Normally I’d wait a whole year and do a Ghosts of Christmas Makeup Past post to be more seasonally appropriate, but I simply couldn’t in the case of the amazing (mer-mazing?) Mikimoto holiday collection. As with the 2018 collection, the historic Japanese pearl and jewelry purveyor teamed up with an artist to create some incredibly whimsical underwater-themed packaging. Belgian artist and illustrator Brecht Evens had the honor of being Mikimoto’s second artist collaboration. I must admit I think I like his concept even more than the one by Emmanuel Pierre in 2018. If imagery of celebratory mermaids and assorted mer-critters having the ultimate holiday party doesn’t do anything for you, I question your humanity.
We’ll start with the palettes. The details on everything are staggeringly clever. And while the mishmash of characters and objects may initially seem haphazard, Evens’ messiness is actually entirely intentional. “When I draw the jumble of the city or I draw nature…errors, spots and little incongruities make it more realistic. Because when you’re in a space and you start to look around, you don’t take in the whole. You can’t. You don’t see the world around you like you see a postcard; it’s not organized that way. We’re moving, others are moving, and the eye makes constant choices, it decides what to interpret and what to identify. So at any given moment, there’s a lot of mess in there and, for me, this kind of mess has to stay in. It’s controlled; it’s never like I’m creating randomness. It’s just that incongruities seem to catch the eye better. They’re more natural and they latch onto the eye more realistically. Maybe I do play with a lot of stuff. But I only do it when it serves my narrative. It’s all part of calibrating things. When I use a lot of detail, it’s very calculated – I’m making sure it doesn’t obstruct anything essential.” The dozens of scenes may still be overwhelming for some, but I personally enjoyed picking apart all the individual vignettes and then seeing how they came together as a whole.
This is a particularly amusing exchange between two mer-folk and a nosy little fish. The addition of text is representative of Evens’ background in illustrated books and comics. The humor reminds me a little bit of Danny Sangra, the artist who designed Burberry’s spring 2018 palette.
I’m obsessed with this mer-kitty.
The scenes for the eyeshadow palette are equally spectacular. Sting rays take mer-children for a ride, while a sea elf peeks out from some seaweed to admire a blue-haired mermaid.
On the outer box a school of fish help another mermaid primp for a holiday party. She checks out her reflection in a seashell mirror held by two crabs.
I think the imagery on the sides of the skincare set was my favorite.
The set includes what appears to be a very fancy moisturizer (I didn’t want to open the sealed plastic) and what I believe are packets of face serum. Each one tells a snippet of the “First Snow of Pearls” tale. Unfortunately I couldn’t seem to locate the story at the Mikimoto website as I did last year, so I’m not really sure what it’s supposed to be about.
I love that the images are totally bizarre but also make perfect sense. The concept of a sea-dwelling Santa is absurd, but if one exists, of course his sleigh team would be seahorses instead of reindeer and his bag of presents shaped like a seashell. Ditto for the mermaid taking a ride on the jellyfish “bus”, pulling on its tentacles to signal her stop. While the underwater realm Evens created for Mikimoto is entirely imaginary, the usual rules still apply. As he puts it: “I do think I use visuals that might be dreamlike, or psychedelic, but I don’t think I use dream logic…you have to believe in the world you’re creating.”
There was also a lip gloss, the box for which shared the same illustrations as the skincare set.
Some lovely extras were included as gifts, like this silver toned box topped with a manta ray, a gold seashell cardholder and two cosmetic pouches. I noticed the powder brush was a bit scratchy, but 1. it was free and 2. I don’t intend on using it anyway.
Let’s learn a little more about the artist behind these fantastical scenes. The Belgian-born, Paris-based Brecht Evens (b.1986) studied illustration at Sint-Lucas Gent in Ghent, Belgium. Building on his country’s tradition and notoriety for comics, he focuses on these and illustrated books, but has also completed murals in Brussels and Antwerp, created fabrics for Cotélac, and collaborated with Louis Vuitton on a Paris travel book.
