I’ve been holding off posting this as I really wanted to get a picture of myself wearing these products in the post, but it doesn’t look like I’ll get another chance to before the NY and I thought I’d share this with you as a bit of Christmas inspiration as boy are these products festive!
A few weeks ago I was taken to see Nutcracker with Clinique and it was absolutely amazing – a total festive joy to watch and I would recommend it to anyone. The Clinique Nutracker collection is inspired by the beautiful, feminine shades of the ballet classic, meaning the colours are bright yet light and perfect for creating sophisticated party looks.
I’ll start of with the palettes which are the most exciting products in the collection. There are two palettes, each containing 4 eyeshadow shades and 1 blush shade as well as 2 brushes, 1 of which is a double ended eye applicator.
The Nutcracker Act I palette contains an off-white, a barbie pink plus two nude shades, the first of which is a gorgeous taupe with the second being a smokey brown. The blush shade is a peach-leaning pink.
The Nutcracker Act II is the less versatile of the two, but it’s also my favourite as it contains some wonderful takes on purple which I personally love.
It’s overall much more cool toned than Act II with a frosty white, a blue-toned muted mauve, a lilac and finally my favourite of the four, a deep amethyst. The blusher is also more blue-toned and a stronger pink in general.
The Blended Face Powder in Snowflake Dreams is a product that is absolutely stunning to look at, whilst sadly being completely wasted on me as it’s one of those dazzling powders that’ll add a glimmer to skin that you can only really get away with at night.
As I no longer have anything close to a social life that occurs at night, this isn’t something I could get on with, which is a real shame as it’s pink and sparkly – two things I love!
As you can see from the swatches, it packs quite a bit of sparkle making it ideal for the festive season (I feel like I’ve overused “the festive season” quite a bit today, sorry about that…) and for parties in general.
Lastly we have the Baby Lips from the Chubby family which are existing shades that compliment the Nutcracker palettes; Budding Blossom – a very pretty pink and Flowering Freesia – a gentle lilac. I love it when brands do this as I also feel a sense of restored faith that brands are releasing collections that can be easily adapted, especially if some of the edit already exists in your own collection.
If you’re unfamiliar with Baby Lips (Baby Tints) these are hues of gentle colour that merge with your own lip shade to make a flattering, barely there hint – I insist you have at least one of these in your makeup bag if you don’t already as they are gorgeous and, due to their gentleness, work with pretty much any make-up look.
Quite an unusual collection from Clinique, but beautiful nonetheless and a lovely festive offering all round. It’s available now with the powder costing £23, the Baby Lips £17 and the palettes £35 here – link.
*PR Samples
That second palette is very pretty! Love the purples.