MAC Makeup

These MAC Soft Serve Shadows Are Sooo My Cup of…Ice Cream!

May 19th, 2016 by Adia Goss 27 Comments

Seriously, sparkly cream eyeshadows are my go-to shadows most mornings (if I’m wearing eyeshadow at all), and I LOVE this cushiony cream-to-powder formula. I am 100% completely onboard with these creamy new MAC Soft Serve Shadows. There are 11 of them in the new Soft Serve collection with lots of pretty shimmer!

I think you’ll love these if you also like the Dior Fusion Mono or Chanel Illusion D’Ombre cream eyeshadows because the formulas are very similar. I like applying them with my fingers because they’re easy to build up and blend, but once they set, they stay put.

Basically, these are my dream eyeshadows.

The 11 shades

Bounce Around (Light, cool taupey silver)
Cushy Life (Light warm golden beige)
Best Make Up (Light golden highlighter)
Plead Gilty (Vibrant sparkling gold)
Quite Yummy! (Light pink)
So So Saucy (Mid-tone peach)
Put Me to Shame (Mid-tone dirty taupe)
Softened Up (Mid-tone warm brown)
Girls, Girls! (Soft pastel purple)
Big Bad Blue (Soft pastel blue)
Jealous Girl (Mint green)

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Would You Rock Pastel Brows? Introducing the MAC Soft Serve Collection Dare Hue! Brow Pencils

May 18th, 2016 by Adia Goss 29 Comments

mac soft serve brows — Introducing the new MAC Soft Serve Eyebrow Pencils!

Well…this collection is definitely outside my comfort zone. The first time I saw the new Dare Hue! Brow Pencils from the MAC Soft Serve collection ($16.50 each, available online May 26, 2016; in stores June 2 through July 14), I kept asking myself, “Are these definitely brow pencils? Because maybe these are really supposed to be eyeliners.” But, no, these are definitely brow pencils.

These six pastel-hued eyebrow pencils are pretty impossible for me to pull off with my coloring, but I gotta hand it to MAC for totally stepping outside the box. This is the kind of crazy-unique product that I expect from MAC, and I think it’s cool that the brand is still staying true to its non-traditional roots!

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How I Rock Pink Eyeshadow (A Collaboration With Jen and Adia)

May 6th, 2016 by Anna Oh 17 Comments

fotd-pink-makeup2 — Wearing Ardency Inn Rose Gold Eyeshadow, Becca Rose Gold Pressed Eyeshadow, and MAC Finally Free Lipstick

A friend and I recently had a photography date in a charming neighborhood, snacking on amazing salted caramel “cake” donuts (they are as good as they sound). It was a picture perfect weekend, so I decided to take advantage of the amazing weather to wear pink.

This week Jen, Adia and I are showcasing our favorite way to rock pink eyeshadow, and I call this look “Rose Gold Eyeshadow for a Day of Donuts and Photoshoots.”

Here are a few of my favorite pink-toned pieces…

fotd — FOTD Makeup Menu: Nars Concealer, MAC Mascara, Kat Von D Tattoo Liner, MAC Finally Free Lipstick, and Becca Rose Gold

ardency inn rose gold — Ardency Inn “Rose Gold” — the singles pop out from the magnet!

naked 3 palette — Urban Decay Naked 3. I used this palette to blend

What I used:

Nars Radiant Creamy Concealer ($29): I have the shade called Honey, and I’m joining the bandwagon… It’s an awesome concealer. I use it to target my problem areas, and I can skip the foundation step on good days.
MAC Charged Black Mineralize Multi-Effect Lash ($22): From the MAC Future Collection, this mascara is lightweight and lengthening. No crazy volume here. but I have been using this for weeks.
Kat Von D Tattoo Liner ($19): There are 2 types of people in this world — those who love the Tattoo Liner, and those who prefer the Ink Liner. I always come back to the Tattoo because I love the flexible soft brush pen.
MAC x Caitlyn Jenner Finally Free Lipstick ($17): This is with me in my minimal makeup bag, and I can’t recommend this color enough. SO pretty and perfect. I didn’t re-apply after the donuts, though, so it’s not present in the outdoor images.
Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector Pressed ($38): As the only Shimmering Skin Perfector I own, this deserves a special place on my vanity. Rose Gold is a highlighting blush or a blush-topper for the lighter skinned girls.
Ardency Inn Modster Manuka Honey Enriched Pigments ($21): The star of my look, Rose Gold is the creamiest, most nuanced rose-taupe eyeshadow I’ve seen. A perfect pick for anyone interested in getting into pinks.
Urban Decay Naked 3 Palette ($54): I use the darker shades in this palette constantly for many of my looks. They blend perfectly, and I love the matte colors in particular. I used some of the darker shades to quickly shade in my eyebrows too.

