So it looks like Sophie Albou (or the crazy cat lady, as I'm now calling her) has struck again with a kitty-themed makeup collection. To be fair, it is Paul & Joe Beauté's 10th anniversary so she should be able to use as many cats in the design as her little heart desires. What I love about Paul & Joe's makeup is the attention to detail – tiny things you might miss at first glance. This collection is no exception.
From the website: "Meow!' is a 'cat-astic' collection of colors, textures, and tones influenced by the legendary, iconic 'sex kitten' of French cinema and the beloved, whimsical feline prints cherished by Paul & Joe creator Sophie Albou."
Well, let's get to it. I bought nearly everything (except 2 nail polishes and the gel eye liner) because I know this will make an excellent capsule exhibition!
First, the "collection sparkles" component, featuring Face & Eye Colors and lipsticks.
The outer boxes feature a cat cut-out so that you can see the patterns of the boxes/tubes inside.
I adore the little bird on the lower left, although he needs to be careful – the cat cut-out seems to be inching too close!
No. 076 – Siamese, Please has a blue floral print with scattered red roses against a grey background.
With flash:
No. 077, Kittycat, has a pattern of womens' heads with red lips and dark, kohl-rimmed eyes. I like that while they compose a recognizable pattern, the faces differ ever so slightly in the shape of their features (although the fact that the heads are disembodied is a bit unsettling).
With flash:
No. 078, Purr-fect features a purple, fuchsia and white cherry blossom-esque pattern against a lemon-yellow background.
I think the pattern has the softness of a watercolor, and while it works beautifully on the eye shadow box, it looks even better rendered in blue, brown and peach on the floaty summery dress from which it originated.
(image from en.paulandjoe.com)
Anyway, back to the eye shadow.
With flash:
If I imagine it reversed, I'm finding the cats' pose to be vaguely reminiscent of Théophile Alexandre Steinlen's Tournée du Chat Noir from 1896.
(image from wikipedia.org)
The Paul & Joe cats, however, seem much more innocent!
Now for the lipsticks, the outer boxes of which have cut-outs similar to the Face Color powders, only this time the cats are turned the other way so that you can see the bow tied around their tails.
075 (Sex Kitten), 076 (Meow!), and 077 (Catwalk) each have 10 pawprints to commemurate the 10-year anniversary of Paul & Joe's beauty line.
With flash:
The second component of the Meow! lineup is the Kitten collection. Here are the blusher sticks, featuring the top-hatted, bow-tie-wearing kitten from the promo pic. These are my favorite part of the collection, as you can tell from the copious amount of pictures.
001 (Glamour Puss), 002 (Minou), 003 (Catfight):
With flash:
Four cat images manage to make it onto the Matte Pressed Powder – one on the outer packaging, pawprints on the interior of the box, a silhouette on the powder itself, and a pawprint on the puff that's included.
Here it is without the plastic overlay.
With flash:
I also scooped up a nail polish, since I couldn't resist the kitten and polka dot-laden print on the box.
The shade is 026, Kitten Claws:
With flash:
Finally, beautyhabit.com generously included this pouch featuring the same print as the nail polish boxes.
I do enjoy cats and I love all the details in the design of this collection. The company really went all out for their 10th anniversary!
What do you think of this veritable cat bonanza? Will you be buying any of it?