Mac Ice Parade Holiday Collection: it's here!

It's been almost a week that my local Mac store is decorated according to the holiday themes (Glitter & Ice etc.) but no products yet!

So, this evening, while passing by on my way home,  I was pleasantly surprised because I accidentally noticed that they had already positioned the Ice Parade testers.
It goes without saying that I stopped by to get the few things from the Glitter & Ice that I had planned to buy. Instead, the assistant told me that they didn't have the Glitter and Ice as yet but they already had the Ice Parade and the Holiday Viva Glam kit. Momentarily, I got dissappointed, but then (surprise!), I decided to take a look at the available collections, although I knew that I wasn't planning to get anything from these.

Well, you know how that goes: a few swatches is all it takes to buy something that you've convinced yourself you don't need. The item that managed to brake my resistance was the Festive Kit in Wintercool . After a lot of inner struggle (the plot goes dramatic, LOL!) I decided that, although I definitely didn' t need it, it was actually a value for money kit. The reasons are that at €56 you get the following, full sized products:

• a frost lipstick (Hot Gossip), a very pretty and wearable medium pink
• a lipgloss (Emancipation), a light pink without glitter etc,
• a matte blush (Mocha), a lovely medium pink-plum shade
• four eyeshadows
• Phloof!, a frost white a bit on the pink side
• Quarry, a matte medium pink-plum-brown
• Dance in the Dark, a matte dark brown-black 
• Brun, a satin deep grey brown
• three short handle brushes
• 129SE, 
• 266SE,
• 275SE
• a clear plastic bag with a silver pocket on the outside

All the shades (I think that) they are permanent, but, the fun part of being a recent Mac convert is that, with the exception of Quarry, I didn't have any of them, so that was a plus to me.

As for the three included brushes, I don't have to tell you that they're inferior in quality compared to the full sized ones, BUT:

• they're not that bad as some beauty gurus say, meaning that I will definitely use them and they will be quite handy in my everyday makeup bag or in my travel bag, etc. I'm not a makeup artist thus not an expert, but, for personal use, they're acceptable. 
• also, let's say that you're a total beginner, or that you don't want to invest 20-30-40 euros to get one mac brush. In that case they have separate holiday brush kits that seemed very soft to me, even for everyday use, that I would buy in a heartbeat if I could justify the expense (since I already have the full sized ones that I need).

Now, the right part of my brain (LOL), says that I don't have to stress out the cuteness of every item! I really love the white, sparkly theme, everything is so tacky but alluring at the same time!

Enough said, photos please!

What do you plan to get from the holiday collections?