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Are the MAC Brooke Candy Eye Glosses Your Cup o’ Tea?

May 3rd, 2016 by Jen Clark 17 Comments

Eye look using MAC Brooke Candy White-Yin Eye Gloss ($23)

The lion’s share of the MAC Brooke Candy collection are definitely the amazing lippies, but the other items that sparked my interest were the eye glosses. I’d never used an eye gloss before, but I’d seen them floating around the YouTube-o-sphere, and they always looked so interesting to me.

There are two in this collection — White-Yin and Black-Yang.

Brooke Candy MAC Eye Gloss — White-Yin MAC Eye Gloss ($23; a clear gloss with multicolored micro-shimmer)

MAC Brooke Candy Eye Gloss in Black Yang — Black-Yang MAC Eye Gloss ($23; a black/blue gloss with red and blue micro-shimmer)

Not gonna lie, I’m not quite sure what to think of these… I think they’re made for a very specific kind of look and a very specific kind of person.

I love what Jessica did with some of the other MAC Eye Glosses to create a cool, editiorial, grunge-y look, but no matter what you do, you’ll end up with creased, oily-looking eye makeup, which, obviously, isn’t everyone’s cup o’ tea.

They are also crazy sticky, which I guess makes sense for what they are, but they feel so weird on my eyelids. I just can’t deal with it. As you open your eyes and blink, things just stick together.

White-Yin MAC Eye Gloss (a clear gloss with multi colored micro-shimmer) — White-Yin MAC Eye Gloss ($23; a clear gloss with multicolored micro-shimmer)

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A Closer Look at the MAC Chris Chang of Poesia Lipsticks: The Blue and Yellow Can Be Wearable??

April 29th, 2016 by Jen Clark 21 Comments

Chris Chang x MAC Lipstick in Cloud Gait — MAC Cloud Gait Lipstick from the MAC x Chris Chang collection

My favorite part of the MAC Chris Chang collection has to be the lipsticks…or maybe the eyeshadows… Wait, but I love the Cream Colour Bases too! But for now, let’s just talk about the lipsticks. Every color is unique and different in some way and, in typical MAC style, the formulas are spot on.

I started out excited by three of the colors and a little perplexed by two. How on earth am I, or anyone really, supposed to wear a sheer blue and a sheer yellow lipstick?? If they were opaque, that would be one thing, but they’re really sheer, which didn’t make sense to me. They just don’t look right on my lips!

MAC Chris Chang Cloud Gait Lipstick — MAC Cloud Gait Lipstick

Chris Chang x MAC Lipstick in Gold XIXI — MAC Gold XIXI Lipstick

Chris Chang x MAC Lipstick in Chris Chang x MAC Lipstick in Gold XIXI — MAC Gold XIXI Lipstick

I think I figured it out, though. I remember learning from someone on YouTube that most makeup artists keep a yellow lipstick in their kit, and the reason is because you can layer it on top of other lip colors to create a custom hue! Aha! That’s how you can use it. You can use Gold XIXI to add warmth to another lip color, and Cloud Gait to cool it.

Let me show you what I’m talking about…

Here’s MAC DDDevilish Lipstick from the collection:

Chris Chang x MAC Lipstick in MAC DDDevilish — MAC DDDevilish Lipstick

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You Need at Least One Thing From the MAC Brooke Candy Collection Lip Products for Summer 2016

April 28th, 2016 by Jen Clark 24 Comments

Brooke Candy has come out with her second MAC collection in less than a year (available now online and coming to stores May 5th). I think that speaks to how well her first collection did! This one’s about half lip products, and there’s something for everyone in there.

Among the lip products are a lip pencil and lipstick in MAC’s iconic Whirl shade and its twin called Pamela as a Vamplify lipgloss. There’s a trio of deep vamp-y shades in the lip pencil, lipstick, and gloss, and a couple of staple bright lipsticks that everyone needs.

