It’s the most wonderful time of the year! For holiday makeup releases that is! September marks the start of a four month build up to Christmas as all the beauty brands launch their holiday collections. And, no different than years past, I am SUPER freaking excited for it all!
I’m going to walk you through what I’m interested in, what I think is bad, and what’s downright boring. Let’s go!
The Good
Let’s start this off with the item that I am THE most excited to get this year – the Too Faced Gingerbread Spice palette! This only got previewed about two weeks ago and it’s already launched… but only in the US so far. I’ve been trying to get my hands on it in Canada, but Sephora doesn’t yet have stock just yet (and it’s killing me). The colours are freaking stunning (although I had thought the deep fuchsia was more of a red in the original photos I saw), and it’s supposed to smell like gingerbread! I love their Gingerbread Man Melted Matte from last year, so I’m so happy they’re going down the gingerbread path and making more things in that vein. I cannot WAIT to get my hands on it! (If you’re in the US, you can already pick this up at Sephora!)
I cannot get over Too Faced‘s holiday Melted Matte releases – they make me so happy! I have Melted Candy Cane from 2016, Gingebread Man from 2017 and now I MUST own all four shades in their “The Sweet Smell of Christmas” collection. Each one smells different! Pumpkin Spice! Sugar Cookie! Cinnamon Bears! Hot Buttered Rum! I’m also happy to report that these come in mini sizes. I’m at a point in my life where I no longer need a full size lip product, so this is perfect for me! Sadly, this isn’t available in Canada just yet (again… dying over here), but if you’re in the US you can snag this sweet set for only $25 USD! (BTW, I’m taking a pass on Gingerbread Girl Melted Matte just because I don’t really need another full size lip product, and I love my Gingerbread Man from last year – which they actually re-released this year!)
Do I need these Too Faced mini palettes? Surely not. Am I going to get them? More than likely! The Tickled Peach palette hopefully smells like the original Sweet Peach scent (my favourite!), and the Sugar Cookie one? I mean… how am I supposed to resist this??
WOW! I only just saw this Laura Mercier palette come out of nowhere in the last few days and I’m intrigued. Her formula of eyeshadows is one of the best on the market, but she tends to create muted shades that fit more into the neutral side of things. When I saw this Hidden Gems palette I was blown away – there’s some legit colour in there! I’m not totally convinced I NEED it yet (and there’s potentially too much shimmer), but I’m going to see what the price is at IMATS Toronto (coming up this weekend) and/or wait till the November Sephora sale to potentially pick it up. This palette is already out at Sephora if you’re interested though!
I do NOT need more highlighters, but I find it hard to turn down BECCA highlighters in itty bitty packaging (which is a far more reasonable amount of highlighter than the enormous ones we all keep buying). This is the BECCA Mini Macarons set, and by some miracle I don’t have a single one of these shades! The four piece set comes with Opal (yes, I’m the last person to own this shade), Vanilla Quartz, Rose Quartz and Prismatic Amethyst. For once a practical set without a repeated shade (for me) – dead pleased with this one!
Whoa Bobbi – where have you been hiding these shades? I’ve never EVER been intrigued by Bobbi Brown‘s makeup… until this launch. Just LOOK at those REDS! The Bobbi Brown Infra-Red palette speaks to me on a different level and I’m curious to try out the formula of their eyeshadows!
The Bad
I can barely believe I’m putting this Urban Decay Elements palette under “The Bad”, but here we are. At a surface level I should frigging excited about this – it’s a rainbow palette and I *love* rainbow palettes. But… and this is huge for me… there is not even close to enough matte shadows in here. This palette becomes nearly unusable by itself for me because of that and I find that very frustrating when the palette is so enormous to begin with. I think there’s two, maybe three mattes in there, and given how many shades are in the palette, that just isn’t enough. I loved the concept of it, the colours, even the awkward layout was kind of intriguing… but I’m becoming a bit more discerning with my makeup over time and the lack of mattes in this palette is making me put my foot down and say “no” to it.
