MAC Makeup

The MAC Make-Up Art Cosmetics Collection: Diane Kendal Spring/Summer 2017

January 25th, 2017 by Karen 8 Comments

MAC Diane Kendal — Wearing shades from the MAC Creme Shadow X 6 in Glamorize Me palette, MAC Studio Conceal & Correct X 6: Cover Me, MAC Studio Quiktrick Stick/Diane Kendal in Radiance/Shadow and MAC Causal Colour Lip & Cheek Colour X 6: Enhance Me from the new MAC Make Up Art Cosmetics/Diane Kendal collection

I wonder if Diane Kendal’s extensive backstage makeup experience influenced her part of the new MAC Make-Up Art Cosmetics collection, because backstage is HECTIC. It’s crazy, and they always seem to be running behind… So who knows? Maybe she wanted a collection of quick creams to get her models ready and onto the runway.

Well…at least, creams are quick in my experience. They’re faster to work with than powders. You can just dab them on, and use your fingers to blend them out. Even when I was doing this makeup, it went relatively quickly compared to doing an eye look with three or four different powders. I just used the creams from Kendal’s MAC Creme Shadow X 6 in Glamorize Me palette ($40), and it was so much faster to work with and blend than having to sit there and blend a whole bunch of powders.

Diane Kendal is one of three makeup artists MAC tapped to do sub-collections for the 50-piece MAC Make-Up Art Cosmetics collection, which is available now. (The other two are James Kaliardos and Kabuki.) She’s a bad-@ss British makeup artist based out of New York, and before going to work for MAC, she helped develop products for Marc Jacobs and Calvin Klein Cosmetics. She’s been working in the biz since the ’80s. In this post we’ll be looking at Diane’s part in the story, and I’ve worked with eight of her 11 pieces in the launch.

There are A LOT of creams in this launch, which I find…I dunno. As I get older, I just like creams more. They’re easy to blend and don’t look as heavy and obvious and makeup-y as powders do. I’m into ’em. 🙂

Diane Kendal doing her thang

MAC Creme Shadow X 6 in Glamorize Me ($40)

mac glamorize me — MAC Creme Shadow X 6 in Glamorize Me, $40

So blendable! The $40 Glamorize Me Creme Shadow palette is my favorite thing in Diane’s launch. The glossy finish makes me swoon, but these shadows do scoot around quite a bit on my skin after a few hours… Be prepared because they’ll probably want to settle into the crease.

Causal Colour Lip & Cheek Colour X 6: Enhance Me ($40)

mac enhance me — MAC Causal Colour Lip & Cheek Colour X 6: Enhance Me, $40

The satiny finish looks incredibly natural, and the creams are easy to blend on my cheeks AND my lips. They have pretty good wear time, too. I’m getting about five hours on my cheeks as a blush and about three hours on my lips. This is my second favorite thing in Diane’s part of the collection.

mac enhance me 2 — MAC Causal Colour Lip & Cheek Colour X 6: Enhance Me, $40

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Friday Face of the Day With Warm, Orangey Bronze Eyes and the MAC Caitlyn Jenner Collection

January 13th, 2017 by Karen 11 Comments

mac caitlyn jenner orange lip k — MAC Understanding Lipstick, MAC Caitlyn Jenner collection

So, I’m writing some lists this week, and one of my lists is titled, “Colors for eye looks” and with the #MBBInstaChallenge, which you guys are kicking so much @ss on, this month is all about busting out of my comfort zone!

Right at the top of my list of eye colors that, for various reasons, I don’t reach for that often are orange and warm red, which were huge eyeshadow trends last fall.

With that in mind, I decided to do an orange/warm reddish bronze eye look today with Malibu Bronze Eye Shadow from the new MAC Caitlyn Jenner collection, because I think it goes SO well with one of my favorite eyeliners of all time, the otherworldly MAC Teddy, a bewilderingly beautiful shimmery brownish bronze, and if you don’t have Teddy in your life, YOU NEED TO GET IT ASAP.

mac caitlyn jenner eyeshadows k — Malibu Bronze and Worthy Eye Shadows on my eyes with Buddy Mineralize Skinfinish (in the crease) and Teddy Liner; and Buddy MSF and Compassion Blush on my cheeks

Today I’m all about Teddy and Malibu Bronze. I used Malibu Bronze on my lids right up to the crease (it’s very pigmented, and it buffs out easily). Then, to transition the color, I actually used a face powder from the collection called Buddy. It’s a warm brown with lots of intense golden pearl (it reminds me a lot of NARS Laguna, but it’s waaaay warmer). I stuck that in my crease to blend out the edges, and I’m also wearing it on my cheeks and across my nose as a bronzer to tie my cheeks in with my eyes.

