Better Than Naked

JSG sits in front of a beautiful collection of muted colors, created to bring out all our natural beauty. Usually we turn to Bobbi Brown for our "everyday woman" look and save MAC for the impact, going out, vamp look. But Mac has out-done themselves with their new N Collection (N stands for nude). You can wear these colors during the day, like Bobbi's, but the bonus is they have a little extra punch--kinda like wearing your favorite pair of jeans with a rockin' pair of heels. Our favorite of the bunch is the Nanogold eye shadow--it's pinkish-goldish and fantastic. Wear it as a highlighter near the brow or over the whole lid.

The standout lip colors are the N2, pale with gold tones, the N3, a rich, fleshy petal pink, and the N5, a transluscent plum-brown similar to everyone's old favorite Blackberry from Clinique. And both creme stick lip liners are standouts that look great with all the lipsticks, changing and complimenting each color. If you're a fan of the Lip Glass, you won't be disappointed either. Our favorites are the 3N, plenty of color to wear over lipstick or liner, or by itself and the AA7. (True story: When we wore it out to a bar recently, three of our friends borrowed it and it looked great on ALL four of us!)

One complaint: We would prefer if the colors had catchy names, which we think are easier to remeber than numbers. Though, when we mentioned this to our friend Julie from All About the Pretty at dinner on Saturday night, she disagreed, saying the numbers are easier to remember than the names. You tell us!

Available now at department stores, mac stores and on-line.