MAC Makeup

7 Lip Combos With MAC Tropical Taboo’s Calypso Beat Cremesheen Glass

July 2nd, 2013 by Karen 16 Comments

Wearing MAC Calypso Beat Cremehseen and Midnight Mambo Mineralize Rich Lipstick on my lips

Calypso Beat Cremesheen Glass, part of the new MAC Tropical Taboo collection, and I have been glued at the hip — or rather, the lips — since last week.

It started as a red hot affair, but definitely no one night stand. Now I’m in it for the long haul…or until the next peachy nude gloss comes along (whichever comes first).

Calypso Beat isn’t just beautiful on its own. I also think it’s great for layering with other lip products, and I’ve been trying it with some combos, mixing and matching with the Mineralize Rich Lipsticks and Lip Pencils from the same Tropical Taboo collection (just for fun).

I stumbled on a few lip looks that I really like…

MAC Calypso Beat Cremesheen and Glamour Era Mineralize Rich Lipstick — Calypso Beat Cremesheen and Glamour Era Mineralize Rich Lipstick

MAC Caylpso Beat and Heroine Lip Liner — Caylpso Beat and Heroine Lip Liner

MAC Calypso Beat Cremesheen and Have to Have It Lip Pencil — Calypso Beat Cremesheen and Have to Have It Lip Pencil

MAC Calypso Beat Cremesheen, Fever Isle Cremesheen and Ablaze Lip Pencil — Calypso Beat Cremesheen, Fever Isle Cremesheen and Ablaze Lip Pencil

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A MAC Tropical Taboo Face of the Day and a Katy Cat Moment

July 2nd, 2013 by Karen 25 Comments

My makeup today features pieces from MAC Tropical Taboo (with a smattering of products from MAC’s permanent collection)

I know I’m a few years late on this train, but I am super obsessed with Katy Perry at the moment.

I mean, I’ve always liked her music, and she seems pretty cool (girl loves cats!). I can’t even begin to guess how many miles I’ve logged listening to Teenage Dream on the treadmill, and how can you not like someone with blue hair who rocks out on stage next to a giant, person-sized cat??

But last weekend I Netflixed a documentary about her called Katy Perry: Part of Me that follows her 2011 Teenage Dream tour (and her breakup with Russell Brand), and that sort of tipped the scales for me from casual fan to full-blown obsession.

First of all, she’s a crazy cat lady, and you know I’m feelin’ that. 🙂 Throughout the movie, I kept thinking, “Awww, I bet she misses her kitties!”

Then there’s her music. Before the movie, I’d only heard her hits on the radio, but she performs a bunch of her other songs in the documentary (and her hits), and I liked them all. I think it’s cool that she writes her own music! How many pop stars actually do that these days? I ended up buying the rest of the Teenage Dream album after the movie.

Some of her songs are sugary cotton candy, like Peacock, which I was listening to when I got the idea to do this iridescent gold/brown/purple eye with the new MAC Tropical Taboo collection…

I wanna see yo’ Peacock!

MAC Tropical Taboo FOTD eye with Mineralize Eye Shadows in Bossa Blue, Cha-Cha-Cha and Dare to Bare — Mineralize Eye Shadows in Bossa Blue (lower lash line), Cha-Cha-Cha (lid) and Dare to Bare (inner corner and brow bone); MAC Eye Shadows in Texture (crease) and Honey Lust (crease)

MAC Tropical Taboo FOTD — MAC Kohl Power Eye Pencils in Feline (water line) and Orpheus (upper lash line and outer corner); MAC Extended Play Gigablack Mascara (lashes); MAC Veluxe Brow Liner in Deep Dark Brunette (brows)

Mineralize Blush in Simmer (cheeks), Mineralize Skinfinish in Soft and Gentle (upper cheekbones); Lip Pencil in Have to Have It (lips), Mineralize Rich Lipstick in Glamour Era (lips), MAC Plushglass in Big Baby (lips)

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Lust in Translation: A Scandal Lust Journey of Glitter, Shimmer and MAC Mineralize Skinfinish in Lust

July 1st, 2013 by Karen 9 Comments

MAC Lust Mineralize Skin Finish — Looking more girl next door than lusty, despite wearing MAC’s $30 Mineralize Skin Finish in Lust

Lusty, lusty, lusty.

Don’t even think about wearing MAC Mineralize Skinfinish in Lust just to sit in your cube and fill out TPS reports.

Bo-ring!

Save this pink cheek powder for a fun-filled Saturday night instead. Pour yourself into that skintight dress and those frack-me pumps you can barely walk in (but dayum, you know they look good! *snaps*).

As you and your crush sip martinis and get cozy in a quiet booth, he (or she) won’t be able to keep his eyes off of your glistening cheeks, or your smile, which hints at where the night could lead if he plays his cards right.

While we’re at it, let’s assume that your skin is on its best behavior in this scenario, with mellow pores and no dry patches to speak of, since Lust’s mirror-like shine can highlight imperfections. Of course, you don’t have to have skin as smooth as porcelain while you’re getting your swerve on, but to be honest, with Lust, it helps. It’s totally and completely unforgiving, like wearing a rhinestone-encrusted spandex unitard (which is actually quite a feat if you can pull it off).

