MAC Dare To Wear Haul

I have not been this excited about a MAC collection since To The Beach, and that was two months ago! Sorry, but In The Groove just left me feeling meh. After much perusing of online swatches and reviews, I finally headed to the MAC store over the weekend. I decided not to pick up any permanent colors, instead leaving those on my incredibly long "to purchase" list, and focused only on the limited editions. It may have been the blue, blue sky, or the slightly cooler weather, but I found myself drawn to the blues in the collection, and ended up with Zingy, Sky Blue, Aqua, and Going Bananas.

L-R Zingy, Aqua, Sky Blue, Going Bananas

Zingy is a matte bright blue. It's a gorgeous color in the pan. When I got it home, it swatched HORRIBLY. Patchy and hard work.

Aqua is the most delicious, pretty, matte aqua. If Essie Mint Candy Apple came in eye shadow format, this would be it. The one I swatched in store came up fine, so why when I came home did it barely show up at all??? Matte shadows can be a pain to swatch only to play nice on the eyes, so I'm going to try a look with this this weekend. If it sucks, it's going back.

Sky Blue is a cool, sky blue frost eye shadow. Where frost eye shadows usually are the bold, badly behaved children in the crowd, Sky Blue is a pretty, breath of fresh air. I want to dab this on the corner of my eyes or lash line to brighten up my look. Like a cool, blast of AC on a humid day.

Going Bananas is BRIIIGHT!!! It's a frosty bright, straight yellow. It is ever so slightly cool toned. This is a knock your socks off in your face shimmery, frosty bright. Can't wait to figure out how to play around with it.

I was sorely tempted by Free To Be and Louder Please, but Louder Please just didn't look far enough away from Passionate for me to be able to justify it.

All in all, while the colors in this collection are gorgeously amazing, I'm a little disappointed by the quality, and it looks like I might be returned a couple, which is sad, sad. The only consolation is that it's 3 weeks until Fabulous Felines!!!!!

Zingy, Aqua

Sky Blue, Going Bananas

MAC To The Beach FOTD

This is an easy sunset eyes that I put together to try out some of the recently launched MAC To The Beach collection. I didn't officially review the collection because I felt that there were so many reviews out there already that I was not really adding anything to the mix. I've had a chance to play around with some of the products for the last week or so, and I really love the cream bronzer consistency and texture. I know a lot of people gave Beachbound Glaze Lipstick a hard time because it is so sheer, but I love it. I think it gives that gorgeous bronzey, beach goddess look so well.

All products MAC unless otherwise stated:
Eyes
Base: MAC Paint in Bare Canvas
Inner Lid: Goldmine
Outerlid and Crease: Amber Lights
Highlight: Shroom
Line: Nehru
Mascara: Maybelline Full and Soft
Brows: Elf Brow Kit in Medium

Face
Base: Tinted Moisturizer Mix
Bronze: Cream Bronzer in To The Beach
Blush: NARS Orgasm (Cream)

Lips:
Beachbound

MAC Dirty Grease Paint Stick

Last weekend I needed a quick but sophisticated look for going to brunch and the MOMA with some friends of ours. Although MAC Grease Paint Sticks on first glance appear to be all about the drama and the smoke, actuallly, they can be just gorgeous and subtle as well. I dotted a line along my lid and into my crease, and took a blending blush to blend the color evenly. It lasted for about 8 or 9hrs. I was pleased, and will definitely be wearing this to work. Simple, yes, even a little dull, but also pretty and so simple!

MAC Art Supplies Haul

L-R, Black Line, Undercurrent, Dirty, Zinc Zone, Below Ground

I don't really know what happened here. Normally I am super on the ball at scoring MAC new releases on the day they come out, swatching them all and getting it online. I've been super looking forward to this collection since I scored my first Greasepaint Stick at Style Black, but something happened (well, real life really!), and I only got a chance to pick these up last Saturday, and then it was a whole week before I was able to sit down properly and play around with them. So sorry, and I feel bad myself.

