So, my mom and I had this really great idea to make a video of us all getting ready for the Homecoming Dance. I wanted to show you how chaotic it is at my house when there’s a dance. (Actually, it’s chaotic all the time—but even more so when there’s a dance!)

There were 7 freshman girls (Bailey and her friends) and 5 sophomore girls (me and my friends) getting ready here ALL AT ONCE. Plus, everyone’s parents stopped by to take pictures, meet our dates, and lend their support. Needless to say, things were so crazy I didn’t have a chance to get to the video. I’m so bummed because it would have been great. (And it would have been FUN to have a permanent record of my sister’s crappy attitude, which could possibly be attributed to PMS—but is most likely due to her I-am-the-Princess-and-don’t-you-forget-it syndrome. Now that the weekend is over, I’d like to take her tiara and twist it into a little knot before tossing it into Lake Tahoe—never to be seen again.)

The homecoming festivities started on Wednesday with a parade and bonfire. Bailey was originally going to wear one of her (three!) dresses for this event, but the homecoming committee thought it would be too cold for formal wear.

Homecoming Princess for the Freshman Class

The bonfire was so much fun—and the night ended up being not as cold as we anticipated. Mother Nature saved that for the following night.

For the official homecoming festivities at Friday night’s football game, Bailey wanted to look really special. She went to our local MAC counter to get her makeup done and wore a sparkly silver dress that looked incredible under the stadium lights. She sat on her float, bare-legged and bare-shouldered with a red nose and chattering teeth as the temperature hovered around 45 degrees.

Bailey with the freshman Prince

Yesterday morning, we all slept in and enjoyed a lazy morning before starting to get ready for the dance. We prepped and primped for hours, coming out looking fly, if I do say so myself.

Me and my best friend Andrea. (I made that flower in my hair, all by myself!)

Andrea, Chantelle, and me

Bailey with her date and her friends

A side view of Bailey’s hair (expertly done by Andrea’s mom)

We all had a great time and danced the night away. Today it’s all about cleaning up our mess. Aaaughgh!

(Did I tell you my sister got three new dresses?)

Smashbox Holiday 2007 is beauty beyond your expectations.

These chic and ultra-glamorous gifts are designed to take your look beyond ordinary—perfect for any beauty junkie.

Encounter Brush Kit  For the uber-stylish makeup artist - this limited-edition brush collection includes 6 full-size professional brushes (4 NEW and exclusive to the set) with sleek lucite handles packaged in a cool case with room for more Smashbox essentials. Encounter Brush Kit includes: Powder Brush #1, Foundation Brush #13, NEW Complexion Corrector Brush #25, NEW Shadow Brush #26, NEW Micro Definer Brush #27 and NEW Precision Liner Brush #28 ($84 – a $180 Value!)

Fusion Eye & Cheek Palettes  Stuff any makeup maven’s stocking with these sleek silver double-tiered mirrored palettes that come with a multi-hued Fusion Eye Shadow and Fusion Soft Lights Powder. They include everything you need to create perfectly seductive eyes and a glowing complexion in one complete palette. Available in Endless (warm shades) and Reflect (cool shades) ($39)

Light Speed Lip Gloss Collection Light up the night with 6 ultra-luxe sheer glosses (4 new shades and 2 bestsellers) that can be worn separately or layered together for a customized look. Each collection includes: NEW Glare (shimmery bright pink), NEW Glide (shimmery peach nude), NEW Rush (shimmery pink blush), NEW Force (shimmery cool berry), 35MM (shimmery suede brown) and Illume (pale nude with iridescence) ($29 – a $90 Value!)

Fusion Body Bronzing Powder & Brush Set in Light Wave  Take your skin from blah to beautiful with this exclusive silver and lucite compact pressed with three shades of luxurious bronzing powder. Scented with a warm, sweet fragrance, it will whisk you away to a tropical paradise no matter how cold it is outside. Each compact comes with a super-soft fan brush for flawless application. ($49; exclusively at Nordstrom)

Platinum Surge Just grab, go and look gorgeous with this kit that comes with everything you need for eyes, cheeks and lips. Packed in a sleek silver makeup bag, each set comes with an Eye Shadow Quad in Smolder (with pearl, gold, cocoa and plum shades); a Fusion Soft Lights Palette in Glisten (with deep bronze, gold, warm pink and shimmery tan shades); and two lip gloss tubes (Moonbeam, a shimmery muted pink and Starlight, clear with silver shimmer).  ($59.00 – a $110 Value! exclusively at Sephora)

Flawless Finish Skin Perfectors — Photo Finish Foundation Primer & Photo Op Under Eye Brightener Kit  Give the gift of flawless skin with this limited-edition set that includes the smashbox’s  best-selling, skin-smoothing Photo Finish Foundation Primer in both full and travel sizes and Photo Op Under Eye Brightener to instantly wake skin up after a long holiday bash. ($49.00 – a $69.50 Value!)

Smashbox Holiday 2007: Beyond Beauty is available this holiday season at Sephora, Nordstrom, select Bloomingdales, Ulta, and Smashbox.com.

From luscious lip glosses and breathtaking bronzers to shimmery eye shadow shades, Stila Holiday 2007 has dazzling kits and palettes that all come housed in no-wrapping-required boxes. Yay!

