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Sunday, April 13, 2008

This blogger is still cranky

I haven't written much about the Summer 2008 collections. The reason is that most of them left me feeling uninspired. There's only so much innovation one can find in bronzing powders, especially when said one is quite addicted to them and already owns at least one from each major luxury brand. And as for other makeup items, we've seen (and bought) it all before.

Two companies compete for the Outrageous Award of the season: First is Bobbi Brown, queen of the limited edition palettes that end up tripling in price on eBay has gone a step further. This season she doesn't offer a palette, but a collection: a lip trio, a metallic eye shadow palette and a mini brush set (why would they put a blush brush in a collection that doesn't even include a blush or any face product for that matter?). You can have it all for $140. The problem is that it's all or nothing: you can't purchase any of the items individually, even if you really don't want or need more makeup brushes.

No, thank you.


Another "oh no, they didn't!" moment comes to you from Chanel. While there are cute looking lip colors in each of their formulas and the nail polish in Antelope is gorgeous and elegant (it's a frosted fawn color. A bit 70s, but in a very good way), I couldn't believe my eyes even when I saw Oasis, the eye shadow quartet in person at the counter. Except for the khaki, this set is nearly identical to the one from two summers ago, Gold Rush (see the second picture, yanked from an eBay auction). It's not exactly the same, but I own Gold Rush and can promise you that you don't need both. I'm all for recycling, but not of ideas. Add to that the second nail color in this collection, Flamingo, a bright pink that looks suspiciously close to Biaritz from the same summer 2006 collection. What's the point?




Now, the last annoying move (though not nearly half as bad as the two above) belongs to Smashbox. They have an eye and cheek palette that are exclusive to Sephora, but the item I'm more interested to try, the Desert Chic palette (another eye/cheek combo) can only be found online, either directly from Smashbox or on QVC. I'm a veteran blind-buyer, but when it comes to face color (unlike lip or eye products that rarely go wrong) I prefer to play with it at the store.

4 comments:

  1. Great sleuthing!!
    Well, there are as many combinations and shades one can realistically put in a palette and still aim for adequeate sales, but that doesn't justify those examples. And why would one have to fork for a complete set if they only want and need one specific item? Grr...

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  2. I'm feeling much of the same way about Summer '08 collections (down to the bronzing powder addiction!). The only thing that's jumping out at me here is the Gold Rush quartet! But it's good for my wallet that nothing's really inspiring me. Everything looks like it's too cool-toned (which I'm not) or is, as you say, what we've seen and bought before.

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  3. Personally I'm really looking forward to the Lise Watier Toscanna collection for the summer. I just had a look at they advert in a magazine and it looks gorgeous.

    Do they carry Lise Watier in the States at all?

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  4. That's good to see the difference. I have gold rush and love it, but my eye was drawn to that green. Chances are, I have something similar in the bags of stuff upstairs.

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