I had no idea about MAC Veluxe a Trois collection until I saw it on the Bay website. It is supposed to be a Fall collection, with release date to be next month, and is not up on MAC website yet.
So I grabbed 3 of the 4 (LE) Cremesheen lipsticks available: Pillow Talk, Flowerscope and Quelle Surprise, $19 each. The other 2 shades in the collection - Haux and Royally Riotous - are online exclusive to MAC.
I am a little sad that these do not have special packaging, just typical black tubes. And after trying them on, I find the colours show up well, with good pigmentation, but are not that unique.
Pillow Talk, described as a malty warm nude, is the exact colour of my lips hence does not show up much. Flowerscope, a red pink with blue undertone, and Quelle Surprise, a deep purple berry, are accurately described but look more intense in the tubes than on the lips.
Needless to say, I think Quelle Surprise is the only one that is worth getting in the collection. These cremesheen lipsticks remind me a lot of Maybelline Creamy Matte lipsticks, except for the finish of course.
Swatched below the 3 MAC shades are Maybelline Daring Nude, Siren in Scarlet and Divine Wine.
Not dupes by any means, but similar colour tones and pigmentation. I am sure there are other shades in the Creamy Matte line (including the 10 new shades coming soon) that rival these.
Happy New Year, everyone! Sorry to start out the year with some not-so-great news, but I want to keep you informed of MAC's latest list of discontinued shades. MAC is cleaning up the "house" when new year comes, I assume.
The list this time is quite long, with a few shocking discontinuance:
- Eyeshadows (CAD18): Bitter, Hepcat, Shimmermoss, Winkle, Sunny Spot, Embrace Me, Silly, Ablaze, Guacamole, Crystal and Seedy Pearl
- Eyeshadow pans (CAD12): Juxt, Winkle, Crystal and Seedy Pearl
- Pigments (CAD25): Neo-Orange, Magenta Madness, Antique Green, Full Force Violet and Golden Lemon
- Prolongwear eyeshadows (CAD25): Sunny Outlook, Plush, Thru the Night, Hot Paprika, Keep Your Cool and Legendary Black
- Prolongwear eyeshadow pans (CAD17): Plush, Thru the Night, Hot Paprika, Tease with Ease, Keep Your Cool and Legendary Black
- Mineralize eyeshadows (CAD24): Dare to Bare, Caribbean, Cha-cha-cha, Time and Tango, Bossa Blue and Tropica
- Mineral eyeshadow duos (CAD24): Pink Split and Fresh Green Mix
- Extra Dimension eyeshadow (CAD25): Extra Silver
- Pressed pigment (CAD25): Summer Honey
- Kohl Power eye pencil (CAD19): Orpheus
- Powerpoint eye pencil (CAD19): Navy Stain
- Superslick liquid eyeliners (CAD23): Smoky Heir and Marked for Glamour
- Opulash (CAD19): Bad Bad Black
- Zoom lash (CAD19): Lofty Brown
- Splashproof lash (CAD19): Blacksplash
- Studio Fix lash (CAD19): Black Fix
- Plush lash (CAD19): Plushblack
- 41 lash (CAD19)
- MAC Antonio Lopez 6-eyes (CAD52): Creative Copper, Violet and Teal
- Lipsticks (CAD18): Spice is Nice, Show-All, Subverted, By Design and Frenzy
- Sheen Supreme lipsticks (CAD20): Zen Rose, Sweet Grenadine, Playtime, Can't Get Enough, Look at Her!, Tea Ceremony and Sheer Mandarin
- Prolongwear lipcremes (CAD21): Till Tomorrow, Sweet Ever After, Extended Play, Dress it Up and Soulfully Rich
- Tinted lip glasses (CAD18): Flash of Flesh, Embrace Me, Bait, Cult of Cherry and Ablaze
- Lustreglasses (CAD18): Ornamental and Trance Plant
- Cremesheen glasses (CAD23): Calypso Beat and Fever Isle
- Dazzleglasses (CAD23): Internationalist and Roman Holiday
- Sheen Supreme lipglass tints (CAD23): K-Wow, Kiss Kiss, Blushing Berry, Bubble Gum, Simply Wow and Gwi-Yo-Mi
- Mineralize tinted lip balms (CAD23): Baking Beauty and Glace
- Prolongwear gloss coats (CAD18): Clear and Mirror