I experimented with a few different lip looks for this…first with a warm deep red lipstick called Authentic Red, and then added a little golden gloss on top (Kindness Cremesheen).

I thought that was OK…but it seemed like a little too much for what I’ve got going on today (which is nada). Better for date night.

mac caitlyn jenner red lip k — MAC Authentic Red Lipstick with Kindness Cremesheen on top

Next I tried a nude lip using Whirl Lip Pencil, Rockit Lipstick and Beautifully Bare Cremesheen (which looks like MAC Deelight Cremesheen’s twin sis), but I feel like it looked a little unbalanced…

mac caitlyn jenner nude lip — That’s Whirl Lip Pencil, Rockit Lipstick and Beautifully Bare Cremesheen

Finally, I tried warm, creamy red MAC Understanding Lipstick (it’s an online exclusive), and voila! Balance. That’s what I finally went with.

mac caitlyn jenner understanding — MAC Understanding Lipstick

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Just in Time for the Spring Festival, It’s the MAC Chinese New Year Collection

January 12th, 2017 by Karen 12 Comments

Here’s something I learned today: Chinese New Year doesn’t fall on the same date every year. It varies! — because it’s tied to the lunar calendar…but it does always fall between January 21st and February 20th. (I think.)

Interesting, isn’t it? This year’s date is January 28th.

So happy early Gung Hei Fat Choy! 🙂

Here’s something else you may find interesting: the MAC Chinese New Year collection arrives today, and the packaging is gorgeous! (The boxes also feel velvety). Minor quibble, but I wish that MAC had done something with the design on the product themselves.

Ooh! It’s the Year of the Rooster. Maybe they could have coupled it with that.

Remember Year of the Snake?? They did those incredible pans with the snake design?

mac chinese new year eye palette — Eye Shadow X 9 / Year of the Rooster swatches from top to bottom: Print, Copperplate, Idol Eyes, Shale, Girlie, Honey Lust, Mulch, Wedge and Sweet Lust

Lots of old faves here

Most of the items in the 10-piece collection are re-promotes, like Russian Red Lipstick ($17, a MAC classic!), Fleur Power Blush ($23 and SO PIGMENTED), Rapidblack Penultimate Eyeliner ($21, and not my fave; the tip feels too stiff).

The Eye Shadow Palette X 9/Year of the Rooster ($32) has some of my all-time favorites, including Wedge, Honey Lust, Shale and Mulch.

It doesn’t take anything away from how good they are, but if you’re a MAC die-hard fan, there’s a good chance you’ve seen these colors before. You may even have them in your collection already.

mac chinese new year blush — MAC Chinese New Year blushes: Fleur Power (top) and Dame (bottom)

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MAC Lip Scrubtious Sugar-Based Exfoliator

January 9th, 2017 by Karen 34 Comments

mac lip scrubtious top — The new MAC Lip Scrubtious lip exfoliators, which are $16 each and available meow in five flavors

I’ve eaten — yes, eaten — way too much of these bad-@ss buffing sugar-based MAC Lip Scrubtious lip exfoliators over the past few days because…dang, they taste so good!

The first one I tasted/used was Fruits of Passion (great name, yah?). I rubbed it against my lips and thought, “Great, my flakes are being de-flaked.” Then, I got a good taste of it and completely forgot that my lips felt super soft and moisturized. I end up eating most of what I put on my lips. Luckily, I think that’s OK for them and by design.

Hint of tint

Because these are sugar-based, you do end up eating some of the sugar (in my case, most of the sugar), but some of it does dissolve. Or, you can rinse it off with water or remove it with a tissue.

Personally, I suggest using a tissue if you want to see a hint of a tint with the brighter ones.

mac lip scrubtious — Clockwise from the lower left, that’s MAC Sweet Vanilla, Candied Nectar, Summer Berry, Fruit of Passion and Sweet Brown Sugar

After you scrub and exfoliate with them, they leave behind an essence of oil for moisture and the faintest hint of a tint that looks like you’re wearing a bit of lip balm, and they feel nice and comfy. They aren’t sticky, and they’re just about as thick as a MAC Cremesheen.