Lust shines like Ryan Gosling’s eyes in the moonlight… Subtle, it’s not, especially compared to the other MSFs I’ve tried so far from MAC’s Tropical Taboo collection (Adored and Rio), but I think that’s what MAC was going for with Lust. They created a showcase shade.

MAC Lust Mineralize Skinfinish Swatch — Lust on my NC 42 skin

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For a Light Coral Flush You’ll Adore, Try MAC Mineralize Skinfinish in Adored

June 28th, 2013 by Karen 11 Comments

Abso-friggin’-lutely gorgeous. That’s how I feel about the way MAC Adored Mineralize Skinfinish looks as a highlighter or as an all-over face powder, but if you’re going to try wearing it either of those ways, steer clear of flash photography. The pearl in this makes my skin look crazy shiny when I use a direct flash in pics (I turned the flash off for the pic up top).

It’s also a good-looking blush (try buffing one or two layers on the apples of your cheeks), but no matter how you wear it, layering coaxes out more of the coral, so you get a natural-looking flush — not too bright — with a soft-focus effect from the luminous beige pearl.

You’ll look like an angel with it on, or like you got all creative and mixed Benefit’s Coralista Blush with MAC Ricepaper Eyeshadow, liked what you saw, and put the mixture on your cheeks before you left the house.

Yesterday Adored stayed on my cheeks for a full nine hours… NINE HOURS! Think of all the candy you could eat in that time, or the neighborhood kitties you could pet (it’s a lot).

Charlize, the tabby who lives down the street, sends her regards and best wishes for a good weekend…

Pale princesses and light-skinned gents, Adored should look divine on you! I love it on my NC42 skin, but I get the feeling I’ll be wearing it more often as a highlighter than a blush as I tan over the summer.

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A Magical Potion of Pink, Bronze, Pizza, Shimmer, Matte and a Highlighter/Blush: MAC Mineralize Skinfinish in Rio

June 28th, 2013 by Karen 24 Comments

MAC Rio Mineralize Skinfinish — Cheeks, meet MAC’s Rio Mineralize Skinfinish ($30)

LET THIS PROCLAMATION SHOW THAT MAC RIO MINERALIZE SKINFINISH SHALL HENCEFORTH BE KNOWN AS THE OFFICIAL CHEEK POWDER OF PIZZA AND WINE WEDNESDAYS FOR THE REMAINDER OF SUMMER, SO HELP ME GAWD!

Oh, snap! Please pardon my overuse of caps. My pinky got stuck on the CAPS LOCK button (no, it didn’t), so I decided to just roll with it, since it pretty much also summarizes how I really feel about MAC Rio.

We fell in love! — when I wore it a couple days ago out to dinner with El Hub. That day it got hot in hurrr. I mean, it was like over 90 degrees, and I didn’t want to cook, so we went to this Italian place nearby called Tavola for dinner.

Who knew that mixing wine, pizza and MAC Rio on a hot summer night could add up to something so cool?

Pizza from Tavola restaurant in Novato, CA — The Neopolitana pizza from Tavola restaurant in Novato

I don’t know what laws of physics were involved, but there was something magical about biting into a hot slice, washing it down with a sip of chilled white wine and wearing MAC Rio… It electrified all of the pleasure pathways in my brain. Perhaps it was just a convergence of so many awesome things at once — carbs, cheese, wine and a bright, opalescent bronzed pink highlighter/blush. 🙂

Yeah, blush! You could wear Rio as a highlighter (tops of your cheekbones, down the bridge of your nose, your Cupid’s bow and chin), but my favorite way to wear it’s as a blush.

Say we bumped into each other at a MAC counter today and you said, “But, K-Dawg, all I want from a blush is that it’s easy like Sunday morning,” I’d steer you away from Tropical Taboo’s blushes, and point you in Rio’s direction. “Let’s do this, babes,” I’d tell you. “Trust.”

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I Dare You to Look Less Tired With MAC’s Dare to Bare Mineralize Eye Shadow

June 27th, 2013 by Karen 21 Comments

MAC Dare to Bare Mineralize Eye Shadow from the Tropical Taboo collection — That’s MAC Dare to Bare Mineralize Eye Shadow on my eyes ($21, from the Tropical Taboo collection)

If you were wondering why I love pale, shimmery golden shadows like MAC’s Dare to Bare Mineralize Eye Shadow (and I don’t know why you would), lemme break it down for you.

They never make me feel bloated or sausage-y (unlike my skinny jeans). They never bite me (unlike my moody tabby cat). They never show up unannounced, seemingly out of nowhere (unlike those annoyingly stiff chin hairs that always crop up when I’m driving).

All they want to do is love. 🙂 My favorite ones, like Dare to Bare, get my day started right, because they’re potent fatigue fighters, meaning that they help me look less tired.

And I sure needed the help today. My noisy new neighbors (the Finch Family) are early risers (you know, tryin’ to get that worm), and boy! — they’re loud.

