I wonder what would Neo from The Matrix would think about the new Clarins Neo Pastels Collection. Would he consider ditching his black cloak and brooding persona for its uplifting makeup in pink, purple and peach?
I highly doubt it, but ya never know. 🙂
SCI-FI SIDE NOTE: Now, my girl Trinity would probably dig that pop of black liner the Neo Pastels model is wearing on her lower lash line, but I digress…
Back to makeup in three, two, one…
Available now on counters and online at clarinsusa.com, the new Neo Pastels Collection features 21 new and repromoted items consisting of an eye palette, six blushes, 12 lipsticks, one mascara and a wrinkle-smoothing primer in a palette of primarily soft pinks, purples, peaches, with a sprinkling of neutral brown, beige and black thrown in for safe measure. To me the colors seem like typical (in a good way) spring/Easter shades.
With the collection, Clarins says they wanted to celebrate the annual spring renewal by interpreting pastels in a new way. Like Chanel did with pearly finishes in Les Perles de Chanel, Clarins tried to play with varying degrees of sheen, shade and shine to give faces, eyes and cheeks a subtle radiance — almost like a halo of color.
At least that was the idea. Looking at the swatches now, the concept might have been lost on me, but I wouldn’t say that’s a bad thing. I do like many of these colors, but they’re darker than typical pastels — a good thing, perhaps, if darker also makes them wearable on a wider range of skin tones.
Take the Eye Colour & Liner Palette ($40), for instance, and I’m hoping its brown, pink and violet shades will be wearable by pale princesses and tan temptresses alike.
Still, gals who had their hearts set on pure pastels might want to look elsewhere, like to Dolce & Gabbana’s Secret Garden, with its more traditional pastel greens, violets and pinks.
Grays have been showing up in several of this spring’s collections from lines like Chanel, Dior, Dolce & Gabbana and Laura Mercier, but I was quite surprised not to find any in Neo Pastels. Nada. Zilch. Zero. You won’t find any gray here, folks!
But while you won’t find any gray, you will probably spot some fingerprints. I can already tell that trying to keep this packaging pristine will be a useless endeavor because prints are easy to notice sitting on the surface of these shiny gold compacts. Not a big deal, but it might be something for the super spies with secret identities to consider. 🙂
The first time I saw the model in the promo pic at the top of this post, I fell in love with her eyes. The ethereal purples and pinks suck you in and then POW! — there’s that black liner along the waterline. She’s like a biker angel. All she needs now is a leather jacket to ride her winged hog into the sky…
It was awesome of Clarins to include so many blush (six) and lipstick colors (12), too. Each of the blush pans contain four blushes (like kitchen tiles?) designed to work either separately or together. You could use the matte blushes to contour and sculpt, and the shimmery ones to highlight. Cool, right?
The product I’m least excited about is the new Instant Smooth Line Correcting Concentrate ($32), a creamy, colorless primer for filling wrinkles.
I like the idea of the pen, but it has that smooth, slippery texture I see with products containing a lot of silicones (ahem, Smashbox Photo Finish Primer); I’m not a big fan because I can feel the product sitting on my skin (my pores are suffocating!).
Clarins Neo Pastel Swatches on NC35 Skin
Eye Colour & Liner Palette with the flash, $40
Without the flash
Rouge Hydra Nude Smoothing Cream Lipstick swatches with the flash from the left: 01 Nude Rose, 02 Nude Coral, 03 Nude Beige and 04 Nude Caramel, $24 each
Blush Prodige Illuminating Cheek Colour swatches with the flash from the left: 01 Lovely Rose, 02 Soft Peach, 03 Miami Pink, 04 Sunset Coral. 05 Rosewood and 06 Spiced Mocha, $28 each
Top row Jolie Rouge Perfect Shine Sheer Lipsticks swatches from the left: 02 Rhubarb, 03 Guava and 08 Pink Sugar (not pictured are 01 Melon, 04 Praline, 05 Papaya and 06 Fig), each $24; bottom: Instant Smooth Line Correcting Concentrate, $32
Wonder Perfect Mascara with the flash, $24
Swatches with the flash, first row: Rouge Hydra Nude Smoothing Cream Lipstick; second row: Blush Prodige Illuminating Cheek Colour; third row: Jolie Rouge Perfect Shine Sheer Lipsticks; and fourth row Instant Smooth Line Correcting Concentrate
Swatches without the flash
And because I can’t get enough sci-fi…
Have you seen Being Human yet? It’s a new (I think it’s new) show on the Syfy channel. Picture Three’s Company if Three’s Company starred a werewolf, a vampire and a ghost. They share an apartment and help each other through the kinds of day-to-day troubles that plague supernatural creatures, like, ya know, trying to resist killing relatives/coworkers, etc., etc.
There’s a British version of the show with a different cast. I’ve seen that one, too, but not surprisingly I get more of the pop culture references in the American one. In last night’s episode the ghost asked the werewolf and the vampire if they were “gonna go all Twilight on each other.” Hehe… 🙂
I’d recommend it, but what do I know? I watched the entire first season of Jersey Shore (three times).
So what have you been watching lately? Anything I should know about?
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Tiffany says
love the guava lipstick and the blushes. I might have to pick a blush… of course I’m leaning towards the coral one.
hubby is actually making me watch that Being Human show right now! he recorded it. sadly, I’ve been watching teen mom 2 recently. it’s like a trainwreck and I can’t look away.
Karen says
Well, what did you think of the show?
AND oooh, I found myself getting sucked into Teen Mom 2 last night and had to force myself to change the channel. I can’t do it.
Jen W says
How pretty is the promo image?
Loving the lippies and will def check them out but most of the shadows in the palette are very dupeable with what I already have.
Karen says
I hear ya. The colors aren’t really that revolutionary — might be good for someone new to makeup, though!
dani@callitbeauty says
i’m liking the rosewood blush! and i agree with jen, the promo photo is absolutely gorgeous.
Andreea says
I have pics and kinda of swatches, it is a rather brown pik and really gorgeous in texture. but it will never be NARS – quite pigmented but not as much as the NARS blushes (which makes it easier to handel imho).
Sorry – my blog is in german, but the pcis will do it I hope:
http://www.mybeautyblog.de/neu/clarins-blush-prodige-05-rose-wood-mit-bildern/
and
http://www.mybeautyblog.de/neu/clarins-blush-prodige-05-rose-wood-rouge/
Karen says
I’ll have a review of this coming soon!
Nina says
i think my lone clarins palette needs a sister — that eyeshadow palette is very tempting!
Karen says
I think she does too. Give her someone to play with! 🙂
Evelyn says
shhhh The British vampire is hands down far hotter than this new American guy! Actually I rather think the British cast is better looking over all. Yes I’m all about the pretty. lol
Karen says
Ya think? I’ll have to look him up again. Did you watch last night’s ep? I hope that werewolf’s sister is ok! I’d be pissed of my brother changed in front of me and tried to tear me to shreds!
Ashley says
I saw the previews for Being Human but I’m still not drawn to the show. I forget which actor it is but, one of them played some semi-evil guy/alien on Smallville.. I liked him in Smallville but the whole idea of the show just bores me. Twilight references bore me.
P.S. I can’t get over the fact that you watched the first season of Jersey Shore… three times! I liked the show a lot in the start but never to the extent where I could put it on repeat & enjoy it over and over again.
Karen says
It wasn’t all at once, LOL! They always have random marathons on MTV and when they were on I’d put ’em on for background.
Antonia says
What a funny post! Love the Matrix references<3
Karen says
Thanks, Antonia! I still love that movie. 🙂
The girl in the yellow shoes says
I love this very pretty colors! Thanks for the entertaining post you always make me laugh 🙂
Tracy says
I am so excited for Being Human-hope it’s good! It starts Friday here.
Loving the blushes in this collection-I am a major blushaholic. Seriously, I have a problem. 🙂
Kim says
Oh, I’m so happy that you’ve watched (and liked) both versions of Being Human. They’re on my list, for sure. I’m a sucker for the BBC shows, so I want to check those out first. I’ll have to start DVRing. I’m not sure where the time goes but I’m backed up on netflix and haven’t seen a thing on TV! And I lol’d picturing Neo in a pastel trench coat. That would have been a sure-fire way to beat Anderson since he probably would have been doubled over with laughter. 🙂
Sorry, I almost forgot about the makeup. I think it looks nice but I’m so completely obsessed with that Givenchy promo pic that everything is paling by comparison!
Shonya says
I have the Neo Pastels Palette and all the shades work so well on my skin (which is Olive). The Browns and Violets especially. I’ll be getting a lot of use out of this palette, and don’t regret buying it, even though it cost me close to $90NZ! Love it!