Musings of a Muse

I got my Jill Stuart Christmas Coffret a few days ago. I had promised myself I wouldn’t bother with it but I must say I am happy I went ahead and purchased it because it’s quite gorgeous!

My favorite item out of the gift set is the very cute satin pouch it came with! It’s really roomy and just gorgeous for storing little treasures in! I love this!

The coffret isn’t anything to write home about to be honest. It did include some great items but it’s nothing you absolutely need so if you missed out buying this rest assured you’ll be fine and won’t die of lemming. I promise.

The set also included Shimmer Tint Face Gloss which is scented with a beautiful rose. The gloss comes in a mirrored compact that slides easily opened and closed. Very nice item but pointless a bit as it’s a balm and I don’t particularly care for using balms on my face.

Jill Stuart Shimmer Tint Face Gloss

The lipgloss included is a gorgeous shimmering red color which is quite nice. Packaging wise it’s very beautiful with the standard jewel look of all Jill Stuart glosses. As I said the color is gorgeous but I’m slightly worried about the applicator. It comes with a sponge applicator but it doesn’t appear to pick up much product upon first look! This remains to be seen as I have to smooth some on my lips before judging fully!

Jill Stuart Lipgloss in Rose Gleam

You’ll also get a cuticle oil which also comes in the gorgeous Jill Stuart packaging with the gem encrusted topper! This is something the Muse can really use as her cuticles are in terrible shape in the winter!

Jill Stuart Cuticle Oil

Another favorite of mine is the scented choker! It’s quite a nice choker and they give you plenty of ribbon with it so you can tie in snugly around your neck with a bit hanging down for a nice effect! It’s quite a pretty piece!

And finally last but never least would be the Brilliance Eyes Palette in the special Christmas packaging! This is a lace palette with ribbon and quite lovely! If you’re a collector of the Brilliance palettes this will be something you’ll definately appreciate! I somehow fail to get excited about these palettes as the colors tend to leans towards the same thing over and over. The only colors in this palette that really shout at me and are “new’ish” would be the pinky rose color and the bright yellow. The other two shades are similar to what I already have in previous Jill Stuart palettes. This is not to say that the palette isn’t lovely because it truly is but I do wish that they’d release some newer shades!

Jill Stuart Brilliance Eyes Palette Christmas Edition

Overall, a beautiful Coffret from Jill Stuart this year but I’d say you can safely skip it unless you’re a die hard collector and fan! It’s beautiful yes but nothing to get too hyped over!

Talk about late right? But I guess what they say is true better late then never!

I’m sorry for my rather delayed McQueen impression but other items took president and I never got around to reviewing McQueen!

But have no fear! I’m here now!

So…..McQueen………….sadly I have to say it’s nothing to get too excited about!

Aside from New Vegas a majority of the collection didn’t excite me! The glosses and lipsticks were a big no for me as most of the colors are nude and I just can’t pull off the mod look of nude lipstick! Sorry MAC!

The paint pots are virtually the same colors as the shadows so I skipped those as well sadly! I’m not a big fan of the paint pots anywhere so passing these by wasn’t too big a chore!

The eyeliners were gorgeous but I have just a bit too many liners at the moment so again I passed on those!

So what did I get?

I got the eyeshadows but I’m not particularly wow’ed by them! The colors are brilliant and quite gorgeous but they are very matte and I’m not a huge fan of matte! I did purchase these because I had in mind that the shadows would make a good base for a pigment color so that’s one use for them! Can you skip these? Yes I believe you can. A majority of the collection is still in stores (New Vegas is sold out at most counters and freestanding stores) so you can definately wander over and decide if these are for you but personally aside from the great packaging (which sells these) the shadows aren’t something you absolutely need unless you’re a big lover of mattes or a big collector of MAC.

New Vegas is most definately the gem in this collection as I had previously discussed! Now you’re going to get a few people and MA’s telling you that New Vegas is similar to all sorts of MSF. Shimpagne, Global Glow, Etc… But that’s just no the case at all. New Vegas is an utterly and completely unique color for me. It’s a very light gold and quite beautiful. How it’ll look on my skin remains to be determined as I haven’t yet tried it but it’s quite a gorgeous shimmering gold affair that I’m loving. Out of all the golds that have been released this is probably the truest light golden color of them all. Most are bronze or tannish with hints of gold but this is a true gold color that I’m just loving so if you can still locate one do drop it in your cart for a purchase!

Overall, as I said, the collection isn’t all that fantastic! I personally did without a majority of it (a first for me as I’m MAC mad).

Did you get any of the collection?
Love it?
Hate it?

Tell me!

I fear my curiosity got the better of me and I had to go sneak a peek at the Bobbi Brown Pink Quartz Shimmer Brick. On seeing it in person I, of course, fell in love with and had to have it so somehow it ended up in my cart (that happens alot! Stuff randomly falls into my cart without me even realizing it! Honest!). I have a love/hate relationship with shimmer bricks but I must say that the Pink Quartz did tickle me as being quite gorgeous so it suddenly became a must have for me upon seeing it in person!

I originally thought this would be a very light shimmering pink but I was completely wrong. It’s actually a bronze, dark, dusty pink that shows up quite nicely on my cheeks! You are getting some softer pink tones but the darker browner pinks are dominant in the palette. I don’t normally like bronze colors of any tone or shade but these are quite lovely together! Of course, like almost all Shimmer Bricks you’re getting no color! I normally jump around in excitement when I see a darker Shimmer Brick in hopes it’ll work as a shimmer and a blush but sadly that’s not the case! It’s not nearly pigmented enough to work solely as a blush so you need to use this over your blush as a highlighter! I tried it on my bare face and it makes me look silly but over blush it makes my face light up and sparkle!

The palette itself is the standard Limited Edition palette which consists of a black case, goldish bronze lettering on the front, and the gold surround inside the compact. I love the LE cases as they are a bit more glam than the standard Shimmer Brick compacts!

Overall, for $38 I’d say it was something you should consider picking up! It’s quite inexpensive for the price and if you’re absolutely a HUGE lover and collector of Shimmer Bricks you’re going to want this really badly!