Stylistically, Evens is influenced by his mentors, illustrator Goele Dewanckel and cartoonist Randall Casaer. You can also see glimpses of Pieter Bruegel the Elder, M.C. Escher and Picasso. Take, for example, the resemblance between the artwork Evens created for French publisher Actes Sud and Bruegel’s Fight Between Carnival and Lent (1559). Both utilize a bird’s eye perspective and include dozens of different vignettes.
While Evens published several award-winning books early in his career, he is best known for more recent works Panther (2014) and The City of Belgium (Dutch and French versions released 2018; forthcoming editions in English in 2020). In terms of content, most of Evens’ narratives tend to be a little dark. Panther is about a young girl named Christine whose cat dies. Her mother also threatens suicide, drives away and never comes back. Panther arrives seemingly to be Christine’s friend and help her cope, but ends up being far more malicious than he appears. One reader called it a “apologism of pedophilia, zoophilia and incest”. Yikes.
The City of Belgium (titled Les Rigoles for its French audience and Het Amusement for Belgium) is actually part of the same universe as Evens’s 2009 work The Wrong Place, and the various versions of the book are meant to be connected. “I wanted something like a paperback copy of Balzac, a whole world that would be portable. But, instead of just one city, I wanted to make it a kind of European amalgam…the fun result would be for everyone to think it’s their city.”
The City of Belgium also reflects Evens’ struggle with bi-polar disorder and gradual recovery from a particularly bad episode. While not as unsettling as Panther, the book follows three characters having parallel urban adventures throughout a single evening, one of whom suffers from depression. Evens discusses how the book came to be and acknowledges the “heavy” themes alongside the humor. “The germ was just me coming back to life. A state of depression never carries any potential or interest. Then, once the interest starts returning – bit by bit – it’s like you’re back at zero. At that point, it’s just lines in old sketchbooks, dreams you have, something you happen to see sitting on a terrace. Because it’s so surprising to have ideas again, you notice every little thought and you get them down in a sketchbook…[in 2013 and 2014] things were so messed up; I couldn’t ever have considered such a massive project. The book is a product of peace having descended…the themes may be heavy, but I hope the treatment is light. Don’t forget to mention it’s full of gags and jokes!”
Evens appropriately chose a more lighthearted story for the Mikimoto collection while maintaining the concept of connected times and spaces. The characters and scenes appear disparate at first, but as you look more closely you can see that they’re all part of the same underwater universe – preparing for the holiday season and the First Snow of Pearls. If anyone is going to create a fanciful mermaid-laden paracosm or “expanded reality” as one reviewer put it, Evens is the perfect choice, as he had been making these sorts of “imaginary worlds” since he was a child. “Practically all I did was try to make imaginary worlds come to life, which meant: visible to other people, in comics, designs for buildings, fantasy world maps, board and card games, cassette tapes… No teaching, no explaining, no argument, just a portable world, bound together, with maybe a dust jacket around it or even some leather,” he says. He also did a fantastic job incorporating the pearls, which appear throughout all the scenes. My favorites are the fish helping construct a pearl garland and telling the lazy sea dog to wake up because it’s snowing pearls.
The illustrations were incredibly fun on their own, but the addition of Evens’ signature text provided another layer of humor.
“A lot of people, when they write dialogue, just go ‘A, B’, ‘A, B’, ‘A, B.’ They’ll have the characters neatly wait their turn. Whereas I don’t think our brains really work that way. In reality, it’s more of a constant traffic jam – even when we like each other and we’re interacting well. When we’re interacting less well, it’s more extreme,” he says. You can see the more realistic dialogue (at least, as “realistic” as this mermaid world can be) Evens was aiming for in this scene depicting crabs and fish wrapping holiday presents.
