Amazing news, folks. The people at Kate Somerville caught wind of my voyage of discovery with their brand, and they offered to sponsor a giveaway (!!).

They left the choice of prize up to me, so I selected based on what I've been trying and liking. The prize is (full-size bottles of):

• ExfoliKate Intensive – Kate believes that

Total studmuffin LiliVonSchtupp purchased the "In Case of Emergency" makeup bag we were talking about last week, and she sent photos and her thoughts (in case anyone was still on the fence):

I got my Museum of Contemporary Art "In Case of Emergency" bag today. The bag is off-white, heavyweight canvas, with black block printing. It measures about 7" wide

Tremendous thanks to Nicole, the jetsetting genius behind Beauty-Free (a blog that tracks beauty products exclusive to airports/Duty-Free).

When she's not circling the globe, Nicole generally lives in England, and she very kindly sent these beautiful swatches of a (new to me!) brand called Makeup Academy. Here is her unedited review (so you, too, can enjoy her delightful

Several weeks ago, in the course of my normal swatching rounds, I passed by the Lippmann polish display in Nordstrom. They move the unit from time to time, and somehow they'd managed to put it on a counter so that a spotlight fell on a single polish (at least, that's how I remember it): Supermodel.

Supermodel is an orange-red creme.

In my Neiman Marcus, between Bobbi Brown and Le Metier de Beaute, there's a Kate Somerville counter. I was already spending a lot of time "in the area," and by-and-by I came to be friends with the Kate Somerville sales associate. One day I finally I confessed I knew nothing about her line, and, through a series

Welcome back, readers, to the third and final installment of MAC's first big fall collection, MAC Me Over. This collection used six lucky fans, plucked from an open casting call, to be the faces of MAC's fall trends. Providing something for everyone, then, this collection includes "Basics," "Icelandic Cool," and "New Black." MAC Me Over

Yesterday we took a first look at the big fan-focused fall collection, MAC Me Over. MAC Me Over is nominally divided into three sections: "basics," and then two smaller trend-based sub-collections... but it's not necessary to remember any of this, because when the collection launches on August 25th, you'll just see three displayers on the counter

Some months ago, MAC held a massive casting call, asking makeup lovers to complete the sentence "MAC Me Over because..."

Just as the Bloggers' Obsessions collection was a nod to beauty bloggers, MAC Me Over was a "we love you back" to fans — one part celebration of street style and one part celebrity makeover.

Makeup

This was a great week for makeup, and a bad week for my willpower. I liked... everything.

First, we took a look at the eyeshadow duos in MAC's Colourizations collection (worth noting because they are sensational, and the artists in my pro store have been creating some really amazing looks with them). I liked turquoise/taupe Double

I wanted to introduce you to a new-to-me fragrance brand: Acqua di Parma. I was familiar with the name, actually — Mr. Salt used to bring me pilfered bottles of their lotion from business trip hotels. But I hadn't realized they were an esteemed fragrance house with a nearly 100-year history.

By chance I ended up sniffing

I have a Pavlovian response to the release of a new Chantecaille palette. They've just trained me, with their incredibly luxe powders and delicate, sophisticated combinations of neutrals. (Nobody does powder like Chantecaille — be it eyeshadow, blush, or face powder.)

I've swatched several of these palettes now, and I'm starting to see a rhythm to the Chantecaille shade selection.

Urban Decay has SO MUCH new stuff out right now (click here to revisit swatches of their new 15th Anniversary palette, and click here to see leeleebell's comparison swatches with other UD palettes).

Anyway, on my last visit to Sephora, I was excited and intrigued by the new Super Saturated High Gloss Lip Colors. These are chubby lip...

Guerlain's fall collection is more line-expansion than a seasonal collection — though the move is not too surprising, given that last year's fall collection was comprised entirely of permanent additions to the line.

I've been waiting most eagerly to see the new eyeshadow quads, which looked like edited versions of last year's brilliant six-pan eyeshadow

The next MAC collection to discuss is Seasonally Supreme, a shade extension for MAC's Sheen Supreme lipstick formula. The shade names pay homage to Asia's growing influence in the fashion world.

The collection introduces nine new shades and repromotes three (Insanely It, Bare Again, and Supremely Confident). Because of the packaging/shape of the bullet, I just couldn't fit all 12

A few weeks ago, Nordstrom launched the Cine-matics collection for their anniversary sale. As I mentioned at the time, some of those items were Nordstrom exclusives, and others were the early release of an August collection called Colourizations. Since Colourizations is now on all counters, I thought we'd take another look.

Colourizations introduces the fabulous new