mac

Two Ways to Win a Tube of MAC Cremesheen Lipstick in Crosswires

June 12th, 2011 by Karen 561 Comments

WINNER: The giveaway is closed now, and the winner is Heidi! Congratulations, Heidi! If you entered but didn’t win this time around, keep trying, and click here to enter any ongoing giveaways before you jet. 🙂

Wait — did we just get our wires crossed? If that tube of hotness up there is MAC Cremesheen Lipstick in Crosswires ($14.50), I think we did.

But in the best possible way. 🙂

This creamy pinkish orange lippie looks faboo complementing cat eyes, and it’s been one of my favorites for years. Try it on its own, or layer it beneath peachy pinks like NARS Orgasm Lip Gloss or MAC Evolution Revolution Lipglass (eight more days!).

A Makeup and Beauty Blog Giveaway!

One lucky lady will win…

One (1) tube of MAC Cremesheen Lipstick in Crosswires (a $14.50 value).

There are two ways to enter, and you can do both of them for two chances to win. First, you can enter by leaving a comment at the bottom of this post, a comment about anything at all, like, what’s your current favorite lipstick? List the books you’d like to read this summer. What’s your favorite item in your wardrobe? Do you use a lip brush? — you know how this works.
Second, you can enter by following me on Twitter @karenmbb and retweeting (RT) the following message:
- Follow @karenmbb and RT to Win a Tube of MAC Cremesheen Lipstick in Crosswires http://bit.ly/mdYrpx

The deadline to enter is Monday, June 13, 2011 at 11:59PM (PT).
Entrants must enter using a valid email address and/or Twitter account to win.
A maximum of two (2) entries per person — one within the comments at the bottom of this post, and a second entry via Twitter addressed to me @karenmbb.
Contest is open to individuals of any country who have reached the age of majority according to their local laws (18 in the United States with these exceptions: Alabama and Nebraska, 19; Mississippi, 21).
Tabs and I (heretofore referred to as “T-Money and K-Dawg”) will select one (1) winner at random from the entries either left in the comments at the bottom of this blog post or addressed to @karenmbb on Twitter.
The winner will be announced here within 48 hours of the deadline.
Void where prohibited by law.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. I had a great time here in Vancouver, but it’s time to head back to Cali. I’m on my way to the airport now, so I’ll catch you in a few. Have a great morning. 🙂

WINNER: The giveaway is closed now, and the winner is Heidi! Congratulations, Heidi! If you entered but didn’t win this time around, keep trying, and click here to enter any ongoing giveaways before you jet. 🙂

MAC Unsung Heroes: Dollymix Sheertone Shimmer Blush

June 11th, 2011 by Karen 45 Comments

mac dollymix blush

Okay, okay. So I know this bright hot pink looks totally and completely scary in its pan, but I swear, MAC Sheertone Shimmer Blush in Dollymix ($19.50) will not leave you looking like a creepy, horror movie clown. Scouts honor!

When applied with a light hand, this bright rosy pink gives cheeks a charming flush with a light sheen, like you’ve been skipping around the neighborhood hand in hand with your BFF, covertly cradling a basket filled with contraband flowers stolen from your neighbor’s front yard (er, not that I’d know).

It doesn’t take much Dollymix to deliver a natural flush, and one pan should last roughly, well, forever. I’ve had mine since 2007, and even though I use it a few times a week (I like to apply mine with a fan brush), I’ve barely made a dent in the pan.

mac dollymix blush

mac dollymix blush swatch
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MAC Unsung Heroes: The 224 Tapered Blending Brush

June 10th, 2011 by Karen 21 Comments

mac 224

Pffzzt! BAM!

We have just traveled through time, you and I. Notice the placement of the logo on my MAC 224 Tapered Blending Brush ($29). Yes, that brush is 10 years old.

mac 224
New brushes on top; old school 224 on the bottom

Even though I’ve had it for a decade, I’ve only recently become super duper obsessed with this soft, medium-sized, dome-shaped eyeshadow brush.

I remember originally buying it to apply eyeshadow in the crease, which is how I know it’s used by many MACaholics, but for a long time I felt that it tended to lay down too much color. It had been in my halfhearted, semi-regular rotation for about a year before it found its way to the Island of Lost Tools.