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I’ve done first impressions on both the Gold and the Platinum Collections that Bare Escentuals introduced and now I have the Classic Rock Collection which is more of a sparkling white diamond in comparison with the silver and gold of the other collections! If you missed either of the posts about the other collections you can click here and here to view them!

This collection is quite nice but a bit smaller than the others as it doesn’t contain nearly as much product and goodies as the others do! I’ll be doing a comparison post of all three sometime next week but this definately contains a considerably amount less product than the Gold and Platinum Kits however it is still nice.

The first thing that deserves mentioning is the Buxom Lip Gloss included with this kit. Bare Escentuals must be listening because they have changed the applicator on the Buxom Lips from a sponge to a brush. Many complaints have arisen about the Buxom Lips being a great product but the sponge applicator wasn’t distrubing enough product and you would be triple dipping to get enough gloss to apply on your lips. Well, have no fear, this Buxom Lip Gloss has a brush applicator and makes application simple. It’s entitled Dominique and is a gorgeous clear gloss with a ton of sparkle. Our other two sets did not include a gloss but a lipstick. While this failed to include a lipstick the gloss is gorgeous enough to make up for that!

Dominique Buxom Lip Gloss

YAY Out with the Sponge Application and in with the Brush Applicator!

This set included two brushes instead of the normal three as seen with Gold and Platinum however they brushes are far more prettier than those collections in that they have a cute little rhinestone on the handle! You get a Flawless Face Brush and a Tapered Eyeshadow Brush with this kit! Both are pretty soft and I haven’t seen any shedding yet after applying blush with the Flawless Face Brush this morning! So far so good!

You also, like the Platinum Collection, get a Beautifully Luminous Mascara Duo. If you’re worried about getting repeat products when purchasing both sets you can rest easy knowing that both sets are dramatically different color wise. Where as the Platinum Kit contains a silver Beautifully Luminous Mascara this kit includes a sparkling white one! You can read my review on Beautifully Luminous Mascara by clicking here.

The Diamond Gossamer included with this kit is a gorgeous sparkling white color! They recommend using the Gossamer’s as a body powder for arms, legs, cleavage, etc…I personally like using it on my eyes, face, and body! It’s possibly my favorite Gossamer aside from the gold that was included with the bareGold Kit!

Classic Rock Eyeshadow is a sparkling silver color much like the silver color that was included with the Platinum collection but it is a bit lighter so it’ll be nice to use both in a look for contrasting!

The blush you’ll get is called Laughter and is a peachy color which is very nice! I fail to see too much diamond sparkle in it though! It appears quite matte to me but it’s still a nice color.

Nice Rock Glimmer is a sparkling chocolate brown and you can most definately see the touches of diamond powder in it! I’m eager to give this a try!

And finally you get a cute little white clutch which I’m in love with. The other two kits did not include clutches but instead sturdy boxes to store your bits in! However, I am loving the clutch as it’s quite lovely!

Overall, the collection is quite nice but I’m happy I didn’t pay the original price tag of $59 for it. It’s a nice set but the shadows included just don’t seem to match up in my eyes (silver and chocolate?!?!).

There are definately some plus posh items in the lot such as the gossamer and clutch plus the brushes but it still fails to give me that WOW that I’m looking for!

It’s definately a nice gift or for yourself but don’t pay $59 for it! Nab it now while 20% at Sephora is still ongoing so you can save a few bucks on the kit!

Nice but no wow factor!

The Muse likes it but felt it was missing something!

Got it?
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Tell me!

I’m celebrating Halloween a month late as I just now received my lot of Ghost Shower Gel from Lush UK (I should add that it’s no fault of Lush UK that shipping took so long! I was participating in Lush Retro Races and my Ghost order was part of my Retro Race order thus the wait time!)! You may remember me previously blogging about this if not you can always take a skip through my past and click here to read all about Ghost prior to reading this review!

If you’re a fan of Lush Cosmetics you might remember a little cult item called Skinny Dip from ages past! Ghost quite reminds me of Skinny Dip with a bit of a twist! Skinny Dip was luscious, thick, creamy, and gorgeous and much to fans dismay, discontinued (as you become more and more of a Lush fan you realize how much hoarding and stashing large quantities of Lush away is essential to survival! Because once it’s gone it’s a difficult time mourning the lost of a hair product, bath bomb, or other essential item that you may use from day to day and suddenly have disappear!). If you suddenly develop a case of the lems for Skinny Dip you can always get it in it’s new form as a Buttercream but I will tell you the Buttercream is nothing like the original, gorgeous shower gel which I still mourn to this very day! I secretly believe that Mark decided to axe Skinny Dip because it had a tendency to go bad after 6 months or so (at least for me it did! I’d be the one that was stashing bottles of Skinny Dip in my fridge to keep them from going bad before I could use them! Later on in life I may (or may not) admit to purchasing a mini fridge to store all my Lush in but that’s a story for another day!) instead of it’s year expiration date but he’ll tell you it was because it wasn’t popular!

Anyway….I guess that was a rather long eulogy about my love affair with Skinny Dip and at this point you might very well wonder what I am on about! Well…Ghost is much like my beloved Skinny Dip and I’m so happy I did a nice large order for it! I ended up purchasing 5 bottles because I had figured if I hated it at least it would make great swap bait on MUA!

BOO!

But swap bait be damned it’s now a part of my beauty vault as it’s wonderfully delightful! I was somewhat worried about the “scent of lillies” in a shower gel but to my delight it does somewhat smell like an offbeat Skinny Dip version! It’s quite milky, creamy, very, very very thick and just yum all the way around! When I say thick I’m talking about taking the cap off and putting the bottle over your head top side down and watching how it doesn’t slide out of the bottle at all! It doesn’t move! Magic my friends!

Yummie Ooey Gooey Ghost!

Now this is just from sniffing it in the bottle mind you! I’m not sure if the smell will be better or worst once I use it in the shower but I think it’s safe to say that this will turn out for the better once I lather up with it!

All in all I should have never been worried about Ghost not being a fabulous product because really it’s rare I run across something Lush puts out that isn’t blessedly wonderful! The only disappointing thing about Ghost would be it’s 250ML size (8.4oz)! I’d rather have had the 500ML (15oz) size offered at a bit more on the price tag but sadly I guess, for marketing purposes, they settled on making it in 250ML size! It’s ok I still heart it!

