Honestly, because most days, 15 minutes is about all the time I get to put on makeup.
Oh, and I may or may not be wearing a sports bra as my top in this pic. ?
MAC Makeup
The MAC Selena Matte Eyeshadows and Lipsticks Take Center Stage
¡Finalmente! The MAC Selena collection!
Fans of beloved Mexican-American singer Selena Quintanilla-Perez, whose life was tragically cut short in 1995 at 23 years old, made this collection happen, and MAC heeded the call.
While I was testing and reviewing, I learned a lot of things I didn’t know about Selena, like how her favorite colors were purple and black and her favorite flower was a white rose.
I’m sorry to say that I didn’t know much about her before this release, but I did know that she rocked bold red lips and sang a couple of songs that were very popular when I was in college.
Her artistic legacy and spirit inspired the 13-piece MAC Selena collection, which Selena’s sister Suzette helped create. It includes three new shades of lipstick ($18 each), including a dupe for a red taken from the makeup case Selena took with her when she went on the road; five new eyeshadows ($17 each); a new blush duo ($29); a new gloss ($17); and three re-promoted items from the MAC permanent line ($18 Opulash Mascara, $21 Boot Black Liquid Eye Liner and the $35 129SH Powder/Blush Brush).
MAC Select Obsessed & Devoted Members (MAC’s version of Sephora VIB) get early access to the collection in an exclusive pre-sale September 28. For everyone else, it arrives October 1 on the MAC website and in stores October 6 through November 17, 2016.
MAC Liptensity Collection Lip Swatches and First Impressions
I wonder what it’s like to see things like Maureen Seaberg does, who used her genetic tetrachromatic ability to see 100 million color variations in her collaboration with MAC on the new MAC Liptensity Lipstick collection (coming Sept. 20 to the MAC website).
I bet it would be a lot cooler than what I usually see…which is barely anything half the time, LOL! Could somebody pass my glasses, please?
I just powered through these swatches, so a few of them are a little dicey. My apologies, but homegirl was flyin’! Some of the darker shades definitely could have used more babying, particularly Stallion, the black shade, and dark Blue Beat.
Hey, ma, I did my best in the two minutes I alloted myself to do each of them, but they’re the kind of colors that could easily take 15 minutes to apply flawlessly.
The MAC Taraji P. Henson Collection
Good morning, glory! Happy Caturday. I hope you slept well. 🙂
So, honey. HUH-KNEE. I haven’t watched Empire in ages (I dunno what happened… I think it just got too redonk for me, and I had to peace-the-heck out), but that show will be forever ingrained in my mind as the magical, mystical place where the world discovered the hurricane of fierce that is Taraji P. Henson.
If I could only channel a tenth of Cookie’s sass and attitude into my fingertips, I could rule the world! (Or at least get a handle on my condo.)
I think Taraji’s awesome. Yeah, she’s gorgeous (those cheekbones and lips, WOW), but I also read that she didn’t get her big acting break until later in life. She just kept working and reaching for the stars.
And now she has her own MAC collection.
Yes, someone somewhere is doing the cabbage patch.
Oh, wait — that someone is me, and it’s happening right here in my office chair, RIGHT AT THIS MOMENT!
With six pieces, half of them new and half of them re-promotes from the permanent line, the collection is on the smaller side…
I know, I would’ve preferred a 20-piece Taraji collection with all new things instead, but let’s see what we’ve got…
My 3 Favorite Lippies Right Now (And ConnorClaire.com Clue #3)
Lips without lipstick are like Bell without Biv. Or Devoe. Or like Tony without the other two Tonies. Or DJ Jazzy Jeff without the Fresh Prince. Or Lisa Lisa without Cult Jam and Full Force…
You get the picture. 🙂
I love lipstick, and here are my three favorite lipsticks right now, along with clue #3 for connorclaire.com.
Yes, the secret will be out any. Day. Now!
1. Urban Decay Vice Lipstick in Menace
Truth is, I haven’t been going ham with my eye makeup lately because I’m still working my way through this “little bit o’ liner” phase.