I mean, I get it. Every new day is a reason to celebrate, but can’t we wait until 6:30-ish or 7? Come on, guys, cut a girl some slack.

Thankfully, I Dared to Bare this morning. It’s from the MAC Tropical Taboo collection, which landed on counters today. There are six Mineralize Eye Shadows in the release, but this one’s gorgeous mix of cream, violet and gold caught my eye first.

MAC Dare to Bare Mineralize Eye Shadow — Dare to Bare Mineralize Eye Shadow, $21

I want to decorate my bedroom in these colors… I think that’d be so soothing and conducive to good sleep.

When you mix Dare to Bare’s colors together with a wet brush (I use a 217 spritzed with Fix+) and buff that on lids, the colors melt together in a cool way. On my lids, I get a shimmery, peachy pale gold with violet accents that I can see sometimes out of the corner of my eye when I turn my head or blink.

MAC Dare to Bare applied with a 217 wet with Fix+… kinda hard to see the subtle purple flash in pics, I tried though!

Really, really pretty, and I think that it’s that subtle violet that distinguishes it from similar MAC standards like Ricepaper.

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IT’S GIVEAWAY TIME! 7 Ways to Get More MAC Makeup in Your Life ($258 Value)

June 27th, 2013 by Karen 2,385 Comments

You can thank Tabs.

I was just sitting at my desk and taking advantage of the free overnight shipping on maccosmetics.com to stock up on some essentials — a bottle of Face & Body, a pan of Careblends Pressed (I hit the pan months ago but hadn’t gotten around to replacing it), a few eyeshadows (Era, Honesty and Twinks) — when I looked over at Tabs, who was sitting in a patch of sunlight on my office floor.

I swear to gawd, he nodded at me as if to say, “I bet it would really make someone’s day to win a sh*tload of MAC.”

I mean, can you imagine? It would be like bumping into Ryan Gosling at the mall, and then immediately winning the lottery while eating your cheat meal for the week (make mine a veggie burger, extra large order of fries and a vanilla shake, please).

And BAM! Just like that, MAC appears out of nowhere…

From my very first post on Makeup and Beauty Blog back in 2007, MAC’s been one of my favorite brands. I love it, wear it and have been following them for a looooong time.

Today’s giveaway, well, it’s what I’d like to win if I were entering a MAC giveaway. I would freak-the-eff-out if I won these 16 permanent collection products.

I spent a lot of time picking each one, choosing neutrals to go with the brights (because that’s how I roll, yo!) and included my favorite MAC bestsellers and change-my-life colors, like Impassioned Lipstick, which I’m wearing in the top pic, and Woodwinked Eye Shadow, a shade I never leave home without.

I hope this giveaway makes a lucky MBB reader feel extraordinary!

Enter using the Rafflecopter widget below. You can read the full terms and conditions there, but here’s the gist of it: the giveaway is open to international and local readers 18 or older (you must be an adult according to your local laws). Giveaway ends at 11:59 p.m. on July 31, 2013.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. Since you’re already here and in giveaway mode, don’t leave before entering my other ongoing giveaway for a $50 e-gift card to Sephora. Don’t delay. That giveaway closes tonight, Sunday, July 28 at midnight. Good luck!

Dry Lips Say Haaay to These Moisturizing MAC Tropical Taboo Cremesheen Glasses

June 27th, 2013 by Karen 38 Comments

MAC Narcissus Cremesheen Glass from the Tropical Taboo collection — That’s MAC’s Narcissus Cremesheen Glass from the Tropical Taboo collection on my lips…

I don’t care that I look a little pervy when I rub my lips back and forth and mutter, “Mmmm…” under my breath after applying these MAC Cremesheen Glass lip glosses. I don’t care that my big toe throbs because I’m always dropping the tubes, which, by the way, are bigger and heavier than MAC Plushglasses and Lipglasses, on my foot (hurts like a mother!). I don’t care that I must spend half my day digging around in my purse looking for ’em, either, since I have to reapply them every couple hours.

The MAC Cremesheen Glasses are some of the most comfortable, most moisturizing glosses I’ve used, and my dry lips love ’em, which is why I always make room for them in my makeup bag.

The four creamy $20 shades in the Tropical Taboo collection are available online now, in stores and on counters.

There’s not a lot of big, flashy glitter in pale peach Calypso Beat, coral Fever Isle, pale pink Japanese Spring or eggplant Narcissus, and yet they shine. I think they pair perfectly with the Mineralize Rich Lipsticks, too, and contrast well with Tropical Taboo’s shimmery eyes and cheeks.

MAC Calypso Beat Cremesheen Glass — Calypso Beat Cremesheen Glass, a pale neutral peach

MAC Calypso Beat Cremesheen Glass wand — The Calypso Beat Cremesheen Glass wand

MAC Fever Isle Cremesheen Glass — Fever Isle Cremesheen Glass, a bright reddish coral

MAC Fever Isle Cremesheen Glass wand — The Fever Isle Cremesheen Glass wand

MAC Japanese Spring Cremesheen Glass — Japanese Spring Cremesheen Glass, a pale dirty pink

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