Makeup and Beauty Blog | Makeup Reviews, Swatches and How-To Makeup
A beauty blog blooming with fresh makeup reviews, swatches and beauty tips from your friendly neighborhood beauty addict
Just some swatches and pics of bits from the new 24-piece MAC Styleseeker collection, which roams onto MAC counters, into stores and up on maccosmetics.com in North America August 23, and internationally next month.
Powder Blush in Supercontinental (left) and Hidden Treasure (right)
Powder Blush in Supercontinental
Powder Blush in Hidden Treasure
Eye Shadow X 2 Marche Aux Puces (left) and Culturalized (right)
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What delivers bright-eyed, bushy-tailed looks in less than a minute and works as a great base for all of your favorite gold and beige eyeshadows? — heck, for most of the other colors in your eyeshadow collection, too?
Wait — before you answer, have you met MAC Paint Pot in Bare Study?
Hint-hint. 🙂
One of those super easy “Wake me up before you go-go” shades, to borrow a reference from Wham, this $18.50 golden beige cream shadow gives me heart palpitations (but I’m told this kind aren’t dangerous).
Bare Study is perfect for last-minute appointments. All I do is pat a small amount on my lids and blend out the edges with a finger, coat my lashes with one or two quick layers of mascara, and treat my lips to a bright lipstick, and it’s off to the farmers’ market for me!
The soft, light-reflecting pearl finish makes me look almost like I got a good night’s sleep. Little would anyone know I spent half the night awake (and biting my nails) while reading the last half of Angelfall (highly recommended if you liked The Hunger Games).
If you’re shy about wearing a lot of color on your eyes, try a dash of Bare Study on your lids paired with your favorite eyeliner, and then maybe one day if/when you felt a little more confident about eye color (but still not gung-ho), you could try layering it under neutrals like brown, beige or gray.
If, instead, you’re all about eye color, then Bare Study has other strengths you might like. For one, it loves to layer with a wide variety of colors.
MAC Greensmoke eyeshadow, that is. $12 for a refill pan, available now at MAC stores and online.
Have you ever worn this shadow? It’s really pretty on top of MAC Tarnish Eye Kohl. 🙂
Wearing MAC Cremesheen Lipstick in Coral Bliss
MAC went east — faaar east — for the 15 modern pinks, nudes and corals in their new Cremesheen + Pearl collection of Cremesheen Glasses and Lipsticks with a light-reflecting finish.
Each of the eight new Cremesheen Lipsticks ($15 each) and seven Cremesheen Glasses ($19.50 each) in the Asian-inspired collection contain crushed pearl for shiny, glossy lips with a luminous glow. They arrive on North American shores August 9 (and coming to international locales this September), but if you can’t/don’t want to wait that long, they’re actually available now online.
Looking for the right light-reflecting lips to go with your favorite bold eye look? MAC’s got ya covered. 🙂
Here’s a quick look at six of the new shades. I can’t wait to wear some of these with smokey eyes!
Cremesheen Lipsticks in Coral Bliss, Pure Zen and Shanghai Spice
Cremesheen Glass in Double Happiness, Rising Sun and Pagoda
I LOVE the product names and the overall vibe. It reminds me of the last time I went to the cherry blossom festival in SF’s Japan Town. My favorites here are probably the comfortable Cremesheen Glasses because of how moisturizing they are. Thinner than the Lipglasses and non-sticky, too, they just feel really, really great on my lips. Whenever I travel by plane, I always bring a moisturizing Cremesheen along to help my lips cope with the dry, recycled air.
Swatches from the left: Cremesheen Lipsticks in Coral Bliss, Pure Zen and Shanghai Spice; Cremesheen Glass in Double Happiness, Pagoda and Rising Sun
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A few cutie pie Cremesheen Glass shades from the new MAC Cremesheen + Pearl collection, $19.50 each.
From the left: Double Happiness, Rising Sun and Pagoda.
See anything ya like?
Wearing Eyeshadow in Moth Brown on my eyes and Lipstick in Candy Yum-Yum on my lips
Rock the makeup vote! Power to the lipgloss-loving people!
The citizenry has spoken, and MAC mavens made their voices heard in the new MAC By Request collection, a nine-piece limited edition release featuring nine comeback colors chosen by MAC fans.
Last spring MAC-aholics worldwide voted for their favorite shades on Facebook from among a field of 18 classic colors previously featured in limited edition collections. Nine colors made the final cut — three Eyeshadows, three Lipglasses and three Lipsticks — earning spots in the new MAC By Request collection ($15 each).
Get to know the nine comeback kids in the following pics and swatches. 🙂
Eyeshadows in Guacamole, Moth Brown and Jete
Eyeshadow in Guacamole
Eyeshadow in Moth Brown
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There’s an old urban legend about today’s MAC Unsung Hero, MAC Paint Pot in Rubenesque…
Rumor has it that Tabs the Cat was the inspiration for this shimmery, peachy gold — more specifically, his shapely figure and the sunset-like shades that dance across his Rubenesque tum.
I’ve asked him about it a few times, but he just turns and walks away, neither confirming nor denying the rumors.
I don’t know if there’s any truth to it, but I do know one thing for sure — every year by the end of summer, this creamy shadow is my jam!
Come August, when buttery brown tans are at their peak, peachy golden Rubenesque comes out to play. I love the way it looks on bronzed skin — like late afternoon sunlight on my lids (and my face, but more on that in a few).
If you’re new to the MAC Paint Pots, picture a powder shadow with a creamier formula. I like to use them as standalone eyeshadows or as color-intensifying bases for other powder shades.
I think they’re great for when you don’t have a lot of time to get ready in the morning, or for any time when you just want to add quick color to your lids without having to bust out a bunch of brushes or spend 20 minutes blending.
When I’m sporting a tan and want to draw some extra attention to my eyes, that’s when I’ll reach for Rubenesque.
For a doe-eyed beach babe look, I’ll pat it on my lids with a finger and feather out the edges with a domed blending brush like the MAC 217. Then, to create the illusion of thicker lashes, I’ll line my upper water line with a black gel liner like MAC Fluidline in Blacktrack and apply a lash lengthening, lifting mascara like the new MAC Haute & Naughty Too Black Lash Mascara.
“When the makeup calls, the girl must answer.”
That’s how I feel today, like I was lured by love to do something more special with my makeup than my plans today would otherwise warrant.
I think that’s one of the things I love so much about makeup, that you don’t really need a good reason to play with it. It’s just there, so why not?
Sure, so I got glammed up to swing by Safeway at lunch to get heirloom tomatoes and basil. It won’t be the first time I go grocery shopping all gussied up.
Actually, I didn’t do anything fancy at all. Just a teal, brown and blue smokey eye using some of my MAC favorites, like Tarnish Kohl.
This is one of my favorite MAC eye looks because of how easy it is, and because it’s a little different than a standard smokey eye with black or gray.
I call it my “peacock feather” eye look. 🙂
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