MAC Makeup

MAC Viva Glam Taraji P. Henson 2 Lipstick and Lipglass

August 24th, 2017 by Karen 8 Comments

mac taraji p henson viva glam 2 lipstick — She’s baaaack! MAC Taraji P. Henson is back with a second Viva Glam Lipstick and Lipglass (coming soon)

I read somewhere that it took Taraji P. Henson of Empire and Hidden Figures — who’s back, by the way, with a second MAC Viva Glam — a long time to get her big break as an actress.

That’s cool. She never gave up. She persisted, and she got there.

It gives me hope! Like, I still wanna write a young adult novel, and I’m no spring chicken (I’m 42). But it’s never too late, right?

Taraji’s new MAC Viva Glam comes out next month (September 7th to counters and the MAC website). Viva Glam Taraji P. Henson 2 Lipstick and Lipglass are $17 each, and I think they’re just as rad as her VG Lipstick and Lipglass last year.

Viva Glam Taraji P. Henson 2 Lipstick and Lipglass

mac taraji p henson viva glam 2 lipglass — MAC Taraji P. Henson Lipglass

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About Those Glittery New MAC Dazzleglass Shades…

August 15th, 2017 by Karen 10 Comments

A couple days ago I posted a pic of some new MAC Dazzleglass lipglosses that were added to the MAC permanent line last month, and I didn’t anticipate the powerful pull o’ the Dazzleglass glitter, because I was inundated by requests for me to list their names.

So here goes…

mac dazzleglass nemac dazzleglass neww — From the top: Extra Amps, Like Venus, Baby Sparks, Sugar-Rimmed, Moth to Flame, Rags to Riches, Money Honey, Smile and Steppin’ Out

Of course I like the pink, peach and coral ones, LOL! There are also some edgier colors too, like a blue (Comet Blue), a few purples (Funtabulous, Date Night and Boys Go Crazy), a white shade (Pleasure Principle), a copper (Get Rich Quick) and a red (Love Alert).

If Love Alert and Sugar-Rimmed look familiar, that’s because they also appeared in earlier MAC LE launches.

The new ones are just like I remember them (err, the other ones). They’re extra glittery and shiny, with glitter flecks bigger than the glitter in a MAC Lipglass, but they aren’t gritty at all, which is great, so they’re quite comfy, even though they’re super sticky, and there’s no way in hell you can avoid getting your high pony stuck in your gloss when you wear them.

That’s just not happening!

But, on the flip side, they last a solid four hours.

mac money honey rags to riches — Money Honey (top) and Rags to Riches (bottom)

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The MAC Pizza Cutter Eyeliner, Also Known As “MAC Rollerwheel Liquid Liner”

August 11th, 2017 by Karen 12 Comments

On the list of things I never would have imagined could be combined in a semi-logical way: liquid liner and pizza.

Props to MAC for bringing together these two unlikely cohorts in their new Rollerwheel Liquid Liner.

That’s the way to think outside the (pizza) box, man!

Rollerwheel made a big splash backstage at Fashion Week a few months ago where it was dubbed “the pizza cutter liner” because of the little pizza cutter-shaped wheel-doohickey on the applicator.

mac rollerwheel liquid liner — Pizza, pizza!

It’s not out yet, but it’ll be available on the MAC website starting August 17th (it’s LE), and then in stores from September 14th through October 26th, 2017.

mac rollerwheel liquid liner swatches — When you try to draw a pizza on your arm and fail… The blue shade is called Roller Royale, and the black shade is called On a Roll Black.

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Meet MAC Basic Bitch From the MAC Girls Collection and Her Posse of Plums and Grays

August 10th, 2017 by Karen 18 Comments

mac basic bitch palette — From the MAC Girls collection, the new Basic Bitch palette ($39.50)

OK, now, last time I checked, my sense of humor was more or less intact, but I dunno… Would you like to open your makeup bag and see a palette with the words “Basic Bitch” on it?

Eh, I wouldn’t.

