On Wednesday night I attended a press preview for the latest LUSH launch: a line of color cosmetics called Emotional Brilliance. First, the facts: Emotional Brilliance will launch worldwide on July 21, and it includes six cream eyeshadows, eleven liquid eyeliners, and thirteen liquid lip colors. Everything is vegan and has been formulated with plenty of beneficial ingredients, a minimum of synthetic preservatives, and recyclable packaging. ($22.95 each)

Now, however, I need to back up a bit, because the real story is the way you’re supposed to approach Emotional Brilliance and choose your colors. For the preview, I was brought into a curtained, candlelit back space to view the spinning “color wheel.” I was encouraged to select three colors that appealed most to me on an instinctive—yes, and emotional—level, rather than viewing them as makeup shades. I tried to go with my feelings, and I put my finger on a warm rose, a soft taupe, and a saturated purple.

According to the philosophy or “color therapy” of Emotional Brilliance, each color corresponds with a particular mental state or personality trait and we gravitate towards certain shades for subconscious reasons. The LUSH manager conducting my “reading” revealed the matching product for each color I’d chosen and explained it to me. In my trio, the first color (rose gold lip color) was Perspective, which represents my current strength or weakness; the second (metallic taupe shadow) was Sophisticated, which reveals my subconscious need; and the third (holographic purple liner) was Feeling Secure, which indicates the talent I will use to achieve my needs. This all sounds a bit rambling, but it makes a weird amount of sense in relation to a decision I’m currently facing in my non-blogging life.

Here’s a close-up of the liquid lip colors, with each shade wearing its name tag. The bottles have caps made from recycled LUSH product pots. They look like dropper dispensers, but they actually hold “doe-foot” wands (for lips and eyelids)  or fine brushes (for eyeliners). All the shades are safe to use wherever you like, so if you’re in the mood for a hot-pink eyeshadow or a bronze lip color, you can experiment.

But wait, there’s more: LUSH is also introducing a supplementary collection of “desert island” basics to be used in conjunction with the color cosmetics or on their own. This product family includes Eyes Right (a black mascara), Feeling Younger (a highlighting liquid), Charisma (a liquid bronzer), and Emotional Brilliance (a translucent setting powder). All of them feature nature-based ingredients and simple packaging. ($18.95 each)

I’ll be reviewing a few Emotional Brilliance products soon, so the rest of July will be a LUSH-heavy month here on Tinsel Creation. In the meantime, if you’d like to view the teaser video for this collection, click here.

And I’ll leave you with this image of some very colorful cupcakes that perfectly matched the Emotional Brilliance preview experience:

Thanks to the LUSH Union Square shop (7 East 14th Street, 212-255-5133) for hosting this event.

Images: all photographs by Tinsel Creation.