Estee Lauder’s Mad Men collection is here, for sale in Bloomingdales stores, and online at EsteeLauder.com and Bloomingdales.com. (Estee Lauder offers free shipping at any price; Bloomingdales offers free shipping on beauty purchases over $50.)
I fell in love with the idea of this collection, and now that I have the products in hand, the shades are even more beautiful than I had imagined. But we should talk about what to expect when you open the box.
The Creme Rouge ($40) is a little smaller than you might expect for a product of its type — though I don’t really think I have cause to complain. The blush is a reasonable size, the case feels solid (even heavy), and the catch to open and close the compact is satisfying.
The lipstick, however, is small. Very small. When you pull it out of its leatherette bag, you may be tempted to compare it to GWP lipsticks from Guerlain, Chanel, or Dior. And that makes the $25 price tag feel steep.
On the left: Estee Lauder for Mad Men Cherry lipstick, .07 oz. On the right: Estee Lauder Signature Lipstick, .13 oz.
Larger than a GWP but smaller than a breadbox. Left: Guerlain Rouge Automatique GWP. Center: Estee Lauder Mad Men lipstick in Cherry. Right: Chanel GWP.
I can think of two plausible reasons for the size of these products — and the truth may be some combination of the two: (1) Estee Lauder might have had to pay major licensing fees to AMC for the rights to create a Mad Men collection, and (2) vintage cosmetics are sometimes on the small side (e.g., Besame), so maybe they were going for accuracy.
Evening Rose is a fabulous watermelon-rose-pink cream blush that delivers sheer, buildable, dewy color. Cherry lipstick is a bright, saturated, watermelon red-pink.
I was a little bit worried (based on the names, based on the preview images of the products) that these colors might prove too cool for my tastes, but I really like them both — and I think they’d suit a wide variety of skintones.
These products were provided for swatching purposes.
I am totally thinking of purchasing… for one, I adore Mad Men and 2… it is so pretty! <3 Thanks for the review and swatches.
God, those are gorgeous. I was swooning over the packaging, but those swatches totally cemented it for me.
I’d guess too that they were going retro, that’s why the lipstick is so small but it would be nice to know that before you buy. Fortunately I can’t stand the smell of Estee lipsticks so I was saved. I bought the compact though and I love it!
Karla, can you compare the cream blush to Bobbi Brown’s? Great swatches as always!
I remember my mom’s EL lipsticks from the 70s being on the small side, I wish she still had some for me to compare!
I’m very glad you posted the photo of the 3 lipsticks. I think the smaller size might be a benefit. Although the overall size is similar to the GWPs- the actual LIPSTICK portion is clearly 2-3 times larger than the GWPs. So, MAYBE (have to see in person) this is just a smaller container for a normal size lipstick? I would really like that. I like to carry a lot of lipsticks in my purse- and would love if they were smaller in size without sacrificing size of the actual product. That’s my gripe with the fab Guerlain Rouge G lipstick- it’s just too big and heavy.
Great post- can’t wait to check them all out. Thanks!
I love the color of the Cherry lipstick! So so pretty! Thank you for the swatches.
Susan – great idea!
Kaye – the Mad Men lipstick is definitely bigger than a GWP lipstick, but it’s about half the size of a “normal” lipstick. It’s .07 oz., and a regular Estee Lauder Signature lipstick is .13 oz.
Do you know which NARS or MAC blush is most similar to the EL one? I’m having trouble picturing whether the EL will work for me. Thanks!