There’s a recurring theme this year with the Spring collections and it has a lot to do with nakedness. Check out BECCA’s selection of nude colors for Spring:

The Paradise Lost Spring Collection is an array of mostly earth tones with a lovely pop of watermelon pink (Tuberose Lip & Cheek Creme) to liven things up.

• Nude Liner Pencil in Fondant (skin tone beige/pink nude)
• The Ultimate Mascara in Black
• Glossy Lip Tint in Daiquiri (shimmery fleshy pink)
• Soft Touch Blush in Coquette (golden beige shimmer)
• Eye Tint in Glint (golden bronze)
• Lip & Cheek Creme in Tuberose (watermelon pink)

BECCA Spring 2008 Paradise Lost will be available beginning March 2008 at BECCA counter locations and online at Beccacosmetics.com.

The Bobbi Brown Pink Raspberry Palette has been our “it” item all winter. However, by the looks of this New Nude Lip & Eye Palette from the Bobbi Brown Spring 2008 Nude Collection, her days just might be numbered.

This gorgeous Nude Lip & Eye Palette includes:

• New, Exclusive Buff Shimmer Wash Eye Shadow
• New, Exclusive Nude Shimmer Wash Eye Shadow
• New, Exclusive Bare Eye Shadow
• New, Exclusive Naked Eye Shadow
• New, Exclusive Bare Lip Color
• Beige Lip Color
• Brownie Pink Lip Color
• Cocoa Lip Color

Also in this collection is four New Glitter Lip Gloss shades:

• Almost Bare
• Nude
• Naked
• Buff

The Bobbi Brown Spring 2008 Nude Collection is currently available online at bobbibrowncosmetics.com.

Philosophy has the greatest gift sets available at Sephora.

In addition to the “just because” set shown here (a trio of scented shower gels inspired by three types of chocolate), there’s also “thank you” and “congratulations“—the perfect items to hoard in your closet for those times when you need a quick gift. (Are we alone in our perpetual state of rushing around at the last second?)

Just Because

• Milk Chocolate Shampoo, Shower Gel & Bubble Bath (6 oz)
• White Chocolate Shampoo, Shower Gel & Bubble Bath (6 oz)
• Dark Chocolate Shampoo, Shower Gel & Bubble Bath (6 oz)

Thank You

• Amazing Grace Shampoo, Shower Gel & Bubble Bath (8 oz)
• Pure Grace Shampoo, Shower Gel & Bubble Bath (8 oz)

Congratulations

• Jumbo sized bubbly-inspired shampoo, shower gel & bubble bath

Get these exclusive Philosophy gift sets at Sephora stores and online at sephora.com.

These last few months have been incredibly difficult here at Makeup Bag. Finding out our dad had liver cancer and losing him shortly thereafter has left us devastated.

The initial shock is beginning to wear off and we’re only now accepting the finality of it all.

This realization has left us a vacant, blubbering mess these last few weeks. Our tears have been endless, leaving our eyes sore, red and puffy (and driving our family crazy—our littlest daughter (age 5) finally told us last night, “Would you just STOP thinking about Grandpa already? All this crying just can’t be good for you.”)

Looking for a little reprieve, we turned to Wei East Intensive Herbal Eye Treatment. These herb-soaked pads gave our eyes instant relief with their cooling, pampering effect.

Each pad (soaked with a pure herbal blend of green tea, Tibetan chrysanthemum and peppermint extracts) is placed over the eyes while lying down for ten minutes. (Just so you know, we cheated: the first four minutes were purely relaxing, the last six minutes were spent reading our daughter a book with the pads folded in half so our eyes were uncovered—leaving the folded pad over just our puffy eye bags.)

Our eyes were immediately soothed and remarkably less puffy.

Wei East Intensive Herbal Eye Treatment is just $36 for 16 treatments and is available online at weieast.com.

It’s not surprising to hear that some of the best looks of Oscar night were created by Chanel Beauté.

Our second favorite look of the night (behind Jennifer Garner) is Penelope Cruz. Her makeup was created by Rachel Goodwin for Chanel. Rachel gave Penelope a stunning, dramatic look on the red carpet. She created a navy cat eye by lining the eyes with PRECISION EYE DEFINER in BLUE JEAN, then smudged the navy shadow from QUADRA EYESHADOW in BLEU CELESTE on top of the liner, giving her a deep blue almond shaped eye. She used TEINT INNOCENCE foundation in SOFT HONEY on her skin, and gave her complexion a matte, velvet finish with POUDRE CRISTALLINE ULTRA-FINE TRANSLUCENT POWDER. Rachel applied a new ROUGE ALLURE shade, NAÏVE, to Penelope’s lips for a pinkish nude lip.

Nicole Kidman never fails to enthrall us on the red carpet. She’s always beyond perfect and this year is no exception. Chanel makeup artist Angela Levin created Nicole’s flawless look by using deep, rich shades to give her a dramatic, smoky eye. To achieve this look she brushed SOFT TOUCH EYESHADOW in SILVERY and EBONY on the lids. She then lined the eyes with INTENSE EYE PENCIL in GRAPHITE and NOIR to make them stand out. As always, Angela used her favorite CHANEL product, INIMITABLE MASCARA in NOIR-BLACK. She finished the look with a pale, natural pink lip; ROUGE ALLURE in DARLING.

We’re not thrilled about Katherine Heigl’s hair, but her dress and makeup are amazing. Chanel makeup artist Monika Blunder gave Katherine a bold, bright, poppy hued mouth with AQUALUMIERE GLOSS in PARTY RED, a new gloss formula from CHANEL launching in May, flown in from Paris for the Oscar red carpet. She applied SHEER BRILLIANCE in SUNKISSED to give Katherine’s complexion a subtle, bronze glow. On her cheeks, Monika used POWDER BLUSH in HORIZON, a warm coral shade. She created a defined eye with INTENSE EYE PENCIL in AMBRE, and applied beige and brown shadows from QUADRA EYE SHADOW in DUNES to the lids. Finally, Monika added a touch of glamour to the eyes with INIMITABLE MASCARA in NOIR-BLACK.

