unsungheroes

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.

[Continue reading…]

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.

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! 🙂

[Continue reading…]

At the top of the list of not-so-smart things I’ve done over the past few days: starting to watch a scary movie at 10:30 p.m. Yes, that’s when I cranked up Insidious the other night thinking I’d only watch “10 minutes of it” before going straight to bed.

Bad idea.

Of course I had to finish it, which was like watching Britney’s infamous breakdown (I couldn’t look away!), except with sudden loud noises, scary silhouettes seen through darkened windows, and creaky wooden floors. NOTE TO SELF: films featuring demon possession do not make for relaxing bedtime fare.

Luckily, I also managed to do something pretty smart this week, which almost balances things out. I remembered where I put my missing pan of MAC Sheertone Shimmer Blush in Sunbasque ($19.50), one of my summer faves for sunkissed cheeks, and arguably one of MAC’s user-friendliest (I don’t think that’s a real word…) blushes.

Sheertone and I met a couple of years ago at a MAC counter when I’d asked a MAC artist for a blush recommendation. I wanted something easy that would look great with a tan, and she pulled out Sunbasque, a shimmery, peachy pink bronze. What made it special, she said, was the slight red it contains, which complements the reddish tones in tanned skin.

It’s like a multifunction printer, but instead of printing, scanning and faxing, it blushes, bronzes and highlights. The bronze tones lend warmth to my cheeks, while the peachy pink adds a flush of color. The subtle shimmer just draws a little more attention to the face, but not so much that I look like I’m rollin’ straight to da club.

Two layers (it’s sooo easy to blend), and I look like I spent the entire day practicing cannonballs at the pool…and napping and reading Us Weekly.

[Continue reading…]