m also kinda tempted by the nude lip bag called Nude Nutcracker Sweet lip bag, which contains a lipstick, Vamplify gloss and a lip liner. We’ll see. Everything MAC is just a ‘nice-to-have’ for me this time.
So, if you’re set on sets, NARS and MAC have you covered. If you want a smokey eye palette, Chanel or Dior has you covered. Nice highlighting powder? YSL. Giftworthy lipsticks? YSL. If you’re fair and a neutral palette enthusiast, go for the Armani palette. Everybody else, get something from the three stellar Guerlain products: Either Meteorites, Rouge G or bronzer. If you own a private island or are Tom Ford, there’s Tom Ford. Best color collection that’s a classic but surprisingly not boring – NARS.
Nevertheless, this is quite a lacklustre bunch. I’m quite disappointed. What about you? What’s on your Holiday wish list?
