As with last year's holiday exhibition I had difficulty trying to determine a cohesive theme. There was a ton of great releases this holiday season but they were all over the place – the usual blingy gold was trotted out for a number of items, so I thought maybe I could go that route, but there were a number of artist collabs that and other things that didn't quite fit with that. Plus I had included a fair amount of gold for the holiday 2013 exhibition, so I scrapped it. I just wanted a unified way to work in every item I had purchased for the Museum's collection this season, but it was proving far too complicated for my feeble brain. Then I came across this exhibition and figured if doing a simple "recent acquisitions" exhibition was good enough for an Ivy league school, it was good enough for the Makeup Museum. I also did a very cursory google search and to my great relief, found that many museums usually have a "recent acquisitions" exhibition on display at any given time. While it feels like I'm phoning it in rather than coming up with a truly creative theme, lots of museums engage in this practice so I'm trying not to feel too bad about it. And if you look at the older exhibitions here, recent acquisitions (mixed in with a few other existing items from the collection) were basically all I did for the seasonal exhibitions, so in a way I'm returning to my humble roots.
Anyway, that's enough blather. I hope you enjoy the exhibition!
Top row, left to right.
I was searching for vintage Christmas makeup ads and fell in love with the cases pictured in this ad. Needless to say I'm working on tracking down every single one. I have 3 so far and several more in the ad are available for sale, so hopefully eventually I will have them all. *rubs hands gleefully in anticipation* Since they're fairly common they're not that costly either – I think the most I paid for one was $15, and the most expensive one I've seen was about $45. This is definitely a doable acquisition.
Couldn't get the darn ad to stop curling up but didn't want to put even more holes in the wall to keep it flat, so curled it stays.
You've seen the LM Ladurée brush holder from the Museum's Black Friday smackdown, but here are the other items. Isn't that leg-shaped gloss totally bizarre? I do love it though precisely because it's weird and also because it's perfect for the holidays in that it resembles the famous leg lamp from A Christmas Story. In actuality, LM Ladurée claims the legs are "modeled after the beautiful legs of Merveilleuses." Mmmkay.
I felt so bad cramming all of the items onto one shelf but I really wanted them all together and felt like I couldn't NOT display all of them.
The Shu Uemura x Murakami items:
One of Suqqu's 2 holiday sets. I really like the work of the jewelry designer they collaborated with. 🙂
Second row, left to right.
There were so many holiday collections I didn't get a chance to cover before I posted the exhibition, one of which was the Dior Splendor collection. I hope to get to this collection and other ones shortly…when I do I'll add the blog links. 🙂
Marcel Wanders for Cosme Decorte:
Guerlain Météorites Perles de Légende…didn't write about this one either. I also just realized I completely forgot to include a print out of the gorgeous promo image that accompanied the collection. #exhibitiondesignfail Well, maybe I'll update it after the holidays.
The amazing Clé de Peau collection in collaboration with Ashley Longshore…too bad I couldn't fit everything on one shelf! I did consider doing 2 shelves to fit the whole collection but that would mean abandoning other items I wanted to include, so ultimately I made peace with not having the whole collection on display.
Third row, left to right.
Maquillage Snow Beauty compact:
Estée Lauder Wish Upon a Star compact:
YSL Sparkle Clash edition Touche Eclat and Lancome Petit Trésor eyeshadow…I REALLY wanted the Sparkle Clash lipstick but it sold out in minutes. I had Sephora notify me when it was restocked and missed it a second time, that's how fast it went!
Bottom row, left to right.
I love this 1942 Coty Sleigh Bells compact! I came across it last year but held off purchasing it for some unknown reason, so I made sure to snatch it up this year. This particular one was in great condition a – a little pricey but worth it. Unfortunately I couldn't track down the original ad so this is a printout of an image I found online.
Ah, the precious Givenchy Le Rouge Kyoto lipstick cases. I believe this is the first time I put them on display. I added the more recent Prisme Libre loose powder since I think it was designed in collaboration with the same artist who created the lipstick cases.
Kanebo Milano 2017 compact…so feminine and pretty as usual.
Finally, the divine Chanel Ombres Lamées:
So that concludes the holiday 2016/winter 2017 exhibition. Shine bright and be cozy!