Chanel Holiday 2008 Collection

Now it is time for the revered House of Chanel’s latest offering for the holiday. I didn’t love their last collection for fall but I am still enamored with their Blue Satin nail polish from last spring so that keeps my love alive. As everyone must know by now, Chanel was my first beauty love back in the seventh grade and I will always have a place in my heart for this company. I would never hesitate to drop any amount of money for a Chanel product that I fall in love with. Those Cs are like my crack…

So here is the latest collection from my beloved Chanel…

- Gold Highlighting Powder with Brush - Sheer and sublime, gold highlighting powder gives a delicate golden glow to the face. LE.

- Highlighter Face Pen - reduces the appearance of fine lines and lightens dark undereye circles
- Beige Rose - new shade for those with pink undertones in their skin

- Quadra Eye Shadow - the perfect combination of four shades that contrast and complement.
- Beiges de Chanel - cream, taupe, gold and brown shades

- Fluid Iridescent Eye Shadow - from subtle to intense, Fluid Iridescent Eye Shadow gives a long lasting veil of shimmering color to the eye
- Source - pink gold
- Rivera - pale gold

- Precision Eye Definer - Precision Eye Definer offers demure to dramatic effects
- Noir Scintillant - rich black with a gold sparkle

- Professional Eye Liner Duo - offering the effect of liquid liner and kohl pencil, Professional Eye Liner Duo is the ultimate mistake proof, multi tasking eye liner
- Brun-Lame - dark brown and soft brown sparkle

- Luminous Satin Lip Colour- lustrous color and ultra-wearability define the iconic Luminous Lip Colour.
- Audace - true red
- Exaltation - coral red
- Ardent - rosewood
- Nude - soft buff

- Brush On Crème Lip Colour - a perfect hybrid of gloss and lipstick, Brush On Lip Crème offers lustrous colour and intense shade.
- Praline - pink bronze
- Canele -brilliant bronze
- Glossimer - Glossimer offers the must-have high shine of the Holiday season.
- Gold Shine - gleaming gold
- Red Shine - vivacious red

- Nail Color - Nail color defines the season’s palette in chic shades.
- Perle Rosee - beige pink
- Dazzling - deep red
- Haute Chocolat - rich brown with a hint of gold pearl

I am in love with the new shade of the Highlighter Face Pen, most shades aren’t pink enough for my skin tone and usually end up looking fake. This will be a must get. I also really want the two newest shades of Fluid Iridescent Eye Shadow, I love both the gold shades and I can’t wait to pick those up.

photo courtesy of Chanel

Clinique Holiday 2008 Collection

Clinique’s newest holiday offerings are focused on the color of blackberries and shimmer. This company seems to repackage the same few colors for every single collection and something in every collection always reminds me of the Almost Lipstick in Black Honey. This product is their best selling lip product ever and has been in the collection for as long as a I can remember reading fashion magazines (summer before middle school). So I understand that they want to go with something that they know will sell but I do wish that they would mix it up a little bit!

The new collection for holiday is called Blackberry Bloom. This the official description from the Nordstrom website (I am really enjoying this site, I don’t know why I didn’t look here before!): “Clinique’s deep shimmering holiday look. Let the festivities begin. Mysterious, shimmering and Oh! so wearable. Blackberry Bloom inspires this elegant collection.” First thought, the collection is pretty but compared to NARS or MAC, these colors venture nowhere near what I think up when I read the words “deep” or “mysterious”. On the plus side, anyone can carry this look off so I can see these colors really selling well.

The collection…

- Allover Color - Blackberry Bloom - mauve, berry colored blush (the focal point of the collection)

- Full Potential Plump and Shine - Sugar Full

- Color Surge Eye Shadow Super Shimmer
- Black Amethyst
- Black Coffee
- Black Smoke

- Kohl Shaper for Eyes
- Black Amethyst
- Black Denim
- Black Kohl
- Blackened Taupe
- Black Coffee
- Black Honey
- Blackened Pewter

-High Impact Mascara
- Black
- Black/Brown
- Black Honey

Nice collection but on the average side. I could take or leave this whole collection, nothing is life changing or earth shattering. I like the Black Coffee eye shadow but I’m sure that the company already has something similar or I can find something better from NARS.

photo courtesy of Nordstrom

NARS Holiday 2008 Collection

No discussion on new makeup collections would be complete without my favorite brand in the entire world. What brand would this be? Why NARS, of course! NARS Fall 2008 Collection was great so Holiday 2008 holds the potential to be outstanding and the best of the best. In an interview with Francois NARS that is up on the NARS website, he talks about how his icon for this line and the Fall 2008 line had blue eyes and how he put his love of the color gold into these lines. LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!

Here’s the collection…

- Blush - Super Orgasm (peachy pink with gold glitter)

- Single Eye Shadow
- Night Life - silver with silver particles
- Silent Night - metallic with gold particles

- Duo Eye Shadow - Jolie Poupee (vibrant violet/pearlescent purple)

- Lipstick - Canaille (shimmering mahogany)

- Lip Gloss - All Night Long (dusty raspberry)

- Nail Polish - Orgasm (peachy pink with shimmer)

I see three standouts already. The lip gloss and the two single eye shadows are absolutely wonderful. When I first opened up the page to the collection on the NARS website, all I could think was that I wanted those two eye shadows like I have never wanted anything else before. I have a special place in my heart for NARS Night collection eye shadows. My first foray into the world of dark eye makeup involved the NARS Night Clubbing shade (a favorite to this day) and the purple shade Santorini. The look that was given to me by the makeup artist was over the top and stagy but I still bought Night Clubbing and the brushes to go along with it. Obviously, I learned to use it in a much more toned down fashion. The All night Long Lip Gloss looks like a deeper version of my beloved Chihuahua and could be worn with these eye shadows for a party look or alone for a natural look during the day. I will be visiting Sephora and their NARS counter VERY soon.

photo courtesy of NARS