MAC’s Love Connection Mineralize Eye Shadow Duo ($14) makes me nostalgic for the olden days (um, like, 2003), when one pan of eye shadow, a primer, eyeliner (if I was feeling adventurous) and some mascara gave my eye makeup itch all the scratch it needed. Ahh, take me back!
One of nine eye shadow duos from MAC’s recent Electro Flash release, Love Connection’s shades — a peachy bronze and a pink-beige — may not instantly dazzle like some of MAC’s flashier duos (Fresh Green Mix and Odd Couple come to mind), but I’m glad I took a chance with this Love Connection because the neutral, pastel colors work wonders.
One side of the pan of Love Connection glows like the inside of an abalone shell, with a luminescent, peach-beige with hints of blue. The other side shines like a new penny. Like all of MAC’s Mineralize Eye Shadow Duos, this one is all about big shimmer. You’ll either love or hate it (those in the “hate it” camp may find it too chunky or flashy). I love it because the shimmer reflects a lot of light, making it a great brightener. Just a quick swipe on my lids makes me me look as though I’ve slept for hours. Trust me, girl — this is no small feat. I’ve slept a maximum of 10 hours over the course of two days, and it takes a minor miracle to make me look wide awake.
MAC Mineralize Eye Shadow in Love Connection
Price: $14
Use: A shimmery pastel shadow for easy looks
Makeup and Beauty Blog Rating: A+
Although Love Connection contains lots of big shimmer, the pastels keep it subtle enough to wear to work or on low-maintenance makeup days when all you need is a little oomph. I’ve worn it to work, on dates with El Hub and on the weekends when I’m running errands. It’s a low key look, but it’s still very pretty (oh, and when worn on top of Too Faced Shadow Insurance primer, the shadow lasts for hours).
A Super Easy Pastel Eye
Here’s the look I’ve been wearing for the past few days. I applied Love Connection on top of Too Faced Shadow Insurance, layering the peach shade on top of the bronze on the lid area and just slightly into the crease. I added a little definition with Lancome Le Stylo Waterproof Eyeliner on the upper water line and smudged into the lower lash line, and finished the look with two coats of MAC Mascara X.
Here I am just before I ran out the door for work yesterday! I had about 10 minutes, total, to get ready. And, yup, I wear glasses when I don’t have time to put in my contacts.
Ten More Looks with Love Connection
Don’t think you’re limited because you only have two shades to work with. There are so many different ways to wear this duo! Try applying the…
- Bronze shade on the lid area and just into the crease
- Beige shade on the lid area and just into the crease
- Bronze shade on the outer lid, beige shade on inner lid and inner corners
- Bronze shade as a light wash all over the entire eye
- Beige shade as a light wash all over the entire eye
To get even more lovin’ from Love Connection, you can also try these five looks using a wet brush head to get even more intense color payoff and shimmer. That’s ten looks with just one duo, baby!
Brushes to use with the MAC Mineralize Eye Duos
The texture of Love Connection and all of the Mineralize Eye Duos differs from that of MAC’s other shadows. These don’t apply as densely as MAC’s regular pan shadows do, and working with them reminds me of working with loose eye shadows like the MAC Pigments. Don’t be surprised if you find shadow flyin’ all over the place.
To create the looks above, I relied on just a few brushes. To cover large sections of the eye I like really flat, stiff brushes like the MAC 252, and for detail work I like flat brushes with smaller heads like the MAC 239. Even though Love Connection’s pastel colors don’t create harsh lines of color like bold blue, purple or green shades would, I still like to keep a blending brush with a soft head like the MAC 217 handy to create the effect of the shadow going from intense to desaturated colors.
Love Connection is a fabulous duo and my favorite so far from the Electro Flash release. It’s a limited edition color, so pick this pretty baby up soon online or at your favorite MAC counter.
OMG! The 5-O arrested C. Bale in London last night for allegedly assaulting his mum and his sister! He was released this morning, but, needless to say, the neighbor’s tabby and I are a bit heartbroken!
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Look at you rocking those glasses! Are those rhinestones? I’m a glasses-wearing girly too, and yours are adorable.
I believe this is the eye shadow duo that my mom (!!) bought — we went to go shoe-shopping, and I said, “Oh, let’s just swing by MAC just briefly…” and we both walked away with some of the new eyeshadow duos. She was mighty tempted by New Green Mix (which I bought so we can share… RIGHT, that’ll happen!), but I think she picked Love Connection instead.
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Hi Jeanne!
