MAC Makeup

Both Brights and Neutrals Play Important Parts in the New MAC Rossy de Palma Collection

October 11th, 2017 by Karen 4 Comments

mac rossy de palma packaging 1 — MAC Rossy de Palma

Described as a Picasso come to life, and Almodóvar’s muse, Spanish actress and model Rossy de Palma was something of an ‘it’ girl in the ’90s, but I seem to have missed that memo, lost to the same college vortex that sucked up the memo about Friends.

Yes, the TV show. I’ve never seen an episode of Friends.

How is that even possible, right? I don’t know, but it is.

I googled Rossy de Palma today, and oh em gee, the woman is gorgeous! I don’t even know where to start. She’s in her 50s, and I love that she actually looks like a 50-year-old woman. I can’t think of anyone else who looks quite like her. She seems sassy, artsy, strong, and I notice a recurring theme from her public pictures. She isn’t afraid to wear brights. She wears pinks on her lids, purples, teals…and I’m talking from the lash line all the way to the brow bone! She goes all out! I think I’m going to obsess over her now.

You can definitely see her love for brights in her new MAC collaboration, the MAC Rossy de Palma collection, especially through the Veluxe Pearlfusion Shadow Palette, Colours on the Verge ($32).

Brights play a big part in this collection, but the must-have take-home for me is a neutral. Go figure. More on that in a few…

Before we dive in, can we just take a second to appreciate the packaging? — because MAC went all out.

mac rossy de palma packaging 2 — MAC Rossy de Palma

Some pieces have a holographic effect, while others have an illustrated version of Rossy’s profile and her signature red lips.

Oh! — that’s another thing. Rossy loves matte red lipstick. She’ll do nudes on occasion, but mostly she wears red.

MAC Colours On the Verge/Veluxe Pearlfusion Shadow

I think the teal and navy blue in the Veluxe Pearlfusion Palette are pure fun, but the pink and purple are cute, too. And everything’s pigmented.

I’ll be wearing the brights like this again, as a single lid color and/or liner with a warm brown in the crease.

mac rossy de palma colours on the verge — MAC Colours On the Verge/Veluxe Pearlfusion Shadow ($32)

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Now Available in the MAC Permanent Line: The Liptensity Lipsticks and Liptensity Lip Pencils

October 9th, 2017 by Karen 11 Comments

mac liptensity lipsticks lip pencils — New in the permanent line!

You know when people say, “She’s so extra”? I still haven’t figured out if that’s a good or a bad thing. I think it’s a good thing…like saying “you’re the cat’s meow!”

I think?

These new MAC Liptensity Lipsticks and Lip Pencils are definitely extra, though. Extra pigmented! 🙂

mac liptensity lipsticks october 2017 — I love that the packaging is the same color as the bullet.

Remember the LE MAC Liptensity Lipsticks from last fall? The Liptensities have totally different packaging than the regular MAC Lipsticks. Their brightly colored caps match the lipsticks inside, and the formula is majorly intense and pigmented. They lay down lots of color per swipe, and there are now 12 shades in the permanent line for $21 each.

Here’s a look at some of them…

mac liptensity lipstick swatches october 2017 — MAC Liptensity Lipsticks from the top: Bite o’ Georgia, King Salmon, Noblesse, Beetroot, Clouds in My Coffee, Well-Bred Brown

Pretty, yeah?

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On Wednesdays We Wear Pink (and Purple)

October 4th, 2017 by Karen 9 Comments

igk-girls-club-mac pinklight strobe cream becca pink haze — It’s a pink hump day party with IGK Girls Club Color Spray, MAC Pinklite Strobe Cream and BECCA Pink Haze Soft Blurring Powder.

In the wise words of the Mean Girls movie, “On Wednesdays we wear pink,” and whoops! — sometimes purple, thanks to this temporary hair color spray by IGK, Girls Club ($19), which looks more like purple in my hair.

igk girls club — I call this pose “Purple-haired girl gazes out window.”

I like it, though. It smells like too-sweet bubblegum, and I have to use about half a can before the color really comes through, but I still think it’s fun, especially on mornings when the thought of covering my salt-and-pepper roots with regular ol’ root spray (I use the one by Rita Hazan) is just waaaaaay too depressing.

Even though I have to use a lot, so it’s not something I’ll do every day (because it’s $19), I think it’s better than most of the temporary hair color sprays I’ve used. It doesn’t make my hair feel crunchy (YAY!), and it’s easy to wash out.

OH, EM GEE, change my world, why don’t you?! BECCA Pink Haze Soft Blurring Powder ($38) is a loose makeup setting powder with a sheer pearly pink tint, and it subtly brightens your face, but you can’t, like, really tell when you first put it on. It takes 10-15 minutes before it seems to settle on the skin. Then you can see the subtle soft pink pearl reflecting in the light.

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MAC X Nicki Minaj Collection: 9 Nude Lip Combos to Try

October 3rd, 2017 by Karen 10 Comments

mac nicki minaj lip combos — Nude. Lip. Love.