Cheers to Ghost! I think I might hop into a shower right now just so I can use it!

Got it?
Tell me what you think!

Need it?
It’s gone from both Lush US and Lush UK but you can always check E-bay or MUA!

Tell your Muse what you think if you ended up purchasing it!

Here’s a few more items that I purchased with my Friends and Family order discount! The Vincent Longo Diamante Quad’s in Roja and Cassini!

These are fabulous and I’m well and properly chuffed that I put these in my shopping cart when ordering. These are regularly $40 each but I paid $32 after the discount!

I already own a few of the Vincent Longo Wet Diamond Eyeshadows and adore them so having a palette of four shades is thrilling your Muse!

If you love shadows that have major fall out these be the palette for you! They contain a huge amount of shimmer, sparkle, glitter, and shine! They also happen to be super pigmented! Add that all together and it equals a must buy for me!

The colors in these palettes are all yummie and range from darker for a smoky eye look to lighter for a nice soft look!

When creating these I don’t think they had any plans for combining all four shades into one looks but have no fear you can do some pretty gorgeous looks just using two colors or even one!

Cassini contains a gorgeous shimmering purple, an elegant sparkling black, a beautiful beige and a softer shimmering pink!

Roja contains two beautiful bronze colors (one darker than the other), one darker pink and one lighter pink!

I find Roja has the best complimenting shades as you can do nice contrasting eyes using the two bronze/copper shades in the palette or the two pinks!

I’d say it’s a great bang of shadow for your buck whether you are paying the original $40 or the discounted price!

The Muse most definately approves!

Cassini

Roja

I got my Sephora Friends and Family order a few days ago and inside lay my gorgeous Night Series Palette from NARS! Oh My! This is beyond yummie my friends and well worth the money!

I had blogged about this previously and must take back any bad thought I had about it! The palette just looks boring when you view it online! It looks matte and unexciting and just not something that I must have! So really when I originally seen it pop up on Sephora I just passed over it really quickly and chalked it up as rubbish that I didn’t need!

However, upon seeing it in store I fell in deep lust and it ended up on my WANT, MUST HAVE NOW list!

The palette is $55 regularly but I got it for $44 with the 20% discount. $55 may seem a bit much but if you break it down it’s less than $10 per a shadow which is a pretty good deal! I must say that I prefer paying $44 for it in comparison to it’s original price tag of $55 however I’d pay the regular price if I had to because the palette is most definately a high quality item in my humblest opinion.

The palette contains a favorite shadow of mine which is Night Star! I love this shadow! It’s an understated gold sparkle affair that is fantastic as a base or all by itself.

The rest of the shadows I don’t have but all of them are gorgeous. One of which I’m deeply in love with is the Night Snow which is a gorgeous shimmering white sparkle that’s going to be absolutely perfect for many great Holiday eye looks!

Other shadows included are Night Fever which is a black with tons of red glitter, Night Clubbing which is black with gold glitter, Night Rider which is purple with silver glitter, and Night Fairy which is lilac with gold glitter!

I love the two blacks in this palette because the shimmer has totally transformed the colors from being basic black to something completely WOW!

Overall, the palette is most definately on my awesome list! I’m completely loving it and it’s Muse approved for sure!

Have it?
Love it?
Want it?
Hate it?

Tell me! I’m curious what you think!

Yay! I got my Lavshuca Holiday Palettes today! These actually arrived I think Friday or Saturday but I was unable to collect them until today from the post office

They are now in my greedy, sweaty little hands and I couldn’t be more pleased!

Lavshuca Winter Make Palette in 01


Lavshuca Winter Make Palette in 02

The palettes came in the cutest little gift box and if you happen to have a Japanese cosmetic lover in your life these would be the perfect gift!

They come packaged in separate parts. One part is the empty compact and the second part is your lipgloss, eyeshadow, and applicators. I assume that they package the parts separately for beautiful display reasons, it also keeps things nice and tidy during shipping, and finally it’s just good, old plain fun to put it all together into the compact yourself!

The compact isn’t a hard shell it’s a durable cardboard which may sound worrying because you might be thinking this means it’s on the cheap and shoddy side. Fear not! The cardboard is quite sturdy and not cheap in the least. It’s covered in either a pink or gold foiling depending which color you end up purchasing with the lovely Lavshuca emblem on top.

Inside there are two separate spots for the sponge eyeshadow applicator and lipbrush on either side with the eyeshadow and gloss smack in the middle. The Lavshuca emblem again graces the inside top of the palette.

I haven’t yet tried any of the colors but from what I can see the strip of eyeshadows are quite shimmery and gorgeous and I’m hoping it isn’t a spray of glitter but a sparkle straight to the core. You’ll also receive a sparkling lipgloss and a matte lipcream.

The size of the shadow strip is a tiny bit disappointing because it’s really NOT a whole lot of product but if you generally collect tons of palettes and shadows you won’t mind too much because chances are you won’t go through this very quickly! However, if you don’t own a ton of different shadows and you’ll be using this daily chances are you’ll get through it very quickly as it’s not a whole lot of product!

I have to say that at the moment I find them both very pretty but I do favor the 02 palette better than the 01.

02 eyeshadows consist of a white shimmering gold color, a shimmering yellow gold, and a shimmering brown with gold specks. The gloss is a sparkling golden brown color while the lipcream is a orange brown. Layering the gloss and lipcream will surely make a striking combo!

01 is just as pretty and consists of a shimmering white with, it appears, to me, pink, a shimmering pink shade, and a darker purple. The gloss is a sparkling pinkish purple affair while the lipcream is rosebud pink.

Overall, I’d say they are most definately worth a pick up! The Lavshuca Winter Make Palettes are Muse Approved for purchase!

Do visit PJ to see A Touch of Blusher’s impression on these palettes you can also visit with RF at Make Up & Stuff and see some more about the Lavshuca’s Holiday Palettes!

Love ‘em?
Have ‘em?

Tell me!

There is some slight confusion about Stila’s newest trios and palette in regards to where these actually came from!

These are advertised as “Asia” only but for the record I don’t think they have ever graced the beautiful shores of Asia!