- Lip pencil (CAD18): Hodgepodge
- Cremestick liners (CAD18): Creamola, Summerfruit and 80%
- MAC Antonio Lopez 3-lips (CAD33): Red
- Powder blush (CAD24): Stylish Me
- Powder blush pans (CAD21): Flirt and Tease, Pink Swoon and Pinch O' Peach
- Cremeblend blush pan (CAD21: Tea Petal
- Mineralize blush (CAD29.50): Exotic Ember
- Extra dimension blushes (CAD29.50): Blazing Haute and Fiery Impact
- Studio Moisture tints SPF15 (CAD40): Medium Dark, Dark, Medium Plus, Dark Plus and Dark Deep
- Studio Sculpt SPF15 foundation (CAD37): NC55 and NW50
- Matchmaster SPF15 foundation (CAD41): 9.5 and 10
- Face and Body foundation 120ml (CAD42): N9 and C7
- Studio Tech (CAD37): NW40
- Mineralize foundation (CAD41): NC50, NW35 and NW45
- Select Moisturecover (CAD22): NC50
- Select Sheer/ loose (CAD30): NC5, NC15, NC20, NC30, NC40 and NC45
- Iridescent powder/ loose (CAD30): Golden Bronze and Silver Dusk
- MAC Antonio Lopez face (CAD55): Coral and Pink
- Glitter (CAD25): Reflect Transparent Teal
- Lustre drops (CAD25): Pink Rebel and Sun Rush
- Skinsheen leg sprays (CAD35): Medium Dark and Dark
- Nail lacquers (CAD19): Ablaze, Embrace Me, Silly, Heroine, Rebel, Magnificent Feast, Bleu Velvet, Confectionary and Pistachio Creme
- Prep + Prime eyes (CAD22): Light, Medium and Medium Dark
- Prep + Prime Future Length Lash serum and Vibrancy Eye (CAD36.50)
- Prep + Prime Skin Brightening serum (CAD48)
- Strobe liquid (CAD40)
- Others: 249 and 252SE brush; foundation sponge; tweezers (Universal and Point); MAC Antonio Lopez mirror, 129SE brush, makeup bag and tote; Softsacs (medium - Dusted Pink, large - French Lilac and Julep) and Mariza 1 and 2.
If you are freaking out, here is the direct link to the Discontinued products page :) I wish MAC announced this earlier, as I had a coupon at the Bay I could use to stock up a few shades. What will you be getting backups for?
I never thought of going on Kijiji to look for makeup. I'm on there constantly looking for a cat for Squirt but never wander around to other sections of the site. A short conversation with a fellow blogger sparked my curiosity, and I went and look.
Found a jackpot, lol. The lady had a good stash of MAC but didn't use it much, so she wanted to sell it all together.
So I got: First row: Solar Bits Pearlized Pigment Clusters in Scatterrays. Pigments: Reflects Antique Gold, Melon and Steel Blue.
Second row: Mineralize Blush in Superduper Natural, Blushcreme Pearl in Sweet William and Brushed Metal X Cream Shadow in Material Gold.
You know I haven't been in a MAC store for a long time, so I don't own any of the products from these categories. I was so excited to trying them out without paying full price. Always dread about MAC prices.
Now with MAC eyeshadows, I do own a few before this haul.
Now I have: - Aquadisiac, Steamy, Swish, Pink Freeze and Gorgeous Gold - in pot form - Surreal, Shimmer Moss and Electra - in pans.
I need to learn how to depot these eyeshadows. Youtube vids look easy enough, but I'm scared to ruin the products if I don't know what I'm doing.
Also got 2 eyeliners - Technakohl Eyeliner in Smooth Blue and Eye Kohl Eyeliner in Minted.
Love the coloured liners, as they are more fun to play with :)
Other random items, as icing on the cake for the haul: - Juicy Couture Viva La Juicy Body lotion - L.A.M.B by Gwen Stefani Shower gel and Body lotion, and - OPI Red Like Roses.
The lady put all this stuff in a nice handbag for me too, I was happy. My very first purchase on Kijiji was a success, yay!
As this city is small, so is its Kijiji. But I didn't do too bad since. Got some polish and Jessie's Girl makeup off it. Love bargains, especially when you don't have to pay for shipping. It's a local ebay, lol.
