The Plastics

I´m a barbie girl,
in a barbie world
Life in plastic,
it´s fantastic.
-"Barbie Girl" by Aqua

As much as I strive for individuality, I must admit that as a little girl I was first exposed to beauty and fashion through the wondrous, disproportionate, and plasticized creation that is Barbie. Although we can hate her for her extreme body ratio, her forays into every career imaginable, and leading poor pretty-boy Ken on for more than forty years, we can instead take her at face value. Barbie is just plain gorgeous, and she has remained an iconic figure in pop culture.

The smart people at MAC must agree with me then, for their new collection, Barbie Loves MAC, is all about everything fun, colorful, and feminine. This collection not only contains Barbie's trademark pink, but also fresh complementary shades of green and smoky tones, a perfect palette for spring.

Once I heard of this I knew that I immediately needed to see first-hand that these were not your run-of-the-mill, sickeningly cutesy collection of cosmetics. I recently had the pleasure of viewing this collection, and I was very impressed. Although every piece in the collection, from the lipsticks to the nail polish, is covetable, my two favorites are the Barbie Loves MAC Eyeshadow in Mothbrown and the Barbie Loves MAC Beauty Powder in Pearl Blossom. The eyeshadow appears an intense and frosty purplish-brown in the case, yet when applied created a very flattering smoky glow, very soft and capable of being layered for day or night. The Beauty Powder is in the perfect shade of shimmery pastel pink, and added a gorgeous luminescent light to my face.

In the end I looked "dolled up", yet very naturally pretty, which seems like an oxymoron coming from a collection about the most highly stylized toy of all time.