From what I have gathered they were more along the lines of “Asian” inspired and not Asian Exclusive. If you didn’t already know Asia has it’s own little niche for the Stila market and the Stila girls are somewhat alive and kicking within Japan however they are no longer here on the shores of the US. The general impression when the palette and trios were released was that “wow we are getting some Asian exclusives” when the actually case is “wow we are getting some Asian Stila fan “inspired” goodies”.

So don’t ask me what it means to be Asian Stila fan inspired because I haven’t a clue! I’m taking a wild guess that the beautiful girls within Asia were wanting these colors sold in a trio or a palette and thus the Asian “exclusives” (I use the term exclusive very lightly) palettes were born or we can stop making this complicated and just say they look like Holiday palettes to me!

Anyway that’s all rather long and boring but the good news and the non-boring news is that your Muse has nabbed all of the Stila offerings and is here to review them!

The first and my personal favorite would be the Belle of the Ball palette. Yummie is an understatement my friends. First of all let me say I am so pleased to see the Stila girls gracing these packages that I am beyond myself with excitement (it’s the little things that get your Muse excited).

I should mention that this palette is absolutely, positively, amazingly gorgeous! It has 4 perfect shades of glittering, shimmery, yummie, pigmented eyeshadow! It contains a shimmering white, a shimmering aqua greenish color, a shimmering gold, and a shimmering darkish sky blue. You wouldn’t think “holiday” upon seeing these at first but I’m slowly thinking of fantastic ways to use these for the holiday season and hey they’ll make great Spring and Summer colors too!

If you’ve been debating on this for a bit I’d say do yourself a big favor and grab one while they are still in stock! This one, in my humblest opinion, is too good to pass up!

Next up the Eyeshadow Trio in Cool. Cool is nice and pigmented and all the good things you’ll find in a Stila eyeshadow however it’s not a must have. It’s got three gorgeous shades that aren’t overly shimmery which disappoints me. You’ll get a soft lavender, a dark blue, and a creamy white and if you’re like me you’ll basically sit for a while and ponder over how these colors go together. Sigh. Dontcha just hate that?

It’s a nice trio all together and I’m glad I purchased it but it’s not nearly as nice as The Belle of the Ball palette and it can be skipped unless your a serious Stila collector.

Another trio for you but this time in warm colors. Another miss on this in my opinion and unless you’re a collector you can sincerely and seriously skip on it. Warm comes with a peach, beige, and a brown color all of which are kinda boring in the shimmery department. These aren’t exactly matte but they aren’t exactly shimmering shades either. Definitely pigmented that’s for sure!

And lastly a Blush Duo in Peach & Pink. Another you can chalk up to as very nice but nothing to get too excited about! Both shades look a bit on the sheer side, I haven’t yet tried them so I’m not sure. Very nice shades but they might not completely work for my skin tone we shall see!

These are all beautiful items and if you’re a Stila collector you sure are going to want all of them for sure! But if you aren’t so keen on Stila I’d most definitely get my hands on the Belle of the Ball palette as it’s a keeper and a really beautiful palette!

Overall, it’s nice to see the Stila girls gracing the packaging again and I’m loving all of these but the only must have in the lot would be the Belle of the Ball palette!

Have these?
Want them?
Tell the Muse!

The Muse has an angel that takes very, very good care of her! When the Muse needs her Japanese fix the angel is always around to get what is on the Muse’s wish list (I’m very lucky to be blessed with wonderful people in my life!)!

Today I got a gorgeous package that I have holding my breath waiting for and inside were two items that were most definately on this Muse’s wish list!

Kesalan Patharan French Couture Eyeshadow Palettes!!!!!!!!!!!!

I’m quite pleased with these and I’m happy I ended up purchasing them as I wasn’t sure at first if they were worth it. I’m happy to report that you should snatch these up before they are gone for good!

Out of the entire collection of French Couture nothing else appealed to me aside from these two palettes but at first I was somewhat skeptical if they were worth a purchase but my mind was quickly changed when my sweet mate Iris said they were most definately worth getting!

The palettes are available in two flavors s005 and s004 (someday I’m going to convince the Japanese to stop naming palettes with numbers and letters! It’s bloody confusing!) . The shadows inside are three strips of shimmering color that range from dark, medium, to light which means you have just about everything you need within this compact to create your eye look!

My favorite of the two would have to be s005 which consists of a shimmering gold, a shimmering brown, and a gorgeous peach color. s004 is equally beautiful and includes a shimmering silver, a deep shimmering purple, and a lighter purple.

S004

S005

Of course the Muse in her sick, twisted little mind doesn’t want to use them at the moment because of the beautiful design imprinted on the middle powder! It’s a swirling flowery affair that will be ruined once you dip your brush into it. Le sigh the life of a cosmetic junkie is sometimes too stressful!

KP has outdone themselves with these very sweet palettes and I’m just enjoying looking at these at the moment and thinking up exciting eye looks to create!

The palettes are available for $55SGD and 3,990yen so I’m happy to report that the import of these to Singapore hasn’t caused too much of a price jack and the palettes are respectfully a few dollars off (for us yanks that’d be $37USD and $34USD).

I have other KP shadow trios and I do like the line of shadows from KP as they are quite pigmented but I do feel they are slightly chalky in texture and rub off a bit easily. These are the first really pretty shimmery shades I’ve seen from KP and I’m enjoying the novelty of them!

Overall, if you have the means these should most definately make an appearance on your wish list!

Now the Muse’s angel always spoils her and she also happened to included an awesome KP makeup bag for me which I’m utterly loving at the moment! It had a cute mini KP brush set inside too! Plus another cute Stila Girl makeup bag in pink The Muse loves pink! Having good friends around that take such lovely care of me always makes my day!

Ok, MAC Addicts.

It’s that time you’ve all been waiting for

The Muse’s haul is very tiny, actually, it’s bigger than I originally thought it would be!

This morning I was fairly sure I was going to end up with one palette but, of course, like the diseased cosmetic whore I am, I ended up purchasing three of the four Royal Asset Palettes.

