Eye shades include:
Ivory Eye Shadow, Bermuda Pink Metallic Eye Shadow, Seashell Metallic Eye Shadow, Bonfire Metallic Eye Shadow, Tan Eye Shadow, Burnt Sugar Metallic Eye Shadow

Lip shades include:
Cabo Coral Lip Color, Salmon Lip Color, Shell Lip Color, and Coral Reef Metallic Lip Color

You can find the palette at Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman for $60. I have not seen it for sale on the Bobbi Brown website.

MAC is best known for its flamboyant, dazzling ads showing models with lots of bright, sparkly makeup. But occasionally, the cosmetics company brings out color collections that are more suitable to daytime wear. MAC’s latest – All Ages, All Races, All Sexes – is one of those. In a way, it’s misleading because MAC already has a range of colors that suit nearly every skin tone and age group on the planet. But who can complain about the gorgeous eyeshadows in shades of taupe and brown, and new lipglasses in baby pink and sheer taupe?

It’s that time of the year when we have to attend a lot of holiday parties and galas. We’re tired, have too much to drink and not enough sleep, and our skin may not look as bright and cheerful as the holiday decorations around us. My skin rescue secret is none other than Clarins’s brilliant Lisse Minute (Instant Smooth Perfecting Touch Makeup Base). You apply it before you put on your foundation. The result is visually stunning. Every time I use Lisse Minute, my skin looks radiant, smooth, and dare I say, “photoshopped”.

But once you get used to the magic of Lisse Minute, you’ll find yourself using it everyday, not just for parties. Sometimes I use it alone (without foundation) just to give my skin an instant boost.

Click on the image below to buy Clarins Lisse Minute:

But if the colors are too “cool” for your skin tone, or if you already have too many shadows like these, try the Earth Metal Palette below which has warmer colors.

Go to www.bobbibrowncosmetics.com.

By now, you have seen the holiday makeup kits stacked up on cosmetics counters in department stores. For some reason, cosmetics companies believe that our faces should be as decked out as Christmas trees: that means lots of sparkly eye shadows, heavy blush, glittery powders in lurid colors, and more. This is a mistake. Many women will be going to a holiday party in a sequined dress or wearing more jewelry than usual. Applying heavy, sparkly makeup is vulgar and unattractive; it throws your entire look off balance. What to do?

Go to the Giorgio Armani counter and check out their makeup range. Armani has a few bold colors but even those go on sheer in the beginning, allowing you to build up more color, just in case you do decide to go for the Christmas tree look. To help you narrow down the best products, see the photo above. These are the Armani products I recommend (beginning from left, clockwise):

• 4-color eye shadow: finely milled powder makes this shadow silky and easy to apply, colors are gorgeous;This palette is called the Pink Light palette;
• Single color eye shadow #5 – silky, rich brown color;
• Blending blush duo: a cream to powder blush which gives the face a fresh, healthy youthful glow;
• Rouge d’Armani: the latest lipstick from Armani, emollient yet long-lasting. The color above is #403, a warm red;
• Luminous Silk Foundation: cited by most women as the best of all the Armani makeup products. This foundation goes on sheer and makes the skintone look more even; and
• Luminous Silk Powder: use this powder to finish your look.

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You can tell the Great Recession has not receded judging from the uninspiring holiday makeup palettes this year. Compared to previous years, I did not see anything that I really had to have. If this is the maximum that cosmetics companies can do to get us to spend money, heaven help us all. The best one I’ve seen so far is the Bobbi Brown Chrome Palette I wrote about yesterday.

Above, (clockwise from left):

• MAC 6 Devil May Dare eyeshadows, $36
• Laura Mercier Colour Wardrobe, $98
• Guerlain Bal de Nuit, $58
• Clarins Gold Attraction palette, $40

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I know it’s a bit too early to be talking about Christmas but I have to start reviewing the holiday makeup kits and palettes right now because they run out quickly. Many of these palettes are limited editions and they do fly out the door. So here goes.

The Bobbi Brown Chrome Palette is, in my opinion, the most beautiful of them all. It is versatile because the colors are not too extreme. You can wear them for holiday parties or any party. If you apply the colors with a subtle hand, you can wear them during the day, in any season. The lip colors are lovely and like the eye shadows, you can wear them for evening or day. The Chrome Palette costs $75.

To see what a fully made up face looks like, with tips on how to apply the colors, watch this video from the Bobbi Brown website.

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Prescriptives was the first brand to categorize colors of foundation, eye shadow, blush and lipstick into three color groups — warm, neutral and cool — to help women choose the right shade for their complexion. It was also one of the first to create yellow-based foundations which appealed especially to Asian women. Despite its innovations in the early years of its existence, other brands caught up and Prescriptives never really came up with the *killer* product. Brands like MAC and Benefit targeted younger women with trendy packaging and edgy advertising campaigns. But in its own market — high-end cosmetics for older women — other brands, including those within the Lauder group, were more successful.

The last products I bought from Prescriptives was their custom-blended foundation. This was an absolutely brilliant way to get a foundation that exactly matches your skin tone. They also had custom-blended powders and lipsticks.