The ultimate guide to high-end Holiday 2019 makeup collections, including Chanel, Hourglass, Pat McGrath Labs and Fenty: reviews and swatches to help you decide where to splurge and where to save.
For years I’ve been covering the seasonal collections of prestige, heritage brands. You know the ones I mean: the high-end brands you find in every department store’s beauty hall. YSL, Givenchy, Burberry, Guerlain, Armani, Estée Lauder – you see them, and you pass them by, because yaaaaaaaaaaaaawn.
I’ve loved them, but here’s the sad truth: they’re no longer relevant. Not really. Sorry, guys. (I’ve been rooting for you! Do better!!!!)
Time to change it up and look at all the other brands we love, shall we? Onto the guide to all Holiday 2019 makeup collections!
Chanel – Les Ornements de Chanel
Let’s imagine you’re looking for the traditional Holiday collection – red lips, sparkly golden eyes, some highlighting powder, the works. Yeah, Chanel does that. There’s nothing wrong with that… But in the words of Christopher Hitchens, ‘The one unforgivable sin is to be boring’.
There’re: an eyeshadow quad in bronzes, berries and khakis, a highlighting powder, two single eyeshadows in gold and burgundy (all very prettily embossed, it’s Chanel after all) and six Rouge Allure lipsticks veering from nude-ish over pink/red to a deep berry. (Swatches at Bubblymichelle.) A red and a black nailpolish. Wake me up when Luca Pica is gone.
Dior – Happy 2020
Oh Peter, Peter, Peter. That’s honestly the WORST eyelook I’ve seen in a while. This looks like a child colouring with crayons. Just no. Apart from that, the whole collection is… something.
Ok. First, the horrific Diorific packaging. Bulky and garish and everything but chic. Two quints: one all gold and bronze, the other one – a CHOICE. Blue, purple, green and gold. The nailpolishes are the worst pinks and purples you can imagine. SHIMMERY. It’s like prom night in 1984. (Swatches at 1Beautynews.)
Liquid eyeshadows in silver, light sparkly pink, gold and bronze. Maybe I’m not getting the joke, but this is so old-school it’s not even hip. Oh, and the lipsticks? Are.. kinda… bedazzled? Like, the actual lipsticks, not the tube. (Gird your loins, because we’ll see much more of the same later on.)
Tom Ford – Soleil Neige
I’d never thought to call a TF collection (Tom Ford, master of the 90s domina chic) soothing, but here we are. We live in a truly remarkable times. I love the colour story, although the products itself are a snooze. Would I love to wear the whole collection on my face if I was an outrageously rich lady, swanning around St. Moritz? Yes, I would.
And not only because we have cool-toned eyeshadow quads (hallelujah). Three, in fact, ranging from greyish, to greenish-silvery to a rosy nude colour scheme. We then have ‘clutch-sized’ lipbalms (epic eyeroll), three highlighter/blush cream stick thingies, highlighting drops (a bit late with that), and two of their powder/cream eyeshadow stacks in silver/taupe and rosy/brown (all swatches at Temptalia, also on Michele Wang’s YouTube). On top of all that Soleil Neige (which literally means ‘sun snow’) spiel, we have a twist on their Soleil Blanc fragrance, called, you guessed it, Soleil Neige. Eyerollingly cheesy, but still: I’m not mad at it.
Hourglass – Ghost
Again, white packaging, again, luxurious products: but oh so different from TF. While TF targets the rich socialite, Hourglass targets, well, beauty junkies. I feel so seen! While I love every product in their Holiday line-up (blush quad, six-pan powder palette, three warm-toned Scattered Light Eyeshadows and a lipstick duo – swatches at makeup-sessions and Beauty Lookbook), I’m not sure that white/clear/silver packaging will love me back. It seems just a liiiiiiittle bit cheap.
Especially the six pan palettes offer a seriously low value for money (basically, you pay around $80 for a $50 amount of product), so it feels a bit like wringing out the maximum of profit out of their Holiday collex. Sure, they’re all there to make some money, but this nearly feels – impolite? I want to love you, Hourglass, I really do! (And I absolutely do love their formulas. Faultless.)
