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
I was having coffee with my makeup artist friend, Melissa, last week, and in between bites of pumpkin pie we got into brushes. She brought up the marvelous multitasking MAC 217 Blending Brush ($22.50), one of my go-to faves.
With a goat hair fiber brush head, it applies and blends powder and cream products with much aplomb. I use it for everything from powder and cream shadows, to loose pigments, to under-eye concealer.
What’s up, friend? This post is getting to you kinda late, I know, and I’m sorry. Long story short, but my flight was delayed out of Milan yesterday. Consequently, I almost missed the connecting flight out of Germany to get back home (NOTE: If you’re the person I steamrolled in the international terminal of the Frankfurt airport yesterday…my bad!).
I managed to make the flight (YEA!), but my luggage didn’t (BOO!). And, of course, it contained all of the makeup I was hoping to dish about today — stuff from Dolce & Gabbana Holiday, Kiko, Madina and a brand called Fred Farrugia.
Thankfully, the airline emailed to say they found the bag and put it on the first train plane home.
Oh, I have some important news to share! But you have to promise to keep it quiet because I haven’t told El Hub (pinky swear). You see, while I was on the road last weekend, I rekindled an old flame. 
Yup, MAC Blot Powder/Pressed ($22) and I have been seeing each other off and on for the past six years (he absorbs the oil on my face in ways that El Hub just can’t!), but this trip convinced me to take our relationship to the next level.
Blot was the only powder I took with me, and it’s official: I’m (still) in love. 
Did I mention it’s fat free?
Do me a quick favor and check your blush stash, boo. If you find enough peaches to bake a cobbler, then I’d like you to meet my new go-to girl, Benefit Silky Finish Lipstick in Sugar Cookie ($18).
The color — a warm, shiny peach with flecks of gorgeous gold — has been around for a while as a permanent member of Benefit’s Silky Finish Lipstick line. Like the other Silky Finish gals, she’s got a thin, creamy texture (very hydrating, to boot) that glides on slick and smooth, and I think she looks GREAT paired with peach blushes like Benefit Georgia, NARS Orgasm, MAC Sunbasque, MAC Margin and MAC Peaches.
Do you remember the sparkly glitter from last week’s look with MAC Lipgelee in Resort Life (part of the Venomous Villains release)? — how it ended up all over the place? Well, Sugar Cookie isn’t messy like that at all. Her golden glitter stays put, but all is not peaches in the garden of golden glitter.
Sadly, this Sugar Cookie disappears faster than…sugar cookies, or the box of toffee macadamia nut chocolates I opened last night right before bed.
My thighs keep telling me “No,” but my taste buds keep telling me “YES!”
I have to reapply Sugar Cookie often — about every two hours or so — unless I layer it atop a nude lip liner, which almost doubles her wear time.
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Have I got a thing for bright lipsticks, HELLO! But sometimes I don’t want the hassle they can bring. Sometimes I just want something easy and effortless on my lips — something like the perfect pink.
That’s where today’s entrant in the MAC Unsung Heroes series shines. She’s MAC Viva Glam V lipstick ($14), and she happens to be one of the most wearable neutral pink lippies I’ve ever met.
Shimmery like a pearl and with a shiny finish, the color’s one Goldilocks (of Three Bears fame) would love, because it’s not too cool or too warm. It’s one of those products that seems to be juuuust right for almost everyone.
And it doesn’t just look good on the lips; it feels good, too — rather, it makes me feel good to wear. 🙂 Since its introduction (Viva Glam V came out in 2004), the proceeds from its sale and those of MAC’s other Viva Glam lipsticks have gone to support men, women and children living with HIV/AIDS. Millions have been raised since the program’s start in 1994, much of it one tube at a time.
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Oh, the buckets of glittery tears I’d shed if MAC ever discontinued Soft Brown Matte Eyeshadow ($14.50).
Don’t be fooled by how uninspiring it looks in the pan. Soft Brown’s like the sun and the rain, and it makes my life a foolish game. Okay, well, that may be going a little too far, but I do think I could probably wear it every day for the rest of my life (no joke).
Because it’s a color I reach for so often, I think of Soft Brown as an “anchor” shade — like the glue that holds many of my eye looks together.
Worn in the crease, Soft Brown’s warm orangey brown gives depth and dimension to smokey looks. In a matte finish, I think it also ups the contrast of any shimmery shades I wear with it in blue, green, peach, pink — you name it.
A few shots of Soft Brown in action…
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MAC Woodwinked Eyeshadow ($14.50) rocks harder than Metallica. 🙂 Like a beauty BFF, this shimmery shadow’s been with me through good times and bad. Brown in the pan, it applies like a lovely warm gold, and I find myself still reaching for it often because it’s one of those disbelief-suspending shades able to fake a good night’s sleep.
If I had to pick one shadow to have with me after an all-nighter, Woodwinked would be it. A few swipes of this permanent collection shadow on my lids, and I swear I look well rested.
The MAC Unsung Heroes series features some of my favorite products from MAC’s permanent collection…
There’s an old saying that goes, “all that glitters is not gold.” And it’s true, because sometimes All That Glitters is more like a shimmery golden beige. 🙂
I’m totally kicking myself for not getting to know MAC All That Glitters eyeshadow ($14.50) sooner. It’s been a member of the MAC permanent posse for years but just moseyed into my life last week.
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Question for my coral lovin’ babes: Do you have a favorite coral lipgloss? Hands down, mine’s got to be MAC Lipglass in Lychee Luxe ($14). It’s a shimmery coral from MAC’s permanent line, and if I had to guess I’d bet I’ve gone through a double-digit number of tubes, yikes!
Wish I could say I stumbled upon Lychee Luxe on my own, but I actually heard about it from my mom. She gave me the heads-up about 10 years ago, which is funny to me because she’s never really been into makeup.
Proof positive that Lychee Luxe holds *great* magical powers. 🙂
One day she swung by a MAC counter looking for a gloss with just the right amount of color for her fabulous 50-ish self. She left with her first tube of Lychee Luxe, and a familial makeup obsession was born.
