MAC Makeup

Going the Distance with the MAC Styledriven Pro Longwear Eye Shadows

September 13th, 2011 by Karen 46 Comments

mac styledriven pro longwear eye shadows

Pigment. Like. Whoa.

I’m serious. These new MAC Pro Longwear Eye Shadows ($20 U.S./$24 CDN each) from the MAC Styledriven collection, like the Pro Longwear lip products we looked at last week, are built to throw down.

With potent pigments, a downy soft texture and an easy-to-blend formula, these powder eyeshadows look and feel to me like muscled up MAC permanent shadows in the Veluxe Pearl finish (picture Woodwinked but even cooler).

I’ve been bouncing between six of the 16 colors from the line, and I’m still no closer to picking a favorite…

mac style driven pro longwear eyeshadows
Pro Longwear Eye Shadows, $20 U.S./$24 CDN each

mac style driven pro longwear eyeshadow hot paprika
Pro Longwear Eye Shadow in Hot Paprika
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I’d Like to Kiss The Inventor of These MAC Pro Longwear Lip Pencils

September 13th, 2011 by Karen 43 Comments

mac kiss me quick
Wearing MAC Pro Longwear Lip Pencil in Kiss Me Quick

In the summer before my freshman year of high school, my friend Nancy taught me how to kiss.

I hadn’t had a boyfriend yet but figured I should probably prepare myself before school started, just in case. Nancy, having dated a boy earlier that year, was my closest friend with the appropriate experience, so on our breaks during the algebra class we took together that summer, Nancy dispensed various pearls of kissing wisdom like…

Eat grape lollipops before kissing to freshen the breath (according to Nancy, they worked better than breath mints)
Observe proper gum etiquette (gum should not change owners during a make-out session)
Practice makes perfect

Forget pillows. Nancy recommended making out with your knee or the back of your hand to more accurately assess spit production and refine your technique (Nancy was all about the scientific method; she wanted to be an engineer). I have to admit — the girl was sharp. 🙂

I hadn’t thought about those old kissing lessons for years until today, when I decided to put the new MAC Pro Longwear Lip Pencils ($18 each, part of the upcoming MAC Styledriven collection) to the test.

mac style driven pro longwear lip pencils
Pro Longwear Lip Pencils, $18 U.S./$21.50 CDN
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Looking for a Dreamy, Creamy Lipstick that Lasts? Try the New MAC Pro Longwear Lipcremes

September 12th, 2011 by Karen 24 Comments

MAC Dashing Pro Longwear Lipcreme
MAC Pro Longwear Lipcreme in Positively Dashing

Lovahs of long-wearing lipstick, prepare to park your pout in front of the new MAC Pro Longwear Lipcremes for a prolonged play session when the MAC Styledriven collection cruises onto counters in t-minus 10 days.

Available in 12 shades of long-wearing pink, plum, orange, red and purple, these pigmented pretties may cost a bit more than MAC’s regular lipsticks ($17 U.S./$20 CDN versus $14.50 U.S./$17.50 CDN), but if you like creamy, pigmented lipsticks that latch onto lips and won’t let go, they deliver that much and a whole lot more.

mac style driven pro longwear lipcreme
Four of the 12 shades, from left to right: Dress It Up, Positively Dashing, So Very Good and Soft Sell

From the four shades I’ve been getting acquainted with, I’m beginning to think of these Lipcremes as upgraded versions of the MAC Amplified lipsticks (one of my favorite lipstick finishes from MAC), with similarly rich, intense pigments in a softer, creamier, more moisturizing formula.

More to like…

A forgiving finish — You know how some pigmented lipsticks can put a spotlight on any imperfections (like cracks/flakes) on your lips? That’s something these Lipcremes, despite their punchy pigments, don’t seem to do.
Wonderful wear time — So far today a single layer of Lipcreme has lasted me through three cups of tea and a bowl of Annie Chun’s Teriyaki Noodles for lunch. Lesser lipsticks would have given up the ghost by now.
A smooth operator — Despite how pigmented they are, I don’t feel like I have to use a lip brush with these to get a smooth, even application. I can apply them straight from the tube (with a caveat I’ll mention in a moment), which is great.
They make good scents — My super sensitive nose and taste buds both fancy the delicate vanilla flavor and scent.

Swatches from left to right: Dress It Up, Positively Dashing, So Very Good and Soft Sell
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Matchmaster, Matchmaster, Make Me a Match: New MAC Matchmaster Foundation

September 11th, 2011 by Karen 40 Comments

mac matchmaster foundation

Unicorns and four-leaf clovers aren’t half as rare as a great foundation (read: one that provides great coverage yet leaves skin looking like real skin), but MAC hopes their new line of liquid foundations will change that.

New Matchmaster Foundation SPF 15 makes its North American debut September 22 and also arrives on most international shores some time this month (oddly, it’s not slated to arrive in Asia until September of 2012).

The new line offers medium coverage with a demi-matte finish designed to even out skin tones and mask imperfections, yet — drum roll, please — still look like real skin, yay! 🙂 The ol’ bare-skin-but-better motif.

The secret ingredient? Spheres. No, not the cheesy movie starring Sam Jackson and Sharon Stone. These spheres belong to MAC’s Patented Pigment Technology, which squeezes pigments into tiny translucent spheres.