Unless you’re as diseased as I am you only need one of the Royal Assets palettes in my opinion. This only applies if you are up to date with MAC Formal Black Holiday Collection 2006. If you didn’t partake of Holiday palettes last year this year is a good time to nab very similar palettes as 2006′s releases!

I’m not sure what I think of the actual compacts yet. I’m sorta of loving them and I’m sorta hating them. They are very nicely made. Very classy, worldly, chic but they may have a little bit of an underlay of cheap. I’m not sure what exactly it is that’s turning me off but I feel a little cheap going on here. So, right now I’m in a love/hate relationship with the actual style.

Contents are typical MAC eyeshadows that are very, very similar to Formal Black!

The Muse took the guess work out of this for you and compared the palettes side by side. The only palette I totally skipped out on was the Smokey Eye because it wasn’t even close to last year’s in beauty! It was actually quite blah! The colors seemed all matte to me and not as beautiful as last year’s smokey palette! The good news is that I highly recommend nabbing the Royal Assets Metallic Eyes palette as that appears to be a bit similar to last year’s smokey palette!

Let’s review. I ended up getting the Cool, Warm, and Metallic Eye palettes.

Metallic Eyes

Cool Eyes

Warm Eyes

Few differences in last year’s palettes and this years! Here we are comparing the warm palette from this year (on the left) to the warm palette from last year (on the right).

Royal Assets Warm Eyes Palette vs. Formal Black Eyes Warm Palette

I don’t have the names of last year’s shadows sadly. It’s not listed on the box or the insert and the Muse is a bit too lazy to look it up on the internet So I’ll give you a run down of the names of this year’s shadows and compare them to last years!

Royal Assets Warm Eyes Palette Eyeshadows:
Sunday Best (this is replacing a lighter gold color. It’s nude with a bit of a frosty shimmer to it)
Star Voilet (this is replacing a copper color. It’s not nearly as nice as last year’s color. It’s a matte light brown)
Club (this is replacing a beige gold color, last year was a nice color but this year the color is even better! It’s a nice shimmering gold)
Showstopper (This is a bluish brown color and replacing a caca green/brown color from last year! I’m not sure I like this color! Prefer last years!)
Nobility (This is matte dark brown color! Very blah! Last year was a lighter chocolate matte brown! Neither is pretty in my opinion)

I’m comparing Formal Black’s Smokey Palette to this year’s Metallic Palette because 1. I didn’t get this year’s smokey palette as it was too blah for me to bother! And 2. These are a bit similar in color!

Formal Black Eyes Smokey Palette vs. Royal Assets Metallic Eyes Palette

The Metallic palette is definately a keeper! The colors are very workable and in my opinion it’s the best palette in the lot of the four that were released! It quite reminds me of last year’s outstanding smokey eye palette! Again, I don’t have last year’s color names as they aren’t listed so I am going to do a quick rundown comparison.

Royal Assets Metallic Eyes Palette Eyeshadows:
Honey Lust (This is nothing like the nude color that’s included with the Formal Black Smokey Eye Palette! It’s a gorgeous shimmering gold!)
Silver Fog (Silver Fog is a silver white shimmering shadow that’s very similar to what was included in last year’s palette! Last year it was a bit of a darker silver shimmer.)
Stately Black (This is a light copper shimmer that’s slightly similar to the brown shimmer we got but not quite the same!)
Velvet Lady (Nothing like the smokey eye palette this is a beautiful dark blue with silver shimmer!)
Creme Royal (Again nothing like last year’s color! This is chocolate brown with an almost iridescent green too it)
Manor (Black Tied was included with the Smokey Eye Palette and this is quite similar but has much less silver than Black Tied and is much more subdued!)

I made a mistake and had to edit this! Sorry Thanks to the reader that pointed out my error! This is a comparison between Intense Eyes from Formal Black and the Cool Eyes from Royal Assets! Cool eyes last year is a bit similar to the Royal Assets version however I find that Intense Eyes from Formal Black was more on the same base as this year’s Cool palette!

Formal Black Eyes Intense Eyes Palette vs. Royal Assets Cool Eyes Palette

Royal Assets Cool Eyes Palette Eyeshadows:
Shadowy (This is a very light pale pink! Last year we had no light pink color like this.)
Silverwear (This is a frosty matte silver! Again, nothing like this!)
Modern Heir (Light Fuschia pink. Last year we had a similar pink but a bit more dark.)
Queen’s Jewel (This is a light off purple color. Last year we had a true purple color in the cool palette)
Medellin (Very similar but minus the frost. This is a matte dark chocolate color)
Trophy (An iridescent bluish color, nothing like last year’s palette)

Formal Black’s Intense Eye palette had much more POP! to it! This year the colors are nice but not nearly as beautiful as the previous palette which had a beautiful aqua, green, purple, etc….This year many of the shadows are a matte frost texture and not nearly as shimmery.

MAC Royal Assets Palettes

Metallic Eyes, Cool Eyes, and Warm Eyes

Overall, it’s a nice collection but nothing you have to have unless you’re a serious MAC addict! I do suggest grabbing the Metallic Eye Palette as it is quite gorgeous! The rest I advise leaving and saving your money!

The lip palettes are nice as well but they weren’t so appealing I had to have them so I skipped! Brush sets are very pretty as well but nothing I don’t already have.

A good collection for new MAC users or people that skipped out on the Formal Black collection.

Count the Muse as being a bit sad and depressed that the collection didn’t completely knock her socks off!

Oh well we have the Stylists collection to look forward to right?

MAC Antiquitease Color popped up in stores today and of course the Muse walked as fast as her little legs could carry her to get her haul of Antiquitease goodies!

The entire collection is quite lovely with very few misses and quite a few hits!

MAC Antiquitease

I ended up purchasing the lot of mineralized shadows duos, one lipglass, one lipstick, all the pigments, the new fluidline, and a plushlash!

The shadows are stunning and these are as great as the Flashtronic shadows (sorry I had a brain fart while filming the video and I had said the last shadow collection with mineralized shadows was Rushmetal! Apologies I had meant Flashtronic!).

Almost all of the shadows have a gorgeous bold silver veining that runs through the shadow and have quite a dose of shimmer. I’ve already applied some on my eye and that silver veining contains quite a healthy pop once your brush connects with it! Gorgeous!