I have no information on how the Mikimoto collaboration came about. I summoned my courage and emailed Evens to see if he could shed any light. He politely declined to be interviewed, but I’m guessing that Mikimoto approached him as he indicated he does not know much about cosmetics. I believe these are new illustrations Evens created especially for the brand, but I find it odd he hasn’t included the collab on his website or IG page. I’m also assuming they were done using his usual handmade techniques. For The City of Belgium, he explains: “All the drawings were done on paper and I write by hand. So the creative parts are all computer-less. Where the computer comes in is for research; when I want things to be ‘right’ or inspired by actual stuff, then I’ll look something up… Ecoline [ink] dominates, but I use a mix. Now I have some different inks and, with the same brush, I’ll also pick up gouache to make it what I want. Or, I’ll mix it with real aquarelle. It all depends on what I’m searching for, what opacity or transparency I need to have. There will also be some pastels and, often, markers.” In looking closely at the lines and the way the colors overlap, it appears Evens did indeed draw everything by hand using a mix of markers and pastels on white paper.
So that about wraps it up. What do you think about this collection? What’s your favorite scene or character? I’d party any time with these mer-folks!
As video games are not my forte, this will be a short post. I did however want to briefly share what I got from the Super Mario collection from Shu Uemura. I couldn't find much information as to why they decided to collaborate and why this year – Super Mario debuted in 1985 so it's not a major anniversary of the game. Of course, I was unable to access the full article in WWD because my local library STILL doesn't have that particular issue available, but I was able to cobble together a few WWD quotes from Shu's artistic director regarding the collection. Kakuyasu Uchiide told the publication, "This collection is not so much about creating, but it is about playing. I want people to be able to play with their individual style. I really want to show what is our spirit, our DNA, our creativity. That's the only way to realize what Mr. Uemura wanted to do, which was to strive to link art with cosmetics, to link art with beauty…This time we got inspiration from culture. Super Mario Bros. is one cultural aspect that is representative of Japan. It’s also really, really popular overseas." I have a feeling the full article might be able to shed more light as to how the collaboration with Nintendo came about, but as the company has teamed up with many other brands and designers (and also licensed a children's shampoo – Shu's collection is not the first one to have Super Mario themed haircare) I guess it's not that unexpected that they partnered with a Japanese makeup brand.
Some of the items weren't sold in the U.S. and the palette was completely sold out, so I had to go to my trusty personal shopper in Japan to get my grubby paws on them.
The packaging design is taken from the game's original 1985 look.
The basic premise of the game: "Super Mario Bros. takes place in the Mushroom Kingdom. The game begins when a tribe of a turtle-like race known as the Koopa Troopas invade the kingdom and uses the magic of its king, Bowser, to turn its inhabitants into inanimate objects such as bricks. Bowser and his army also kidnap Princess Toadstool, the daughter of the Mushroom King and the only one with the ability to reverse Bowser's spell. After hearing the news, Mario sets out to save the princess and free the kingdom from Bowser. After traveling through various parts of the kingdom and fighting Bowser's forces along the way, Mario finally reaches Bowser's final stronghold, where he is able to defeat him and send him falling into a pool of lava, allowing the princess to be freed and the Mushroom Kingdom saved." The princess was always known as Princess Peach in Japan, but was changed to Princess Toadstool in the English version.
The flying turtles (Koopa Paratroopas) and little mushrooms (Goombas) are the most commonly appearing enemies of Mario. He can, however, usually defeat them by tossing a fire flower their way, the motif that decorates the cushion blush compact.
I always appreciate a pattern on the interior of boxes – such a nice little detail.
This was the only disappointment packaging-wise for me. Unlike other Shu cleansing oils, the pattern isn't printed directly on the bottle, only on the plastic wrapping. The reason I know this (and was able to avoid mistakenly taking off the outer wrapping) was because I purchased the smaller Mario cleansing oil to actually use, as I thought it would look cute in my bathroom. I went to peel off the wrap and realized the print was on there and that the bottle itself was plain. I have no idea why Shu decided to did that, as the patterns are printed directly onto the bottle with all my other limited edition oils.
The palette was the standout of the collection, which sold out in a flash in the U.S. It's easy to see why – it has most of the main characters from the game complete with gold foil details, and the blushes on the inside are embossed with more motifs from the game.