Just to clear things up right away, no, I was not fortunate enough to go to the sale, but I have some fun info that might entertain you.
Over the weekend, MAC warehouse sale became a popular topic on twitter. Well, MAC and sale don't normally go together, so when they do, it was all people talked about, lol. As this sale was Canada only, and people's experience has been quite different depending on what day they go, I wasn't going to mention it on the blog. However, one of the girls on youtube had gone to all 3 days of the sale, I thought it would be fun to see what MAC had put out each day.
Basic info: - It is Estee Lauder warehouse sale (but people call it MAC warehouse sale), held at Markham Fairgrounds, Markham, Ontario. It happens 4 times a year (March, June, September and December) for 3 days each time (Friday to Sunday).
- Tickets are given to EL employees, including MAC MUAs, for their friends and family only, not for the public. People do sell tickets they don't need on kijiji for anywhere between $20 and $50 depending on the date.
- Prices: CAD9 for eyeshadows/ pigments/ paint pots, CAD10 for lip products (but they are BOGO, so CAD5 each basically), CAD3 for lashes, etc.
- The best deal at the sale is the charity packs (different combinations depending on the time of day or the day), include 4 MAC items for CAD5. Proceeds go to breast cancer research. Awesome huh? There's also a free gift for everybody who turns in the ticket before leaving, also varies at times.
Now on to makeUPjunkie0 videos, the fun part. You don't have to watch them all at once, if it's too much :-)
First off, MAC. We all know MAC started out in Canada, but since then, it has grown so much to become an international brand. I don't think I need to say anything about MAC, but for the purpose of this post, MAC has to be here to start the show.
Thanks to the popularity of Shoppers and Sephora, you all probably knew and heard about CoverFX already. One of its best products is the Total Coverage Cream Foundation SPF30 which provides good coverage while not being heavy or oily on the skin. My favorite product from CoverFX, however, is the Lip Treatment & Tinted Lustre SPF15 (in the picture) which unfortunately has been discontinued. It comes in a silver dual-ended tube, the lip treament is to moisturize and prime the lips, and the lip tint will add a sheer hint of colour on top. I like the idea of them being separated, as when I want a bit more colour, I could just add it on top of the lip treatment and skip the tint. And as a bonus, it smells good too. I have one in the office, for touch up during the day and it works wonder.
I grabbed most of the shades I liked last time the product was cleared out at Shoppers. I'm so glad I did. It is now replaced by MintGlazeFX, a fortifying lip primer SPF15.
Price-wise, CoverFX is a higher end brand - e.g. the Lip Treatment & Tint was CAD24. I was lucky to win a ClearPrep FX on twitter from CoverFX. It's a matte foundation primer plus the anti-acne treatment. Just like the Lip Treatment above, it serves 2 purpose in 1 tube. Review to come, depending on how fast I am finishing the current primer.
Another proud Canadian brand is Cargo with catchy motto "Be-you-tiful" and the well known eco-friendly Plant Love line . The packaging is so cute, the shades are paired with celebrities or places with ecology beauty. And part of the sales is to support good cause, which I thought was so cool.
Cargo released its latest Blu-ray collection a while back. I quite like the lip gloss palette and the blushes/ highlighters. The colours are very fun to play with. However, they have been quiet lately, I haven't heard any new product announcement from them. Cargo products is in the mid-range of cost as well.
There is only one place here that I can come and see Cargo goodies in person - Mills. But I am always kinda intimidated walking in stores like that, so I haven't been back for a while, lol.
Annabelle is a re-discovered brand to me, as I see its products at Shoppers all the time but never picked up anything. The shelf was boring, nothing new, and I never heard anybody mentioning them. Until recently with their youtube competition and the launch of the custom quads with mono shadows, I am more interested in checking them out. I have purchased a few quads, as you have seen on this blog, and am quite happy with them.
The news on youtube is that Annabelle is going to release the new Studio collection in August 16, with 6 bright pigments at CAD8.50. I'm so there to check them out!
Marcelle is a sister brand of Annabelle, used to be known more for its skincare products than makeup. Recently, they came out with a few makeup collections that caught my attention. The Aquatik collection was very interesting, plus the added effect of the Horizon Bronzing Pressed Powder (in the picture), and the Colour Cube Powders - Multi-Blush. These products are of good size and the price is quite reasonable. The bronzer is CAD16, and it's huge (18gr) - probably the biggest bronzer I have seen around. Just for comparison purpose, MAC's MSFs are CAD32.50 for 10gr of product.