So there it lived, on the Island of Lost Tools, lonely and neglected for years while I moved on to the fantabulous MAC 217. On occasion, I’d visit and call it out to help me with some blending, but for the most part, there it stayed.

Then, one day not very long ago (just a few weeks), I tried it with MAC Prolongwear Concealer.

Hello, awesome! 🙂

mac 224

mac 224
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MAC Unsung Heroes: Crosswires Lipstick

June 9th, 2011 by Karen 49 Comments

mac crosswires lipstick

If I tried to corral the coral lipsticks in my makeup collection, gurl, it would cause a stampede. Those corals are wild at heart because I let them run free. I mean, why confine them to summer when they look so good 12 months a year?

Next to pink, coral is one of my favorite lip colors, and those lil’ waxy bullets regularly melt my heart, like today’s Unsung Hero, MAC Cremesheen in Crosswires ($14.50).

It’s a punchy, pigmented pinkish orange, and it’s one of the shades I wear often when I want “look at me” lips. I’ve seen it worn by fair- and dark-skinned gals in a variety of NW and NC tones, and no matter what, I think it pretty much always looks hot. It just might be the MAC permanent line’s most wearable coral.

Maybe it’s the pink tones in Crosswires that really set it apart for me. The shade may not be as seductive as some of MAC’s reddish corals (like MAC Viva Glam Cyndi) or as electric as others (like MAC Costa Chic), but it’s sweet, and that’s something I like.

mac crosswires lipstick
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MAC Impassioned Lipstick

June 7th, 2011 by Karen 8 Comments

MAC Impassioned Lipstick, $14.50.

This MAC Sized To Go Eye Makeup Remover Is a Pro

June 7th, 2011 by Karen 41 Comments

When it comes to skincare products, I have commitment issues, and it’s probably one of the many reasons I like the little bottles and jars in MAC Sized to Go.

By shrinking nine products down to 1-oz. in size and setting their prices (almost) accordingly, MAC made the products easier to travel with and try.

Like the $10 Sized to Go Pro Eye Makeup Remover, one of the gentlest, most soothing (it contains cucumber extract) and hydrating eye makeup removers my eyes have ever seen. Unlike many other removers, it neither stings my peepers nor makes me see clouds. And even when I use it to remove makeup along my waterlines, I don’t shed a single tear (a rare thing).

A few drops on a cotton ball take care of everything from light powders to heavy duty stuff like Fluidline and Prolongwear Concealer, all without leaving an oily residue behind. I don’t even have to rinse if off with water, as if it wasn’t awesome enough, and after using it my skin feels clean, hydrated and fresh.

I have a feeling I’ll be reaching for it often, since it’s small enough to hide in a pocket or a small purse.

But like Achilles, every hero has a weakness.
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Patience Is a Virtue MAC Cleanse Off Oil/Tranquil Makeup Remover/Cleanser Doesn’t Have

June 5th, 2011 by Karen 23 Comments

I’ve been wanting to try MAC Cleanse Off Oil/Tranquil (a makeup remover/cleanser) for ages, but every time I came close to bringing a bottle home with me from a MAC counter, something eye-catching would always steal my attention away. More often than not, it was something sparkly, or pink, or sparkly AND pink.

But I bet I still would have pulled the trigger anyway if it hadn’t been for the price… Thirty dollars for a 5-oz. bottle? Fuggedaboutit.

The new $10 MAC Sized to Go version of Cleanse is harder to ignore. It packs 1-oz. of the same oil-based makeup remover/cleanser into a handy, TSA-approved bottle. Other than the smaller size and the fact that this bottle’s clear (the larger one is blue), the products are exactly the same. In terms of value, however, the larger bottle is a much better deal ($6/ounce instead of $10), but it’s also too large for carry-on air travel.

Designed for dry, “mature” and/or stressed-out skin, Cleanse is one of two cleansing oils in the MAC skincare line. If you’re sensitive to mineral oil, it doesn’t contain a drop. Instead, it contains a bunch of botanicals like sea grass extract, peach leaf and bisabolol (a colorless oil derived from chamomile; used for hundreds of years in cosmetics for its purported anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial properties).

The full-size 5-oz. bottle costs $30; the 1-oz. MAC Size to Go version costs $10
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