I’ve never taken much interest in holiday sets from beauty brands. They tend to feature excessive, tacky packaging, overpriced merch, and/or “universally flattering” makeup shades that I either already own or know I don’t want. Glossier’s Gold Kit, released in 2020, is a perfect example: $75 (seriously) for a gold-plated brass initial necklace and a lip gloss with barely visible gold shimmer. So I wasn’t expecting to buy any holiday set, still less a holiday set from Glossier, this November. But we all surprise ourselves sometimes. I hope I can surprise myself in another way by banging out this post quickly, so that it’s actually useful to someone.

The Eye Stars Kit, one of three sets that Glossier released this holiday season, immediately captured my attention. The kit contains a Lash Slick mascara and a Lidstar liquid eyeshadow, my two favorite Glossier formulas. The products are housed in an adorable, reusable mint-green tin, and you know how I feel about adorable tins. The entire pink-red-mint aesthetic is crisp, wintery, midcentury-inspired. The price is $36, which is the usual price of a Lidstar and a Lash Slick—not much of a discount, but at least you’re getting the tin free. (I should mention that I bought the set with a $10 gift card, however.)

Oh, and this winter’s Glossier sticker has metallic lettering, if you care about that. I’m ashamed to say I do.

Packaging is an important part of any holiday set. You want the recipient to have an experience, you know? In my opinion, the Eye Stars Kit provides that experience; I can’t imagine a makeup lover who wouldn’t be tickled to receive this gift. Slide off the pink paper wrapper to reveal the design on the lid of the tin:

Open the tin to find the mascara and eyeshadow nestled in a pink cardboard insert:

I reviewed Lash Slick back in 2018 and the formula doesn’t seem to have changed since then (though the price has increased by $2!), so feel free to check out that review if you’d like to read my thoughts. The rest of this post will be devoted to the Lidstar, Aurora, a new shade inspired by the northern lights. Aurora is supposedly limited edition, but I don’t think it’s out of the question that we’ll eventually see the shade in the permanent Lidstar lineup. Brands can be tricky like that.

Glossier describes Aurora as a “glistening rosy red shade with blue and green pearl tones,” which is pretty accurate to its appearance in the tube. It’s very hard to capture the blue shimmer in photos, but here’s my best attempt:

I’ve found that Lidstar has two sub-formulas: a very sheer one (e.g. Moon, Slip, Lily) and a close-to-opaque one (e.g. Bun, Cub, Fawn). Aurora falls on the sheerer end of the spectrum, but it’s the sparkliest of the Lidstars I’ve tried. Here it is swatched between the two Lidstars closest to it in color, Branch (left) and Cub (right), first in shade, then in sun:

Out-of-focus swatches, to show the sparkle:

Because of its sheerness, Aurora won’t look the same on everyone. On me (pale, cool-toned), it’s a warmish rose that leans mauve in certain lights. On this Redditor, it’s a light lavender! The more opaque Lidstars are easy to blend out with a finger, but Aurora, like the other sheer shades, needs a brush and two layers. Below, a fairly gruesome close-up of one layer of Aurora, then two:

Full face feat. Lash Slick, Sleek Flushed blush, and MAC Lustreglass Lipstick in Spice It Up! Yes, I know I need a haircut.

Shade/sun comparison:

Aurora lasts all day without smudging, but it does have more glitter fallout than the other Lidstars I’ve tried. It’s not my favorite Lidstar ever (that would be Bun or Slip), but I look forward to wearing it for a touch of subtle sparkle this holiday season. I’ve found that it makes a nice topper for matte eyeshadows such as ColourPop Bill.

Now for the most important consideration: what should I put in the tin? Embroidery notions, maybe?

Happy early Thanksgiving to all who celebrate! I’m very excited to try making this pie.