Let’s start by taking a look at the lippies in the collection…

MAC Brooke Candy Lip Pencils, $17.50 each

All hail MAC lip pencils, am-I-right? I love these. They are so creamy and give you such a sharp, crisp line. TBH, I love just wearing liners on their own, and they act like a matte, long wearing lipstick! And these colors? So on trend! Whirl is one of those must-have colors that belongs in every makeup lover’s kit. It was made uber famous when Kylie Jenner mentioned that it was one of her most loved lip colors.

Night Crawler, one of the shades in the collection, is just so stunning. The pigment is dark and opaque and looks amazing on the lips.

MAC Brooke Candy Whirl Lip Liner (dirty rose)

MAC Brooke Candy Night Crawler Lip Liner (deep plum)

MAC Brooke Candy Lipsticks, $18 each

There is not a single dud in among the lipsticks in this collection. Like I said in the title, you need AT LEAST one of these in your life. The matte shades (Whirl, Doo-Wop, and Witching Hour) are some of my favorite mattes. They feel creamy but have what I would call a satin/matte finish. They aren’t the kind of mattes that suck the life out of your lips, which is oh, so nice, and the amplified shade (Mind Control) packs a punch with amazing pigmentation and a pretty shiny finish.

MAC Brooke Candy Whirl Lipstick (matte dirty rose)

MAC Brooke Candy Doo-Wop (matte blue toned pink) — MAC Brooke Candy Doo-Wop (matte blue-toned pink)

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Getting Gritty, Glossy and Grunge With MAC Studio Eye Gloss

April 27th, 2016 by Jessica Revitte 21 Comments

Do you ever want to pull out all of your makeup and do an eye look that you would otherwise never wear? This grownup “play time” — I constantly crave it. Constantly. And lately I’ve been toying with the idea of a 100% black smoky eye.

This neutral-loving girl has almost always approached smoke safely, rarely venturing out into the deeper end of her Urban Decay Naked palettes…

Aaand then the MAC Studio Eye Glosses happened, and I could no longer resist my desire to experiment.

I mean, indulging in makeup play time is a hard job, but someone’s gotta do it, right? 🙂 In the interest of makeup experimentation, I think I’m up to the task.

I can’t help but notice that the MAC Studio Eye Glosses don’t always get the best reviews…but I think they’re a runway makeup artist’s dream. They’re also temperamental and require some patience, just like an expensive sports car. The eye gloss trend definitely falls more into the editorial/runway makeup category than the everyday makeup lover category that most makeup lovers are comfortable with.

They come in a carefully curated range of colors ($22 each) intended to really amplify your eye looks with a new texture, rather than a new shadow finish.

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MAC Chris Chang of Poesia Collection: Look at it! JUST LOOK AT IT!!

April 27th, 2016 by Jen Clark 30 Comments

The Chris Chang x MAC collection — The MAC x Chris Chang collection

If you’re a color lover, you NEED to indulge in the MAC x Chris Chang collection! Everything about this collection is perfect, stunning, amazing, and any other similarly descriptive word you can think of. While you may glance at the collection and think, “WOAH, NELLY!! No way, Jose!” there really are quite a few things that are extremely wearable. But, it’s also a goldmine for those who like to get creative with their makeup.

#FOTD using the Chris Chang x MAC collection

The collection arrives online May 5th (in stores May 12th) and sells through June 9th, so act fast if you want to get your hands on anything!

Chris Chang, the fashion designer for Poesia, says that his inspiration “…comes from the traditional aesthetics of ethnic tribes and costumes from various countries, as well as the transformative world of art. My designs are for women who are eccentric and confident. Color is the integral fuel of my imagination and the spirit MAC and I share. This collaboration is a dream come true for the maximalists of the world.”

I need to get a little bit OTT for just a second about this packaging. Excuse me while I get emotional… Everybody, this is the most delicious, make-my-heart-skip-a-beat, give-me-an-eyegasm packaging I have ever seen in my entire existence. I literally *gasped* when I opened these for the first time, and my jaw sat on the floor for a good 5 minutes. The colors and patterns are just so aesthetically pleasing, as are the actual products.

Here’s a quick look and swatches, and I’ll have more thoughts and pics of the products in action over the coming days (here’s a closer look at the lipsticks)…

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