Yeah, those are rhinestones. Those are bebe frames — I got them a few years ago. 🙂
That’s so cute that you share (ha ha ha) your MAC with your mom. Aww! What’s your favorite of the duos?
Such a pretty look on you Karen! I wasn’t going to go for the mineralized shadows, but now I may have too! haha
Hi Daya,
Thanks, girlie! This shade is my *fave* out of all of them so far. So easy to wear, and just really pretty and shimmery. I hope you give it a try. 🙂
How’s your day been?
Girl, you make me wanna run to MAC and get this Love Connection thing! You know, I found out by accident how to un-itch the mineral and mineralize eyeshadows and blogged about it as well. Who knows paint pots can be the cure-all?
Your glasses are fab and why did they jail Batman? Don’t they know he’s Batman, the dark knight? LOL at Stripes, he looked a bit upset. Maybe because you didn’t give him the right color?
Daos last blog post..MAC Paint Pots: My Pride and Joy
Hi Dao,
That’s great! I hope that your trick continues to work for you — from my experience with allergic reactions, you just never know when they’ll come back.
LOL, that cat’s been loving on me lately (probably because I keep feeding him).
How has your week been?
Oh my gosh, I think this is one of my most favorite looks on you!! You look great, nice work! 🙂
Off to Illinois for the week, have a good one. 🙂
By the way… saw Dark Knight last night. He was really really good, then I saw the news this morning! I hope it was all a mistake!
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Hi Bridget,
Thanks! It’s an easy look, and not too flashy, but it’s fun. 🙂
Are you going to Illinois for work or for fun? I hope it’s for FUN!!!!
I LOVE this photo of you! You look so beautiful! Also, I really love that simple eye, it looks nice and pulled-together but very natural.
Oh, the itch is there but the layer of paint pot kind of prevent the powder from my skin. The week has been fine so far, doing what I love pays off big time! Thanks for visiting my humble adobe 😀 I’m trying to make it fun.
Daos last blog post..MAC Paint Pots: My Pride and Joy
Hi Okyanus,
Thanks. 🙂 It’s a good one for days when you’re in a rush. Did you pick up any of these shadows?
Hi Dao,
🙂 That’s great. I’m glad you are lovin’ what you are doing!
hey Karen, you look great….love the glasses.
I heard the news about C. Bale on the radio this morning and I thought of you.
Hey Karen, you’re four eyes too, makes you even cooler!!! With that being said, do you have any special eye looks for gals with glasses? What’s too heavy, what can I get away with?
Hello. I’ve heard nice things about Love Connection too. I always have eyeshadow fall out when applying, and this sounds like a potential shimmer disaster. I’ll wait and see. Nice glasses, Karen!
Hi Amanda,
Thanks, sweets! The C. Bale news totally threw me! When El Hub told me about it this morning (he wakes up earlier that I do) I was stunned.
How was your day?
Hi Karen,
That’s a beautiful look on you and it made me want to go out and buy it for myself. I was looking at Polar Opposites the other day and found it pretty intimidating. How would you recommend using that one? I’d appreciate ideas from anyone who’s got them!
That look is lovely! Very soft and natural-looking; makes me want to run out and buy a pan right now!
And the glasses look great…you are rockin’ the vintage look! I wear glasses too, and yours remind me a bit of the frames I wore in high school.
That’s like a super sexy librarian look! So pretty and easy though.
I may need another look at these….
Hi Tatiana,
Hmm, I don’t know if I do special looks per se, but I have noticed that I’ll do certain looks with certain frames (I have several pairs, totally nerdy, I know). If I wear bold frames like the ones in this picture, I do lighter eyes and bolder lips. I feel like the bolder lips balance the glasses out. If I’m wearing rimless frames, which look more subtle, I will do bolder, more smokey looks because then the eyes don’t have to compete with the glasses. What do your frames look like? 🙂 Let’s cook up some good looks!
Hi Miss QQ,
Yeah, these like to go all over the place. When working with the Mineralize Duos I try to do the eyes first, and then foundation and powder last. The other day I actually threw this on at last minute and ended up with some shadow fallout on my cheeks, but the glitter wasn’t too obnoxious so I just left it on and figured I that I could tell people it was on purpose. 🙂
Hi Emi,
OoOoo, yah, Polar Opposites is an interesting one. With silver looks, I like to do simple washes for quick looks (if you have a bit more time add a crisp line of gel liner on the top lash line for a very chic look). If you want to do something a bit more intensive, you can combo it with some pink like in this fotd. If you have a cool purple shimmer shade that would also be pretty, too. You could do Polar Opposites on the inner half of the lid, and then do the purple on the outer half. There are so many makeup possibilities. 🙂
Hi Music_Is_Freedom,
Thanks, lady! This pan is so pretty. Play with it next time you hit up MAC — seriously, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.