Here's just a short history of Super Mario Bros. In the early '80s Nintendo was struggling to keep afloat in the American market. The CEO ended up tapping a graphic designer who had never designed a game in his life, Shigeru Miyamoto, to come up with a compelling story and accompanying game. Loosely based on Popeye characters, Donkey Kong debuted in 1981 and introduced "Jumpman", who would become Mario two years later. Nintendo knew their audience wouldn't really respond to Jumpman – a proper name was needed. Mario ended up being the chosen moniker, named after a landlord who, during a meeting, stormed in and demanded the overdue rent for the warehouse Nintendo was occupying at the time. While Mario Bros. was relatively popular, it wasn't until 1985 when Super Mario Bros. debuted that the game really took off.
Some other fun facts about Super Mario, courtesy of The Guardian:
Mario was originally a carpenter, not a plumber.
The Super Mario bros series is in the Guinness Book of Records as the most successful gaming franchise of all time. As of 2010, it boasted global sales of over 240 million units.
The character Mario has appeared in over 200 separate video games.
What do you think of this collection? Do you like video games? While I played Super Mario a few times as a kid, I probably would have been more into video games if I wasn't so uncoordinated. 😛
Save
Save
Save
Save
Save
Save
Save
Save
Save
Save
Save
Save
Save
As soon as I saw this adorable lip balm at various blogs I ordered it immediately from Sephora. It doesn't really get any cuter than this – a sparkly pink strawberry-scented lip balm in the shape of a flamingo pool float, plus a reference to one of the greatest films of the '90s?! Yes please.
Another precious detail is the flamingo-shaped "F" in Felicia.
Our mini Babo loved it and asked if I could fill the bathtub so he could take it for a proper spin.
That seems okay, until you realize that the "Bye Felicia" meme Taste Beauty is referencing with their lip balm may actually be a form of cultural appropriation in and of itself. Let's take a look at the original clip, which, if I'm being honest, still makes me laugh. (I also love Smokey's "remember it, write it down, take a picture, I don't give a fuck!" Classic.)
Impeccably delivered, it's a funny line that wasn't even in the script (apparently Ice Cube's son came up with it)…but as it turns out, Felisha is a crackhead. To a clueless white person such as myself, I thought she was simply an annoying, mooching neighbor. For "bye Felisha" to take off as a meme, I guess there were other people who accidentally (or perhaps intentionally) overlooked that aspect of Felisha's character. Or worse, many people using the meme were totally oblivious to the original source. As this article on white people's inappropriate use of black slang notes, "What’s amazing though is that over the last year [2015] or so, so many white people and non-black people have used [Bye Felicia] (as a sassy dismissal) without actually knowing where it’s from." Also, the spelling of Felisha's name morphed into "Felicia", I'm assuming to make it more palatable to white people. As Fayola Perry writes in XPress Magazine, "Cultural appropriation sanitizes and spreads lies about people's culture. It takes away the story of Felisha, the addict who represents and symbolizes so many black and brown women's struggle with drug addiction in that era and makes her a passing internet trend. This lack of attention to detail can perpetuate racist stereotypes. Someone may think they are paying homage to someone's culture and the person whose culture they're paying homage to is completely offended at the misrepresentation. Fear not, you can enjoy a great burrito if you are not Latino and do yoga if you're not Indian, but be thoughtful, check your privilege and be considerate of context and history. Everyone has some type of privilege, people of colour appropriate each other's cultures as well. We must all be mindful of our lens, other people's perspectives, the legacy of oppression and try our best to make sure that we are not continuing it. At the very least, know where the appropriated element came from and at the very, very least, spell her name right. It's Felisha, not Felicia."
So while I was overjoyed to see the phrase take off as a meme given how much I love Friday, turns out I should have been aware that it was a form of whitewashing, since it seems that the vast majority of people using it don't know where it originated. Or in my case, had no clue about the more serious implications of Felisha's character and her dismissal. In reading more about the history of the film and that scene in particular, I don't think anyone involved with Friday intended the phrase to be perceived as anything other than comic relief, but now I can see how it can be viewed as a microcosm of the bigger issue of black women's needs continually being ignored.
