NARS Alhambra Eye Shadow Duo.

From the NARS Spring Collection Shanghai Lily, the highlight of the collection is definitely the eyeshadow duo in Alhambra.

On the left is a beautiful golden champagne shade, while on the right is the most gorgeous metallic rose shade. Both shades are a bit shimmery, with the pink shade shimmering a little bit more.

I like using both shades together with the gold shade used all over my eye, and then the pink dabbed right under my brow in the center, and then swept across my lid. I make it a bit darker as I extend it outward, concentrating the darkest power at the outer part of my lid and up into the crease.

The end result is pale, soft and shimmery eye - a much needed change from the heavy and darker browns and grays I have been wearing of late. Beautiful! 

Spring Trend: The Lilac Eye.

A bit away from the runways, all of the makeup artists were all about the Lilac Eye for Spring. I am not even going to go back to see if this is what came out of the Spring shows last season.  Leo at Lancome, Chad at Three Custom Color Specialists, and Raymond at Trish McEvoy, they were all about the soft Lilac shades on the eye.

Christina and Raymond Nieves, Regional Artist for Trish McEvoy

Raymond from Trish used Lavender and Pink Tangerine Eye Shadow's placed over the Shimmer Shadow Base in Gold on Christina. The look was lovely. While I usually cannot wear Lilac on my eye as it immediately turns too blue and purple on me, Raymond said that by layering it over the Gold, it will neutralize itself making it wearable on someone with my pinkish skin tone.

MAC's Royal Assets Eye Palettes.

Have you seen these beauties yet? The Royal Assets eye palettes from MAC, just one of the MAC Cosmetics Holiday Collections this year, are stunning. Not only are these palettes a great way to try out the MAC shadows, it is a great way to play and learn to experiment with colors you would otherwise not use.

There are 4 different palettes. One in a warm collection, one in a cool collection, a metallic palette, and a smokey eye palette. Each palette contains 6 eye shadows, for $36 each.

Royal Assets: 6 Smokey Eyes

Shades are: Rondelle, a light silver with white pearl (frost); Courtly Grey, a cement grey (matte); Knight, a deep grey with silver pearl (veluxe pearl); Maid of Honor, a creamy beige (Satin); Palatial a taupe brown (satin) and Majestic, a neutral grey brown with silver sparkle (lustre). 

Royal Assets: 6 Metallic Eyes

Shades are:  Honeylust, a bronze dipped peach (lustre); Silver Fog, a. intense frosted silver with silver pearl (frost), Stately Black, a rich blue with silver sparkle (lustre); Velvet Lady, a deep black with gold sparkle (velvet); Crème Royale a yellow wheat gold (veluxe pearl) and Manor, a warm brown with green pearl (frost).

Royal Assets: 6 Cool Eyes

Shades are: Shadowy Lady, a darkly veiled plum (matte); Silverwear, a lilac grey (frost); Modern Heir, a grape purple with white pearl (frost); Queen's Jewel, a rich blue with blue pearl (veluxe pearl); Medallion, a frosted light pink (frost) and Trophy Pink, a rich red magenta (frost).

Royal Assets: 6 Warm Eyes 

 Shades are: Sunday Best, an ivory with frost (frost); Star Violet, a eath-touched pinky-brown plum fusion (veluxe pearl); Retrospeck, a beached blonde (lustre); Club, a muted reddish brown duochrome with freen opalescent shimmer (satin); Showstopper, a neutral dark brown and Nobility, a light pink taupe (satin).

Each palette comes with it's own brush, a 213SE Eye Brush. Also, the shadows are enclosed in either a gold or silver antique-inspired compact with a beautiful cream porcelain plaque and royal crown motif. Gorgeous! I told you the packaging was pretty!

I know it is hard to decide on which palette you want and which one(s) you want to give. I say buy them all, glance over each one more than a few times, and then make your decision. And if you are like me, you will probably need to go back to buy more because you won't be able to resist playing with them all.

These limited edition beauties are available now, so you need to get yours and quick.