Okay, into what I picked up. I could easily have all 8 of the Greasepaint Sticks, but even I know that that is unnecessary and there are only so many smudgy smoky eyes a girl needs. And it's not as if I have a mad crazy hectic social life that needs a smoky eye each night! So, I managed to restrain myself to just three:

(From top, Dirty, Zinc Zone, Below Ground)

• Dirty: This is a greyed taupe. It reminds me of Satin Taupe in a smudgeable form. I cannot wait to do a look with this. It's gorgeous, with a touch of silvery shimmer and yummy blendability
• Below Ground: A light-mid tone brown with a shimmered finish. Soft and easy to use. Not super overwhelming in terms of color. I can see myself using this one a lot, although maybe not coming into summer. 
• Zinc Zone: Granite gray. Think Knight Divine in smudging form. Will work for a more sophisticated smudged eye. Love. 

 Mini Grease Paint Stick Sharpener

Greengrease and Uniformly Blue looked fun as well, but I can't have everything!

I also picked two Pearlglide Intense Liners. Pearlglide Liners are really nice and soft and are nearly as good as Urban Decay 24/7s (let's face it - is there a better liner than the 24/7s?). Out of the six colors available, I picked two:

• Black Line: Supersoft black with gold shimmer. This is like a thinner, darker version of NARS Aigle Noir that came out at Christmas last year. I have that, and I never use it :(
• Undercurrent: a darkened shimmery teal. I cannot control myself when it comes to teal eyeliners. They are my all time favorite liner color. I looked through my liner stash, and I have nothing like this. Score! :)

Although I am mad crazy for lipstains, something made me not love the MAC ones - the reports of dryness, and the fact that when I buy a Covergirl stain, they dry out in months, so I decided to pass these. Strength!!

Did anyone else pick up anything from the Art Supplies collection?

Pret A Papier comes out on Thursday, and I'm going to go to the new MAC at Times Square to take a look at it. Although I love my Flatiron store, and I feel like I'm cheating on them! 

MAC Liberty of London Review and Haul

MAC’s Liberty of London collection is the collection I have been most excited about since Style Black in September. I’m a Brit expat living in New York, and anything British makes me feel all nostalgic and homesick, and the iconic Liberty print is just one of the most British things possible, so as soon as it was announced, my little heart started racing.

The first, and most obvious thing to talk about is the amazing packaging. It is based on a decades old Liberty print that has been reworked for MAC exclusively for this collection. [insert more notes about the packaging here]

I’m a notorious eye shadow fiend, but strangely, the eye shadows in this collection did not really do it for me. The first reason is that it felt to me that they lacked cohesiveness. Instead, the colors came across as a little bit random and chaotic. Some were strong on their own, and others were a little bit meh for me. I’ve only included my own photos from what I purchased.

Give Me Liberty Of London is a pale, matte pink. This one was fairly sheer when I swatched it, and I’m in two minds about it. Part of me thinks that in itself, it is actually fairly unusual as an eyeshadow shade (really, think now, have you ever seen a matte pale pink?). However, I have to admit that I decided I could think of little uses for it and was worried about it giving me a weird case of pink eye, so decided to skip.

Free To Be is a pretty coral matte shade. This is now in the permanent line, so I think you could definitely take your time about making up your mind with this. Maybe a sheer matte sunset eye with Give Me Liberty…? I thought it was a pretty good color with reasonable payoff considering it is a matte.

Birds & Berries is a very pretty darkened shimmery teal. It has delicious color pay-off and a gorgeous shade. The only reason I skipped is because it is practically the same as Strike a Pose from the Starflash collection, but if I didn’t already have this color, I would so be grabbing this.

Bough Grey is a lovely gray with a tinge of green. This reminds me in some ways of Silverthorn from A Rose Romance, but it is darker and greener. I am going to use this is a smoky eye and can see this being great as a neutral. 

