While there wasn't much of a description of Le Bal Masque, obviously Paul & Joe went for a masquerade ball theme this holiday season. I liked the image of a woman in a black cat mask adorning the bag full of treats as well as the grey and yellow color scheme.
The set includes a lip balm, cream blush, eye liner and eye shadows, all with a fetching cat/mask print.
You know how I love freebies, so I was overjoyed to receive this notebook as a gift with purchase from Beautyhabit.
Oddly enough, the image of the masked woman was borrowed from a Paul & Joe Sister collection from about 2 years ago. I don't have an exact date as all the items are now out of stock at various shopping outlets, but the images I gathered on Pinterest suggest it's not new.
There were also a few tees where the masked woman is wearing a different blouse.
(images from pinterest.com)
Why they'd choose to recycle a fairly old design on this year's holiday collection is puzzling. It's almost as if they were out of ideas for the holiday collection, ordered an intern to go through their archives and choose a design to slap onto the packaging, then declare it to be a holiday masquerade theme. While it somewhat lacks inspiration, it's a masquerade ball as only Paul & Joe can depict it – playful thanks to the abundance of the cat print, yet lending an air of mystery due to the masks.
Thoughts?
Happy September! I thought I'd kick off this autumnal month with Paul & Joe's fall 2015 Café Parisien collection. It doesn't seem to have much to do with a Paris café, but I can somewhat overlook it given how adorable the packaging is. I think the collection would have seemed more inspired and less formulaic if the packaging had included little illustrations of coffee cups, croissants, the Eiffel Tower and other Paris/café motifs – as I've said before I greatly miss Paul & Joe's older collection stories. Right now it just seems like their M.O. is to give the collection a vaguely French-sounding name and slap some cats on the packaging. Nevertheless, the lack of a fully developed theme did not prevent me from buying nearly the whole collection. I mean, I can't resist felines that resemble Grumpy Cat, not to mention a long-lashed owl and a plump sparrow wearing a knit cap.
We'll start with the eye shadows.
The pattern continued on the interiors of the eye shadows, which is a nice touch.
I got two of the three blush cases.
I can't believe I forgot to add the kitty lipstick case to my order. I can't seem to find it anywhere either so I guess it's sold out. 🙁
Another nice touch is the cat print on the lipstick refill tube. It's the little things, right?
Instead of making the whole lipstick tip in the shape of a cat's head as they've done previously, Paul & Joe borrowed a Japanese candy-making technique known as Kintaro-ame to put a cat's face in the center of the lipstick. The print goes all the way through to the bottom so it doesn't wear off!
I always love getting some sweet gift-with-purchase swag!
So let's see which prints were taken from the fall 2015 fashion collection. Actually, both of the floral prints are from the pre-fall 2015 collection.
The bird and owl appeared on several pieces in the regular fall collection.
I love this print on a bag!!
Finally, the kitty print is from Paul & Joe's Sister fall 2015 collection.
(images from paulandjoe.com)
So what do you think of this collection? Will you be partaking in some Café Parisien goodies?
For the life of me I can't figure out why Paul & Joe decided to create a print of a cat wearing a sailor hat, but I know a certain Makeup Museum staff member was very intrigued. Then again, this isn't the first time Paul & Joe decided to dress up their cats.
He admired the kitty's pipe and asked me if he could get one.
Unfortunately, as with the MAC Hey Sailor collection, I don't think I'll be getting the powder or the pouch back. Sailor Babo and Sailor Cat are kindred spirits.
I think I hear Sailor Babo offering up some rum so I better get going before things get too out of hand!
According to the very short product descriptions at their website, Paul & Joe's spring 2015 Ménagerie collection was inspired by childhood trips to the zoo. (I do wish they would bring back the little blurbs that fully described the collection's theme!) The prints on the outer packaging are spot-on, as usual. Of course there are the requisite cats, but also more exotic animals that you'd see at a zoo – giraffes, monkeys, tigers, zebras and flamingos all make an appearance as well.
I adore all the prints, but I'm still a little iffy on the design on the inside of the face and eye colors. Paul & Joe is well-known for playful designs and this collection in particular was inspired by childhood memories of zoo outings, but I think these go a little too juvenile. The, puffy, cartoonish animals peering out look like a print you'd hang in a baby's nursery. I applaud them for trying something different instead of the chrysanthemum emblem that's usually imprinted on Paul & Joe powders, but I wasn't crazy about it. Still, I enjoyed the variety of prints on the outer packaging and that's what's most important from a display standpoint. 😉
There was a code at Beautyhabit.com for this free bag with purchase…so cute.
The prints on the lipstick cases were taken from the Paul & Joe spring 2015 fashion collections.
(images from paulandjoe.com)
Overall, the collection did not disappoint. It wasn't my favorite but it was a good solid effort, and I liked that, as in previous collections, there was a good mix of existing designs (for the lipstick cases) and completely original ones (on the color powders). I have to say that I'm even more excited for another part of the collection that's just hitting Beautyhabit now, so stay tuned for a special post on that!
I'll get to Paul & Joe's adorable owl-themed holiday offering in a little bit, but for now I wanted to share my E-bay find of one of their color powders from the fall 2005 collection. Chaussons de Dance (040) features a pair of owls perched on a tree limb against a pastel purple background.
Of course, I managed to stick my nail in the powder while taking the lid off, which explains the nick in the lower left.
I was so sad I couldn't find any images from Paul & Joe's fall 2005 fashion collection – I would have loved to see if the owls made an appearance. If anyone can find them do let me know!