I totally get that it’s supposed to be cheeky, but I’m not feelin’ that word (bitch). I guess I’m a Prissy Princess that way, ha!

Meet the other MAC Girls palettes!

Prissy Princess

Mischief Minx

Rockin’ Rebel

Fashion Fanatic

Power Hungry

Word bias aside, I like this palette more than I thought I would. For a smoky eye palette, performance-wise, it’s downright exceptional. In terms of fallout, which is usually my main concern when it comes to dark eyeshadows like these, I hardly see any — so little that I think you could do your foundation first and whip out the smokiest of smoky eyes while only having to flick away a few flecks here and there. It’s kind of amazing that way.

mac basic bitch palette k down — I’m wearing the palette on my eyes and cheeks. The lip is Hourglass Confession Ultra Slim Lipstick in My Favorite.

I like that MAC loaded it up with grays, plums and purples (there’s also a bit of black, too, though), and there isn’t an incredibly wide chasm among the colors in terms of contrast, if that makes any sense. Feathering out deep grays and plums like these is much easier than blending out dark, starker black and black-based shades, so these smoky shades are surprisingly wearable.

mac basic bitch swatches — MAC Basic Bitch swatches

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Meet MAC Prissy Princess From the MAC Girls Collection and Her Troupe of Tantalizing Taupes

August 7th, 2017 by Karen 14 Comments

mac prissy princess palette — MAC Prissy Princess, $39.50 and available now

I don’t identify at all with the name of this MAC Girls palette.

Prissy Princess? Come on! I don’t think I’m prissy, and I know I don’t act like a ?? princess. Although El Hub would probably beg to differ, LOL!

Now, if this had been called Punk Rock Princess, or Punk Princess? Hell, yeah, I’d claim that title in a heartbeat! 🙂

MAC Prissy Princess’s tantalizing types of taupe

OK, silly name aside, I like the colors in this palette, which is, in a manner of speaking, a meditation on taupe.

Satin Taupe, specifically.

Seriously, I could wear Satin Taupe almost every day, but I wouldn’t have to, thanks to MAC Prissy Princess, because it’s like someone started with a pan of Satin Taupe, and tweaked it in different ways.

So, we’ve mainly got a bunch of taupes that are complemented by cool and neutral browns, pink, a bit of gray and a sliver of silver.

It’s fab for cool AND warm skin tones

It looks like it’s designed for cool skin tones, right? But it isn’t as cool-toned as I thought. There isn’t that much gray in the mix, so I really do think that warm skin tones could rock it too.

mac prissy princess — Prissy Princess on my lids! I’m also wearing Lancôme Mosieur Big Liner and Mascara on my eyes, MAC Fleur Power on my cheeks and Nudestix Saint Matte Lipstick on my lips.

If you’ve been reading MBB for a while, then you probably already know that 1) my cat is a world-renowned kitty supermodel, and 2) I believe that cool-toned taupes and browns can totally flatter warm skin tones.

For me, it’s all about the crease, and mine isn’t deep, so I wear cool browns and taupes to play with light and shadow on my lids and create the illusion of a deeper-set eye.

Meet the MAC Girls palettes!

Mischief Minx

Rockin’ Rebel

Fashion Fanatic

Power Hungry

Great blending

Just like the shadows in Mischief Minx, Rockin’ Rebel and Fashion Forward, these are easy to paint with, and easy to blend into each other and other shadows, regardless of which finish we’re talking about.Most of the shadows in Prissy Princess are Satins and Mattes.

mac prissy princess swatches — Here are your swatches, your royal highness!

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Meet MAC Fashion Fanatic From the MAC Girls Collection and Her Plucky Purples and Pink

August 4th, 2017 by Karen 4 Comments

mac girls fashion fanatic review — She’s a Fashion Fanatic, i.e. she doesn’t have baby food on her clothes.

