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?