Etude House x Minnie Mouse Nail Polish Collection

Disney collaborations with beauty houses are quite possibly this makeup junkie's biggest weakness! Over the past years, I've fallen hard for Paul and Joe's Alice in Wonderland collection, MAC's Venomous Villains collection, and more recently, Anna Sui's Minnie Mouse makeup and nail polish collection. Items that are high on my wish list are the Sephora Disney Princess Storybooks, but I refuse to sell a kidney to be able to buy them off eBay!

When I saw that Etude House has produced a Minnie Mouse collection featuring polishes, lashes, and an incredibly cute highlighter, the Disney fan inside me kicked into overtime! The polishes, in my opinion, are the most interesting part of the collection. Let's take a look at them! 

My Lipstick Collection: Lavenders, Lilacs and Orchids

I have been an avid lipstick collector for some time now, and have what can only be described as a gargantuan collection. I have trouble remembering which exact shades I have, so I've decided to catalog them for both my pleasure, and hopefully yours! Lipstick lovers like myself love seeing swatches: it personally helps me decide on whether I actually need  or want a particular shade of lipstick. I hope you find this in some way useful!

Yesterday, I posted about Radiant Orchid being the 2014 Pantone Color of the Year, and I predicted that orchid and its neighboring shades would be big in the coming months. Well, in truth, orchid, lilac and lavender colored lipsticks have been pretty big in 2013. All of the lipsticks and lipglosses in this post have been released in this year alone. Take a look!

RiRi Hearts MAC Holiday: Bad Girl RiRi and Pleasurebomb lipsticks

This week has seen the release of the third and final RiRi Hearts MAC collection, on both sides of the Atlantic. If, like me, (and a about a million other MAC addicts) you've probably experienced a hella struggle to get the items from this Holiday launch! Like, a mountain of struggle. I think the words 'unicorn riding a rainbow' come to my mind, after the amount of sheer site-stalking, waiting in a virtual 'waiting-room' and queuing up in busy department stores I've done in the past seven days! Ah, but it was all worth it...

'My Precioussssss!'

The RiRi Hearts MAC Holiday collection comprises of twelve items, including a brush, makeup bag, and a nail polish to match the staple lipstick from all three collections, RiRi Woo. I'm not gonna show you RiRi Woo again in this post, you can read my review on it here. I am however, going to show you the two new lipsticks in this Holiday collection: Bad Girl RiRi and Pleasurebomb.

Bad Girl RiRi

Pleasurebomb

How gorgeous is the white and rose gold combo packaging? I love it! I even prefer it to the Fall packaging, which was all rose gold. Bad Girl RiRi is a rose toned nude with a matte finish. Pleasurebomb is a vibrant fuchsia with a matte finish. Both these lipsticks had a flawless application that was smooth and fully opaque in two swipes. They wore on me like regular MAC matte lipsticks; up to four hours, with fading after the third. It is noteworthy that Pleasurebomb left a slight stain on my lips up until I washed my face. 

Swatches in direct sunlight

Bad Girl RiRi 

Pleasurebomb

I really like Pleasurebomb, but I have a feeling that I could probably find an inexpensive dupe for it either on the highstreet here, or in an American drugstore. Bad Girl RiRi on the other hand is unique, especially to my lipstick collection. I very much doubt that I'd find a pink nude that suits me as much as BGRR! I'm glad I managed to score myself a backup. I pretty much refreshed the Nordstrom about 100 times in one night just to get my hands on it, but it was so worth it. Look, over there! Is that a unicorn riding a rainbow? Haha. 

Have you battled online or instore to bag yourself some RiRi Hearts MAC Holiday goodies? What did you pick up? Is there anything you wanted, but couldn't get your hands on it? 

Pantone names Radiant Orchid Color of the Year 2014

The color authority Pantone has chosen Radiant Orchid as the successor to this year's color of the year, Emerald. I personally love jewel-inspired colors, especially in a nail polish, but when I saw Radiant Orchid, I gave a squeal. You can probably understand why when you see this!

How unbelievably gorgeous is Radiant Orchid?!  Here's how Pantone describe it on their website: 'Radiant Orchid blooms with confidence and magical warmth that intrigues the eye and sparks the imagination. It is an expressive, creative and embracing purple—one that draws you in with its beguiling charm. A captivating harmony of fuchsia, purple and pink undertones, Radiant Orchid emanates great joy, love and health.' 

What does this mean for us makeup and beauty junkies? Well, you can expect to see Pantone's Color of the Year influencing our makeup bags quite heavily in the upcoming months, with the imminent arrival of Benefit's latest tint; aptly named Lollitint, and in the new Dior Trianon Spring makeup collection.

I personally cannot wait to see what Sephora and Pantone create together, if they team up like in previous years! Radiant Orchid has already got me longing for Spring!

MAC Stroke of Midnight: Violet lip bag

The MAC Stroke of Midnight collection is part MAC's Christmas offerings, comprising of eye kits, palettes, and lip kits. The violet lip bag was the only kit on my shopping list, and here's why: DARK DEED lipstick! Yep, the beautiful brown based berry lipstick that was first promoted in the Venomous Villains collection three years ago has been repromoted! *skips for joy*

That said, there isn't much violet happening in this lip bag. Let's have a look:-

MAC Violet lip bag

MAC Dark Deed lipstick

MAC Art of Seduction Cremesheen Glass

MAC Vino lip pencil

The only item in this lip bag that's even remotely violet is Vino lip pencil!! Dark Deed is a browned burgundy with a micro fine blue shimmer (enlarge the pictures to see the shimmer, its gorgeous.) Art of Seduction is a milky nude gloss with a micro champagne shimmer. Despite it quite clearly not being violet, it does co-ordinate beautifully with both the lipstick and the lip pencil. Vino is an old MAC favorite of mine, and is a staple in my makeup kit. 

Swatches L-R: Vino, Dark Deed, Art of Seduction.

Here's all three layered. I must admit, it took a while for this look to grow on me! 

MAC violet lip bag 'look'

What did you guys pick up from MAC's seasonal collections? Coming up, I have a few items to show you from the Divine Night collection!!