The Makeup Museum

MM Spring 2013 Exhibition

I'm not sure why but this spring I have bees on the brain!  It could be the lovely Chanel Mouche de Beauté powder, Marc Jacobs' upcoming Honey fragrance or these stunning images for McQueen's bee-themed spring 2013 collection:

(image from stylefrizz.com)

Or it could be the influence of the newest addition to our plushie family.  This little guy loves his honey!

In any case, I hope the exhibition gets you buzzing with excitement for spring.  Enjoy!  (And thanks to the husband for making the awesome exhibition poster!)

Top shelf, left to right.

MAC Archie Girls collection:

Stila Garden Bliss palette and Picnic in the Park trio:

Lancôme Awakening of Love Juicy Tube:

Shu Uemura Unmask cleansing oils and palette:

Second shelf, left to right.

Laura Mercier Gilded Garden Shimmer Bloc:

Sulwhasoo Shine Classic Compact:

Clinique Fresh Bloom palettes:

Chanel Mouche de Beauté:

Third shelf, left to right.

Ladurée Mini Face Trio:

AERIN Floral Illuminating Powder:

MAC Baking Beauties Pearlmattes:

Elizabeth Arden New York in Bloom palettes:

Bottom shelf, left to right.

Dior Garden Party palettes, which I neglected to include in last year's exhibition!  I meant to do a capsule exhibition with them but never got around to it.  Probably should have anchored the clutch palette on the left somehow.

Chanel Poudre Signée:

Paul & Joe Carousel Eye Colors:

Clarins Spring 2013 face palette:

Around the world with Cargo, revisited

Way, way, WAY back in early 2010 I posted about these eye shadow palettes from Cargo, each named for a different city.

(images from beauty.com)

And almost as long ago, designer discount site Hautelook had a great sale, so I picked up three of them - London, Los Angeles and Toronto:

London:

Los Angeles:

Toronto - sadly, it did not survive transit fully intact:

It's been three years and I still don't know who did the illustrations!  I'd love to know if they were done in-house or if Cargo collaborated with an artist, but that remains a mystery.  Still, these will look great in a travel-themed exhibition, especially alongside Stila's travel palettes.

Couture Monday: Pierre Hardy for NARS

This was a nice little surprise for spring - a collaboration between high-end French shoe designer Pierre Hardy and NARS.  In my shoe-buying fantasies I'm more of a Louboutin/Prada girl, but I do appreciate the architectural, geometric quality of Hardy's work (more on that later).

The collection consists of 6 nail polish duos and two blushes.  I picked up the duo in Sharks because of the beautiful lemon yellow.  I actually would not have bought it though if it hadn't been for the very clever packaging.

Once I saw that the nail polishes were arranged on opposite ends and that they came with their own tiny dust bag (just like shoes!), I was smitten.

I was too lazy to swatch these but you can find swatches here.

Here are the two blushes in Boys Don't Cry and Rotonde:

(images from narscosmetics.com)

So what's up with the 3D cube pattern?  Simply put, this cube motif has become Hardy's signature in both his fall 2012 and spring 2013 collections.  From the landing page at his website...

(image from pierrehardy.com)

...to jewelry and bags (why yes, I will take that cuff bracelet in silver and/or rose gold, thank you!)

And, of course, shoes:

(images from barneys.com)

(images from barneys.com and fashandfurn.com)

I'm still on the fence about the blushes.  On the one hand, I like that NARS didn't go too literal and just put the cube pattern on the blush rather than embossing one of Hardy's actual pieces, like a shoe or a bag on it.  On the other hand, that might have been pretty cool!  The cube pattern is great, but by itself on a blush there's nothing that denotes it as being distinctly Pierre Hardy.

In any case, I was extremely impressed by how the colors in NARS collection so closely aligned with those in Hardy's spring 2013 lineup.  The blush colors are similar to these bags:

The lavender and lemon yellow from the Sharks duo is borrowed from several pairs of shoes, including the ones in the promo image:

(image from myfacehunter.com)

And this low-heeled pump, which to my eye also looks like it contains the tan color from the Easy Walking duo:

(image from pierrehardy.com)

The duo in Venemous takes its cue from the grey and black in another cuff bracelet:

(images from narscosmetics.com)

(image from pierrehardy.com)

All in all, a well-done capsule collection.  Did you pick up anything from it?

Quick blog note

Happy Saturday!  It's been a week since I've posted anything and if you're wondering where I've been, I was visiting the merry old land of Oz - party planning, that is.  My niece's 4th birthday party is coming up and it's going to be a Wizard of Oz theme!  Since my little pea brain can only handle so many non-work activities, this week I spent the hours I normally would on the Makeup Museum at Pinterest and Etsy instead, obsessively researching ideas and starting to order party supplies.  I think I've got it all figured out, so I'll be back Monday. I'll leave you with my chief party inspiration.  :)

(image from the tomkatstudio.com) 

Curator's Corner, 5/4/2013

Some very exciting things this week!

- First, I'm deliriously happy with the news that Uglydoll will be unveiling a beauty line!  How crazy is that?  Fortunately since I employ so many Uglydolls here at the Museum they are very experienced with beauty products.   I wonder, actually, if the little scamps were the ones who came up with the idea to have a beauty line.  :)

- Other amazing news:  Remember last year when I declared a beauty emergency upon discovering my favorite perfume was discontinued and launched a worldwide search for the last few remaining bottles?  Well, L'Artisan must have heard my pleas because they are re-releasing it!!  Just for a limited time though, so I'm stocking up.

- Chanel is selling mascara via vending machine. 

- This Jezebel article about the lack of BB creams for darker skin tones is an important reminder for the beauty industry.  In this day and age there's no excuse for companies not to offer shades for non-white skin tones.  However, this article about a woman suing Lancome for their Teint Idole Ultra not lasting a full day is a ridiculous beauty complaint.  Yeah, it may be false advertising but would you really believe any foundation would stay on your skin for 24 hours without budging, especially if you slept in it? 

The random:

- Almost died laughing at this Beyonce/art history mashup Tumblr (via Cave to Canvas).

- Check out this archive of women in punk.  Very inspiring!

- Speaking of which, online retailer Moda Operandi has introduced a punk-inspired capsule collection celebrating the Met's "Chaos to Couture" exhibition (which I'm going to see in the next 2 weeks!) 

- I liked this brief article on Bart Simpson getting in touch with his feminine side.

- As much as I love lattes, I don't think I could drink these - the intricate foam decorations are too cool to mess up!

- In other culinary news, the L.A. Times has an article on the history of sriacha sauce. 

What's been catching your eye this week?