Today, thankfully, is the last day of 2016. As I like to do every year, I'm taking a look back on the prettiest, most Museum-worthy pieces of the year (along with some not-so-great ones). Here they are in no particular order.
1. NARS summer collection was definitely a highlight. Konstantin Kakanias' illustrations of oh-so-chic ladies lounging at a warm and sunny luxury resort at the French Riviera immediately brought a smile to my face…and made me want to book the next flight to Saint-Tropez.
2. These beautiful hand-made gold leaf lipstick cases from Givenchy caught me totally off guard – I was so happy I was able to get my hands on them as they are true Museum pieces.
3. The Dolce & Gabbana Sicilian Bronzer was also difficult to track down and I had a fit when Nordstrom nearly canceled my order, but fortunately they came through. The image on the bronzer came directly from D & G's spring/summer 2016 collection, which in turn was inspired by "carrettos", traditional Sicilian donkey carts painted in bright colors.
Honorable mentions include Too-Faced's Totally Cute palette (because mermaid stickers) and Chanel Ombres Lamées (so intricate, not to mention gold and shiny!)
Now for the pans.
1. You would think that Mara Hoffman's geometric, colorful patterns would work well on cosmetics packaging, but the Sephora collection just left me cold. I'm not sure why because I like her designs in other contexts, but seeing them on makeup did nothing for me.
(images from sephora.com)
2. Sonia Rykiel, one of 2016's many casualties, was an extraordinarily talented designer. It's a shame that none of her style translated to Lancome's fall collection. These patterns were just so…blah. A better way of saying that, I guess, is that they simply weren't representative of her aesthetic. Like some other fashion designer collabs, this was a missed opportunity – Lancome could have done so much more with Rykiel's impressive body of work. It's particularly surprising given that Rykiel had a successful makeup line in Japan for a number of years, so you would think there would be a little more to this collection.
(images from lancome-usa.com)
3. MAC Vibe Tribe. I don't want to re-hash this but you can read my rant here.
That wraps it up for 2016, from a collectibles standpoint, anyway…I'm too lazy to write about makeup trends from this year. 😛
What do you think of these? Are there any not on this list that you think should be? Take a look in the archives and let me know. 🙂