For fall 2014 Paul & Joe released 10 new lipstick cases, along with new lipstick colors and several eye shadow trios. Sadly, I found the inspiration behind the collection to be rather insipid. "Paul & Joe wants to make you feel like a movie star! You'll cause a paparazzi frenzy everywhere you go in any of these Paul & Joe lipstick red carpet favorites. Paul & Joe will make you a star with these 3 eye color trio cinematic classics!" Eh. I miss the days when they actually had a little narrative for each collection. Plus, the theme of feeling like a celebrity through the power of makeup has been done to death by many brands, most notably Stila. Having said all that, do you really think I could resist any of the LE lipstick cases?
I positively loved this bird case. The illustration is so delicate and pretty, it reminds me of something you'd find on an antique Japanese folding screen.
But my favorite was the one with the beautiful Delftware-inspired pattern that included a bear and a little bird.
This pattern appeared in many of the Paul & Joe Sister items for fall 2014. I have to say that this is a rare miss for Paul & Joe. I generally hate wearing prints, but if any designer was going to make me buy a piece of clothing with a print on it it would be Paul & Joe – the ones they come up with are so unique and the manner in which they use them is usually impeccable. As I much as I adore this particular design, I think it's best left to decorative objects and not clothing.
(images from paulandjoe.com)
It also appeared on some of the men's items as well.
(images from paulandjoe.com)
It was nice to see cat-obsessed Paul & Joe founder Sophie Albou toss dog people a bone (see what I did there?) and come up with a dog print for the lipstick case, which also was used extensively in the Sister and men's collections.
(image from paulandjoe.com)
I liked the little geometric fox as well, which, again, appeared in both the Sister and men's collections. (Now here the pattern works – I would totally wear this quirky fox-printed blouse!)
(images from paulandjoe.com)
While there were plenty of new prints, Paul & Joe re-released some vintage ones as well. I was happy to see these since I don't have any of them in lipstick form. The blue and orange bird print was from fall 2003, and the yellow cat print was from spring 2005 (I only have this in notebook form). The floral print shown immediately to the left of the cat print in my picture above was from the spring 2007 collection. I do have the Color Powder in that pattern but it never hurts to have a a complete set. 🙂
What do you think of the collection?
I didn't think Paul & Joe could top their delightful yellow and grey dolphin printed blotting sheets from last summer, but their latest offering proved me wrong. How adorable are these multicolored shells sporting shapely legs?!
This print is so quirky and fun I was hoping to see it on some of the summer collection items, and Paul & Joe delivered. I'd be happy to have either of these two tops in my summer wardrobe, although I am partial to the yellow shell. I especially love the contrasting print on the sleeves.
I love how it's styled here but I would also totally wear this with white skinny jeans and flat sandals.
The shells also made their way into a anemone-laden under-the-sea-print on multiple pieces.
In looking at this dress more closely I think I need it in my closet – appropriate for a wannabe mermaid, yes? Plus I have the perfect pair of corally-red wedges to go with it. Still, I'm short so it would probably be to my ankles…but I could always get it hemmed.
(images from paulandjoe.com)
The rest of the summer collection, which has ice cream theme, didn't really do anything for me. It's a shame because it's a great idea and I could see so many cute things – ice cream cone-shaped lipsticks, little ice cream cones embossed onto powder, etc. – as a result of the ice cream inspiration. However, I think the blotting sheets make up for the lackluster remainder of the collection (even though shells have nothing to do with ice cream).
What do you think?
Top row: 024, 301, 028, 033, 042, 045, 048, 049
Second row: 050, 051, 052, 054, 053, 055, 056, 057
Third row: 058, 059, 060, 061, 062, 063
Fourth row: 064, 065, 066, 067, 068, 069
Fifth row: 073, 074, 075, 076, 077, 078
Sixth row: 079, 080, 081, 082, 083, 084
Bottom row: 088, 089, 090
It was so gratifying to finally say good riddance to winter a couple days ago. The dark era of snow, ice and polar vortexes is behind us! Today marks the first day of spring and to celebrate, I'm featuring a few items from Paul & Joe's Secret Garden collection.
I picked up the Color Powders in Dahlia (088), Azalea (089) and Amaryllis (090).
I also got the face powder – couldn't resist the nest of cheerfully chirping baby robins amidst a vintage-inspired floral background.
How cute is this puff?!
As I always do with Paul & Joe, I tried to identify the patterns on each color powder and the face powder. The pattern for Dahlia looked quite similar to the one on this dress and skirt.
Upon closer inspection of the print on a pair of pants, however, I realized it wasn't identical.
I couldn't find any match for the striped Azalea case, but I did find some horses like the ones on the Amaryllis case.
Horses and birds both made an appearance on this blouse, but none of the birds are the same as the ones on the face powder.
(images from paulandjoe.com)
Interestingly, all of these are from the brand's diffusion line, Paul & Joe Sister. Like the summer 2013 collection, this one drew inspiration not from the main Paul & Joe women's line but rather another offshoot of the company.
Overall this isn't my favorite spring collection from Paul & Joe – 2013's was lovely, and I don't think anything could match the 2012 Meow! collection – but these pieces will look nice in the Museum's spring exhibition. And that's all that matters, right? 😉
Happy spring!! Have you spotted any robins in your neck of the woods?
I realize it's only November 5th, but I wanted to get a head start on holiday goodies! So I'm starting with Paul & Joe's eye and cheek color set in Sugar and Spice.
The set contains an eye shadow duo, cream blush stick and eye gloss all in an adorable pouch featuring three of Paul & Joe founder Sophie Albou's favorite animal.
We've seen the kitty-shaped blush stick and lipstick before but seriously, how cute is it?!
While I feel like this collection was just phoning it in – there was no narrative detailing the theme of the collection, and it's certainly not as creative as 2012's holiday's collection – it was still worth purchasing. I don't think one can ever have too much cat-shaped makeup. 😉
What do you think? Will you be picking up any Paul & Joe kitties this season?
