Going back to an earlier post referencing some of the new MAC Wonder Woman collection, I had mentioned that I wasn't interested in some of the products until I found out it wasn't as easy as I thought it would be to get them. Kind of like when a child doesn't want to play with someone until he/she sees someone else playing with it. I guess we never grow out of this. This aspect of human behavior has also applied to numerous other hard-to-find, or as the make-up underworld likes to call it "HTF", cosmetics. I will compile a list of some of the products that fall under the aforementioned subject heading.
Some of these products I have in my personal collection and others I've at least tried to get but to no avail. In no particular order:
Must admit I had no idea the power this palette held at the time that I came into possession of one. I used to be a frequent swapper on Makeupalley.com but went on a hiatus when life got in the way. I read one member's post that this palette was currently back in stock at certain locations and to hurry and go get one and don't be sucked in by the "greedy women" who are trying to ask for double and triple the retail value of the palette. So yeah, I was able to get a few palettes pretty easily and then boom! Sold out again. And now they are releasing a new version which is rumored to be sent to stores in March. The price is $48 which is a four dollar increase over the original version. The new style includes a Good Karma cruelty-free professional quality gold eyeshadow brush in place of the dual-ended 24/7 liner in whiskey/zero. The same trave size UDPP still applies. Rumor has it, and its not exactly a rumor but I have to put it that way so I'm not held to any specific details being 100% accurate, is that certain well-known retail cosmetic chains will receive a very limited (like 50 per store) supply. This should sell out in about the time it takes to drop everything you're doing and haul ass to the nearest store that has stock. Retail value of the original was $44 and I sold a couple of the ones I had for double that price, only I felt guilty about doing this and so I included $30 worth of brand new Urban Decay items to make up for that gap. Very intrigued by the new eyeshadow brush but hate to buy a whole new palette to get the brush. Maybe UD will start selling the brush? Or make more money by selling it exclusively with the palette so that the true crazies will buy a palette they already have just to get the brush.
MAC Pink Friday by Nikki Manaj Lipstick:
Another item that came out during my MAC hiatus and that I was not privy to is the juicy tid-bit of information that inluded the details about how to get one. This was sold exclusively online. And on an exclusive day. For an exclusive amount of time. During an exclusive couple of months. So, yeah, it was pretty exclusive. It would sell out in the matter of minutes during each Friday starting with the end of Novemeber and lasting until supplies ran out. I must have sent out a million swap requests only to be rejected over and over again. But guess what? Magically, when I received some of the Pink Power and Mighty Aphrodite products from the new collection, the rejecters all came a knockin'. I now have three of the Pink Friday lipsticks. I received the coveted product last week and yes, it is a very cool, cool-toned, blue-based pink which is my favorite kind of pink. It looks like a cross between Saint Germaine (amplified cream from previous MAC collection) and Speed Dial (MAC Cremesheen from the permanent line). Throw in a little pinch of Snob (a MAC satin from the permanent line) for good measure and you have a recipe that yeilds "nothing we haven't seen before or couldn't achieve by mixing aforementioned products together". But for MAC collectors, a big deal. It is said that Nikki Manaj wore MAC Pink Nouveau for years but now, and I quote, "it's all about Pink Friday." It's also all about the thickness of your wallet because last time I checked, a couple of weeks ago, the average going rate was $40. And I actually saw some sellers asking for $80-$90. And although I wouldn't do the same, I'm going to keep one and use the others as bargaining tools for future lemmings. Couldn't the packaging been just a hair more creative? This IS Nikki Manaj, not Barbara Stresand. No offense Babs.
Rock and Republic Blush, "Spank" & "Call Me":
I wrote an entire blog about this phenomenon so I will keep it short. Recently I sold Spank for $136 and I've seen Call Me already heading in that direction with another seller. These shades will not be re-stocked by the company. Although both are rare, I have been able to acquire a few of the Spank shade. Jury is still out on Call Me. Very pigmented, bold shade selection and totally gorgeous compact from a new cosmetics line that we aren't sick of yet equals a hot commodity. The shades included in this description, however, are the more tone-downed, wearable shades. Hence the popularity. Hey, R&R, get a clue or a new marketing team or both and re-stock these shades. You're missing out on some big profits as we speak.
Honorble Mentions from Years Past, Keeping Hope Alive:
MAC Metal Rock Mineralize Skin Finish:
Perhaps the grand-daddy of them all. I've seen sellers recently asking for $225 dollars to gain posession of this hot little shimmering deep brown highlighter. The texture is like velvet perfection, much nicer than current or recent MSF's. I think this one was released somewhere around 2005 and I know there is a large population out there waiting for a re-promote of this product. Interesting story: I saw one recently on Ebay that I made an offer on. The offer was accepted. Good news right? Not exactly. I asked for lots of pictures of the item because to me it just looked off with the ONE picture that was in the listing. It didn't look dark dark brown but more like bronze.And not dark bronze. Plain old "third place Olympic metal" bronze. Not the shade I'm looking for. Coincidentally, I never received a response after my inquiry. Authentic? I think not. It's my experience that people selling authentic, coveted, products usually include a million photos from every single angle that one would need to see to determine authenticity. I will admit this product would probably not even work for me and my interest stemmed from the adage of wanting what you can't have. Moving on..
OPI My Private Jet Holographic Version (heartbreaking story included):
My favorite OPI shade ever. At the time I possessed this shade I had no idea of what I had. Until it was gone. A gunmetal shade with multi-color fine shimmer. It was a perfect balance for one who doesn't want to go full-on black but still wants a more hardcore looking shade than your normal reds and pinks but with a touch of femininity. I wore it to the core but there was plenty of product left when I was unpacking my things after we moved and saw that it had leaked everywhere in one of my cosmetic cases. My Private Jet was no longer private as it now covered everything I owned. At the time I had not realized the extreme severity of the nature of this incidence until I found out about the holographic vs. non holographic versions. I knew I couldn't possibly get my hands on the holo version but that was fine with me because that wasn't the one I had in the first place (or so I thought). Fast forward to my MJP manicure. "This looks much grittier than my other one, where is the multi-color shimmer?" I asked myself. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks. The one that leaked WAS the holographic version and what I had just purchased was no more than your average gunmetal shade sprinkled with some particles of dust. Up for swap it went. According to my research there are a couple of them available on Ebay for somewhere around $60-$79.99. You may think I'm stupid but it kind of sounds worth it.
Paul & Joe for Disney Bambi & Flower Face Color:
This was never a product I dreamt of acquiring. But plenty of people did (and do). This is a box of sheer pearl highlighting powder in the shape of gumballs which you dust your powder brush over to sweep onto your cheeks. It's a really cool and eye-catching formulation and it comes with an adorable powder puff. The Bambi shade is a peach-tone Fantasy Orange) and the Flower (Skunk) is a pink-tone (Classical Pink). Paul & Joe is a very popular cosmetic line in Asia and I do believe the product was sold in Berdorf Goodman (NY) for somewhere around $25 USD. If I'm wrong about this, what does it matter because we can't buy it anyways. Tried to locate on Ebay and came up empty handed which has hardly every happened to me. Now THAT makes the product REALLY rare.
If I happen to think of more, I will add to the list but for now these are my top picks.
How do these keep making their way into my lists?
No comments:
Post a Comment