I have to say they have done a decent job to gain back some popularity in the community. I always feel happy walking in a drugstore and see new product displays, as they prove that the brands are doing their job to entertain the makeup crowd. The isle needs to look sparkly new and interesting!
Quo is the makeup home brand of Shoppers and is not available outside the stores. It currently shares the website with Shoppers which is not necessary a good thing. New products haven't been promoted, even a few regular products aren't on the site either. For this reason, I have to browse the isle to be in the known if Quo has new products or promotions.
Quo makeup is of decent quality and nice/ simple packaging. Their brushes are probably their best sellers as they have received good reviews from users. I do hope the brand gets more publicity, at least has its own website and proper media image promotion, as it deserves it.
The last brand is Inglot, a Polish makeup brand, but has established a network of stores in Canada way before coming to the US, so I thought I should include it. I have a hard time looking for information about this brand, as the Inglot Canada website only listed 5 stores in Quebec with no product information, and the Inglot Australia site is under construction. But... I found a great youtube video from JustMakeUpYourMind that shows you all about Inglot, for your viewing pleasure.
Don't you want to go shopping after seeing the pictures? As Inglot made its way to the US with its very first store opened about a month ago in NY, the feedbacks from bloggers has been very positive. Prices are comparable to MAC as well: their shadows are $13 and lipsticks $12. I will definitely come to a store if I'm travelling anywhere near one.
EDIT TO ADD: Beauté Cosmetics is a new-to-me brand but has been popping up in a few blog posts from some blogs I frequent. The product stands out the most is the Luminous Volume Gloss with shiny, creamy texture plus plumping effect. Based on an interview that ThisThatBeaty did with Beau Nelson - Beauté's Creative Director, among the Luminous Volume Glosses (retail CAD26), Heroine (in the picture) is the YLBB (Your lips but better) universal shade, and the best seller is the Liqui-Gel Stain in Flouron (CAD29).
Beauté products are available on their website, Holt Renfrew (which we don't have around here), some salons in Alberta, and a few shops in the US. I couldn't find info about shipping cost, and haven't shopped with them before, so I can't comment about that, but at least I'm glad that there is an option if I do one day decide to try their products.
3 more brands to add, thanks to the lovely Michelle and Naomi: I can't believe I left Lise Watier out. I have been lemming the Sea Belle collection display at Shoppers when it was first released. Probably because they are a higher end brand, I don't come to their conner often enough.
Although the dominant colour of this collection is blue (as it is Under the Sea theme), I like the Beach quad (in the picture, CAD35) better as it features a variety of fun shades while the Lagoon quad only has blue. But the blue packaging is obviously catchy.
One of their best sellers is the Professional Correctors porfolio (CAD29) with 5 different shades in 1 wheel, infused with vitamins and chamomille. I can't say how well it works, as I haven't tried it. I might go to the counter to try it out.
Vasanti Cosmetics is a Canadian owned and operated brand (see the comments below). I'm certainly drawn to their shadows and pigments first. The shadows (CAD15) are named after famous cities around the world. In the picture is the new "Montreal", described as a purple with hints of two-toned blue shimmer, very tempting to me.
The shimmer powders (CAD14) has some bright shades that I certainly like to try. There's "Solar Flare" which is a Pale golden yellow, might satisfy my crave for yellow shades.
According to the locations on their site, the brand has made it to one Shoppers here, so I'll go check it out. Online shopping is available with shipping between CAD7 and CAD9.75. International customers could contact Customer Service before ordering. Vasanti does have a US website and a UK website as well.
This third brand, Balmshell is totally new to me, as I have never heard of it before. According to their website, they currently only have lip and cheek products.
I like the look of the Lip-gloss in "Confession of a Call girl" (in the picture, CAD20) the most, as it is described as a sheer hot orange and I believe coral/orange shades look better with my skin tone. Their Smear Campaign stains (CAD20) are gorgeous too. They are available at Shoppers and Mills here. It's just funny I haven't known about it until today.
