Oh hamburgers. I’ll just admit it. There’s no way this is as good as getting snapped with it’s-only-Mr-friggin’-Darcy, but while wandering round Bloomingdales on Fifth Avenue during the weekend, we ran into a Hello Kitty S&M-style man, and we just had to get our photo taken with him. Ah, it would have been a sin not to. Above is myself (looking horrible on the left), HK S&M-style bloke and my mate Lisa.

The one consolation I have is that Colin Firth couldn’t rock a gimp mask and shiny PVC trews as well as this guy. Well, probably not…

Moving swiftly on to the matter at hand: one of the things I like a lot about this collaboration is that the majority of the shades are pretty wearable (if on the kitsch side), and the other thing is, while Hello Kitty is a bit of a ‘put away those foolish things’ sort of infatuation, this collection symbolises something very important about cosmetics – the fun factor.

We’re endlessly bombarded by pentapeptides this, glycation that and nano-shennanigans the other,  so it’s refreshing to have something out that’s unashamedly fun and frivolous, celebrating making up and being creative with the process.  I buy into it based on that alone – oh, and the cute kitty-adorned packaging too, of course.

Want to see the goodies on offer? I’ve got shots of loads of it for your edification after the cut. But first – my picks. I got my hands on some pre-release goodies like the Eyeshadow quad in Too Dolly, €48, which is very me. A nice mix of mattes and shimmers make this a good buy for someone who liked Lancome’s Pink Punk and Black palette, but who was put off by all those pinks. The 80s green in this adds a foil to saccharine shades.

I also got a Tinted Lip Conditoner, €17, in Pink Fish, but to be honest, I don’t really rate these. So many other brands do amazing lip balm products so I just think, stick to what yer good at, MAC.  My star buy would be the Beauty Powder compact: pretty handbag candy it may be, it’s also a good product for damping down daily shine, and you’ll use it. €24.50 of your eurobucks for that one.

(more…)