Dame's Desire was repromoted from the Dame Edna and I skipped right over it at looks close to a couple of pinky / purples I already have. Purples and me have historically not got along very well, so that one wasn't going to catch my eye. 

There are 2 blushes - Prim & Proper and Dirty Plum. Prim & Proper is a great neutral with a touch of pink. Shocking - I do not have any neutral blushes at all - how terrible am I?!?! I keep buying pinks instead! Anyway, this is a gorgeous, useful every day color that can also be used for contouring. I can see myself using this regularly to work. 

I also picked up the Shell Pearl Beauty Powder. It's a pretty sheer pink shimmery highlighter. This is going to be a great summery shimmery powder. It's just a great, pretty color. Very simple. There is also a Summer Rose Beauty Powder that I nearly picked up. I saw it first the A Rose Romance last summer, and wanted it then. I'm still debating that one as well. Trying to be strong here!

Shell Pearl, Prim & Proper, Bough Grey

This collection really came into its own on the lip products. Wowser. There are two cool lip colors - Blooming Lovely and Petals & Peacocks. Cool lip colors don't work so well with my warmer tones, so I looked over the and scored Ever Hip and Peachstock. Ever Hip is a super gorgeous creamy summer color (coral is the color of the summer girls!!). Peachstock is a creamy peachy-nude. It's from the PRO line, so you do not have to run to pick this one up.

There are 4 lip glosses - English Accents which is a cooler pink toned gloss, A Different Groove which is a dark blackberry gloss (I didn't buy this one but it is really tempting!), Perenially High Style which is a yummy summer coral, and Frankly Fresh which is a nude pink shimmer gloss.

Peachstock, Ever Hip, Frankly Fresh, Perenially High Style

All in all this collection has some real hits and some total skips. What did you pick up?

Spring Color Forecast EOTD Gold Look

Just a simple gold and pink neutral look from Spring Color Forecast. I love how although the colors are bright, they are an easy way to introduce color into your look. Although I do have to do a big over the top look soon!

 

All MAC unless otherwise stated:

Elf Shadow Primer

Inner: Manila

Middle: Perky

Outer: Flip

Crease: Creole 

Highlight: Manila
Mascara: Maybelline Full & Soft

Brows: Anastasia Tinted Brow Gel

 

Another Spring Color Forecast Look

 

Another Spring Color Forecast look today. I wish the eyes stood out more a little in the pictures, but they were very pretty and spring like in real life. 

All MAC unless otherwise stated. 

Eyes: 

MAC Paint in Bare Canvas

Inner Lid: Flip

Middle Lid: Da Bling

Outer: La La

Crease: Creole Beauty

Highlight: Manila

Mascara: Maybelline Full & Soft

Brows: Anastasia Tinted Brow Gel

Face:

Tinted Moisterizer (my mix)

MAC Moisture Select Concealer NW20

NARS Orgasm Illuminator

Benefit Posie Tint

Lips

Fresh Salmon

Gold Dust

Gold Dust is the most gorgeous lip gloss - it's pure gold in a gloss. I wish the sparkles showed up more in the picture I took, but if you can imagine the most lovely rich golden gloss, then you're there. Creole Beauty also tones down the pinkness of Da Bling and La La, neutralising and making the look super day time pretty. Definitely a look I'm going to wear again and again.

MAC Spring Color Forecast FOTD

It's a beautiful day here in NYC - the sun is shining, the snow is melting, and there's barely a cloud in the sky. What better time to play around with MAC's latest collection - Spring Color Forecast?

I love this collection. It's so bright and fun and spring-like, with colors that will attact anyone eye. The fact that there are four separate color collections based on Pink, Coral, Plum, and Amber means there's a little something for everyone.