What the fork happened here? Ugh. When BECCA sneak peaked the front of their Volcano Goddess palette I was SO EXCITED. Look at that beautiful rainbow of colour on the palette cover! I thought they were finally putting out a beautiful rainbow eyeshadow palette! And then a week or so later they released a picture of the inside and I’ve NEVER felt so deflated by a makeup product in my entire life. It’s pretty much a neutral palette with… a red-ish shade, and a blue. I can’t believe what a let down this item ended up being. How could they release that outer packaging knowing that the inside was going to be bland as all get out?I want absolutely nothing to do with it. 🙁
What the hell happened here, ABH? My god, it looks like this palette is practically in greyscale! It’s like they sucked the life out of the Soft Glam palette, accidentally dropped in a poppy-red shade they’d discarded from another palette, named it Sultry (?????) and called it a day. This is HORRIBLE. I rather think NOT, Anastasia.
The Boring
I’ve got a lot of Too Faced palettes, and many of them are holiday launches, but I’ve felt for a little while that they’ve started to become rather redundant and are more for makeup newbies than they are true makeup enthusiasts. The Too Faced Under The Christmas Tree set is basically a repetition of shades I already have from the brand so I don’t really need these sets anymore. They’re fun to look at, and great for a beginner in terms of variety, but as someone who has all of these shades already (in my like… 40 different Too Faced palettes) this set isn’t vital to me. (And the same thing applies to their Dream Queen set and the Beauty Day Dreamer set.
I’m still trying to process what to do with Kat Von D‘s revelation that she’s an anti-vaxxer and won’t vaccinate her child when they’re born. I think that’s absolutely fucking CRAZY not to do that… like it really is bat shit insane to think that you know better than a doctor. But does that make HER a bad person? Not necessarily. So while I’m currently struggling with this internal dilemma on whether or not I want to give money to someone who has vastly different morals than me (and I do really freaking love her products and still wear what I already own), I’m happy to report that her holiday 2018 collection is boring me to absolute tears. The Fetish eyeshadow palette is nothing noteworthy as I find the shades far too muted overall. I’m not interested in a blush palette from her, so that’s out of the question for me. The only thing that might’ve swayed me was if she released another set of mini liquid lipsticks like she’s done the past two years (see the 2017 lineup here and the 2016 lineup here), but this year she isn’t doing that – instead opting to release four full size shades in a pack. I’m grateful that I’m not interested in any of it so it gives me a bit more time to determine if I even want to continue to purchase from her anymore. (I’m mostly hopeful she’ll see the light about vaccinating and will do it in the end…)
Urban Decay really isn’t hitting the right notes for me lately. Their latest addition to the Naked line is Naked Cherry… and I’m just so disappointed in it. Concept-wise, I liked the idea. A cherry palette would be great! And heck, the packaging is pretty too. But the shadows? I’m getting flashbacks of Naked Heat and I don’t think there’s enough variety amongst the shades. Not to mention… THERE IS A SERIOUS LACK OF RED IN THERE. For a palette based on cherries, they could’ve done more than whack in some mulberry-pink tones. Where is the RED, Urban Decay? And don’t try to tell me Devilish and Young Love cut it… because they don’t. The promo shot above shows more red, but I’ve seen the palette open in many other photos and they are WAY more pink. This is like Naked 3 2.0 and I’m not having it.
Phew okay… that’s it (for now). Let me know what’s piqued your interest this holiday season!
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I literally agree with every single thing in this post – like literally every single product. Also, I’m with you on the KVD anti-vaxx dilemma… but I think that I’ve ultimately decided to not support her at all. I’ll probably keep using what I have of hers because it’s wasteful not to, but I don’t wanna give my money to someone who uses her platform for something so dangerous.
I know. I wish she’d just kept that information to herself without blasting it everywhere. Her influencing others to believe like her is a really, REALLY horrible thing. 🙁
Oddly, I’m not excited about the gingerbread palette but I think the mini TF palettes are adorable! I am also very interested to see the Laura Mercier palette in person because I can’t find a review or swatches anywhere and I’ve been curious since I saw it on the website. I’d love to know what you think if you do get to see it!! As for the Bobbi Brown – let me tell you that it does NOT look like the picture in person and I think you’ll be disappointed. It was one of the (very) limited items they had at our Rouge event and it was brown – not red! Granted, I didn’t swatch it but I was mad, lol. I want her purple toned palette that is the same size but am worried that the colors won’t be the same in person and I find that really frustrating. I’m really curious about the new nude and editorial palette in the Sephora pro line and also looking forward to the Kevyn Aucoin nude pop though some recent swatches make it look darker than it looks in the pan.