SECOND EDIT TO ADD: Thanks to Julie :-)
I have come across FACEatelier a couple times but didn't remember it at the time of this post. The products remind me of MAC, just by the look of them, especially the shadows (CAD17 each) and palettes ($9 for 4-pan palette and $18 for 12-pan one). This is out of my range already, they are even more costly than MAC.
In the picture is the Eye shimmer in Pink Glaze(CAD19), a cute pink shade. It's ok to look, right? lol.
I have seen Nacara once, at a Shoppers that I don't normally go to, and it's not the same one that carries Vasanti above. Lol, is Shoppers playing games with me or what? Can't they just all carry the same stuff? Their website said they are at some Walmarts as well, hmm...
Does this little wheel looks pretty to you? It's their Custom Corrector.
Straight from the website: Which to use when: Dark Brown: Hides dark circles and imperfections Medium Brown: Corrects areas that lack pigment Light Brown: Corrects areas that lack pigment Orange: Illuminates skin Yellow: Conceals redness or blemishes
I will have to go to that Shoppers to test out this concealer wheel and check the brand's price range as well. If it works, it might help me to save some $ as an alternative to Lise Watier's portfolio. Hopefully!
Nacara only has 6 shades of eyeshadows right now, named after exotic birds. Quetzal sounds like a great bird, lol. Creative, don't you think?
One last brand I just remember seeing at Walmart, with a little display shying away from the big brands - Indulge Cosmetics. There has been no promotions on this brand, and it never made it to Walmart flyers. It is interesting to know that this brand is available at Walmart in Canada and Dollar Tree in the US. Reasonable pricing?
I actually noticed this brand through a Canadian nail polish blog - Deez Nailz. Check out her gorgeous Indulge polish swatches. These bottles might be mine next time I am looking for new nail colours to wear. FYI, they come in sets of 3 as they are a lot smaller than regular sized bottles.
THIRD EDIT TO ADD: Thanks to Cherz...master Joe Fresh Beauty is the lastest creation of Joe Mimran, creative director of Joe Fresh. The brand is housed in Loblaws store (a groceries chain) around the country (here in the East coast, the stores are called Atlantic Superstore). I remember all the buzz when Joe Fresh announced their makeup line. People kept checking the store for product display, complained when they didn't see it, and intrique when they finally did.
Surprisingly their eye products didn't cath my attention as much as the face products did. In the picture is the Cheek Tint in Cherry, at the bottom are Nude and Pink shades. I swatched them in store and quite liked them. Creamy and easy to apply. Right now they have 6 shades, I'm torned between Peach and Pink.
Besides makeup, the line also includes brushes and accessories. The 4-sided display is always fun to look at. Stocks, however, vary in stores, so it does take a bit of time to hunt down the shelf that has the shade(s) I wanted to test out. Due to my overgrowing stash, I haven't picked up any of these babies, but glad to see another Canadian brand showed up in stores. Yet again, I forgot to include it in this post until getting a comment, lol.
FOURTH EDIT TO ADD: Thanks to Revolution themselves I was lemming over these Freedom Lip Glosses from Revolution for their chic look and fun colour selection the first time I saw it on a blog post. Organic lipsticks with vitamins and antioxidants plus green packaging, how much more fun could it be? "Guilt-free Glam", as they said it.
I'm voting for Integrity in the middle, described as a shimmering golden rose colour, but also like the daring Vibe with its peachy colour, CAD29.
Revolution also has Freedom Glow Beauty Balms (CAD37) that could work as blush, lipstick, bronzer, and eyeshadow. Multi-tasking products are love, aren't they?
Yay, I just got myself a MAC Viva Glam V. It was a bit of a struggle but I decided to go with the good old V that you all probably already owned. I don't normally shop at MAC, as you probably heard from me before, but I figured with $10 off, the deal wasn't bad at all.
I was originally going to get a Style Warriors lipstick, as I liked the packaging. Thought it'd be nice to own something different in my stash. I tried on Brave New Bronze lipstick and Style Warrior lipglass but they didn't show very well on my lips. My friend recommended the V before, so I tried it on. Got the approval of the bf and Squirt and certainly the MA, so it went home with me. Like the packaging and the good cause behind the Viva Glam line.
It was funny as we didn't leave the apartment until 2:30 and I wondered whether they gave out all the vouchers - as the promotion was supposed to be for the first 100 customers only. But the place wasn't any busier than any other Saturday and the MAC cashier had a bunch of vouchers lying around. The little jar that they used to put the turned in lipsticks in had about 5-7 items in it. I guess the Bay didn't get the words out enough.