MAC – Starring You
MAC bombards you with everything in their arsenal of tricks to literally dazzle you and make you forget that all they offer are either mediocre products or repromotes in fancy packaging. Exhibit 1: super dazzling packaging. Exhibit 2: stars embossed everywhere. Exhibit 3: stars AND glitter on lipstick.
Listen, MAC, I love glitter and stars as much as the next girl, but: you’re lacking substance. (Some swatches at evoke and follettarosamakeup.) The core holiday collection consists of five lipsticks, five lipglosses (and no, a name like ‘Starfucker’ doesn’t make you look edgy, it makes you look desperate), five Spellbinder eyeshadows (magnetic eyeshadows are so 2016, also, they weren’t great the first time around) and two highlighters we’ve seen a thousand times. Pass.
Nars – Studio 54
Sadly, NARS seems to fall into the same trap. Glitter, dazzle, stars, looking thirsty as hell. We love NARS for their edgy, effortlessly cool look and great products. This is not it. The inspiration for the whole humongous thing is Studio 54 (Andy Warhol, Edie Sedgewick, Men in Black III…), which is a good fit.
The rest is sets, palettes and multi-packages which makes me tired just looking at it. (There’re honestly too many products to list here, but Temptalia has a good overview, and Chicprofile has swatches.) Why do I have to buy four lipsticks in a set? Why are there three lipgloss sets when I maybe manage to empty four glosses in ONE YEAR. Final verdict? Consumerism at its finest. It makes me cross.
Fenty Beauty – Tinsel $how
I honestly wanted more from Fenty for Christmas than mini sets, but nobody listens to me, so yeah. I’m hurt, Riri. Ok, there’s a super cute Gloss Bomb (love the OG!) and highlighter set, a set of five mini Glossbomb in various shades (four of them new and BRIGHT!), a new Stunna matte liquid lipstick in a vampy burgundy (not that convinced, because matte and me are basically over at this point), and a mini Body Lava (a shimmery body highlighter) in rose gold (no, not for me). (Swatches at Kelsey Clarke’s YouTube.)
I love all that because mini sets don’t overwhelm me, and I can actually use them up. Also, all Fenty formulas showcased in this mini collection? Really, really good, even if not always my cup of tea.
Pat McGrath Labs Obsessive Opulence
Dear Santa, I’ve been a really good girl: can I please have Pat McGrath’s whole Holiday collection, please?
Not very likely, but a girl can dream. Three colourful quads (red, blue-green and pink colour schemes), six regular lipsticks in special packaging, a few lipstick duos in special packaging (also regular), two new lip balms: one in a clear opalescent shade, the other in silvery shade, and two highlighting products in tubes to bathe your whole body in, if your heart desires.
Forget the lipsticks, they’re permanent anyways, the quads are where it’s at. (Swatches at Temptalia and Really Ree.) There’s just one tiny little detail: they’re expensive as hell, and I mean it. For that, you get Pat’s ‘special’ formula: the one’s she’s famous for, the creamy, shimmery, iridescent, shifting goodness in eyeshadow form. But $65? Man, I don’t know.
The guide to high-end Holiday 2019 makeup collections: Tl,dr
I was surprised how similar everything looked in the end (examples below). Choose Chanel for a traditional Holiday collection, Hourglass because these powders are really top-notch, Fenty if you want to try one of their formulas in mini size, and get a Pat McGrath quad because life is short and those are the best formulas the market has to offer.
All the stars from MAC and Nars 
If you want a glittery lipstick, choose from Dior (but really, don’t, you’ll get tennis elbow from schlepping that around), MAC or NARS (even Bobbi Brown and Artdeco do them).
All the dazzling lipsticks: Nars, MAC, Dior 
But no matter what you choose, think about it first, swatch when possible and choose what makes you happy and that won’t only gather dust on your vanity.
Please note that this review is not sponsored in any way. We buy products ourselves, with our own money, and don’t accept exchanging goods, or money, for reviews. We are completely independent, and our reviews reflect that.
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