I hope “MAC Fashion Fanatic” applies to all the ladies who live in black leggings, because that’s as fashionable as I get these days, haha!

mac fashion fanatic swatches — Swatchezzzzz

It’s one of the six in the MAC Girls collection, which is on counters now. It’s $39.50, and it’s the fun one! There’s a bright reddish pink and two punchy purples, and the brights are front and center.

But there are also wearable shades, too. There are peaches, taupes, beige, a gorgeous silvery, peachy taupe and a sheer dark plummy brown.

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Meet MAC Mischief Minx From the MAC Girls Collection and Her Bevy of Bewitching Warm Browns

August 3rd, 2017 by Karen 10 Comments

Could the leopard print on the new MAC Mischief Minx palette be any more cat lady? ?

MEOW.

You wanna know what’s even more cat lady, though? I keep calling it “Mischief Manx.”

I would say, “why?!” to this, but we all know why… (It’s because I’m obsessed with cats.)

Mischief Minx is from the new MAC Girls collection, which is available meow, by the way. It’s up on the MAC website and on counters at select MAC locations, which basically means all over the place, but we’re not sure exactly where, so you should probably give your local counter a quick call if you’re interested, just in case.

It’s one of the six $39.50 palettes in the launch, each of which has eight powder eyeshadows in it and one highlighter.

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Meet the MAC Power Hungry Palette From the New MAC Girls Collection

August 2nd, 2017 by Karen 19 Comments

I keep telling myself, “Karen, let it go, girl. LET IT GOOOOOOO.” But I just can’t! So this one’s for my fellow word nerds who also noticed an absence of alliteration in the name of the new MAC Power Hungry Palette and can’t let that sh*t go (oh, gawd, please tell me I’m not the only one!).

13 Alternate Alliterative Appellations for the MAC Power Hungry Palette

Power Perfectionist
Power Professional
Power Player (thanks, Kim, for mentioning this one in the comments!)
Power Performer
Power Participant
Power Producer
Power Provider
Power Protagonist (my personal pick)
Power Partner
Power Principal
Power Person
Power Professor
Power Patrician

I mean…a little alliteration never hurt anyone. 🙂

Power Hungry is the second palette I’ve played with from the MAC Girls collection (I really liked the first one, Rockin’ Rebel), and it’s the neutral palette in the girl gang.

mac power hungry swatches — I’m an NC42 for reference.

It’s sort of like MAC’s take on a UD Naked palette, except without a black or gray shadow, and with an additional big pan of highlighter.

Lots of layering

I have mixed feelings about it… Browns are my jam — you know this — and I like how soft these feel when I touch them, but I need to do A LOT of layering for them to show up.

mac power hungry palette k closeup — Check the highlight, though!

Even for this natural-ish eye makeup look I’m wearing, I must’ve put on six or seven layers of Bling Mistress, Bossing It and Something’s Fishy. I actually lost count!

It was a lot… Let’s just say that.

Frowsy Foils

Even then, I wasn’t very happy, because the powders, which are in MAC’s Foil formula, aren’t as finely milled as the Foils in Rockin’ Rebel. The grains are larger this time, and they reeeeeeally like to drop from my lids and my brush onto my cheekbones.

The highlight is the highlighter

I do love the highlighter, though! It’s more blinged-out than my preferred soft and glowing highlight style, but I like the soft opalescent effect I get from using a tiny touch on my skin.

You can also reach spotlight status easily, too, if brighter, bolder boss-lady bling is more your thing (the look is similar to what you get from the MAC Extra Dimension Skinfinishes).

mac power hungry palette k — That’s Power Hungry on my lids, my upper cheekbones and down the bridge of my nose.

I really love the colors themselves, but you might have to bust out a base like the Paint Pots if you’re an NC42 or darker to get them to translate truthfully on your skin. Maybe something beige…like Painterly or Bare Study. Soft Ochre would work, too.

Power Hungry arrives with the rest of the MAC Girls collection August 3rd at select MAC locations and online. Like the other palettes, it’s $39.50 and will only be available for a limited time.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen