I had so much fun at the pre-launch last night. I posted pictures up on the MUA boards last night but I was way too tired to make a new post on here as well. The event took place at the Armitage PRO store in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago.
As soon as I stepped into the store, there were shirtless waiters walking around with delicious raspberry and lemon cocktails, fish and chips, and other yummy snacks! There were two models at the front of the store dressed up like the Liberty of London promo ads. The female model looked spot on!
There were three displays and the place was PACKED. Everyone was hoarding around the new collection displays so it was hard to take a good number of pics but overall, I thought the pre-party was excellent. It was the first collection in awhile that got me excited over a new launch. The packaging was also great quality, none of those annoying decals.
Some standouts:
-Dirty Plum blush
-Blue India nail lacquer
-Birds N Berries, Bough Grey, Dame's Desire eyeshadows
-The bright coral lipglass
-Petals and Peacocks, Blooming Lovely l/s
I didn't think the lighting in the store would translate terribly in the pictures but it did. I figured the bright lights would be a good thing, but they actually ended up turning the pictures yellow or much darker than they were. The eyeshadow swatches are more accurate in the picture without flash. Also, the Peachstock lipstick swatch (2nd from left swatch) is NOT orange in real life! Oh well, I tried!
I was pretty set on getting Ever Hip after reading the description online, but it was too similar to Shy Girl for me. I took one look at Blooming Lilac (bright amplified lilac) and thought it was SO pretty but I'd never be able to pull it off. Plus, I'm too much of a scaredy cat to try bold colors. But the MAs specifically came up to me and told me to try it on and that they thought it would look amazing on me. I figured, ehhh what have I got to lose? So the MA applied it and it looked BEAUTIFUL! It was very unique, bold but not too crazy. I will definitely stick to a neutral light eye when wearing this. Blooming Lovely was definitely my favorite out of my purchases! Plus, I LOVE amplified formulas. This l/s was very smooth and did not flake on my lips, it was moisturizing instead. The color was extremely pigmented and showed up true to color even on my bright red pigmented lips.
I believe the collection launches next Thursday, March 11. I'm really thinking about picking up the hot fushia lipstick! I'm still trying to get out of my comfort zone, but I was eyeing that shade like crazy at the store and it looked absolutely beautiful on both the light-skinned MA who had it on and a dark-skinned customer who was trying it on.
I'd say, try the bright lipsticks on, you might be just as surprised as I was!
Enjoy!
