MAC Cosmetics

So, I totally had a Joey Lawrence-style “WHOA!” moment at the MAC store last weekend. I was there picking up my umpteenth tube of today’s Unsung Hero, MAC Lipglass in Spite ($14.50), when I realized, holy crap! — I’ve been wearing this Lipglass longer than some of the girls shopping in this store have been alive!

Seriously, I’ve been wearing Spite for roughly 12 years. Assuming an average of two tubes per year — yes, I like it that much — that’s 24 tubes.

TWENTY-FOUR TUBES!

I started wearing Spite shortly after I took a job as a legal assistant at a law firm in 1999. I was in my early 20s, but I probably looked a little younger than that at the time. People would stop me in the halls, assuming I was one of the high school interns, and ask things like, “Oh, are you someone’s daughter?”

“Um…yes?” I’d say, a little confused. “How about you?”

Or, “Is this your summer job?”

“Well…sort of, but I would really like to keep it through winter.”

Pretty soon I was trying to look older, which for me meant putting my hair up in a bun, wearing my glasses instead of contacts and slicking my lips with MAC Spite.

While I love nude-ish pink and peach glosses with a flirty, casual, playful vibe, I prefer something like Spite’s plummy brown when I want to convey more of a sense of restraint, maturity and confident control (but don’t want to look stuffy or boring at the same time).

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It’s official: I am in food lust with watermelon. That one from the other day? Completely gone. And it was ginormous, too! — like bigger than Tabs, and I ate it all by myself in, like, two days. On the one hand (and I’m thrilled about this) I’m not having any, um, fiber issues, but on the other hand, I’m a little afraid I might be overdoing it.

So sweet, so juicy!

Gotta swing by Trader Joe’s to get another one ASAP.

I’m obsessed… I’ve got watermelon on the brain. It’s even creeping into my makeup. Just the other day, I was looking at Impassioned ($14.50), one of my favorite MAC Lipsticks, when it hit me…

No, not the watermelon (silly). 🙂 It occurred to me that Impassioned is a perfect watermelon pink.

MAC describes it as a full-throttle fuchsia, but on me it’s more of an intense, warmish hot pink. I’ve been wearing it a lot lately because, ya know, the whole watermelon thing, and also because I love the way it lights up my face. I think it looks fantabulous with summery gold, teal and bronze eye looks.

Impassioned and the other MAC Amplified lipsticks are famous for long-lasting, rich color (all day wear). That’s a lot longer than it takes to devour a plate of watermelon slices.

Watermelon…

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Can I tell you a secret? Okay, first, you have to promise not to tell. It’s not that I’m embarrassed or anything… Well, maybe a little, but here goes: sometimes, when I’m alone, I rock out to old ‘N Sync songs.

There, I said it.

Hey now, don’t judge! 🙂 Their Celebrity album was actually pretty good.

Someone at MAC even named one of the company’s Lip Pencils after the band (well…), and it happens to be today’s Unsung Hero, In Synch ($13).

Fate is such a fickle mistress, isn’t she? I almost never met this yellowish pastel pink because for a long time I’d always just assumed it would be too light for my coloring (I’m usually more of a Subculture kinda gal). Then I decided to give it a try one day on a whim.

And I’m so glad I did! In Synch hasn’t left my side in almost a month, and it hasn’t been away from my lips for long during that time. As a matter of fact, I wore it practically every day when I was Vancouver last week. I just love the look — a very pretty nude lip a la Kim Kardashian.

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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.

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I’ve always loved the theatricality of makeup, and by that I mean more than just its ability to alter our appearance (the WHIZZ! BAM! POP!), but also how something as seemingly insignificant as a tube of lipstick can completely change the way we feel and how we see ourselves.

Take today’s Unsung Hero, the mighty MAC Lipstick in Bombshell ($14.50). One minute with it on, and I feel my inner Mary Ann turning into Ginger!

Sometimes this frosty golden pink gets typecast as a “Barbie pink,” and it’s not hard to see why. Like Barbs, she can be quite flirty and fun, but this Bombshell is also capable of playing other roles, like seductive siren/Bond girl. 🙂

While Barbie cruises the PCH in her pink convertible, Bombshell tests her Masarati on the streets of Monaco. Girlfriend werks a pair of four-inch patent-pink Louboutins and a black tank dress. She’s on her way to a high-stakes poker game to gather intel, her slick ponytail whipping in the wind as she takes every turn a little too fast. Although her mind is on her mission, she recalls the brief but witty exchange she had with a charming billionaire last night. She wouldn’t mind getting to know him better, but now is not the time.

LOL! Yeah, that’s my Bombshell. Sure, she’s pink and girly, but she might just kick your @ss.

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