It’s a weird little fall round-up (of course, everything is weird right now). Brands have coped differently with Covid: some, like Chanel, released their fall collection stoically, while other big players, like Dior, seem to have scrapped their usual humongous collections and release a new product line. And there’re others who seem MIA: MAC for example, and what’s Guerlain doing nowadays?
Of course, the height of preparations for fall collections is in Spring – and was also Covid’s first peak, so there’s that. So instead of a full and proper round-up of fall collections I again give you a fall makeup releases guide, and show you some releases that might spark joy.
Chanel Fall 2020 – Pink…
I dare you to look at the promo pic above and NOT to fall in love. Look at how great the pink shadow pairs with the model’s green eyes! If you’re tempted to recreate the look, don’t forget to use either a black or dark brown liner to minimise the risk of it looking like a bad case of pink eye. We have three quads of which only one is new and honestly, the differences are minimal. There’s a sleigh of lip products from shiney to matte, ranging from nude to taupe to coral to pink to burgundy. I mean, why not?! (Enjoy Michele Wang’s vid with two looks here.)
Pat McGrath Labs Fall 2020 – …and pinker
I don’t have the faintest clue why Pat McGrath thinks the third pink-centred eyeshadow palette launch would be the way to go. (Also, I lost count and it may be even more than three in a row.) Sure, her palettes are lovely, and every one of them looks covetable. But Michele Wang, who I trust on all things PMG calls Rose Decadence the worst PMG palette, so – yeah. There’re also two new ranges of lip products: The Lip Fetish Divinyl Lip Shines (glossy, balmy) in six shades, two new shades of the balmy Lip Fetish Astrals (NOT holographic like the press release claims), and the Lips Fetish Sheer Balms will add seven sheer, balmy shades to the original one. (Here’s Temptalia’s overview.)
Dior Fall 2020 – ANOTHER eye shadow reformulation
I find myself inexplicably missing Dior’s usual huge fall collection, but who knows, maybe we’ll see products of it in future collections. Seemingly, Dior reformulates or repackages their eyeshadow quints every two years, but this one seems nice: 12 new little quints in rather staid, but classic colour combinations. On top of this, there’re 12 new waterproof eyeliners. Swatches of the new formula look promising (which is nice, becaue usually, the old Dior eyeshadows … weren’t good). Great news!
Armani Fall 2020 – a shade extension
It breaks my heart a little bit that Armani Beauty seems dead – they haven’t come out with new products for years, and if they do, they’re mostly shade extensions of existing lines. The reformulated Eye Tints brought us duds of a product that used to be great, and generally, I wish for so much more from a brand that used to bring us great products. This fall instead, they bring us more shades of their Lip Maestro and Lip Magnet lines. Oh well, better than nothing.
Fenty Fall 2020 – Give me all the Fall things!
Fenty doesn’t do seasonal collections in the traditional sense, but instead gives us a basket full of covetable products with a Fall feel. There’re: two eyeshadow palettes in green and burgundy, mascaras in green and burgundy, a matte lipstick in (you guessed it) burgundy, and some coloured lip balms. If that green – wine red combo doesn’t scream fall, I don’t know what will (here’s a great look by Andrea Renee with nearly all products). The formulas are all there already, and this is a great way to get some seasonal pep into an existing line-up.
Hourglass At Night – the plum and the pretty
A similar approach from Hourglass who focuses on the colour plum – which is, honestly, pretty damn universal, because it looks great on everybody. Try it! As always with Hourglass, it’s hard for me not to want the whole thing, because gah, so pretty! Here’re the plummy and mauve Ambient Lighting Blushes, and the wine coloured Lip Treatment Oil. The Confession Ultra Slim High Intensity Lipstick has one of the best lipstick formulas around today (I wax rhapsodically about it here) and comes in a pretty brick shade.
Nars Fall 2020 – Resort?!
The newest offering from Nars is the Bronze Voyage collection (right now exclusive to Nordstrom). It’s the ‘resort’ collection that usually bridges the time between fall and spring for clothing collections. Fret not, the palette might be new, same with the lip products (Sabrina has the deeds and the swatches), but I bet we’ll see them again. While the clutch is cute, do you need a clutch by Nars?!
Natasha Denona – and now we’re talking!
I LOVE when trends from indie makeup arrive at mainstream brands, and I love multichrome everything from nailpolish to eyeshadow. And you can bet that I’ll be all over Natasha Denona’s new five limited edition Chromium Liquid Eyeshadows. The promo pics are breathtaking, and sure, liquid eyeshadows are the hell to use up before they dry out, but again: just look at the pics. (Christine’s first swatches seem decent, as well.) I want with a capital W.
Fall makeup releases guide: Buy or bye?
Will Covid be the end of seasonal collections? I doubt it, looking at a youg and innovative brand like Fenty, who cleverly releases new shades of existing lines with a seasonal vibe. Brands came through with intriguing offerings: Hourglass’ has four faultless new products for cheeks and lips while Dior’s new quints might be a new staple in your collection. If you’re a pink lover, look no further than to Chanel and Pat McGrath, and you BET I’ll get one of the new Natasha Denona multichrome eyeshadows. I’m excited!
I think it is Bye for me. Well, after I linger a bit at the Chanel collection – pink is pretty to look at but tricky to work with (you don’t want to look like you have pink eye).
Oh, and one more thing about the pink eye: how many of us have the crystal clear white eyeballs like the retouched model’s picture from the Chanel ad? Especially after staring at the computer all day long:)
Oh yes Mima, totally! I mean I know people use eyedrops to achieve this, but… well… (I always use a lot of dark eyeliner when I do a pinkish/red eye to create some kind of border and think it helps – at least people haven’t asked me yet if I suffer from pink eye!)