Mi’ Lady appears to be my favorite of the bunch so far because of it’s ultra bold red and purple coloring. Yum! I’m eager to create a look with this! Don’t let the red fool you though as the color actually shows almost orange on the the eye! It’s very interesting color!

Mi’ Lady

Family Silver is going to a be nice base shadow or highlighter for me as the colors are lighter in this shadow as compared to the others in this collection.

Mineralized Eyeshadow in Family Silver

Silversmith and Engaging are both beautiful colors as well. Silversmith is a wonderful duo of silver and gold while Engaging has a very pretty peachy pink color and a bronze.

Mineralized Eyeshadow in Silversmith

Mineralized Eyeshadow in Engaging

The only duo that has me wondering whether I am loving it or not is Earthly Riches. It’s a bit of a darker duo and I’m unsure how it’ll look but I grabbed it anyway at the risk of it selling out before I can make my mind up (I can always swap it off later if I hate it!).

Mineralized Eyeshadow in Earthly Riches

The star of the lipglasses and the lipsticks were the too outrageously bold red colors offered which were Red Romp and Queen’s Sin. I’m not one for red lipstick but Queen’s Sin was calling my name when I laid eyes on it! It’s quite a nice shade of red and perfect for the Holiday Season! Royal Romp is going to look amazing over it! I was in high debate whether to grab the Royal Romp Lipglass because it reminded me so much of Boundless In3D lipgloss but turns out that Royal Romp is a more subdued maroon when compared to the brighter, truer red of Boundless!

Royal Romp Lipglass and Queen’s Sin Lipstick

Royal Romp and Boundless (You can see the difference between the two)

The pigments are all quite nice and I’m loving Your Ladyship best as it reminds me of a beefed up Provence with tons more shimmer.

Gold Stroke is a nice brown with bits of gold swirled in. The website says it’s bits of red but I’m seeing gold. Sweet Sienna is a grey color with silver shimmer and again I have to disagree with the website as it says it’s a brown color with grey pearl but I don’t see any brown in it!

Your Ladyship, Gold Stroke, and Sweet Sienna

Finally I grabbed Uppity Fluidline which is gold in color. This will make a great base color and is perfect for the holidays and will look great combined with some of my other gold collections!

Uppity Fluidline

Overall, I’d say the collection is utterly wearable and very pretty! I’m loving all of it! I did skip on many of the lipglasses and lipsticks because they were just too nude in color for me so those in my opinion aren’t worth the purchase however everything else is a go and the Muse says get to your counter and grab some of this before it’s gone!

The holiday collections are full on and more collections will be popping up very soon! To keep you nice and organized here’s what you can expect from MAC in the next few weeks:

Antiquitease: Heirloom October 25th
Brush Sets
Eyeshadow Palettes
Lip Palettes
Heirlooms Brush Box
Keepsake Kit

Curiousitease November 15th
Various small pigment vial sets, lipglasses, eyeliners, etc…all in mini form.

Antiquitease Finery Novemver 21st
Kits that include lipglass, two lipsticks, and a pouch

Visit Janice at Specktra Blog for all the latest and greatest information about color stories coming up!

MuseTV Presents: MAC Antiquitease Color

(If the video doesn’t work right away please allow time for processing and check back in a little while!)

I have to say that it’s been a long while in between collections that have wow’ed me.

As much as I adore cosmetics I can’t honestly say any collections from the past few Holiday seasons have really knocked me back. Last year Givenchy’s Christmas collection was gorgeous but nothing that I got insanely excited over. MAC’s collection last year was lovely as well (and this year) but again nothing to make me bounce off the walls! Of course I always look forward to the Holiday season to see what will be released and this year there is no exception.

Two collections have not failed to wow me this year and I’m pleased with both and can highly recommend them to you.

If you’re on a tight budget this year or just not looking to spend a whole lot on cosmetics my personal picks of the season would have to be from Guerlain and Givenchy’s line up. They have truly out done themselves. You can see the Givenchy Holiday Collection by clicking here.

Now…

On to the good stuff

Givenchy brings us Diamonds but Guerlain went for a completely opposite effect. Guerlain brought us the gold.

My collection arrived in the mail today and to say I’m excited would be an understatement. The collection is beautiful and this is truly something you’re going to want to add to your cosmetic stash if you’re serious (and have a passion) about owning some seriously posh makeup items.

The star of the show is Forever Gold of course. A radiant shimmering gold powder for your face and body housed in a gorgeous vintage style perfume bottle. The powder is amazingly soft, silky and just pure perfection. I was slightly discouraged after hearing there was only .35oz in the bottle but it didn’t prevent me from wanting this. Of course seeing pictures that look larger than life probably have you skeptical about its size or at least I was worried about it. I purchased this quite blindfolded without seeing it in person but really its a spray bottle full of gold shimmering powder how much more do I need to know before saying I WANT THAT! I expected to be disappointed and even set myself up for disappointment. I had convinced myself that it would arrive and be the size of a nail polish bottle or smaller! I was shockingly delighted to see that it’s much larger. It’s about 1.7oz in size (50ML) which is fantastic because you can sit it on your vanity and convince yourself that 1.7oz’s of the most gorgeous shimmering powder awaits you (when in reality you’re only getting about .35oz or less of powder).

Would I recommend this?

Of course. No question about it. If you have the money to spend on it I’d highly recommend nabbing it. I haven’t even sprayed the bottle yet and I know how gorgeous it is. I can only review this from the stand point of ripping off the protective label on the sprayer. The label had a quite a large bit of powder on it. I’m, of course, on protective mode so the general idea of spraying this and wasting any is a big no no right now. However, I took the label and rubbed it on my arm and the shimmer is outstanding on this. I’m not entirely sure I can get away with actually spraying it on my face but it’s going to make my eyes pop and my cleavage will thankfully be shimmering gold in color this Holiday Season!

I’m worried that the sprayer will clog up but aside from that the entire package is just beautiful and if you want to spoil yourself this holiday season do consider grabbing this!