I wanted to wear something easy and straightforward today as we were just going for breakfast. It's just a very light sunset eyes look with light base and simple lips. Hot Hot Hot is such a fun pink to wear - so far it hasn't made me look ill once - always a risk! :)

Everything MAC unless stated

Eyes:
MAC Paint in Bare Canvas
Inner lid: Nanogold
Middle Lid: Straw Harvest
Outer Lid:Hot Hot Hot
Browbone: Nanogold

Base:
My own tinted moisteriser using Kiehls Ultra Facial Lotion, MAC Studio Sculpt in NW25, and a touch of MAC Strobe Cream
MAC Select Moisture Cover in NW20

Cheeks
NARS Orgasm Illuminator
Benefit Posie Tint

Lips
NARS Dolce Vita Lipstick

EOTD Blue Smoky Eyes Using MAC Holiday 09

I’ve been obsessed with blue smoky eyes for a while, and have been using MAC’s Blue Flame from Style Black alternated with NARS Night Flight to build up that dark blue glitter. For some reason, I think that a blue smoky eye is much more modern, edgy, and rocky than the more traditional one built with blacks, grays, and silvers.

This was one done using MAC’s Mystic Cool Palette from Holiday 09. I’ve done a look before from this palette, where I mentioned that the colors themselves are not obviously complementary. The blues together are gorgeous though. In putting this look together, I didn’t want to use any eyeliner on the upper lid, as I thought that it would start to look like those 80s smoky eyes which are so planned and constructed. This is much softer, more organic, and smudgier than that.

Base: Paint in Bare Canvas, and NYX Jumbo Pencil in Milk
Inner: Turquoise
Outer: Dark Blue
Crease: Dark Brown (very little)
Lower Lid: Zero and Dark Blue
Tear Duct and Brow Bone: Shimmery Gold Highlighter

Spring Color Forecast Haul Part 2

As I posted last week, I knew I was going to have to take MAC's Spring Color Forecast in stages as it is such an overwhelming collection. This week I headed back to my MAC counter without the puppy and came away with a few more pieces.

 

One of the products I was most excited about was the Stacked 2! Pigments ($32.50). These are a different texture from normal pigments, and closer to Solar Bits from Style Warriors last summer (the first MAC collection I got excited about, incidentally). For those who are not familiar with those, they are much lumpier feel almost wet when touched. They are incredibly rich and soft. 

As you can see, the colors are a true gold, an antique or green tinged gold, a copper tinged gold, and a more pink or melon gold. They have a very high shine quotient, so I can see these being fun to add as a base, or smudging on the crease to add some drama, but not using all over, apart from something over the top. Not that there's anything wrong with being over the top sometimes!

I am a real sucker for golds - they are probably my biggest weakness when it comes to make up. And really, anything gold - highlighter, bronzer, lip colors - anything with gold just sings to me! So this palette ($36) was always going to come home with me. The palette is in the new packaging which apparently all palettes will be in from now on. I much prefer it - it looks like an upgrade to me - a little more put together and durable. 

L-R Manila Paper, Flip, Aztec Brick, Creole Beauty

Manila Paper is a smooth light gold with a touch of shimmer

Flip is a light red or peach gold. Again it has a hint of shimmer. It reminds me of all my other peachy golds that I posted about it, so I'm bound to like it. It did swatch the worst out of the four though. 

Aztec Brick is a rich copper. This swatched super rich and will be gorgeous and versatile. 

Creole Beauty is a rich bronze color. Again, it swatched well. It really reminds me of Bronze actually. 

You might already have a bunch of these colors in your collection already, in which case you can skip this palette. If you are just getting into this color family, then you should definitely check these out. 

 

I thought I was going to get a lot more lip glosses from this collection, but when I saw them in person, I actually ended up not loving a lot of them, mainly because I thought that they were very dupable. 

I did pick up Gold Dust which is a perfect gold shimmery gloss - warm in tone, and awesome to wear alone or over another color. I am imagining this on tropical beaches in the evening - gorgeous sultriness. 

Kumquat is a great rich coral - super bright and fun. 

Hush Hush Rose is an amazingly pretty raspberry gloss with some shimmer.