As for KVD…. you said my thoughts exactly but I don’t think I can support her brand. If she had made the choice for herself and didn’t use her platform to influence others, I might be okay. Even though I completely disagree with not vaccinating kids and the absolute bullshit spewed by some about them, I can certainly agree that each person has to make – and live with – their own choices. But it is the influencing of others that really made me say no to anything further from her line.
I’m trying to figure out why the mini Sugar Cookie palette doesn’t seem to be available on Sephora. I can see the mini peach, but not the cookie one! Argh!
I just saw Temptalia put out a review of the Laura Mercier palette and her review wasn’t stellar, although the colours did look interesting. That being said… I think I have all of those shades in other palettes and nothing is quite grabbing me about it now – especially since there’s just really not enough mattes in there to begin with.
YOU WERE SO RIGHT ABOUT THE BOBBI BROWN ONE OH MY FREAKING GOD! What the hell happened??? How could they call that Infrared? It’s not even a DULL red? It’s just brown. Frig, I am so disappointed. I really wanted to love that one and try out her products and now I’m just like “yeppppp typical Bobbi Brown”. I’m even more turned off the brand now. Frig.
You’re right about KVD – make your own choices, but don’t use your power to influencer others in that respect. UGH.
There’s a few releases that I really like that are only available to VIB Rouge right now, grrrrr. I definitely like those Becca Macaroons and want those. There’s also a Cover FX drops kit that I want sooo bad. TF Gingerbread just looks so yummy, but I don’t think I need it. However, the Candied mini palette looks good! I may want that one. And I don’t think I could resist those mini lippes! OMG so cute and I also prefer mini lippies! And I also actually like Naked Cherry! LOL. None of the Naked’s have ever appealed to me, but I love the colors of this one! I don’t use reds, so that wouldn’t bother me. I think it just comes down to what appeals to each person. I think the ABH is actually nice (I like these colors) but I just don’t need it. I will agree with you that I don’t think it’s especially unique. I have the TF White Peach and it’s similar I think. I’m not paying $60 for this basic ABH one!
I can’t wait to see more releases!
I was interested in the Cover FX drops kit as well, but I decided to ignore it because I just don’t reach for my liquid highlighter enough. I LOVE their highlighters though – I’ve got two of them – but I never think to reach for them!
So I just got the Urban Decay Naked Cherry in PR and I was like “oh my god”, because I had just written up this post slagging it off! I am curious to try it, and I really do hope I love it!
OH and as for KVD, I agree wholeheartedly. I’m at a crossroads between, she’s free to do as she wishes, and it’s bloody ignorant and I won’t support it. At first I didn’t balk at it, but she’s being going a little weird with more than a few things, and I don’t buy her stuff anymore. And the anti-vax movement is so ridiculous and irresponsible. I just can’t, in good conscience, support anyone who is on that side. Which is too bad because her Lock-It Concealer is the best for my skin. Oh well. It’s not like there aren’t a bazillion other makeup companies out there! I would actually really approve if Sephora stopped selling her stuff and instead looked into one of these other companies! Like that will ever happen …
It’s so, SO ignorant. And yet the worst part is she think she’s enlightened! Like what in the hell, lady!
I’ve had the exact same debate with the whole KVD revelation because her brand is one of my absolute favourites and I never really followed her all that closely on a personal level. But.. it’s still SO disappointing. I am still processing it as well.
I felt the same way about the ABH Palette until I saw the swatches Norvina posted (granted they are probably heavily edited). I do love cool shades as much as I love warm shades so I think I’ll have to see it in person to make a call on it. It might be too close to the Urban Decay Naked Smoky Palette though aside from the random pop of colour. I am glad they ditched the velvet packaging that is impossible to keep clean though 😂
I’m not sure which holiday releases I’m particularly jazzed about yet. I’m trying my best to not buy makeup right now and it’s so. damn. hard. AHHHH! Worst time of the year ever to try to save money.
Robyn recently posted…5 Lipsticks I’ll Have in Heavy Rotation This Fall
Yeah it’s a lot to deal with with her. I just wish she hadn’t said anything. Using her platform to promote that is awful. Ugh.
Honestly, the ABH palette is great for the long-ignored cool-toned lovers out there. You’re so right about it being similar to UD’s Naked Smoky though! Wow – I never drew that comparison but you’re bang on!