Ingredients

Sucrose, petrolatum, simmondsia chinensis (jojoba) seed oil, butrospermum parkii (shea) butter, water/aqua/eau, vitis vinifera (grape) seed oil, adansonia digitata (baobab) seed oil, oryza stava (rice) bran extract, romarinus officinalis (rosemary) leaf extract, healanthus annuus (sunflower) extract, tocopherol, tocopheryl acetate, ethylene/propylene/styrene copolymer, butylene/ethylene/styrene copolymer, flavor (aroma), phenoxyethanol, caramel, red 33 (CI 17200), yellow 6 (CI 15985)

Five flavors

These are in the MAC permanent line now for $16, and they come in five different scents and flavors.

One of the things for me with lip products, and especially lip scrubs, is that I have to like the way they taste and smell; otherwise, it doesn’t matter how good they look. I’m not even going to bother. These have a very light scent that won’t assault you from a mile away, and I think they taste great. They get the sweet balance just right, so none of that artificially nasty-sweet nonsense.

mac lip scrubtious summer berry — Yum, yum! MAC Lip Scrubtious in Summer Berry

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Product Shout-Out: MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural Powder

December 27th, 2016 by Karen 15 Comments

This is only my favorite MAC powder of all time. No big deal, LOL. I’ve worn it for years, have loved it for years, and I’ll hopefully continue to love it as long as they keep making it.

mac mineralize skinfinish natural — MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Medium Tan ($33)

I don’t like it when powders look powdery, and this doesn’t. It’s better for natural-looking skin than opaque full-coverage makeup, so if that’s what you’re into (the natural look), I think you’ll like it.

In other news, is anybody else craving a salad and a green juice this afternoon?? My body is not-so-subtly telling me that I ate too much junk food over the past few days.

I ate more butter last weekend than I had in the previous six months! — and every bite was glorious.

Well, every bite except for the ones of that Trader Joe’s Pecan Pie in a Jar… That ended up being quite disappointing, for the record. WAY too sweet.

Oh, well. Thankfully, there was a backup pie from Costco, which was bomb! 🙂

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

MAC Unsung Heroes: Matchmaster Shade Intelligence Compact

December 17th, 2016 by Karen 8 Comments

mac matchmaster shade intelligence compact closeup — The $38 MAC Matchmaster Shade Intelligence Compact is an unsung makeup hero

I keep seeing these memes popping up about people who eat dinner early and go to bed at 9, and I can so relate. That would have been my nightmare scenario as a kid, but when it happens now as an adult, it’s a dream come true. I wish I could do it every night, LOL!

It’s sort of like how I think of “natural” (air quotes) makeup these days. Like, when I started wearing makeup on the ‘low back in middle school, natural-looking makeup was the last thing I was going for. There was nothing natural about that purple liner I was rocking.

I would have said, “No way! I don’t want this to look natural! I want it to look like I’m wearing as much makeup as possible.” Fourteen-year-old Karen would have laughed at 41-year-old Karen’s quest for natural-looking makeup, which brings me to the MAC Matchmaster Shade Intelligence Compact.

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.

It’s basically MAC’s version of a sheer liquid formula cushion compact, and it’s available in 12 refillable shades. The main compact is $38, and the refills are $28.

They were released last year around this time, and I’m a little nervous now because I can’t seem to find them anymore on the MAC website. I do see them at Macy’s, Nordstrom and Bloomingdale’s, though.

Bloomingdale’s, by the way, is the only one that has all 12 shades and the refills in stock.

Cushion compacts?

You see them all over the place now, but they started out in Korea. They have a liquid-ish foundation formula and vary in terms of coverage from sheer to medium. They also usually have a second lid inside the compact that keeps a small, pre-soaked sponge or cushion from drying out.

When you press the sponge, a little bit of the liquid comes out, which is basically what sets them apart from other kinds of foundation.

Like MAC’s regular Matchmaster Foundation, the formula is a self-adjusting liquid foundation that adjusts to your skin tone. I wear it in shade 4.0, which seems a little too golden-orange for me at first, but the gold mellows out somewhat to match my natural skin tone over about five minutes.

I don’t know what kind of voodoo magic they infused this with, but it works!

Coverage when it comes to cushion compacts really depends on the brand, as some brands are much sheer than others. I’d call this one sheer to medium.

I’ve tried other cushion compacts before but didn’t find one that I liked enough to stick with it until I found the MAC Matchmaster Shade Intelligence Compact. I ended up returning a fancy-schmancy one by Amore Pacific because it was a little too shiny and waaay too peachy for me.

But I really love this one. The coverage is incredibly flexible. It’s easy to go from sheer to medium to full, just like that, and I think it looks great in every kind of light from natural to flash to fluorescent. It even looks good in video.