L-R Gold Dust, Ember, Hush Hush Rose, Pink Burst

Prior to seeing the collection in real life, I was excited about Cha Cha, Electric Fuchsia, Almondine, and Culture Clash. Cha Cha is a milky coral that ended up making me look a little weird and dead. Electric Fuchsia is a great bright color but I was put off by the blue shimmer. However I do think it's a great and exciting color, just not for me. Culture Clash reminded me of a gazillion other similiar milky pink glosses with shimmer that MAC puts out with every collection and I am sick of accidentally buying and finding a gazillion other shades of in my collection. Almondine looks very scary in the tube, but actually sheers out very nicely, but it reminded me of Elle, which came in one of the Holiday 09 collections as a mini, and I really think a mini is enough of this shade that I need. 

One final purchase was Pink Burst Lipstick, which is oh-so aptly named. It is a gorgeous rich bright shock of pink, sheer enough to be wearable but buildable. A gorgeous spring color, or wear it now to brighten up your day!

I really loved this collection - it was bright, fun, dynamic, and exciting. I've used almost everything since purchasing in some way despite the cold weather, and even though the colors are bright, they are wearable and flexible. I know it's a big collection, and in some ways very overwhelming, but it's definitely worth taking a look at, and there is bound to be something for everyone in it.

Roman Goddess EOTD Using MAC Devil May Care Palette

I was thinking Roman Goddess when I put together this look, and really wanted to bring out a rich, opulent, luxury feeling. I deliberately didn’t line the upper lid to really bring out the golds and bronzes, as I love how gorgeous they look shimmering together. I also extended the shadow to almost touching my eyebrows to really bring out that imposing, gorgeous feeling. A little bit over the top maybe, but the colors are so beautiful that I felt they deserved it. I used the MAC Devil May Care Palette from Holiday 09, but the colors are not so original that duping isn’t possible.

I haven’t got full face pictures, but I’d recommend a gold or bronzey tinged lip gloss - Liberated from MAC Style Warriors is my first choice, though anything with a hint of gold shimmer will work nicely, as long as the color is kept warm. Again, warm toned blush and a touch of bronzer will really work the glamazon opulence going here.

Base: Paint in Bare Canvas and NYX Jumbo Pencil in Milk
Inner Lid: Antique  Gold
Outer Lid: Bronze
Crease brushed out to wing: Burgundy
Lower Waterline: Urban Decay Zero
Lower Lashline: Bronze shadow
Browbone: Light gold
Mascara: Maybelline XXL Colossal

Looking at the palette, the burgundy color could be duped with MAC A Little Folie, the gold color maybe Gorgeous Gold, the bronze by Bronze. Suggestions welcome for the rest of them.

Neutral Pink With Turquoise EOTD Using MAC Mystic Cool Palette

Another look from my MAC Holiday Palette series. I appreciate these are a little behind the times, but remember that I’m all about rediscovering hidden gems in my stash as well as splurging on the latest must haves (hello Spring Color Forecast!). Maybe I’ll help you take a look at your palettes or other forgotten colors as well.

This look was done using the Mystic Cool Palette. Out of all the palettes that were released as part of Holiday 2009, this is definitely the odd-ball and hardest to work with. Individually, the colors are beautiful, and reasonably good quality (what is it about palettes that they never seem to be the same standard as regular pans?), but they just don’t seem to gel together in an obvious way compared to the other palettes. I wore this look to dinner with a friend, and really enjoyed wearing it. I love a shock of turquoise wherever I can get it.

Base: Paint Pot in Bare Canvas followed by NYX Jumbo Pencil in Milk
Inner Lid: Pale Pink
Outer Lid: Frosty Pink
Crease: Brown
Brown Bone and Tear Duct: Shimmery gold highlight
Lower Lash Line: Turquoise shade

I wish I could advise on some good dupes for this set. The dark blue is probably MAC’s Contrast, and the turquoise looks like Urban Decay’s Flipside. The brown I am sure is easily dupable, I am just drawing a blank at the moment. However, the two pinks right now seem undupable to me, unless anyone else has any suggestions?