The second item I got is the Ombre Eclat Duo and Liner. The compact is a heavy gold with pretty white snowflakes on the cover. It comes encased in a velvet bag and of course is a magnet for fingerprints. The two shadows you’ll receive are a light shimmering white gold color and a deeper gold color. Both appear very pigmented but I can’t say for sure yet. The liner seems slightly out of place as it’s a bronze brownish color but I believe it could work well with the two eyeshadows. If you’re a serious collector you’re going to want to add this to your stash for sure. It’s very pretty. The compact is just gorgeous and of course the makeup that lays within is equally outstanding!

What would a Guerlain collection be without Meteorites? For the Holiday Collection and keeping with the gold theme, Guerlain gives us Gold Temptation Meteorites. The box is gold with an identical snowflake image as the Ombre Exclat Duo and Liner compact. For some odd reasons the meteorites appear just a bit smaller in this box than the normal size ones but that’s ok it makes for easier application in my opinion. They are highly shimmering beads of a beige gold color. Again, perfection.

Lastly I ended up with the Gold Lash Top Coat Mascara which is a golden coat to apply over your mascara. Again, fitting with the theme, the casing matches perfectly with all of the pieces in the collection and is gold in color with the snowflake emblem. The applicator is brushless so you’ll be slipping this across your lashes after mascara application to add a shimmering shade of gold to your lashes! Very, Very nice!

Some items I didn’t get were the lipsticks and gold gloss all of which were lovely but not something I absolutely had to HAVE. One item I also couldn’t even begin to think about affording was the pressed meteorites powder. At $155 the price tag screamed at me to say absolutely NOT! However, my lovely friend and reader, Betsy, pointed out that it is refillable so it’s not entirely a bad deal but still sometimes the Muse has to know her limits and a $155 palette is a limit she can’t reach even if she wants it badly!

Overall, it’s very difficult for the Muse to pick out one or two must haves from this collection because they are all simply stunning. As much as I adore the Givenchy Collection I’m loving (and possibly favoring) the Guerlain Collection.

If you’re on a budget I’d highly recommend removing yourself from any department stores that may contain a Guerlain counter. Because you’ll see all of this in person and most definately have a hard time saying NO!

The Muse strongly recommends selling off a kidney, a child, or a soul on E-bay (you know I’m kidding of course!) to nab yourself this glamorous collection!

Hello There!

Well it’s quite dark out and quite cold (38 degrees) and the Muse thinks that Friday night is best spent home in her warm, cozy bed with her powerbook tucked safely on her lap and Torchwood playing on her telly (God Bless the man that made Tivo otherwise the Muse would be unable to rewind and hit pause on scenes that contain John Barrowman in all his glory).

While the Muse catches up on episodes she missed what better way to spend some of her time then blogging about her favorite topic…..Cosmetics

I had mentioned I ordered the Tarte We Wish You Wealth Palette for a friend this week and it arrived just today tucked safely in a Sephora box with a bright red ribbon tied around it!

Many of you asked after this palette and wondered if it was worth purchasing and if I was going to purchase it, etc…

This is not on my wish list and I won’t be purchasing it however I can give you my first impression from viewing my friend’s palette and let you know if I think you should or should not get it.

First of all obviously if you’re a Tarte fan this is of course on your wish list and by default you’re in want mode. If you’re not a Tarte fan or never purchased Tarte prior to this I’d say here’s your really big chance to nab something that Tarte is virtually giving away for free (it’s that cheap! In price not quality!).

There is ALOT of hype around this palette and if you happen to spend every waking moment (or some waking moments) on MUA you know how crazed people are about this. It’s gathering a cult following and it’s reaching Sephora Blockbuster Palette heights (you remember that drama last year don’t you?! No? E-mail I’ll happily provide you with the delightful details).

Now the hype is there for obvious reasons and that would be price, quality, quantity, and of course obsessive compulsive cosmetic collector’s NEED (I have this disease).

First of all price. The palette is $52 and with that amount you get yourself quite a stash of delightful goodies to play with. Let’s discuss quantity and what you’re getting for your $52 bucks.

Here’s what’s inside the palette:
16 brand-new eyeshadows (Full Size)
16 brand-new lipglosses
4 gel eyeliners
4 cheek stains
3 24/7 lip sheers
Eyelid primer
Luminizer
Eyeshadow & eyelining brushes

Now if you take 16 and you multiply it by $17 each per a shadow you come out with the grand old total of $272. Tarte is basically giving you $272 worth of shadows in this palette. They want to be nice to you this holiday season it seems. The colors aren’t particularly eye popping but they are soft and shimmering shades that can create a perfectly elegant look. So you’re getting 16 eyeshadows plus they decided to throw in a buncha of other awesome stuff.

Ok so the thing that caught my eye was the lipglosses they are perfectly wearable and quite gorgeous shades. Can you count to 16? That’s what they slapped in here. 16 glosses to go with those 16 shadows I just mentioned!

The rest my friends is just bonus material. Cheek Stains, Eye Liners, and more await you in this palette.

I’d say you can create quite a nice group of looks just using the one palette all year long! I have tried Tarte shadows and I can report they are pigmented, I’ve tried their glosses as well and can say those too are of high quality. I’ve tried many Tarte products and all are good solid products so the quality is there in this palette for sure!

Overall this is a sweet palette however it does have it’s faults. I’m not loving how it opens.

It slides open on a slant and folds back. And I think this has the potential to make a major mess sadly. All I can say is if you get it use caution when opening and closing it.

The design of the case is pretty gorgeous. It’s quilted and deep, dark purple in color. Beautiful really. I’m duly impressed at the small size and all that’s tucked inside of it.

One tiny stupid pet peeve would be that they only included one sponge applicator for the eyeshadows. Sheesh couldn’t they throw in like 6? 3 on either side or something? What the heck can you do with one?

I also picked up the We Wish You Happiness Mini Cheek Stain Kit with this (Again, not mine for a friend) and I’m so chuffed at the cute box these come in. It’s purple and quilted too and goes fantastic with the We Wish You Wealth palette! It has a gold snap, large mirror, and will be a perfect little case for carrying around makeup and other bits! This is the best case they have done with the minis! I’m really loving this guy.

Overall, I’d say this is a perfect gift for someone or for yourself. It’s ALOT of bang for your buck and well worth a purchase.