I took my time to test out some Clinique Color Surge Butter Shine lipsticks as well, as I heard they were very moisturizing. I narrowed it down to 2 shades but couldn't decide whether they looked good on me or not. I don't know what it is with trying out lipsticks at the counter, I just couldn't get it right. The bf and Squirt already went to the Disney Store to entertain themselves, and I was happy with the V, so I didn't get anything else.
One thing I was glad to see at the cosmetics section was the reps used Beauty So Clean to clean all the products and brushes before letting me to test them out. I was more comfortable to play around when I knew the products are properly sanitized.
I received a few sale notifications in my mail box, thought I should share in case some of you want to do some shopping this weekend.
- Makeup Mix Shop: 15% off store wide (except elf products). Sale ends July 26 at midnight. Free shipping US/Canada with orders $20 and over.
Time to check out EcoTools, NYX, Jesse's Girl, Kleancolor, LA Colors :-) There are accessories too.
- Coastal Scents: 15% all brushes. Sale ends July 26 at midnight. No code needed.
I only shopped at Coastal Scentsonce for 2 of the 88-shadow palettes (1 matte/satin, 1 shimmer), and shipping cost sucked (about $14). I caved in for these palettes as so many people raved about it, but with the high shipping cost, I wouldn't come back there any time soon. Shipping in the US is free with orders of $50 or more though. Lucky Americans!
- Aromaleigh: 50% off Days are on, starting July 21 for a week. Each day, a certain product will be offered at half price and announced on Miss K's blog.
I had bought a sample set from Aromaleigh before to test out. The shadows applied really smooth and the colours stayed all day. The only rant I have is again(international) shipping cost, as it would cost at least $5 to ship, even when you only order samples which fit in a small envelope. If Aromaleigh could break the cost down to different levels of order amounts, that'd push me toward ordering more for sure.
Don't forget to check out the Coupon & Deal section for some savings.
- MAC: Free Canadian Express Shipping on any purchase until July 27 at midnight. No code needed.
- Glamour Doll Eyes: Individual full-sized eyeshadows (not sets/ collections) are 50% off with purchase of $40 or more. The jars are now $4 each (regular $8). Use code "customer" at check out. Sale expires on July 29.
If you need a side purchase to make it to $40, the blushes are 33% off ($8 each instead of $12 regular) at the moment. Price already includes the discount.
- Spa Boutique: The Canada-exclusive Jane Iredale Sweet 15 Kit - Limited Edition (valued CAD369) is offered at CAD89. It comes with 15 shadows, 3 blushes and 3 lip plumpers.
As this is a Canadian site, shipping is free with any Canadian order CAD75 and over, so it's free shipping for this kit (but you'll have to pay GST). For US, shipping is $15 for orders under CAD150, and free for over CAD150. Not so lucky Americans in this case, lol. That's Canada Post pricing for you!
I don't know much about Jane Iredale brand except for its high price tag, but the kit looks decent at that price. Are there any Jane Iredale fans out there?
- Fruit & Passion: Hand wash/soap refills are CAD19.95 (regular CAD28-30). Free foaming handsoap (valued CAD12) with purchase of any 2 hand soap refills.
In the picture is the new Fruity Foaming hand soap refill in Grapefruit-Guava. Doesn't it look good enough to eat? Other 2 scents are Field Berries and Orange-Cantaloup, and that is just 1 kind of hand soap. I like the idea of refills, less packaging, more eco friendly. These bottles are 1 liter, would last you a while.
Since my first experience with Fruit & Passion, I love to step in to sniff around in the store every time I come to Micmac. It smells like fruits in there, not too overwhelming like a Lush store.
Tired of reading yet :-) Shopping or not this weekend, hope you all have a good time.
Photo credit: Spaboutique.ca and ca.fruits-passion.com
It was perfect yesterday, sunny and warm. I had a nice time outside. We had an appointment at the studio for some family photos - haven't had our pictures professionally taken for a long time. Squirt certainly had a fun time, as she is a natural poser. Can't wait to see how the pictures turn out.