In turn, if we're arguing that the meme itself is a form of cultural appropriation, then the lip balm is as well, since it's directly referencing the meme and obviously not the original source. I mean, Felisha didn't wear makeup1, and flamingo-shaped pool floats didn't make an appearance in the film as far as I know – this lip balm really has nothing to do with Friday. A succinct reaction comes from this Twitter user: "It's time for black brands to start monetizing our shit. But we're not corny enough to slap bye Felicia on some lip balm all outta context." Blogger Aprill Colemanexplains further: "Felisha was an accurate representation of black culture in the early 90s on the heels of the crack epidemic. Taste Beauty’s use is completely out of context. Felisha is an African American, crack-addicted character that did not wear makeup, whereas Felicia is a brightly colored flamingo shaped like a pool float. A tiny part of my black American culture was appropriated, reinvented, and packaged into a strawberry scented balm for profit." Coleman also astutely points out that two of the three Taste Beauty founders are white men, so it's possible that the company, like so many others, wasn't fully aware of the phrase's origins; they just saw the meme and thought an alliterative novelty lip balm with the same name would be marketable. And if Taste Beauty did know where it came from and still wanted to go ahead with the product despite the potential for offensiveness, perhaps they could have donated a portion of the sales to Angie's Kids. This is a nonprofit founded by Angela Means, the actress who played Felisha, that focuses on health and early childhood development. (Side note: I would seriously love to get her thoughts on this. She seems okay with the phrase's popularity but I'm not sure about the lip balm.)
So where does that leave us? Well, on a personal level I feel like a jerk for buying it and also for not understanding, quite literally for the past 3 years, that the "Bye Felicia" meme was actually white people appropriating yet another piece of black culture – I honestly thought it was a widespread, '90s-nostalgia-fueled, long-overdue tribute to Ice Cube's legendary diss. As someone who sees herself as a feminist, which means being aware of the struggles of WOC, my ignorance is rather troubling.2 As for the item's inclusion in the Museum's collection, I will likely not display it unless I'm doing a more educational exhibition on cultural appropriation in cosmetics. In addition to the ads explored in my 2013 post on the topic, sadly there are tons more examplessince then that could be provided.
What do you think about all this? Have you seen Friday and if so, do you find the "bye Felisha" scene funny?
1 Interestingly, the actress who played Felisha cites the makeup artist on set as the one responsible for helping her fully inhabit Felisha's character. The somewhat haggard look was entirely intentional. She notes in an interview: "What was funny was when I got on set the makeup artist looked at me and she was like, ‘O.K.,’ and she kind of went with my look and when we got to the set (“Friday” director) F. Gary Gray looked at me and was like, ‘Whoa, whoa, wait, wait. She’s not a beauty queen.’ I give the makeup artist so much credit for helping me create Felisha…So when I got in the makeup artist’s chair, once Gary said, 'No, she’s a hoodrat,' we went back to the drawing board and I fell asleep. But when I woke up and saw myself, it clicked. It helped me go there."
2 Equally problematic is that I've been rewatching the clip and still think it's hilarious – proof that white privilege is real. I'm able to ignore the broader issue of dismissing black women and perceive "bye Felisha" as comedy. Save
Save
It's my opinion that any time a company does a cartoon-themed collection meant for adults, they have to be careful not to veer into kiddie territory. It's tricky when collaborating with, say, the likes of Disney, and sometimes it goes a bit juvenile. But other times brands pull it off well, and Paul & Joe has consistentlybeen able to elevate themes and characters we usually associate with childhood. This is the case with their latest collection, which features Looney Tunes favorites Tweety and Sylvester along with infamous cat and mouse duo Tom and Jerry. While I'm not the biggest fan of either of these – I wasn't really into Looney Tunes as a kid, and if Tom and Jerry were on before school I'd watch them on occasion but definitely wasn't obsessed – I still thought the collection was Museum-worthy because Paul & Joe did another great job making such things seem perfectly acceptable for a grown-up to own. 🙂
Set against Paul & Joe's signature chrysanthemums, Tweety and Sylvester appear a little more refined than how we're used to seeing them while still engaging in their usual hijinks.