A trick for full coverage

There’s a very fine line between practical, and fairly useless, when it comes to sheer-ish liquid foundations, because some are just so sheer that you can barely see anything when you’re wearing them, which, I guess, is pretty cool if your skin is darned near perfect already, but if you have a big pore situation like I do or freckles or areas you want to even out, this one is great for that.

It covers almost everything (but doesn’t look mannequin fake) and de-emphasizes my pores a tad.

And if you want to bump up the coverage to full, it’s really easy to do. Just grab your favorite liquid concealer (I’ve been loving Sephora Bright Future Gel Serum Concealer and Make Up For Ever Ultra HD Concealer), and place a few dots directly where you want that extra coverage. For me, that’s my cheeks, around my nostrils and on my upper lip.

Then, load a foundation brush or beautybender with your MAC Matchmaster Shade Intelligence foundation, and blend the concealer dots into your skin for an easy, fabulously flawless finish. 🙂 I use this technique all the time when I want full coverage but don’t want to spend hella days layering and buffing. It’s been my go-to technique lately for pics and video.

I also love the satiny finish (it isn’t too shiny or flat) and the super lightweight formula. It never feels like it’s suffocate my skin. Plus, it lasts long enough to get me through a long day.

I love this stuff! I just hope it isn’t going anywhere anytime soon…

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. Happy Caturday! I hope you’re doing something fun. Rogue One yesterday was pretty great. I thought it was better than I expected. It’s kind of a serious war movie…but I think you’ll like it if you like sci-fi. Plus, popcorn. 🙂

The MAC Unsung Heroes series (a subset of my regular Unsung Makeup Heroes series) features some of my all-time favorite products from MAC’s permanent collection

MAC Unsung Heroes: Texture Eyeshadow

MAC Unsung Heroes: Saddle Eyeshadow

MAC Unsung Heroes: Cork Eye Shadow

MAC Unsung Heroes: MAC Fleur Power Blush

MAC Unsung Heroes: Swiss Chocolate Eyeshadow

MAC Unsung Heroes: Costa Riche Eye Kohl

MAC Unsung Heroes: Mineralize Skinfinish Natural

MAC Unsung Heroes: MAC Extra Dimension Eye Shadow in Havana

MAC Unsung Heroes: Chicory Lip Pencil

MAC Unsung Heroes: Smoked Almond Lipstick

MAC Unsung Heroes: Half ‘n Half Lipstick

MAC Unsung Heroes: Chili Lipstick

MAC Unsung Heroes: Coffee Eye Pencil

MAC Unsung Heroes: Mineralize Skinfinish in Global Glow

MAC Unsung Heroes: MAC Extra Dimension Eye Shadow in Havana

MAC Unsung Heroes: Retro Matte Liquid Lipcolour in Burnt Spice

mac mineralize foundation loose medium dark before after

MAC Unsung Heroes: Mineralize Foundation/Loose

MAC Unsung Heroes: MAC Giddy Lustre Lipstick

MAC Unsung Heroes: MAC Studio Fix Fluid Foundation

MAC Unsung Heroes: Amorous Alloy Eyeshadow

If you’re looking for permanent collection ideas or inspiration, there are literally hundreds of unsung makeup heroes posts in the MBB archives. These 20 are just the tip of the iceberg.

MAC Unsung Heroes: MAC Oh My Mocha Eye Shadow

December 6th, 2016 by Karen 26 Comments

I think the Internet may be giving people, and by “people,” I mean me, this belief that they can do *anything* just by looking it up online, because yesterday I made the most questionable (translation: gross) mocha at home.

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.

I had just put on a little MAC Oh My Mocha Eye Shadow ($16) and thought, “I’m gonna drink a mocha while I’m wearing Oh My Mocha,” because the idea seemed kinda poetic, but then I looked outside and saw that a creepy, supernatural fog had descended upon my neighborhood…

It gets foggy here sometimes, especially in the mornings in fall and winter, and when it happens, it’s usually foggy at the crack of dawn but burns off quickly.

Yesterday, though, started out sunny, but then it got horror movie foggy… It was that creepy cemetery fog that appears out of nowhere right before the main character walks into it and disappears forever.

Anyway, I wasn’t brave enough to walk outside in it, but it did make me crave a mocha. 🙂

The coffee/milk/cocoa combo... — The coffee/milk/cocoa combo…

So I googled a recipe, mixing coffee, milk, cocoa powder and sugar, and then added a boat load of whipped cream on top. Aaand it pretty much tasted like a pair of old Doc Martens with chocolate sauce, BLUH!

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