You guys, I keep forgetting that I wanted to show you the pretty colors I wore for the family Christmas meal. For the Holiday season, Estée Lauder introduced the Limited Edition 'Extravagant Pure Color' Eyeshadow Palette in "Extravagant Gold", along with its companion lippie, the 'Pure Color' lipstick in "Extravagant Berry".

Now, the great thing about this palette is that while it may look very neutral, it is enhanced with golden flecks that makes these colors something special. I know I always want to dress up for special occasions, but rocking a dark smokey eye just wasn't fitting for the family dinner. So, with the golden shimmers to warm up the colors, this bold neutral (oxymoron?) fit the bill. And with just a touch of the v pigmented lippie, I was set to throw down the dressing. (*What? It's my favorite dish.).

Now, I know these were part of the Holiday 2010 collection, but I checked both esteelauder.com and nordstroms.com and they both still have the palette ($42) and lipstick ($22) in stock if you want to grab them - or check your local counter as they may still have some, too.

*Disclaimer: I received these products from their PR for editorial consideration.

MAC has just released a new collection inspired by the extreme beauty of the lovely peacock, called "Peacocky" (*yes, not so creative with the name, right?). While it may be considered 'small' by only having two products - a new lipstick/lipgloss combo called "Kissable Lipcolour"and new shadows called "Mega Metal Shadow" - the number of colors in each of them is big and varied - there are 12 lippies and 15 shadows.

I gotta say I like the feel of the lipcolours, but I was more drawn to the shadows. I like the kind of irridescent quality they have, and they feel very silky, imo.

What do you think about the colors? Anything pop out to you? Lemme know what, if anything you pick up - I wanna know if any of you are adventureous enough to get the blue lippie & make it work!

*Disclaimer: I received these products from their PR for editorial consideration.

Clarins knows that the Holidays is the time of year for luxury and extravagance. This holiday season they are giving us a glimpse into the "dramatic, daring and sensual style of the baroque period" with their "Barocco Holiday Colour Collection".

This limited-edition collection includes 4 pieces in packaging that is described as "a precious, jewel-like decoration inspired by the delicate work of a goldsmith". (*Check out that pretty glossy white gold case on the eyeshadows over there.) The pieces are:

• Barocco Face Palette: A soft, light compact powder with a scroll motif in peachy-pink and sandy-beige. The combination of the two shades is perfect for illuminating the face or adding matte touches to the complexion. ($55USD)
• Barocco Shimmering Gold Powder for Face and Décolleté: An elegant black and gold powder box holds little nuggets dusted with golden pearl. With a sweep of the puff, they release a fine powder to beautifully enhance the skin with sparkling reflections. ($35USD)



• Barocco Eye Colour Trio: A trio of shades that create the perfect smoky eye for day and night with these ultra-fine textures that can be combined, layered or blended together for perfect holiday makeup. Create a wash of bronze to enhance the eyes, black to define the eyelids and gold to catch the light and brighten the inner corners. ($40USD)



• Barocco Rouge Prodige: The purple velvet drapes of the Baroque period are the inspiration for the colour of this lipstick. The rich formula combines long-hold colour, extreme shine and total comfort. ($24USD) (*I almost think I could pull this berry-ish red off.)

Does any of this decadence tempt you? Lemme know if you pick any (all?) of these pieces up.

*Disclaimer: I received the eyeshadows in a giveaway goodie bag from BeautyBlitz.

"Black Friday" isn't all about getting up in the middle of the night to fight the crowds for bargains - this year it is also about the new limited-edition MAC collaboration with Trinidadian Hip-Hop Diva, celebrating the release of her new album, Nicki Minaj called "Pink Friday".

This vibrant pink, satin finish lipstick was designed by Nicki herself and she says her inspiration was:

"This shade is similar to the one I've worn for years by MAC (*Pink Nouveau) but with a little extra ZING! I wanted a color that represented female empowerment as well as euphoria! The color makes you feel free to rule the world. Its sexy, yet fun! It pops! Its theatrical! It turns heads! No matter your age, Pink Friday makes u feel like you're the life of the party!

And, to make this lippie even more special, it's available for purchase *only* on "Black Friday" (November 26th) and the following three Fridays - December 3rd, December 10th and December 17th on the MAC "Pink 4 Friday" page for $14.50 USD. (*It's also avail in France, Germany and in the UK on the same dates, too.)

Are you going to try to pick this color up? If you do, let me know what you think of it.

MAC's upcoming collection, "To the Beach" is packed with so many summer products, including a LOT of bronzing options. They are in colorful lime-ish green and orange packaging & have a highlighter that it just too pretty to use, in my opinion. I mean, look at it over there <---.

I'm not kidding when I say it is a big collection - I tried to show you as many of the prods, that I had a chance to try, as I could in my video, but it still seemed a bit rushed. Please let me know if you have any questions about anything and I'll be sure to slow down a bit and answer you. :)

Corporate Responsibility: "The concept that an organization has obligations not just to conduct its business and adhere to legal guidelines, but also to look out for the welfare of its employees, the community, and society at large."