Tom and Jerry also partake in their typical shenanigans (Tom luring Jerry with a chunk of cheese), but are also depicted, appropriately enough, playing with makeup.
I love this little detail on the lipstick cap.
The Looney Tunes makeup collection isn't completely out of left field, as it's basically an extension of the Warner Bros. collab from Paul & Joe's Sister line.
The Looney Tunes collection was even more extensive and included characters other than Sylvester and Tweety.
At first glance I thought the print on this dress was the same as the one on the compact, but if you look closely you can see Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny.
There was also a men's capsule Looney Tunes collection.
Anyway, my only complaint was that none of the Tom and Jerry scenes featured the fancy white cat. From what I remember watching as a kid, there was this super glam lady cat that Tom had a crush on. I don't think she had a name but I loved her! I think my obsession with long eyelashes was influenced in part from this very chic kitty.
What do you think? Did you pick up anything from this collection?
Initially I was confused as to why MAC chose troll dolls as a collection theme. Yes, a resurgence of all things ’90s is upon us, but it still seemed strange to resurrect the troll doll fad. It only made sense when I got wind of the new Trolls movie, which releases this November.
Naturally I love how obnoxiously bright the packaging is.
The image on the boxes is the signature crazy troll hair.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen makeup with a troll silhouette imprinted!
Glitter caps!
Now for a little history. The original troll doll was created by a Danish woodcutter named Thomas Dam in 1959. Too poor to afford a Christmas gift for his daughter, he carved her a troll figure out of wood instead. Pretty soon the doll was the talk of the town, and the Dam Things company began producing trolls made of plastic in the early ’60s under the name Good Luck Trolls. In the U.S. the troll doll craze hit peak popularity from 1963-65 and came around again in the ’90s. Being the ’90s buff that I am, I felt the need to do a little more research on the renewed interest in trolls. I found a very useful entry on the topic here – while no longer active, this blog is great for anyone needing a dose of ’90s nostalgia. While regular trolls were popular, there were also dolls known as Treasure Trolls that sported jewels in their bellybuttons, and you would rub the belly gem for good luck. You might remember the billikens I looked at earlier this year – one would rub their bellies for good luck, and one of the compacts I included showed a billiken with a jewel in his navel. So maybe the Treasure Trolls were drawing on this tradition? In any case, I just had to include these early ’90s commercials for the Treasure Trolls.
I was hoping to find more about why trolls experienced such a renaissance in the ’90s. Alas, I didn’t turn up much. This article seems to think it was the general ’90s obsession with anything retro, but that’s about all I found.
Anyway, as a collector I was also curious to see if there were any folks out there who had amazing troll stashes, or even museums. Behold, the Troll Hole Museum in Alliance, Ohio! Run by Sherry Groom, the museum boasts a Guinness World Record collection consisting of over 10,000 troll dolls, figurines and other troll memorabilia. It’s the largest troll collection in the whole world.
And up until recently, there was a Troll Museum in New York City’s Lower East Side. The collection is considerably smaller; however, it was home to possibly the most diverse collection of trolls, including a very rare two-headed troll from the ’60s. Unfortunately proprietor/artist Jen Miller, better known as Reverend Jen, was evicted earlier this summer. Due to health issues she was unable to work and pay the rent. It breaks my heart to think of her collection, so lovingly amassed over 20 years, to be sold or given away. Not only that, since the museum was actually her apartment (tours were given by appointment only) she has nowhere to live now.
While the Troll Hole may be much bigger, I definitely gravitate more towards Reverend Jen’s collection. We seem to be kindred spirits in our approach to having museums in our homes, and also our “Board of Directors” – she clearly has a sense of humor about it the way I do with my museum staff.
I do hope Reverend Jen is able to get back on her feet. If nothing else, I wish I had known she was getting thrown out of her apartment – maybe I could have at least stored part of her collection somewhere until she was able to find another home.
Getting back to MAC, I thought it was well done. If I was going to design a troll doll-themed collection this is what I would have come up with. Yes, it’s a little juvenile but still loads of fun for those of us who remember the troll fad.
What do you think of the collection? And do you own any troll dolls?
Save
As a follow-up to their palette released as a tie-in to the 2010 Alice in Wonderland movie, Urban Decay has launched their Through the Looking Glass collection to go with this year's sequel, which will hit theaters May 27. Like the previous palette, this one features a pop-up design and a vast array of colors. There are also 5 lipsticks sporting the same crazy kaleidoscope design as on the palette's outer case.
Love this quote on the inside.
As for the outer packaging, Urban Decay founder and Chief Creative Officer Wende Zomnir explains, “This was made to look like an acid trip. We took a different approach and decided, ‘Let’s make it really colorful and bright because the shades are like that'…even if you aren’t attached to the film, the butterfly tells the story of what the makeup is all about, which is transformation."
The quote on the side of the palette is also a nod to the transformation theme.
There are 20 colors total (4 more than the previous palette), and 4 are dedicated to each of the 5 main characters from the film: Alice, Mad Hatter, Time, the White Queen and the Red Queen. “We loved the original construction and keeping it in the same vein, but we wanted to tell a different story with the shades and really bring a focus to the shades,” says Zomnir.
Naturally I selected the two boldest colors from the lipstick lineup. The blue lipstick was not an accidental creation – it represents both Alice's coat and also shows that Urban Decay is paying attention to the mainstreaming of what used to be considered outlandish colors. Says Zomnir, “My customer is a very independent thinker. She’s really into self-expression. She loves makeup. While Alice is a very plain character, she’s associated with the blue dress — in this case, it’s a coat — and we were able to pull in that interesting blue with her, and the makeup is rad for all the other characters…Six years ago, Anne Hathaway’s White Queen makeup was a little extreme, but now you see it on the street.”
The little cup I put the lipsticks in here is a souvenir from my Disney trip. 🙂
Objectively speaking I thought this collection was well done. But personally, I'm a bigger fan of the first Alice in Wonderland book/movie so anything to do with that I'm going to like more than items related to Through the Looking Glass. This palette is great but I so enjoyed seeing all the characters in the previous palette (my favorite, if you remember, was the caterpillar).
What do you think? How does this collection compare to Urban Decay's previous Alice-themed palette, and for that matter, other Alice in Wonderland makeup? (See here and here.)
Like many longtime Simpsons fans, I was extremely pleased to see this collection from MAC. I've been watching the Simpsons since I was 11 (even titling a previous blog post with a Simpsons quote), and while I've been disappointed in the more recent seasons, those first few were comedy gold. MAC's collection pays homage to Marge Simpson (née Bouvier), the long-suffering and very sweet wife of lovable buffoon Homer Simpson.
I'm amazed at the sheer volume of characters they were able to cram in on the outer packaging. However, I don't see my favorite bit character – can anyone spot Ralph Wiggum? He has to be on there somewhere, I just can't find him.
I picked up Pink Sprinkles blush, Nacho Cheese Explosion lip gloss (couldn't resist a shade in the signature Simpsons yellow!) and Itchy & Scratchy & Sexy lip gloss, along with Marge's Extra Ingredients eye shadow palette and the nail stickers.
While I liked the outer packaging, I was less enthralled with the plastic cases. Something about yellow plastic read very kindergarten to me – the rounded, raised corners of the eye shadow palette in particular made it look like a pencil case my 5 year-old niece would carry. Granted, it's difficult to execute sophisticated packaging for a cartoon-based collection, but it's not impossible (see MAC's sexed up Hello Kitty collection and these Simpsons/Mondrian-inspired wine bottles). It might have been better to do a black background for the plastic cases. I could be totally wrong though, as package design site The Dieline loved the concept.