Here’s what we’ll see on counters next month:

Gift of Glow Bronzing Set  Sun Bronzer SPF 15; Baked Eye Shadow Trio in Gold; Lip Glaze in Brown Sugar; Deluxe sample Smudge Pot in Bronze; mini eye liner brush ($45)

Best of Stila, Gift of Glamour The ultimate in Stila gift-giving! Stila Eye Shadow in Kitten and Barefoot Contessa; Illuminating Tinted Moisturizer; Multi-Effect Mascara in Black; New limited-edition Lip Glaze in Fruit Cake (a golden rosy mauve) ($60)

Gift of Glaze Each set of six best-selling mini Lip Glaze shades includes two new flavors for the holiday season: new limited-edition shade Nutmeg Spice (a golden rosy peach with nutmeg flavor); a new limited-edition shade Candy Cane (a sheer golden red with a candy cane flavor); Grapefruit; Apricot; Vanilla; Brown Sugar ($28)

Deluxe Palette Two holiday palettes festively decorated with delicate Swarovski crystals. Guinevere’s Deluxe Palette: a base color (champagne), a lid color (warm shimmery gold), a liner (warm, shimmery, golden brown), a cheek color (warm golden peach), and lip color (apricot); Scarlett’s Deluxe Palette: a base color (cool, soft pink), a lid color (silvery rosy pink), a liner (shimmery pink gray), a cheek color (shimmery mauvey pink) and lip color (grapefruit).

Stila Holiday 2007 is available beginning October 2007 at a variety of locations across the country including Sephora, Fred Segal, and select Bloomingdales. For availability, check stilacosmetics.com.

Inspired by beautiful and exotic gemstones, Givenchy Holiday 2007 Collection is delightfully decadent, full of sparkle, and sure to wow this holiday season.

The item that immediately caught our eye (and yours too, we’re sure) is the Prisme Solitaire All-Over Diamond Effect Powder. Designed to symbolize a glowing diamond solitaire, the compact contains an all-over powder loaded with pearlescent particles to add eye-catching shimmer to every part of the body. ($50)

Lash Sparkles Lash Diamonds is a diamond-infused pen that deposits non-irritating flecks of silvery-white glitter to the lashes. This twist-pen brush (applied after mascara) also adds a glossiness that lasts all day. ($23)

Two new shades of Pop Gloss Crystal Crystal Lip Gloss in Pure Diamond and Diamond Fancy go on transparent to enhance nude or colored lips, and add tons of shimmer with mother-of-pearl extract. ($22.5)

Rose Desire is the new shade of Rouge Interdit Satin Lipstick Irresistible Color that is loaded with volumizing shimmery flecks. ($26)

Captiv’Eyes Mascara Intense Volume Mascara Magnetic Eyes comes in Extreme Black to create big, thick lashes that are sure to be the life of the holiday party. ($25)

Givenchy Holiday 2007 Collection is available beginning November 2007 at select Saks Fifth Avenue stores, saks.com and Sephora.com.

A few Makeup Bag readers want to know which Shiseido The Makeup products were used to create the above look on Patricia Schmid—and we have the answer:

Accentuating Creamy Eyeliner

Eye Shadow Quad Shimmer Q9

Automatic Lip Crayon LC3

Too bad her skin isn’t for sale!

In just two short weeks, the much anticipated MAC for McQueen collection makes its debut at MAC stores nationwide.

An egyptian themed collection with all the beauty and drama that designer Alexander McQueen is known for, MAC for McQueen is anything but subtle.

According to Elle Magazine’s October issue, McQueen’s fantasy makeup looks are “part of his designs from the moment he sketches them.”

And now we get to be a part of it, too:

Eyeshadow

• Haunting Sea green (veluxe pearl)
• Nile Soft royal blue with white pearl (veluxe pearl)
• Pagan Lime green with yellow pearl (veluxe pearl)

Lipstick

• Archtype Light gold (lustre)
• Masque Rosy pink (satin)

Lipglass

• Nothingless Baby pink with white pearl
• White Magic White gold with yellow pearl

Kohl Power Eye Pencil

• Black Karat Black with gold pearl (frost)
• Feline Rich black
• Jealous Black with green pearl

Paint Pots

• Electro Sky Royal intense blue
• Pharaoh Creamy yellow green
• Otherworldly Mid-tone sea blue

Mineralize Skinfinish

• New Vegas Golden beige with bronze pearl

We’ll be standing outside our local MAC store on October 11th, waiting for it to open, because we refuse to live life without New Vegas and Jealous.

If you’ve been patiently waiting for the new MAC Mattene collection that was scheduled to hit counters today—you’re, sadly, going to have to wait one more week.

The new release date is now October 4.

In the mean time—since we’ve had an opportunity to preview this collection—we’ll tell you about our favorites:

Composure, a neutral bronze plum, is semi-matte and SO flattering for our skin tone.

Classic Dame, the shade Dita Von Teese is wearing here (with gloss over), is gorgeous. Love.

Immodest, a bright magenta, is the color Bree swears she’ll wear to the Homecoming dance on Saturday as it matches her dress perfectly. We’ll see if she’s brave enough—as her lip gloss MO is pale, pale, pale.

Watch for these next week!

Lancôme Color Ideal Pressed Powder is a silky pressed powder that is so micro-fine, it “precisely adapts to your skin’s own tone and texture.”

Sounds crazy, we know, but it seems to be true. We sampled this in Medium 10N (on the lighter side of the 11 shade spectrum) and the fine powder gave us a nice sheer coverage that looked super natural—even with the puff—and kept our shine at bay for hours.

With the option of either a brush or puff, plus eleven versatile shades to choose from, Lancôme Color Ideal Pressed Powder could be just what your Makeup Bag needs.