For traditional high-coverage foundations, companies use a mix of iron oxide and titanium dioxide-based red, yellow, white and black pigments to find matches for different skin tones, but it’s not a perfect science. Some formulations leave skin looking dull, or like it’s wearing a mask, and appearances can vary widely depending on the undertones in a wearer’s skin.

That’s where Matchmaster Foundation SPF 15 is supposed to come in. Clear acrylate spheres encapsulate micro-fine iron oxide and titanium dioxide pigments. When light hits the surface of these spheres, it enters and refracts, combining the undertones in the skin with a mix of micro fine pigments that should appear more natural to the naked eye.

At least that’s the idea.

More about Matchmaster from Nick Gavrelis, Vice President of MAC Global Development

The new line includes 14 shades, some of which are MAC’s lightest and darkest foundation shades to date
Provides broad spectrum UVA/UVB SPF 15 protection
The new foundation was designed to suit all skin types, but MAC says that people with oily skin might really love it thanks to a botanical ingredient called laminaria saccharina (a form of seaweed/kelp), which is supposed to combat oil

Here’s a little look at six of the 14 shades…

mac matchmaster foundation
From the left: 1.0, 3.0 and 5.0
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MAC Art of Powder Swatches and Pics

September 9th, 2011 by Karen 27 Comments

mac art of powder

Dayum, girl! These three MAC Art of Powder pans are bananas! B-A-N-A-N-A-S.

MAC Art of Powder

Is there a MAC counter at the MOMA now…?

The three-piece release of products inspired “…by the Masters & modern art movements” brushes onto North American MAC counters and breezes into stores September 29 (internationally next month).

Okay, these are some seriously soft powders, and get this — the designs are not simple oversprays. At least not as far as I can tell. Mind you, the last thing I want to do is go digging into these with a knife to see how far down into the pans the designs go, but all of them are embossed, etched into the pans. The patterns atop all of them, save the Street Art Eyeshadow, which does have silvery lineart that looks like an overspray to me, appear to go down deeper than one or two layers.

I’ll let you know just how deep down into the pans these designs go once I’ve really taken a brush to ’em, but either way, even if they are oversprays, they’re good oversprays at that.

Walk with me now, as we go on a little excursion tonight to a makeup museum, courtesy of MAC. 🙂

MAC Art of Powder
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MAC Posh Paradise Swatches and Pics

September 9th, 2011 by Karen 25 Comments

mac posh paradise

Confession: while I swatched and took pics of some of the Mattene Lipsticks and Paint Pots from the new MAC Posh Paradise collection this afternoon, I kept singing a modified version of Coolio’s Gangsta’s Paradise out loud.

Been spending most our lives
Living in a Paint Pot paradise.
Been spending most our lives
Living in a Paint Pot paradise.

And now you’ve got it stuck in your head too!

All 20 pieces of Posh Paradise prance onto MAC counters and into stores September 15 here in North America and internationally in October. Can’t. Wait. 🙂

mac posh paradise swatches paint pots
Paint Pots, $17.50 U.S./ $21 CDN each

mac genuine treasure
Paint Pot in Genuine Treasure

mac imaginary
Paint Pot in Imaginary

mac nubile
Paint Pot in Nubile
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MAC Styledriven Collection Swatches and Pics

September 9th, 2011 by Karen 29 Comments

mac style driven

Hey, cutie. Ready for a Friday afternoon MAC attack? Here are some pics and swatches of the lipsticks, lipglosses, lip pencils and eyeshadows from the new MAC Styledriven collection, which cruises onto MAC counters and into stores September 22 here in North America and internationally sometime later this month.

Vroom! Vroom! 🙂

mac style driven pro longwear eyeshadows
Pro Longwear Eye Shadows, $20 U.S./$24 CDN each

mac style driven pro longwear eyeshadow hot paprika
Pro Longwear Eye Shadow in Hot Paprika

mac style driven pro longwear eyeshadow legendary black
Pro Longwear Eye Shadow in Legendary Black

mac style driven pro longwear eyeshadow one to watch
Pro Longwear Eye Shadow in One to Watch
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The MAC Fall Colour Collection Makes It Easy to Smile for the Camera

September 9th, 2011 by Karen 85 Comments

mac fall colour collection

Photography geek alert! Everyone please remain calm, but this is kind of a big deal, especially if you’re a fellow photography geek and/or major MAC fan.

When I heard a while back that acclaimed New York photographer Cindy Sherman was going to be taking pics for the new MAC Fall Colour collection, I nearly dropped my DSLR!

Sherman’s probably best known for her self-portraits, where she gets into a specific character and does the whole kit and caboodle herself — everything from her own makeup, to styling, to modeling for the shoots and, of course, taking her own pics — and her work often tackles topics like women in society, media and art.

FUN FACT: Last May, Untitled $#96, a Cindy Sherman original, sold for $3.8 million, making it the world’s most valuable photograph.

Cindy’s pics for the collection look kinda kooky and fun, don’t ya think? A great fit for a brand like MAC.

Coming to counters, stores and online September 29 in North America and internationally this October, MAC Fall Colour features new and repromoted makeup and brushes for eyes, lips, cheeks and face. It’s a pretty hefty release, with 48 pieces spread out among three sub-collections — the first features dark, smoky colors; the second spotlights a bevy of brights; and the third directs our attention to soft neutrals.

I took a look at 8 of the 48 pieces yesterday afternoon — before the server took a nap — and so far I’m really loving the lipsticks and Mineralize Skinfinishes.

mac fall colour collection all
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