I'm glad there was also an imprint of Marge's visage on the blush and eye shadows.
I can't bear to use these nail stickers but I'm certainly tempted.
(If you want to see swatches of all products and some great Simpsons quotes, check out this epic post at XO Vain.)
And now, I thought I'd share my top 5 favorite beauty and makeup moments from the Simpsons.
5. From "The Girly Edition", season 9. Bart has just wrapped up a super schmaltzy segment for the children's news show, Kidz Newz.
Lindsey Naegle: "Bart, look up here. This is where the tears would be if I could cry. But I can't. Botched face-lift."
3. From "Lisa the Beauty Queen", season 4. Lisa and Marge are getting makeovers at Turn Your Head and Coif, one of Springfield's leading beauty salons.
Lisa, as a stylist breaks out a blowtorch: "Isn't this dangerous?"
Stylist, donning a welder's mask: "Don't worry, I am well protected."
2. Same episode as above. Lisa and another contestant are at a rehearsal for the Little Miss Springfield pageant, looking at previous winner Amber Dempsey.
Pageant contestant: "She's about to bring out the big guns…eyelash implants."
What do you think of this collection? Are you a Simpsons fan? Overall, I thought it was nicely done, and the colors were spot-on.
MAC seems to have the market cornered on cartoon/comics collaborations. In addition to numerous Disney collections, 2011 was the year they released a Wonder Woman-themed collection. This time MAC is back in the comics game with Archie's Girls, which is based on Betty and Veronica, the two girls who vie for Archie's heart.
I picked up one of the Pearlmatte powders.
With flash:
I also purchased the Jingle Jangle Coin Purse – I loved the lining!
In addition to the more general products, MAC offered individual Betty and Veronica collections. I selected one piece from each. On the left is lipstick in Boyfriend Stealer, whose vampy color is representative of Vernoica (according to MAC): "The envy of every girl, Veronica smoulders with a limited-edition colour
collection rich in deep, seductive tones. Lipsticks in violet, red and
blackened plum play up the va-voom while Lipglass shimmers in shades
certain to steal hearts. Nails lacquered in dark berry and navy crème
ready for a soda fountain catfight."
On the right is Kiss and Don't Tell from the Betty collection, which MAC describes thusly: "Beautiful Blonde-Next-Door Betty inspires a limited-edition colour
collection with a soft, innocent sexiness. Lipsticks in peaches and
pinks beam bright under layers of Lipglass in girly shades. Nail Lacquer
in Comic Cute and Pep Pep Pep to win Archie's affection."
Having never read Archie comics I can't say for sure whether MAC's character descriptions and subsequent color choices are accurate and appropriate, but from everything I've read online the shades seem spot-on for each girl.
As with the Wonder Woman and Hey Sailor! collections, the best part for me was the freebie MAC provided with my order. Oh, how I live for collectibles like this!
Overall I thought this was a fun, cute collection, but I probably would have enjoyed it much more if I were actually familiar with the comics.
What do you think? And are you a Betty or Veronica?
Oh, Benefit. You're at it again with a cleverly-named palette with a hilarious retro image. Say hello to the Perk-Up Artist, a kit for concealing and brightening that will refresh a tired-looking face.
It was the video that really cracked me up though. In just under a minute, Benefit manages to poke light-hearted fun of the slightly sleazy pick-up artist stereotype, the cheesier aspects of the '70s, AND tell you how the palette works.
I don't think Benefit has had anything this funny since the Weather Girl palette, which for some reason beyond my comprehension I do not own.
Anyway, have any of you picked up (har har) the Perk-Up Artist palette?
I just had to share this adorable Beautyhabit.com catalog. MERMAIDS!!! You may remember me telling you how much I love them in an earlier post. Here they are swimming happily:
Here's one admiring her long luxurious mermaid hair:
And this one looks like she's trying to catch a snack?
I don't know who the designer of this catalog is, but my hat goes off to that person for creating such a cute summery mailer!