Of the multitude of ways to refer to a booty/buttocks/bum/butt, derrière is my fave.

Derrière, daaaaahling! DAIRY AIR.

That’s classy.

There’s a lipstick in the MAC X Nicki Minaj collection called Derrière, which I take to be a celebration of Nicki’s famous backside, and why not celebrate it?! I think it deserves a parade.

BOOTY ALERT!!! For reals, my HIIT instructor plays this song in class sometimes, and it always cracks me up!

Nicki’s new booty-rockin’ limited edition collection of nude lipsticks, lip pencils and Lipglasses is available now with lots of love for #TEAMNUDELIPS.

There are SO MANY ways to work nude lips into cool combos, and here are nine ideas.

Note: If you happen to not be a member of #TEAMNUDELIPS, oh! Please come here. I have to try to convince you, but where do I start?? There are warm pink nudes, neutral pinks, peachy pinks, beige-pinks, AND THOSE ARE JUST THE PINKS. There are also peachy nudes, nude browns and… So many possibilities! The pics below just barely scratch the surface of the nude lip iceberg, but I hope they give you one or two impulses. 🙂

1. Boldly Bare Lip Pencil + Japanese Maple Lipstick + N-U-D-E Lipglass

6 mac nicki minaj boldly bare japanese maple nude — Boldly Bare Lip Pencil, Japanese Maple Lipstick and N-U-D-E Lipglass

2. Cork Lip Pencil + Derrière Lipstick + Beaux Lipglass

5 mac nicki minaj cork derrier beaux — Cork Lip Pencil, Derriere Lipstick and Beaux Lipglass

3. Edge to Edge Lip Pencil + Playing Koi Lipstick + Please Me Lipglass

4 mac nicki minaj edge to edge playing koi please me — Edge to Edge Lip Pencil, Playing Koi Lipstick and Please Me Lipglass

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Unsung Heroes: MAC In Extra Dimension Waterproof Mascara

October 3rd, 2017 by Karen 3 Comments

mac in extra mascara review — THE BEST mascara in the entire MAC fam IMO is this one here.

MAC has megatons of mascara. There must be millions of them! You know this. They aren’t one of those brands that only does, like, one mascara and calls it quit. No.

I think quite a few of MAC’s mascaras are good, too, like Extended Play. I’ve gone through a number of tubes of that one, among others, but there’s one MAC mascara I’ve been using more than the others for months, and I think it’s leagues above the rest. It’s In Extra Dimension Waterproof Mascara, the one in the curvy black tube with the teal MAC logos all over it.

Now, Karen is someone who finds fault with pretty much every mascara she tries. (Karen is also apparently someone who refers to herself in the third person!). But this one’s The. Best. in the entire MAC mascara family IMO. And, girl, I’ve tried them all!

You get so much bang for your buck with it, and the look is almost as dramatic as falsies, and that’s with just one or two coats.

I mean, it’s a mascara…so it’s not gonna make you look like you’ve grown Snuffalufagus fringe overnight, but if you want it all — thickness, length, curl separation and, most importantly, THE DRAMA — In Extra Dimension Waterproof brings it.

What’s an unsung makeup hero? For me, it’s an oftentimes underrated makeup morsel, a permanent collection product that scoots under the radar screen of many makeup lovers but regularly rocks my world. The long-running Unsung Heroes series features some of my favorites.

mac in extra dimension waterproof before after — Before and after! I’m also wearing MAC Studio Fix Fluid Foundation in NC 42 mixed with MAC Strobe Cream in Pinklite topped with MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Medium Golden (foundation and powder), Hourglass Radiant Bronze Light (blush), MAC Brow Sculpt Pencil in Spiked and Benefit clear Brow Gel (brows) and MAC Lipstick in MMMMM (from the new Nicki Minaj nude lipstick collection

There is one other thing I feel you need to know up front before you fall in love with it, and here it is: this mascara is truly waterproof. You’ll need an oil-based eye makeup remover and/or an eye-friendly cleansing balm to thoroughly take it off; otherwise, you’ll be stuck rubbing at your lashes for days and could even accidentally break them off (NOOOO!), which happened to me a couple times before I “wised up.”

Now when I wear this and go to remove my makeup at the end of the day, I soak a Shiseido Facial Cotton with a few drops of Klorane Waterproof Eye Make-Up Remover with Soothing Cornflower (you can get it at Sephora), then gently press the pad on top of my lashes. When I hold it there for a few seconds, this mascara slides right off.

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MAC Nicki Minaj Lipstick and the First PSL of the Season

September 28th, 2017 by Karen 22 Comments

mac nicki minaj the pinkprint swatch — MAC Lipglass in Please Me, MAC Lip Pencil in Dervish and MAC Nicki Minaj Lipstick in The Pinkprint

I was going to go get my first Pumpkin Spice Latte of the season today (#TEAMPSL) without even filling in my brows or curling my lashes, but then I saw The Pinkprint, one of the MAC X Nicki Minaj Collection Lipsticks, and wondered what Nicki Minaj would do…

Because she’s kind of a bad-@ss, and I can’t picture her going low-key to Starbucks. Nah, she’d be all decked out with full-on glam and a pink wig.