So often we don't hear about what a company does to give back to society, it's generally handled internally and everyone moves about their business. Luckily, in the beauty arena, we get to hear about some of the great things that companies do to help out in their communities, states, countries and even overseas. There are two programs going on right now that I want to spotlight: MAC and Elizabeth Arden.

MAC Cosmetics established their "Viva Glam" campaign in 1994 - it supports the MAC AIDS Fund, which supports men, women, and children living with HIV and AIDS. It does this by donating all monies from the selling price of their Limited Edition "Viva Glam" lipsticks & glosses each year. They have featured many famous people to be their spokesperson (*from Fergie to Dita Von Teese & RuPaul, to name a few). This year's spokepeople were Cyndi Lauper and Lady Gaga, each with their own shade. You can check out what they look like in my video, if you haven't seen them yet. You can pick them up at any MAC counter or online for $14.

Marking their 100 years beauty innovation, Elizabeth Arden is releasing a new Limited Edition Anniversary lipstick - "Red Door Red" - "a universally flattering, sheer lipstick, the Red Door Red hue stylishly represents strength and femininity – a beautiful way to pay tribute the Elizabeth Arden woman". This lipstick is packaged in a luxurious gold case, and offers a triple-emollient moisturizing formula that contains vitamins A, C and E, along with aloe. It can be picked up at counters , where available, and online for $20.

Miss Arden believed in total beauty and in honoring that, all of the proceeds from the sale of this lipstick will go to benefit "Look Good...Feel Better". "This organization helps to improve the self-image, appearance and quality of life for people undergoing cancer treatments by teaching beauty techniques, which help them to cope with the beauty-related consequences of cancer and boost their self-confidence."

Please consider supporting these programs by treating yourself to a new lippie - it will give you another reason to smile.

Nowadays, when you hear "Ungaro" you think of the dismally received fashion show fronted by "artistic designer", Lindsay Lohan. Thankfully, it has not always been that way.

Emanual Ungaro, born in 1933, took to sewing, as his father had done. So much that by the time he was 22 he moved to Paris, & 3 years later he was designing for the House of Cristobal Balenciaga. He stayed there for 3 years before moving on to design for André Courrèges. Only 4 years later, in 1965, he opened his own fashion house - having his first Prêt-à-Porter collection and opening his first stores in 1968.

For the next 30 years, he expanded stores and licensing agreements. Along the way, he created perfumes - Diva (1983), Senso (1987), Ungaro (1991) and Emanuel Ungaro For Men (1991). In 1997, Emanuel Ungaro partnered with Salvatore Ferragamo and Bulgari to create a new company: Emanuel Ungaro Parfums. This company produced the fragrances Fleur de Diva (1997), Desnuda (2001) and Apparition (2004).

Keeping with the history of creating scents, in 2008, Ungaro teamed with Avon to create two new frangrances: Avon U by Ungaro for Her and Avon U by Ungaro for Him. The sucess of these fragrances led Avon and Ungaro to collaborate again - this time with color cosmetics - "U by Ungaro Color Collection".

This Limited Edition collection contains 8 pieces, ranging from $10 to $20. It includes 3 lipsticks (*including one in the iconic Fuscia color "Ungaro Pink"), 3 eyeshadows and 2 face shimmer powders.

I've had a chance to try some of these, and I gotta say that I like the pink packaging - looks very luxe. The only thing I didn't care for, was the lipstick case. It looks nice and sleek, but the top to pull out the lipstick is small and the tube itself is slick, making it difficult to open. It has a sheer ribbon on top, and while it may just be there for decoration, it became my go to way to open it. But, once it was open, I liked the texture.

So, when I tell you this is Limited Edition, I mean it - it's only going to be around until December 31st. Then *poof*, it's gone. So, hit up Avon.com or your local Avon representative and take a look at this collection with a pedigree for yourself.

After checking out the pic of my lipstick yesterday, Melissa from InMyProfessionalOpinion blog said she thought that there had been an article about how a lovelies lipstick shape reflected her personality - so I went to hunting it down. It looks like it might have come from a Glamour Magazine in the 70's.

So, I wasn't able to come up with the original article. However, I did find a couple of references to what I was looking for. The first one references the Glamour article and shows some great personality traits. It shows that I would be:
SHARP-ANGLED, WITH CURVED TIP
- Enthusiastic
- Energetic
- Loves attention
- Falls in love easily
- Needs schedule
- Likes to help others
- Creative
- Talkative
*Okay, I can agree with several of those (I'll let you figure out which ones - Ha!).

I found the second one over at Girl Woman Beauty Brains blog, who sources it from the book Lipstick by Jessica Pallingston. That one gives names to the shapes/personalities. In that one, I would be:
The Reclining Chair
The Reclining Chair is most known for their friendliness – they love their friends and making new ones. They can make a dull party a blast. They tend to be unique and are prone to change their ways often. Their lipsticks tend to have higher backs on their work lippies and shorter backs on their going out ones – the higher the back tends to mean the higher the stress.
*Yeah, this one is so me, too.

All that said, there *might* be a smidge of something to this. So, lovelies, take a look at your own lippies and tell me what they say you are - I'd love to know.