Aerin Lauder’s New Launch

For all intents and purposes, you really wouldn’t know just from the compact whether you were looking at an Estee Lauder product or one titled “Aerin”, and so it’s hard not to think of Aerin Lauder’s new makeup launch as simply an extension of the Estee Lauder line. Perhaps this was a brand meant to speak to younger buyers – those typically not found at the Estee Lauder counter. Or maybe it was meant to be for the Goop-reading moms at home who wanted a chic piece of this almost-socialite world.

Whatever the case, and despite all the hype, the new Aerin line is terribly underwhelming, though the concept is good.

The line is based around “must-haves” – products that Aerin Lauder, grand-daughter of Estee, has in her makeup bag all the time. So there’s a Weekday and a Weekend palette ($78) each of which includes a highlighter, a blush, and 2 eyeshadows. The Weekend one being more neutral and easy to wear because you want to kick back and relax with a more natural look on the weekend. This doesn’t apply to my life (my weekend makeup is decidedly more dramatic), and I have a hard time seeing how it applies to anyone else’s – unless it’s summer and you’re off to the cottage over the weekend. But we’re into Fall now and the weekend means red lips or smoky eyes.

The weekend palette has more of a bronzer than a highlighter.

That said, the palettes are well thought out and have wearable and easy to use colours – my suggestion is to ignore the weekend/weekday labels and find one that is going to work for your colouring.

Besides the palette, there’s also a collection of essentials.

Again, the colours and the tone of the products just make you think of Estee Lauder, although there’s no disguising where the inspiration for some of the products came from. The “essentials” include a Rose Lip Conditioner the texture and consistency of which is pretty similar to the By Terry Rose Lip Balm which retails for nearly $50. There was a time when almost every celebrity interviewed had this lip balm in their purse at all times, and now you too can own it too, although it’s $30 for a much smaller tube.

The Aerin collection does have some things going for it: there are lots of wearable natural colours that really would suit a large demographic of women. But despite all the hype, it’s just not a collection that you can get that excited about… yet. Holiday is approaching, and the line will include more interesting colours at that time. We’re waiting with bated breath.