But I’m sure it’ll pass… PLEASE, MAKEUP GODS, LET THIS PHASE PASS!
Until it does, and I work my way back up to wearing all of the cats and kittens on my lids again, I cheat the system by wearing a really bright lipstick.
It draws attention to my lips and creates a focal point for my look that still makes it seem like I actually came to play, ya know?
My first favorite lipstick of the moment is Urban Decay Vice Lipstick in Menace ($17). It’s a creamy, ultra smooth, ultra pigmented matte medium fuchsia SO bright that you can see it on someone doing the running man across the room.
(The old-school one; not the new one.)
Plus, it’s comfy and isn’t drying, so it doesn’t worsen the dry lip flake situation, and I can swipe it directly from the tube and skip the liner.
2. NARS Audacious Lipstick in Apoline
I had creamy rose NARS Apoline in my pocket yesterday.
And the day before that.
And the day before that.
And possibly even the day before that!
Yeah, I wear it a lot…
It’s a gorgeous full-coverage nude, and it’s completely opaque.
BONUS #1: For a silky, creamy lippie, it has incredible staying power. I put it on in the morning and can forget about it for at least four hours.
BONUS #2: Every time I say the name out loud — “Apoline” — I think of Apollonia, and then I think of Prince and start singing Raspberry Beret.
MAC Viva Glam Ariana Grande 2
Hot damn, Viva Glam! Ariana Grande is back with two new Viva Glams — a $17 matte Lipstick and a $16 Lipglass — and I think they’re so freakin’ gorge…
I’m figuratively shaking in my Timberland boots.
I can’t remember the last time I was this excited about a Viva Glam. I’ve always been down to support the cause, which I think is awesomesauce, because MAC donates all of the proceeds from the Viva Glam releases to help children and families affected by HIV and AIDS, but I think the past few Viva Glam rounds have been… Well, let’s just say that they’ve been on the artsy side.
I think these two, though, are straight-up pretty. I like them even more than Ariana’s first Viva Glam back in January. They’re brighter, but I think they’re also more wearable and fun.
MAC It’s a Strike! Collection: Quick Look and Swatches
Grab your favorite balls!
Wait… That sounded weird.
Grab your favorite bowling balls. That’s what I meant. 🙂
Is it bowling balls, or bowling ball? Heck, I don’t know. I’m so not into bowling.
I don’t hang out in bowling circles or bowling alleys, mostly because I was always being dragged to bowling alleys when I was a kid, and I was deathly bored the entire time. But perhaps if they’d had a MAC counter…
At any rate, the 26-piece MAC It’s a Strike collection (available Aug. 18 – Oct. 13) is all about bowling alleys, babe. It’s heavy on lip products, but there’s also a smattering of eyeshadows (mostly mattes), a few liquid liners, a highlighter (which looked very cute before I dropped it…and now it looks like it got run over by a bowling ball), nail polishes, cream blushes and some brushes, too.
Get Your Glitter on the Go With the MAC Dazzleshadows
Oh, glitter… All I wanna do is wear the sparkly stuff! Glitter is like the Disneyland of makeup, but it’s not always a smooth ride.
The MAC Dazzleshadows make it easy to get your glitter fix because they combine good-sized glitter flecks with a pigmented base.
There are 10 new Dazzleshadow shades in the MAC Bangin’ Brilliant collection, all of which are permanent, and here are three of them: Can’t Stop Don’t Stop isa deep plummy purple; Feel the Fever, a deep bluish purple with pink glitter; and Get Physical, which is a purple with light blue glitter.
The Dazzleshadows are more than just sparkly; they don’t just shimmer. They actually have tiny flecks of glitter in a pressed powder formula (here’s another look at them).
Sometimes I like a bad girl smoky eye, and these look amaze layered on top of a black base. Like, sometimes I’ll start with a black kohl liner, a black cream shadow or a black shadow stick from my lash lines to my crease. Then I’ll pat one of the Dazzleshadows on top and add mascara.
Just like that, and without having to contend with a jar of loose glitter, I’m ready to rumble. Just add black leather jacket and motorcycle.