MAC Makeup

One Easy Way to Rock MAC Art Supplies

April 1st, 2010 by Karen 46 Comments

How’s it going, ladies? Remember the pink/purple Rock N’ Roll look we talked about last week? It featured a few products from the new MAC Art Supplies collection which swooped down on MAC counters today. This morning I thought I’d revisit the look and add some notes this time around for a brief tutorial.

A little bit of background…

Inspiration for the winged purple liner goes to ’80s hair metal band Motley Crue. I was listening to them on iTunes when it came to me. Here I’m wearing a toned-down version of the wing for daytime wear, but you could always ramp it up for evenings with a thicker line and a bigger flick.

It’s a pretty simple look in that it’s low on blending and doesn’t require bunches of different brushes. I’m imagining it as a way for makeup beginners or ladies new to color to take a pair of pretty pink and purple eyes for a test drive around town.

Fellow headbangers, if you do end up giving this or something like it a try and feel like sharing, please do! 🙂 Take a picture of yourself and send it to me at karen@makeupandbeautyblog.com. I’d love to see what you come up with.
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MAC Cosmetics Partners with Makeup and Beauty Blog

April 1st, 2010 by Karen 208 Comments

Ladies, if you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you probably know about my love for MAC Cosmetics. I’ve been a fan of theirs for years (my very first post was Barbie Loves MAC!).

And being such a devoted fan, I’ve been dying to tell you about a special project I’ve been working on FOREVER, but because of legal hoopla and various other contractual shenanigans I haven’t been been able to announce anything until now.

Starting this month, I’ll be splitting my time between this blog and a brand new site called MAC-Up and Beauty Blog.

In a nutshell, it’s going to be a MAC beauty blog with a quirky MBB spin. I’ll be giving you advance looks and swatches of new MAC collections, backstage access to MAC events and the latest tips and tricks from our favorite MAC makeup artists.

It also means I’ll be traveling a little bit more, but things will remain business as usual here on the OG MBB, where I’ll still post plenty of non-MAC beauty reviews, news and more than enough Tabs to last a lifetime. 🙂

MAC-Up and Beauty Blog won’t go live until mid-month, but MAC wants to get this party started, so they’re sponsoring a HUGE giveaway today on the blog.

The first 10,000 readers who friend the new MAC-Up and Beauty Blog Facebook page will receive a free tube of MAC Nymphette. This shimmery, peachy pink gloss is my all-time fave for smokey eyes.

If you’re interested, click here to sign up.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Wednesday MAC Attack: MAC Fabulous Felines, More MAC Art Supplies Swatches, MAC Trip Compact Kits

March 31st, 2010 by Karen 49 Comments

We made it to the hump, babes! Honestly, sometimes I think for surviving half the workweek, we should all get an award — a golden statue or a trumpet salute would do nicely, yes?

One good thing so far about today: I finally got a chance to swatch more Pearlglide Liners from the MAC Art Supplies Collection (see more swatches here). Say g’mawning to Undercurrent, a shimmery green, and Almost Noir, a shimmery plum (each $15).

From left: Undercurrent, Almost Noir

They have the same creamy formula as the rest of the Pearlglide liners and boast plenty o’ glitter to spare. What do you think of these colors? I’m feeling ’em both. 🙂
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The MAC Pro Longwear Lipstain Markers: Answers to Your Questions

March 29th, 2010 by Karen 20 Comments

Hello, young lady. How was the rest of your Monday? Downright spectacular, I hope. 🙂

Mine was aw-ite, I guess, with the exception of the weather. The rain is back in a big way this week, and dark, scary rain clouds are parked overhead. One of them HAS to have a silver lining, though, and I’m determined to find it. I thought it might be somewhere hiding among the coral lippies of MAC’s Pro Longwear Lipstain line from the MAC Art Supplies collection, so today I took a close look.

We talked about ’em last week, but I still had a couple more shades to show you — Tomorrow’s Coral (a reddish coral) and Full of Flare (an orangey coral).

From left: Tomorrow’s Coral, Full of Flare

Tomorrow’s Coral

Full of Flare

The last two turned out to be my favorites of the line! Before these, I felt most of the red and brown Lipstains looked too much alike, but these stand out. I’m even drooling over the prospects of layering them beneath a reddish coral gloss like MAC Liglass in Lychee Luxe. I get the feeling that’s gonna be the hawtness!

Today I also wanted to follow up and address some of your questions from the first Longwear post. Here’s one from reader Rae:

Aside from being gorgeous, how do these wear? — Rae

Hi Rae,

I get about two hours of rich color intensity before the color starts fading. Even after it fades, my lips still remain stained.

One day last week I’d put on A Classic (a dark red) at five in the afternoon. Three hours later, after a workout, the color was still holding strong, even after I’d chugged a ton of water from my water bottle.

