Icy shades of blue and silver make up the color palette, and snowflake shapes dominate the design. We especially love the futuristic Snow Queen-esque face.
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The collection: Stila
The collection is called "Light Up the Night," and the shimmery shadows are perfect for a holiday party look. Naturally, they're arranged in a snowflake shape, and gift sets are packaged in metallic blue snowflake-adorned boxes.
Stila Snow Angel Color Palette, $39
Stila All is Bright Holiday Lip Glaze Set, $25
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The inspiration: Laura Mercier
Laura Mercier looked to the Art Deco period -- specifically Paris in the 1920s -- for her inspiration. She pulled colors from the paintings of artist Tamara de Lempicka, which you can see at the bottom left corner of the mood board in Mercier's office.
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The collection: Laura Mercier
Gold, bronze, and super-shiny red are the key colors in Laura Mercier's holiday collection -- appropriately called the Art Deco Muse Collection, $18 to $38. There are 10 pieces in total, but we're most excited about the quilted gold eyeshadow. It has a creamy consistency and falls right in the middle of the shimmer-pearlescent spectrum.
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The inspiration: Too Faced
Too Faced co-founder and creative director Jerrod Blandino sums up his inspiration in two words: romance and dessert. He pulled photos of French pastry shops -- think macaron towers at Ladurée -- flowers, and date spots in soft pastel shades.
Long before Pinterest became everyone's favorite way to spend their lunch break (and then some), beauty brands were crafting tangible inspiration boards for their collections each season.
Picture this: The creative team spends months tacking ribbons, photos, fabric scraps, and magazine pages to giant slabs of cork on an expansive white wall. They stand around, arms crossed, evaluating these mood boards. They take some pictures down; they add others. Finally, a color scheme starts to develop and a theme emerges. Only then do they actually start to conceptualize the packaging, shades, and formulas that go into manufacturing makeup.
While every collection has a different story -- and creative process -- behind it, holiday beauty collections tend to be especially interesting: "Parisian desserts!" "Shimmery snowscapes! "Moroccan vacations!" So we knocked on beauty brands' metaphorical doors (via email) to see if they'd give us a glimpse at the mood boards that inspired their fabulous holiday launches.
Sure enough, these collages totally wowed us -- so we're sharing them here. Whether you want insight into what makes these collections special or you're looking for some holiday beauty inspiration of your own, we have a feeling you'll love what you see. At the very least, let them inspire you to add to your own holiday Pinterest board.
