A beauty blog blooming with fresh makeup reviews, swatches and beauty tips from your friendly neighborhood beauty addict
Heya, ladies. Here are swatches and photos of 15 pieces from the new MAC Mickey Contractor Collection. I’ll have face and lip shots coming soon, but for now, take a look at the colors and let me know if there’s anything that strikes your fancy. 🙂
Eyeshadow X 4 in Athma clockwise from shimmery gold bottom pan at the bottom: Vivha, Jaan, Folie and Carbon
Eyeshadows from green pan on lower left: Oomph, Saffron, Marvel and Rani
Fluidline in Siahi (left) and Ivy (right)
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You might not know this, but Tabs and I are BIG Bollywood stars. Yeah, I don’t know how he got into it, but my obsession with B-wood developed over countless hours spent watching music videos on Namaste America back in the ’90s, usually after I’d get home late from dancing. I couldn’t understand what the singers were saying, but that didn’t matter to me. I was too busy drooling over the colorful costumes, exotic makeup and dizzying choreography.
Needless to say, I’m pretty stoked about the upcoming MAC Mickey Contractor collection, which scoots across North American dance floors and makeup counters January 6 (and internationally some time the same month). The 27-piece release for face, eyes, lips and cheeks, handpicked by MAC Director of Makeup Artistry for India Mickey Contractor, includes limited edition products, as well as repromoted items from MAC’s permanent line.
Thematically the collection is based on Bollywood cinema. It’s a look characterized by performance products — which I’m taking to mean products able to withstand hours of dancing under bright stage lights — natural skin tones and little accents of exotic color. These are products that should then, by that definition, be able to last through a full day of dancing on the set, AND the afterparty.
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Another year, another gaggle of gorgeous (and some not so gorgeous) makeup collections. There sure were some doozies this year. Innovative products, imaginative color palettes and provocative imagery propelled several ahead of the pack.
Some, like the MAC Fabulous Felines collection, really resonated with me and my cat lady soul (didn’t the three color stories for Felines make such perfectly good sense?). It also introduced me to the awesome MAC Superslick Liquid Eye Liners. Tabs and I still purr when we think about the Fab Felines release…
I also went coco for the chocolate browns and playful pinks in the Chanel Les Tentations de Chanel Holiday 2010 collection, but I think I still preferred Fab Felines overall.
Which collection stood out to you as the best of the year? Cast your vote in the comments. 🙂
Make sure I don’t miss your vote by including it at the top of your comment like so: VOTE: Makeup Collection. That’ll make it easier for me to tally the entries and share the results. After you’ve made your nomination, let me know why you picked that one collection over everything else.
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Does going au natural always mean you have to go naked?
Not according to Bobbi Brown.
Next month, to commemorate the one-year anniversary of her Pretty Powerful campaign, which turned the tables on makeup modeling by turning real women into makeup models, the queen o’ neutrals is launching two new multipurpose palettes with products for eyes, lips and cheeks.
This season, I was inspired to ask my friends — not models — to be the faces for my new campaign. They’re pretty to begin with, but with just a few simple tweaks, they look their absolute, most confident best. That’s pretty powerful.
— Bobbi Brown
The purpose of the two palettes, the first called Pretty and the other one Powerful, was to put a pink twist on Bobbi’s signature natural nudes. She packed both of them with universally flattering shades, and all I have to say is HALLELUJAH! You know I love ya, Bobs, but there’s only so much brown, beige and gray a girl can take. 🙂
I’ve always loved a natural look, but that doesn’t have to mean nude color, and it certainly doesn’t mean washed-out color. The Pretty Powerful Palettes are filled with pink tones that range from soft to warm and even a shot of bright to create a healthy look, because nothing is more beautiful to me than a healthy complexion.
— Bobbi Brown
The top of the Powerful palette shown here is black with pink typography; the Pretty one is pink on top with black typography
Both palettes are limited edition, which is a bummer. I don’t ever want to say bye to this packaging. I adore the casual handwritten font on the outside. I think it really sets the right tone considering the products inside. They’re a combination of new and repromoted colors — four neutral powder eye shadows, one powder blush and three lip colors.
The Pretty palette has a selection of lighter and cooler pinks, while the Powerful one broadcasts bolder and warmer shades. I’ve been wearing the products in the slightly more dramatic (well, dramatic for Bobbi) Powerful palette for a couple of days now, and I think I know what kind of girl might like them a lot; she falls for sheer eye makeup and likes to pair it with bold cheeks and lips.
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So maybe stretchy pants and overindulging in holiday yummage aren’t conducive to feeling glamorous. I could use an emergency glamor adjustment, and I’m thinking the Clarins Barocco Eye Colour Trio could help.
Can you imagine the looks you could bang out next year with these three sheer shadows? There’s a shimmery sunset gold (with traces of blackish brown, just like a tiger’s coat!), a matte brownish black, and a shimmery blackish gold.
This particular trio here is in need of a good home…
Are you ready to help? 🙂
Twitter @karenmbb and retweeting (RT) the following message:
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Estee Lauder Pure Color Nail Lacquer in Wild Storm ($19), the one lone nail polish in the 13-piece Pure Color Wild Violet collection for spring 2011.
Available at Estee Lauder counters and esteelauder.com January 2011.
Would you rock this?
Estee Lauder Pure Color EyeShadow in Untamed Violet ($20), one of 13 pieces in the Pure Color Wild Violet collection for spring 2011.
Available at Estee Lauder counters and esteelauder.com in January.
What say you?
You remember Burt’s Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream, right? My cuticles fell madly in love, and because they loved it so much, I’ve been interested in trying more of Burt’s hand products.
I picked up their Almond Milk Beeswax Hand Creme ($9) the other day on a whim. I was at Target at the time, buying toilet paper because I can’t trust El Hub to do it anymore (he always gets the cheap stuff that feels like sandpaper), and spotted Burt’s familiar packaging.
This thick, moisturizing cream, which feels almost like a salve (read: REALLY thick, like cold butter), has been around for a while as part of Burt’s permanent collection. It’s made from all natural ingredients, stuff like sweet almond oil and aloe, and has a light almond fragrance that’s easy on my sensitive nose.
It takes a little longer to absorb than a your run-of-the-mill hand creams, but my paws just love this stuff to pieces. I can hear them let out a hearty “Ahhhh…” when I massage it in, LOL! Right after, the product appears to leave behind a slightly greasy residue, but it completely disappears within a few minutes.
I wash my hands often, especially during cold and flu season, and that does a number on my paws. Burt’s Almond Milk quenches their thirst and keeps them supple and soft.