After dinner and a shower, my lips still had color when the clock struck 9:30, and when I finally hit the haaay at 11, there was still some red hanging around.

All in all, that’s about six hours of pretty decent color.

The next question’s from reader Makeupmorsels who asked…
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Blues and Greens with MAC Art Supplies and MAC Trip

March 25th, 2010 by Karen 52 Comments

Howzit, holmes? Hasn’t this felt like a long week? I woke up this morning feeling very (see picture above).

Because a little color always helps, I reached for the MAC Trip Cool Eyes Palette and a few things from MAC Art Supplies, as well as Benefit’s permanent collection and a Lancome mascara.

In a little while I was feeling 100% better and kinda like this…

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I’m Tripping ‘Cause MAC Trip’s Now Available Online!

March 23rd, 2010 by Karen 26 Comments

Hey, MAC-aholics. Remember MAC Trip from last year, and how frickin’ hard it was to track down? MAC released the collection of palettes, lip sets and brush kits as travel exclusives, and you could only find them at various airports and travel hubs around the world, not at MAC counters or stores.

It was pretty hit-or-miss, too, and I’m guessing more than a handful of MAC fiends nearly missed flights trying to hunt these babies down!

If you’ve been wanting to get your paws on MAC Trip, grab your credit card and do a little happy dance because MAC just launched the collection online.

UPDATE 6-9-2010: To find ’em, search for “trip” (without the quotes) in the search bar on maccosmetics.com.

NOTE: Certain items, like the Cool Lips and Classic Eye/Cheek Palettes, are MIA. Thank goodness the MAC gods did us right by including the Cool Eyes Palette, aka one of bestest eyeshadow palettes, EVAH. If they had left it out, I would’ve pinched somebody good and hard with my monkey toes, ’cause Cool Eyes is all that and a bag of salt and vinegar chips. LOVE Springtime Skipper (a shimmery green) and Waternymph (a shimmery teal) on the lids!
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Vetting MAC Art Supplies Pro Longwear Lipstain Markers

March 22nd, 2010 by Karen 48 Comments

How was your Monday, sunshine? Mine was a little cra-zaay, as I’ve been running around like a nut!

The highlight: my trip to the vet…

For Tabs, of course. 🙂 Everything’s fine; he just needed a checkup, but the visit kind of threw a wrench into my afternoon. Vet visits turn that little wonderful cat into a freaking beast from the depths of kitteh hell.

He spent 45 very angry minutes dodging my attempts to load him into his cat carrier. Then, once we finally came to an agreement and got on the road, I couldn’t find the clinic and ended up lost beneath a highway next to some abandoned train tracks. Lovely, and that’s about the time Tabs started mewling, which, of course, made getting un-lost 10 times harder.

Long story short, it took a lot out of both of us. Tabs has been recovering in the closet since we got home, and I’ve been trying to unwind with the Pro Longwear Lipstain Markers ($16) from the upcoming MAC Art Supplies collection (arrives April 1).

Here are seven of the nine colors (not shown are Full of Flare and Tomorrow’s Coral). I’m curious to hear what you think. I like how rich the reds and browns are, but I think a lot of ’em look alike on my lips, maybe due to my pigmented pucker. 🙂

Stylesetter

A Classic
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Let MAC Art Supply the Makeup for Your Next Trip

March 19th, 2010 by Karen 68 Comments

Ladies, it’s time to spring into action and show winter the door (so long, farewell, auf wiedersehen goodbye!). Next up, spring and summer. 🙂

I’ve already started planning some trips to take advantage of the season. Nothing big — maybe a day trip around the Bay Area and a weekend jaunt up to Lake Tahoe — and one thing I pride myself on when it comes to road trips is being the girl you can count on to bring the snacks, the upbeat music, the GPS (did I mention I have no sense of direction?) and the makeup. If we were road tripping together, most def’ I’d bring along something from the new MAC Art Supplies collection, as it’s one of the most road trip-friendly MAC releases I’ve seen in a long time.

For reference, I’m an NC 35. From left: Greasepaint Sticks in Greengrease, Zinc Zone, Slick Black, Dirty

Arriving April 1, the 24-piece bonanza bursts with great-looking on-the-go goodies in pencil and pen form. MAC had self-portraiture in mind when they envisioned the collection, a theme I can really get behind. Aren’t our faces, after all, the canvases upon which we express our own makeup art? Duuuude, that’s kinda poetic, methinks. 🙂

Greasepaint Sticks in Brown Now, Below Ground, Uniformly Blue

The fact that each item in the collection fits in a pocket is like icing on a cake. The Greasepaint Sticks ($17.50), Pearlglide Intense Eyeliners ($14.50) and Pro Longwear Lipstain Markers ($16) make it uber-easy to get ready in a rush.
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