Oh no no no no no... Clarins Beauty Gifts for (shhhhhhh, cough, mumble) Christmas

The C word, that dreaded C word, which I traditionally hate hearing about until at least after Halloween, just refuses to go away.  Blogs have been awash with all the various makeup- and beauty- related "Advent" calendars and now, fresh in from the Clarins PR, comes this little piece of info about Christmas gift sets... so I might as well give in and start releasing my "C-word" posts from here on in :-)

In this particular case, I hesitated to post anything until after Halloween.  But this one is not just about the C word.  There's a new and entirely delicious (LE) Clarins palette in here too that needs mentioning...

... so without further ado, I give you Clarins' The Essentials eye palette:

Clarins The Essentials Eye Palette

Shipping with a double-ended (what looks like a) fluffy paddle eye brush, and foregoing the inevitable comparisons to certain other palettes featuring similar shades (because I'm heartily sick of those comparisons and because, frankly it's an entirely different thing if you look properly at it), Clarins new The Essentials Eye Palette is Eco-designed from start to finish.  Ten eye shadow shades feature, all in mineral and plant-based formulae (93% of the raw materials used in the formulas are of natural origin), and are packaged in recycled packaging.  The wooden brush even meets sustainable criteria: the birch is from managed forests, the aluminium ferrules are recycled and the natural pony hair is produced ethically with respect for animal well-being.  To further the eco-nature of this, the entire inset can be removed so that the box can be re-used if required.

The shades themselves are beiges, taupes and browns in matte, satin or pearl finishes.  From what I can see, these all seem to be very warm shades, all seem to be peach-, warm gold- and/or red- based.  Definitely one for the winter, and dare I say, the C-season :-)  And dare I say a brilliant gift (it's €42 and LE) for anyone, but especially your most eco-minded friends.

These are already on counter in BT Dublin, I've played with them for a bit and they are soooooo soft... nothing I don't already have personally, but €42 is wonderfully inexpensive for 10 full size premium brand eye shadows and two (in effect) brushes...

Incidentally, if you're interested in knowing more about Clarins' eco-efforts at preserving parts of the Amazonian rainforest in Brazil, take a look at this YouTube video here.

The Clarins C-word (Christmas!) Gift sets

Snapshot of some of the Clarins Christmas Gift Sets available

If you're starting early to accumulate gifts for your beauty-conscious friends or family members, or even just starting to compile your own Christmas list, you could do worse than take a look at these. As this is quite a big list, I'm also attaching this as a link (download it from here) in case anyone wants a closer look.  As you can see from the snapshot above, there are huge savings to be made on these gift sets, and there are options for him and for her, so no gender-bias here :-).  Prices start at €25 and they're already available on counter.