I didn't do much shopping this weekend. Just did a short trip to Walmart for some batteries. Saw certain shades of Sally Hansen Nail polish on for CAD2, part of their "Roll Back" campaign. I just bought one purple shade - as purple is probably the colour I don't have many.
So the reason for all the pull back, no shopping thoughts that I have had recently? The huge haul I said I would talk about a few days ago: MAC. A MA decided to retire to be a new mom (and had no desire to come back to makeupafter) and sell part of her kit, which had a bit of everything. This is in no mean a huge haul, compared to lots of you out there everytime MAC has a new release :-). It is just huge to me, because I never spend that much money at once. My experience with MAC is limited as well, as I always feel intimidated being in the store (and don't know what I was doing there).
First, the makeup case. I never own one, and always admire people who bought them. To me, it is such a neat way to organize makeup and it's convenient when you know where the stuff is. And to my dream of being a MA, a case like this is such a must have. At least, it looks cool to have one, lol. It's funny, as after I bought it, I left it alone with all the other stuff inside for days. My bf kept asking why I haven't started putting makeup in the case. And today I finally opened it up and added some stuff. It looks all pretty and tidy now.
Next, the brushes. I never had a MAC brush in my life, for one simple reason: they are costly. No one can deny the high quality of MAC makeup brushes, and makeup lovers always crave about them. But I'm such a newbie, still trying to figure out how to use brushes to get the look I want. It is scary to have a brush in your hand and don't know what to do with it. Still, this brush collection fell on my hand (with a price tag to pay), and they are so pretty. I got a brush roll with 17 brushes. Face brushes:
- 109 small contour brush
- 150 large powder brush
- 184 duo fiber fan brush
- 187 and 188 large and small duo fiber brush (the loveliest among them all)
- 190 foundation brush
Eye brushes:
- 208 angled brow brush
- 210 precise eyeliner brush
- 212 flat definer brush
- 213 fluff brush
- 217 blending brush
- 227 large fluff brush
- 231 small shader brush
- 239 shading brush
- 242 shader brush
- 252 large shader brush
- 263 small angle brush
Considering how little I know about MAC, Temptalia's Guide to MAC would be a must read material. Her Beauty Basics series on MAC eye brushes has been very helpful when I was trying to decide whether it was worth it buying the brushes. Now I have to do more reading, and then start to know my brushes to put them in good use.
And the most exciting part of the haul - the eyeshadows.
From L-R, First row: Copper Ring, Swimming, Humid, Retro-Speck and Plumage
Second row: Swish, Woodwinked, Bitter, Parfait Amour and Star Violet
Third row: Amber Lights, All that Glitters and Fresh Water.
They are so pretty, and it's a good combination among different shades, dark, highlight, bright summer shades, etc. I for sure will have fun creating looks with them.
The rest is face stuff. They are part of the kit, so I had to get them all, still need to see how to use them. I heard good things about the foundation - MAC Studio Fix (NC35, C40) and Studio Fix Fluid(NW15, NW25, NC37). The interesting part is the liquid ones have SPF15 while the compacts don't - I think they are sold at the same price at MAC. I don't know what my MAC foundation shade is, but by the look, these shades might be a little too light for my skin tone. I'm thinking of selling them.
Powder blush in "Secret blush", Heatherette lipstick in Fleshpot, lipsticks in Midmauve and TWIG. I'm not big in blushes but I like this Secret blush a lot. I will try it out pretty soon. The Heatherette lipstick got me with its fancy package, but it's a nude shade and I don't know whether I can rock nude shades, as my lips are quite pigmented. The other 2 shades are easier to work with, I guess, but they are quite similar. So lipstick wise, I don't know what to do with them :-)
Eye Kohl in Fascinating, Fix +, Matte, Select Cover-Up (NW15) and Paints in Sublime Nature. There's a Blacktrack Fluidline as well, not pictured. The white kohl could be used in the lower lash line to bright up the eyes (I need some practice in that field). Fix + is a stable in lots of you ladies' routine but I don't know how it works. Matte would be useful for my T-zone (maybe like a primer). The Cover-Up is too light, and I never used paints before. Haha, do you start thinking what I was doing getting this kit and don't know how to use the stuff?
If you guys have some experience with any of the products in this kit, please share. There's no way back for me with this haul, so I seriously need to make it work or I'll have to sell some off.
Hope you guys are ready for a new week. I know I'm not. Thanks for stopping by.
