| I have known for a long time about the existence of the CCO, or Cosmetics Company Outlet, in outlet malls all across the country. And I had heard of all the wonders that could be obtained in these stores. I had heard tales of deep discounted prices on MAC products that were limited edition, and long out of regular stores and department store counters. Until recently I did not think that there was one of these wondrous stores anywhere close to me. But I was wrong. I was so very wrong. On the outskirts of Houston, on the northwest side. On Highway 290, is the Houston Premium Outlet mall. A magical play land of discount designer brand name clothing stores, and general frivolity. Nestled amongst the rich shopping bounty is the small store, the Cosmetics Company Store. Inside this haven of femininity I was affronted with makeups from such brands as MAC, Bobbi Brown, Clinique, Prescriptive, and others. It really was amazing to see for a first time shopper such as myself. When entering into the store, I made a bee line to the MAC section. There they had various products from the regular line, the Hello Kitty, Neo Sci-fi, and many other recent, and not so recent limited edition collection. I glanced through the shelved that contained lipglasses and lipsticks. I didn't see anything that really caught my eye, but then again lip products are not where my heart lies. I walked around the corner and saw many black matte compacts containing various shades of Studio Fix Powder, and Mineralized Skin Finish. On a shelf above these were some Eye shadow Trios and Quads from collection such as Dame Edna, Hello Kitty, and Heatherette. I had never seen any of the Heatherette collection because it had come out a while before I got into drag, or makeup at all. I found myself loving both of the trios from this line. So I decided to purchases the Heatherette Trio #2 compact. You can see in the pictures below that this is a beauty, and just screams Blanche Babcock. In this compact, there is a light pink called Baby Petals (A frost) that will make a lovely brow highlight color, or even an eyelid color used in pale looks. Along with this was a beautiful medium pink color called V.I.P (A velvet). I was a bit worried at first that this color was very similar to my favorite MAC pink eye shadow, Pink Venus. But once I got home and compared them, V.I.P. is a cooler toned color thank Pink Venus. So that was a good thing. The third color was a wonderful bluish purple called Cassette (A Veluxe Pearl). This is such a beautiful color. It is going to look wonderful as a crease color, or even an outer lid color when doing pink lids. Just fabulous! So after making my decision on this trio, I walked around another corner and was faced with the single eye shadows, mineralized eye shadows, and pigments. I felt like I was in heaven. Amongst the eye shadows there were items from the Ungarro collection, and then the Alexander McQueen 07 line. I saw so many shades I wanted to add to my ever growing amassment of MAC Eye shadows. I chose two colors for my first trip to this store. the first one was Cool Heat (A frost). This color comes from the Cool Heat collection, which was released in June of 2008. It is a lovely teal blue color that is unlike anything I currently have in my collection. It will look so lovely with either Aquadisiac or Too Dolly (from the Hello Kitty quad of the same name). I also was taken with a color called Bold and Brazen from the original Starflash collection which was released in July of 2008. It is a beautiful light bronzish copper color which will look equally good paired with Cool Heat that I had just purchased, or teamed with Honey Lust. A color I don't use nearly often enough. So in all I ended up walking away having spent a little over $40 for five brand new eye shadow colors that I will probably not ever seen in stores again, unless MAC decides to repromote them. Please take a look at the pictures below to see just what stole my heart that day at the outlet mall. I have vowed to myself not to let as much time pass before going back and checking this store out again. |
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| Bold and Brazen - $10.25 | Cool Heat - $10.25 |
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| Heatherette Trio #2 - $22.00 Outside of the compact |
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| Heatherette Trio #2 Inside of the compact, showing from left to right: Baby Petals(F), V.I.P.(V), and Cassette(VP). |
| If you would like to go to this CCO store they can be contacted at: (281) 256-3331 And the mall is located at: 29300 Hempstead Road http://www.premiumoutlets.com/ Check them out, the whole place is fabulous. |