I’m personally not getting one because it’s not something I’ll make proper use of. My eyeshadow tastes run to the more extreme and as much as I am loving the glosses it’s not worth the price for me to just use the glosses! If you’re a great lover of highly shimmering shades of color than this isn’t for you. The eyeshadows do contain some shimmer but not enough to make me want them!

If you’re wanting this I highly suggest nabbing it now because if the hype continues I imagine you’ll wake up sometime at the end of the month or middle of November and see it out of stock, never to make a reappearance! Gone, disappeared, finished. And you’ll sadly hang your head and cry that you have to fulfill your need by purchasing it on E-bay for triple the price! Personally everyone is going to be reaching for this during the Sephora Friends and Family discount or at least a majority of the masses will be so don’t expect to wait till then to get it. If you’re REALLY wanting it, get it now before it’s too late.

The Muse most definately recommends it for purchase!

Enjoy the pics (apologies but I kept the protective film on the palette as this isn’t mine and I need to take special care of it for the special person I ordered it for!)

Tarte’s We Wish You Wealth Palette and We Wish You Happiness Mini Cheek Stain Set

16 Full Size Eyeshadows

16 Luscious Lipglosses (My Favorite Part of the Palette)

4 gel eyeliners, 4 cheek stains, 3 24/7 lip sheers, Eyelid primer, Luminizer, and eyeshadow & eyelining brushes

Palette Fully Opened

Tarte’s We Wish You Happiness Mini Cheek Stain Collection

Santa cutie, fill my stocking with a duplex and cheques! Sign your ‘x’ on the line! Santa cutie, and hurry down the chimney tonight!

Come and trim my Christmas tree with some decorations bought at Tif-fa-ny! I really do believe in you, lets see if you believe in me!

Oh my I got a bit carried away there! I was feeling the Christmas spirit as I ripped (and bit) through the fedex box that arrived on my doorstep from Saks today!

Inside was Givenchy’s Diamantisimme holiday collection! Oh my the very my! Just the pick me up I needed today!

I ended up getting all of the collection aside from the nail varnishes.

First off, which I’m sure you’re all dying to hear about, would be the Prisme Solitaire Precious Diamond All Over Powder.

What’s to say really?

It’s perfection. The box is too cute for words! It’s in the shape of an engagement ring box(could possibly be more exciting than a ring lol) and inside is the most precious, glittering, shimmering powder I’ve ever had the pleasure of laying my eyes on.

It’s perfectly fantastic that it’s multitasking as both a face, body, and eye powder. I love multitasking products and this is no exception to the rule.

The powder is slightly grainy in texture and that, my friends, does not bother me one bit.

I think I can safely say this may not make it onto my face! Bit to discoball in effect but my eyes and cleavage will thank Givenchy for such a perfect powder full of gorgeous bits of silver and white shimmer!

The powder is of course pigmented so it’s not going to take a whole lot to make you look gorgeous!

The only difference with this palette is there is no where to store the brush it comes with. Givenchy palettes and powders always have that nifty little bottom chamber to tuck your brush under but this sadly lacks that. The brush comes in a velvet carrying case but can’t be stored in the palette or on top of the powder. I don’t really mind because the cute ring box is adorable and totally makes up for the fact that you can’t store the brush inside it.

Next up the Crystal Pop Gloss which is equally gorgeous as the powder and full of lovely shimmering bits and pieces to keep me delighted all holiday season long! Two colors are available which would be Pure Diamond and Fancy Diamond. I’m loving the Fancy Diamond the best of the two. it’s a lovely shimmering pink shade. The Pure Diamond is a clear gloss with silver, white, and tiny specks of pink shimmer!

Beautiful just beautiful!

According to my MA at Saks the Captiv’ Eyes Mascara is a hot seller and only three were left! It looks like an amazing mascara. It’s black with tiny specks of silver shimmer in it. Whether or not the silver will show upon application remains to be seen but it sure does look pretty!

I purchased the Rogue Interdit in Rose Desire as well but this purchase was a bit blind folded. I’ve only seen photos of the collection and this item looked the least appealing! But at the risk of missing out on something major I told my MA stick that in the bag too please. I should have waited and seen it in store because it appears it’s a bit too “mod” pink for me. It’s a matte pink color and it has that weird “mod” look to me. A la Twiggy. Anyone know what I mean? I’m in high debate whether to try it or return it. If you’re ordering online don’t bother with this until you’ve seen it in store to determine if it’s the right shade for you.

Last but never least would be the Lash Sparkles! Ok I’ve seen images of this as well and wasn’t sure about the application on it but assumed it would be like the Dior Lash Pearls from Christmas ’05 (Believe it was 2005 correct me if I’m wrong) and even thought I knew what to expect I’m still a tiny little bit disappointed. Application is a brush wand (instead of the plastic applicator like the Dior Lash Pearls) where you twist up and the product disperses on the brush. I always, always find these difficult to work with because too much product pushes into the brush and causes a major mess (and waste). I haven’t twisted it up so I can’t tell you how these are yet. I’m sorta at that stage where I’m being maternal towards the collection and whispering to it how pretty it is while stroking it lovingly. I don’t yet have the nerve to twist because I’m worried about product waste! As soon as I go to wear these, you my friends, will be the first to know and see what the product looks like!

The Lash Sparkles can be used two ways which would be brushing them on to encrust your lashes with sparkle OR applying from the brush onto the tips of your lashes to create a beaded look. This is a nice option as the Dior Lash Pearls only gave you an option to create a beaded look due to the applicator which is to say that the Givenchy Lash Pearls from last year allowed you to do both, brushing and beading!

Dior’s Lash Pearls (This too makes for tricky application! But I think that the Givenchy Brush could save me waste as compared to the Dior Lash Pearls because once it’s twisted the product has no where to go! At least with the Lash Sparkles it can be disputed on the brush and sort of saved!)

Givenchy Lash Pearls Holiday ’06 (These are by far the easiest to use and I loved this entire package! I wish the new lash sparkles came the same way!)

Overall this collection is stupendous and just gorgeous!

If you’re on a budget I’d grab at least the powder, mascara, and lash sparkles. If you’re not I’d say grab it all!

Does anyone have the collection? What are your thoughts!? Comment box open and at the ready!