A Look At: Dior's State of Gold Holiday 2015 Makeup Collection

Dior's known for bringing out luxurious "gilded" makeup collections every holiday season, filled with golds, reds, and plush velvety colors. This year is no different.

Named "State of Gold", the 2015 Holiday Collection features rich late-Fall colors like burgundy, red, squash orange, and all manner of nuanced gold tones. Every product is a gift worth giving if there's someone special in your life you want to pamper.

There are the requisite gold compact Illuminating Pressed Powders; 001 (a light champagne gold) and 002 a rose gold. I love both but only picked up 002 as 001 has not reached stores yet. 

Someone mentioned on Instagram that these are like collectibles to treasure and keep. I agree but I would also recommend using them cos they are gorgeous on the skin; more pearlescent than last year's and shot through with flattering gold rather than silver sparkles.

There are 2 cream shadows and 2 lip glosses which I won't speak of because they're not the standouts to me. There are also 2 pressed powder blushes which are shot through with lots of gold sparks. I'm not the biggest fan as there is so much gold sparkle in the formula that it would look quite dramatic on the cheeks. Both of the burnished orange-tones also look like they would work better on medium to tan skins and might be too orange on pale girls.

What I do highly recommend are:

• the two 5-Couleur palettes
• two of the 5 nail polishes
• both illuminating compact powders
• any of the 6 shades of Diorific Mat lipsticks

The 2 palettes come in variations of Fall tones. One accented with a beautiful sage green, the other a rusty brick red.

 576 Eternal Gold is a slightly more neutral grouping of shades, and my pick between the two, although 886 Blazing Gold is gorgeous as well, especially if you have blue/grey eyes or prefer warmer tones in general.

I like all the lipsticks. Fall and Winter are the best times for seasonal lip colors because instead of the more watery and translucent colors from Dior Addicts and Rouge Diors which are common in Spring and Summer, the brand tends to bring out rich satins and mattes in the Diorific range (which is my fave formula from Dior).

Plus - the ribbed gold cases are so vintage looking.

All 6 shades are gorgeous but the 4 I personally love are:

Fantastique - rich fuchsia

Fascinante - rich warm brown-rose

Fabuleuse - rich deep crimson

Troublante - dark burgundy red

As for the nail polishes, it really depends on your preference. But the two that I find a bit more special and worth picking up this season are 

• 227 Gris Or - a dimensional oyster-gold that shifts slightly grey and rose depending on the light
• 001 State of Gold - a gold glitter topcoat; sounds bring but this deposits SO much glitter in one coat that I instantly fell for it. Use it as an accent on one nail or partially over another color. (If you paint over the whole nail, you will blot out most of the color beneath.)

My Hoard of Golden Beauty Treasures!

Selection of gold things that are perfect for the holiday season

Excuse the loads of "product porn"! But don't they make SUCH a luscious visual?

Here are some of the golden things I love. Sadly, a couple of them are limited edition and no longer available (although we can cross our fingers they'll be re-released).

Dior J'adore Essence de Parfum

Dior J'adore Essence de Parfum

At the risk of sounding cheesy, this is liquid gold in a bottle. We keep complaining about Dior reformulating its classic scents with cheaper synthetics, but this particular version went the other way. Made from expensive natural Rose and Jasmine absolutes harvested from fields reserved just for Dior, and blended with real Tuberose and a touch of Tahitian Vanilla to lend a bit of oomph (don't worry, it doesn't smell like dessert), this is a more linear/simple but drop-dead gorgeous flanker of the original J'adore.

The slimmer, smaller, hand-crafted signature bottle with the long neck is just a pleasure to look at as well.

Lierac Huile Sensorielle aux 3 Fleurs

Lierac Huile Sensorielle

If you're traveling to or living in some place dry, you probably appreciate the wonders of rubbing a silky oil into your skin and hair.

Lierac's Huile Sensorielle is less well-known as Nuxe's equivalent, but I love it for the delicate blend of fragrant white flowers (camellia, jasmine and gardenia) with argan, sweet almond, grape seed, and hazelnut oils. It's light but nourishing, and just lovely and subtle to smell on your skin and hair.

Just be careful to store it away from light and heat, as it is all-natural and can go rancid.

Guerlain Ombre Eclat

Guerlain Ombre Eclat

Well, this is the only item that is here just because of the packaging. That's not to say Guerlain eyeshadows aren't some of the most impressive on the market. But if you're looking to treat someone - or yourself - this holiday season, a richly-pigmented shadow in a beautiful gold compact, sheathed in its own suede sleeve, is one of those little luxuries that feels special to own precisely because you wouldn't buy it under normal circumstances.

Guerlain Sun In The City (Limited)

Guerlain Sun In The City highlighter/bronzer

This ridiculously beautiful powder is only there because it's so ridiculously beautiful; both to see and to use. It's one of the best golden highlighters for medium to dark skins, and it's just a shame it's not part of the permanent collection. The compact is also HUGE so you can sweep it down your neck, across shoulders, down the arms and legs for a golden-bronze sheen.

Sephora mono shadow in Girls Night Out, and Guerlain Terracotta Sun In The City

Chanel Illusion d'Ombre Vision (Limited)

Chanel Illusion d'Ombre in Vision

One of my favorite cream shadows in the world - bar none - Vision is just made up of gold flecks, so you look like you're wearing a wash of gold dust on the lids. There's no other color in the base. Just Tinkerbell dust that won't fall off onto your cheeks.

The bad news is it's limited edition and no longer available, but here's a cheap alternative!

Sephora's Precious Gold Luminizer costs a humble US$10 but it's SO fun. It's similar to Vision, but the proportion of darker gold flecks is higher than in the Chanel. Honestly though, on the lid, most people won't be able to tell the difference. 

Swatches of Chanel Vision and Sephora's Precious Gold Luminizere

I like to dab this onto the inner corners of my eyes, or the center of my lid on top of a neutral/matte eyeshadow look. It can be worn as a wash across the lids, but doesn't go on as evenly as the Chanel, since it's a gel, so it doesn't build up very easily. Still, for the price, who's complaining?!

Lime Crime Uniliner in Rhyme

Lime Crime Uniliner in Rhyme

Rhyme isn't a typical metallic liquid liner. It's made up of ultra fine gold flecks, so if you sheer it out, it almost looks like a sparkly gold shadow. It's fantastic as a holiday liner, and I've also used it many times dabbed on the center of the lids over other shadows.

Lime Crime Uniliner in Rhyme applied as liner, and spread as shadow

Other products:

• Revlon Nail Enamel in Gold Coin - this is a sparkly cool gold that's not glitter and not quite chrome either.
• Gold nail wraps from lightinthebox.com (these are available from so many places; I just inluded them because nothing looks quite like gold nail wraps)