Regarding the glasses, I guess great minds think alike. 😉 I have a penchant for crazy frames! That’s just one of several.
Hi Chris,
Aww, thanks! Now gimme them dewey decimals! 🙂
Very pretty and I like your glasses too. I recently purchased Fresh Green Mix and was wondering if you could do more FOTDs please? it’s okay if you don’t but this is my first green/greenish eyecolor, so I’m trying to look at options. Thanks!
Hi Fia,
Oh yah! I’ve been wanting to play with it more so this just gives me an excuse to have some fun. 🙂
You look like a saucy vixen in that picture!
I like to use those mineralized shadows wet when applying on the lid. I find that I get less fallout and more color.
I was so sad to hear about our man. Maybe all of our fighting over him pushed him over the edge. 🙁 (To be honest, I am hoping that it isn’t true)
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Hi Marisol,
OMG! I am so hoping it isn’t true, either. I am really shocked by the news! 🙁
ooh that eyeshadow looks so pretty on you!! I so can’t wait for it to come out to aust! hehe okay well have a great day! takecare =]
Cute cute cute! ^^ I’m a glasses gal too and yours look fab.
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Ooooh, pretty, Karen!. 🙂 I just ordered this online (told myself I wasn’t going to go overboard, but after falling in love with Two to Glow and Play on Plums I ordered this one and 2 others…) so I can’t wait to see how it looks on me. You really can get so many looks out of these duos (the MAC MA showed me how to mix the shades from Polar Opposites to get this really pretty, blue denim-ish color) so I think they’re well worth the price. Love your glasses and hoops, too! 😉
I hope the Bale thing isn’t true (or, as I understand in the UK, there are different levels of “assault” and his was a level that, I think, basically qualified as shouting? I could be wrong but that’s how I understood it). Sooooo…we’ll see…
Thanks Karen! I have olive green frames that are almost cat eye-ish, ever since 8th grade, I’ve been striving to be the Asian Lisa Loeb. I have a bunch of frames too, just gotta change the prescriptions, ha! Normally, I’ll do something similiar to the look that you posted. I love the peachy shimmer contrast to the black frames. I also love hoops and glasses!!! Great combo =)
Hello,
Thanks to your post – I just ran out to MAC and purchased Love Connection, along with Love Joy and Gleeful blushes. I had only bought nuance and dainty but you inspired me! Keep up the great posts!
I’m totally into the uber natural look here, Karen! I love the glasses just as much – I’m actually due for a new pair but can’t seem to tear myself away from my current frames! What to do…
Lilans last blog post..L’Oreal Hair-Coloring Fiesta!
oh no you’ve got me feening for some love connection! lol those glasses are super cute!
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Hey K!
Love Connection looks very pretty! Too bad I haven’t been able to check Electro Flash IRL, I think I would’ve got into many of the e/s duos. Anyway, I got Warming Trend and Fresh Green Mix some days ago. Warming Trend is a perfect neutral all-over lid colour, me likes! Today I tried Fresh Green Mix for the first time. I really do love the lime shade but I have mixed feelings on how it looks on me. We’ve had a rainy summer which has prevented me from getting a tan. Therefore I’m rather pale and I think the summery shade needs a bit more colour by its side. Nevertheless, I’m going to wear it but I think I may need to brush some extra layers of bronzing powder.. ;D
Oh, so far I’ve met only school mates this week. I was supposed to meet a girl whom I exchanged email addies with while working at the department store in May. Well, we didn’t meet after all as she had fallen ill. Tomorrow I’ll be heading for a weekend sleepover at my friend’s place. We’ve been mates since kindergarten 😀
What are your plans for the weekend? Have a great one!
PS. Lovin’ the tabby!
I just went and bought Love Connection today because of you! LOL I noticed that it was $17.50 though instead of $14.00. Did you really only pay $14 and I’m just getting ripped off? LOL I think it’s $17.50 on MAC’s site too! Oh well, it’s a great color no matter how much it is! LOL
Hi April,
Thanks for letting me know. I think I was typing too fast!
I picked up a few of these. My favorite is Odd Couple! I only have two MAC brushes at the moment which are the 217 and 239 and they do work great with these shadows!
i wear glasses too when i’m lazy. well that’s pretty much everyday! you look good in them!
christy v.s last blog post..Ly-na Experiment Day 1
I LOVE this shadow! I mad it was discontinued, It is the perfect highlighter.