Probably. 🙂

In honor of Miss Nicki’s latest MAC collab (she’s done others before), I put on mah eyeliner, mah lipstick and a smile, then grabbed my first PSL of the season…which was iced, actually, because it was hot enough here for shorts and a t-shirt.

With my first Pumpkin Spice Latte of the season and the new MAC Nicki Minaj Lipstick in The Pinkprint, along with a few other MAC lip goodies. (See below!) Oh, and please note the little photobomber in the left-hand corner…

Light nude pink The Pinkprint is one of two lip products in the collection with LE packaging, and it’s the product I’m playing with first from the release because I thought it would look yummy with blue eyeliner.

mac nicki minaj pinkprint swatch — The Pinkprint Lipstick on its own without any accouterments

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#FoundationFocus: Mostly Matte With a Subtle Pink Sheen Using MAC Studio Fix Fluid SPF 15 and Strobe Cream in Pinklite

September 27th, 2017 by Karen 12 Comments

mac studio fix nc 42 k final look 2 — Natural-looking skin with a classic MAC foundation

I threw it waaaaaaay back to the old school today with MAC Studio Fix Fluid Foundation.

C’mon, MAC girls, I know y’all went through a phase when you wore this for a minute. I know I totally did! It was my jam back in the day. I’m talking late ’90s, early 2000s. It was the first MAC Foundation I ever tried.

Oh, the trouble I got into while wearing this… So great. 😉

macfixfam — MAC Studio Fix Fluid — old school and effective!

Full-coverage matte MAC Studio Fix Fluid is THE foundation I think of when I picture classic full-on glam MAC makeup, but here’s the deal: it’s surprisingly flexible. You can easily change the look of it if you’re feeling creative, which is how I was feeling this morning after I watched this video with MAC Artist Nemah Hasan.

She mixes Studio Fix Fluid Foundation with Pinklite Strobecream…

So genius, right? Why didn’t I ever think to try that?

Anyway, it inspired me, so today I put my own spin on it. I did a mostly matte, skin-focused makeup look with a subtle pink sheen. I think it’s quite sheer and natural looking, which I’ve been loving lately.

Here’s how I did the foundation…

1. Prep your skin first by spritzing a few sprays of moisturizing MAC Prep + Prime Fix+.

LOL! I look like I just emerged from an ocean swim in this pic! My face is drenched. For the record, it’s not easy to take a self-portrait when you’re spraying your face with Fix+.

I do this to moisturizing my skin and make the foundation look smoother.

2. Prime your skin with MAC Prep + Prime Skin.

Today was my first time trying this smoothing face primer. The colorless formula contains tiny, seductive sparkles that I can’t really see once they’re blended in, unless I look very closely. I like it. It smooths ‘ze pores while delicately blessing you with radiance. Ah…

mac prep primes skin k — Don’t forget to let it dry before applying foundation.

3. Mix equal parts MAC Studio Fix Fluid Foundation and MAC Strobe Cream in Pinklite.

mac studio fix strobe cream pinklight brush — MAC Studio Fix Fluid SPF 15 in NC42, MAC Strobecream in Pinklite, and the 190 Foundation Brush

Adding Pinklite Strobe Cream sheers out the Studio Fix Fluid a bit.

I wanted to keep the sheen on my cheeks and chin, so, when I was done with the foundation, I set my forehead and the sides of my nose with a little MAC Mineralize Slinfinish Natural in Medium Golden using a MAC 140S Synthetic Fan Brush.

mac 190 foundation brush — I mixed equal parts on the back of my hand.

mac studio fix nc42 k — Fingers work too, but I was feeling fancy today.

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The MAC Gently Off Wipes + Micellar Water Bulk Wipes

August 29th, 2017 by Karen 7 Comments

mac gently off wipes micellar water k1 — Pink and black!

What do pastel pink and black have to do with removing makeup?

Good question.

Maybe it’s a subliminal reference to black liner and pink lipstick…? I don’t know, but the new MAC Gently Off Wipes + Micellar Water ($29 for 100 wipes and coming to MAC counters in September) is working its voodoo charms on me.

Freakin’ pink and black, man! Yeeeeah, I’m a sucker, and I’m not ashamed to admit it. Pink and black gets me every single time. 🙂

MAC’s first micellar wipe remover

They come out next month, but micellar cleansers in general have been around for at least a decade. I know I’ve been talking about them since 2007… They’re a specific type of gentle liquid makeup remover, and “gentle” is the key word here, which uses oil to remove makeup, dirt, grime, kitty kisses, etc.

The oil is encapsulated in water, so when you apply the liquid to your face with a cotton ball or, in this case, a pre-soaked wipe, you can take off everything without stripping your skin.

Now about that pink again…

mac gently off wipes micellar water k2 — I can’t handle it.

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