To give Marion Cotillard a refined, ethereal look, Chanel makeup artist Angela Levin used the copper and pink-gold shadows from the MULTI-USE MAKEUP PALETTE in LUMIERE NATURELLE on her lids. She applied SHEER BRILLIANCE in SUNKISSED to Marion’s skin, giving her complexion a sheer sun-kissed glow. On her cheeks, Angela brushed on POWDER BLUSH in NARCISSE, a pale delicate pink. She finished the look with AQUALUMIERE SHEER COLOUR LIPSHINE in SOMOA, a copper-rose shade.

Thank you to Chanel for the inside scoop on these incredible looks.

photo credits: wire image

Jennifer Garner gets our vote for the best look of the Oscars. Gorgeous skin, elegant makeup and an incredible dress—perfection.

Celebrity makeup artist Paul Starr achieved Jennifer’s look with Chanel products by creating a strong, sculpted eye with radiant skin.

“My inspiration tonight was the glamour of old Hollywood; evoking the beauty of Grace Kelly and Audrey Hepburn,” said Starr. “This was the first time Jennifer was wearing a black dress on the red carpet, so I wanted to give her a strong look.”

He achieved this look by lining the upper and lower lash lines with INTENSE EYE PENCIL in NOIR, and then perfecting the line with AUTOMATIC LIQUID EYELINER in NOIR. Paul shaped the lids with a shimmery taupe shadow from QUADRA EYE SHADOW in DUNES, and applied INIMITABLE MASCARA In NOIR-BLACK to the lashes. He used TEINT INNOCENCE, a sheer foundation, to give Jennifer’s skin a fresh, flawless radiance. Finally, Paul completed the look with ROUGE ALLURE in TENDER, an elegant beige-pink.

Her effortlessly gorgeous hair was styled by Adir Abergel of Frederic Fekkai. To get the look, Adir started by applying from root to ends Fekkai Coiff Shape and Set Mist. Adir then parted hair for a severe side part, hiding all of Jen’s short bangs. He blow-dried small sections of the hair with a round brush and pinned each section back. Set the hair for about 10 minutes, Adir took a 1″ curling iron and curled her entire head. He then sprayed some Sheer Hold hairspray by Fekkai and pinned all her hair back into a low deconstructed bun. Making sure to leave the severe side bang and a few random pieces out to frame her face.

Thank you to Chanel and Frederic Fekkai for giving us the scoop!

Photo credits: wire image

Just look at this adorable girl.

This is Marion Cotillard (and because you are more informed than us, you already knew this) at the Cesar Film Awards 2008 yesterday in Paris, France.

Sadly, until moments ago, we had no idea who Marion Cotillard was (and if her charming outfit didn’t catch our eye, we would have no idea still). She is nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Actress category for her work in La Vie en Rose.

As usual, the Oscars are upon us and we haven’t seen ONE. SINGLE. FILM. Pathetic, no? It’s not that we don’t want to see them, we just haven’t made the time. (Do you know how much laundry we do?)

So, thanks to Marion and her sassy little dress, we at least got ourself up to speed on the nominees:

BEST ACTRESS

• Cate Blanchett (Elizabeth: The Golden Age)
• Julie Christie (Away from Her)
• Marion Cotillard (La Vie en Rose)
• Laura Linney (The savages)
• Ellen Page (Juno)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

• Cate Blanchett (I’m Not There)
• Ruby Dee (American Gangster)
• Saoirse Ronan (Atonement)
• Amy Ryan (Gone Baby Gone)
• Tilda Swinton (Michael Clayton)

BEST ACTOR

• George Clooney (Michael Clayton)
• Daniel Day-Lewis (There Will be Blood)
• Johnny Depp (Sweeney Todd the Demon Barber of Fleet Street)
• Tommy Lee Jones (In the Valley of Elah)
• Viggo Mortensen (Eastern Promises)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

• Casey Affleck (The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford)
• Javier Bardem (No Country for Old Men)
• Philip Seymour Hoffman (Charlie Wilson’s War)
• Hal Holbrook (Into the Wild)
• Tom Wilkinson (Michael Clayton)

This is where we should announce our picks, but alas, we have none. What we do have is a sneaky suspicion we’ll be seeing a lot of red lips tomorrow night. We can’t wait!

*photo: wire image

Demi Moore continues to awe us with her beauty.

While she’s a tad too tan-fastic for our taste in this photo, there’s no denying the woman is hotter than hot. Clearly she takes good care of herself and hasn’t been “freshened up” to the point of scary bulging cheeks and overinflated lips that many 40-plus Hollywood actresses have succumbed to (Madonna?!).

To recreate Demi’s glamorous look at home, we’re offering the following suggestions:

For golden-brown smoky eyes, try TheBalm ShadyLady Eyeshadow in Caught In the Act Courtney (1.) a shimmery chocolate with golden undertones. Use it wet as a liner and dry for a smudged-out sexy look. Add Hollywood drama with Shu Uemura Smoky Layers False Eyelashes (2.).

On cheeks, NARS Blush in Torrid (3.) adds a coral-toned shimmer to light skin from within.

Lips are the spotlight with traffic-stopping red. Try Chanel Rouge Allure in Dazzling (4.) a true red that’s long-lasting and moisturizing.

Finish off your look by dusting Estée Lauder Platinum Illuminator Loose Shimmer Powder (5.) over shoulders and collarbone and then proceed to knock ‘em dead.