(pictured: my only sale purchase…)
I went to Central London for the start of the winter sale on the 27th. I have to say I was quite disappointed. Usually there would be a few surprises apart from what I expected to see, so the fun was trying to decide what to buy. (Battling between budget and desire can be painful but exciting at the same time…) But this time there was just nothing.
In Selfridges Oxford Street, where major cosmetics brands often unveil their latest collections before the actual UK launch date, I happened to see YSL’s and Givenchy’s Spring 2007 Collections. Givenchy’s new eyeshadow palette looked very exciting with all the vibrant colors. But when I tested them, I found that most of them were not very wearbale. On the other hand, YSL’s eyeshadow palettes were better in that respect. Two of them featured brown tones and the other one had soft green, pink, and lilac.
What happens in most UK department stores during the sale is that some brands have items with 30-50% discounts. They are usually surplus stock or unsold limited edition items from previous seasons. They are usually placed in a small box at the counter. This time I saw YSL’s Gold Celebration Palette from 2005 (the one with a heart in the middle), YSL’s Palette Signes D’Orient (Autumn 2006), and Dior’s 5-color eyeshadow palette in 370 (Autumn 2006).
The only thing I did get from the sale was this year’s Lancome Hydra Zen gift set, which includes Hydra Zen 50ml for normal to dry skin, Hydra Zen Nuit 15ml, Hydra Zen Yeux 3ml, and Juicy Tube 7ml in Fraise. The original price was more or less the normal retail price of the Hydra Zen 50ml. With 30% off, it was a good bargain, especially when I also use the richer Hydra Zen Nuit when the weather is very cold.
Overall, this is one of the most underwhelming sale trips. But on the bright side, it is money saved for next year…
Next few days: more updates and thoughts about some upcoming stuff
(pictured: my Lavshuca items)
Hope everyone had a great Christmas.
There is an event report on Kanebo’s website about the Lavshuca Spring 2007 collection launch party. It seems to be such a glamorous occasion! I wish I could be there.
But that’s fine, as long as I can get hold of some of these lovely items. The collection includes eyeshadow palettes, single-color eyeshadows, lipsticks, and lipglosses, among other things. You can see the whole Lavshuca collection and all the new items here.
There are three things I think I will be getting:
1 lipstick (Very Anna Sui.)
2 lipgloss pen (One of the photos on the event report features the tip of the applicator, which has a cute heart shape where the lip gloss comes out. This little touch definitely seals the deal for me!)
3 eyeshadow palette (I’ll probably get the one in PK-1.)
The collection will be out on February 1 next year.
I went to Central London for the start of Winter Sale yesterday. I actually saw YSL’s and Givenchy’s new Spring 2007 collections in Selfridges. I will talk about them tomorrow.
I was on MakeupAlley last night and I came across something I was not prepared to see. Haruchan posted loads of photos (from Urb magazine January 2007) of 2007 spring makeup collections of various brands. (Usually Biteki does it on the March issue, which is why I didn’t expect this at this time of year.)
I could just feel money flying away from me as I browsed (okay, closely studied!) the photos…
I am sort of glad that there weren’t all the major brands. After all, I always need something to look forward to. It was only November (I saw the photos yesterday), for goodness sake!
There are already some stuff on my shopping list (even though I haven’t totally taken care of what is on my Christmas makeup list):
Jill Stuart eyeshadow palette 04
Lunasol lip gloss palette EX04
Anna Sui lip gloss
YSL Pure Lipstick 135
YSL eyeshadow palette 06
Estee Lauder blusher stick
For what’s new for other brands like Paul & Joe, Givenchy, Lancome, Giorgio Armani, NARS, Sonia Rykiel, IPSA, Visee, M.A.C (and many more), go to MakeupAlley *NOW*.
Thanks again, Haruchan!
Sofina is part of Kao, one of the largest cosmetics companies in Japan. It has a very youthful image. Their makeup line Aube radiates youthful elegance and the foundation line Raycious is one of the best foundation collections in Japan.
The new Aube collection includes 13 lipsticks and 5 4-color eyeshadow palettes. Similar to Kanebo Testimo‘s upcoming collection (discussed here on a previous post), the eyeshadow palettes feature tone-on-tone color selections, except for a limited edition palette, which features olive, pastel green, and soft orange.
The collection also includes mascaras, a lip base, and a loose powder. More details will be added to the Aube website later about these products.
The collection will be launched on December 13th.
Sofina is among my favorite Japanese brands as well. I will review it (especially the Raycious foundation line) on Sunday.
Japanese cosmetics company websites almost always feature their latest products weeks before they hit the shopd, which is to create a buzz and to have the fans drooling for weeks (and racing toward the shops on the launch day). (European brands please learn!!)
Kanebo T’Estimo is usually one of the first brands in Japan to launch the seasonal collection, and you can already see the whole collection on the official website, with all the other bits up on December 1st. The new collection will appear in shops as early as December 16th.
It seems T’Estimo will be going to back to tone-on-tone with their eyeshadow palettes. The blues and the greens should be soft and wearable (typical of Japanese cosmetics), and the browns should be great from day to night.
Tomorrow: YSL (the last of my three European favorites).
(pictured: my only sale purchase…)
