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MAC MACnificent Me! Collection | Video Review, Pics and Swatches

September 18th, 2015 by Karen 16 Comments

mac macnificent me eye shadow x 9 — MAC MACnificent Me: Eye Shadow X 9 ($40)

So, what would be MACnificent right now? How about a vanilla milkshake and some fries!? But that just might be me doin’ my #pregnantladythings. The upside of the new MAC MACnificent Me! collection is that everything is calorie-free!

What makes you MACnificent? Is it your impeccable style, your sense of humor or your ability to wear crazy colors on your lids and lips and make them look completely legit?

Whatever it is, I think you’ll be able to find something of interest in the new MAC MACnificent Me! fall 2015 collection. 🙂

mac macnificent me eye shadow X 9 2 — MAC MACnificent Me: Eye Shadow X 9 ($40)

mac macnificent me eye shadow — MAC MACnificent Me Eye Shadow in Cheer Me On, Well Behaved and Everyone’s Darling ($16 each)

This collection has a neat twist. The six models for the campaign, whose identities haven’t been announced yet (as of Sept. 18, 2015), were chosen from among the zillions of MAC fans who submitted their picture and bios and answered the question, “What makes you MACnificent?”

The collection drops on the MAC website September 21, and then arrives a little later on MAC counters and stores October 1 through November 12.

And it’s a huge one! — 42 pieces, with a number of traditionally fall-ish items like dark berry and plum lip colors.

Here’s a glimpse…

mac macnificent me paint pots — MAC MACnificent Me Paint Pots from the left: Stroke My Ego, Imaginary and Nice Composure ($22 each)

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MAC Guo Pei Collection: Fall 2015

September 15th, 2015 by Karen 29 Comments

Years from now, in the distant future, when historical beauty buffs/artistic archeologists look back on MAC’s 2015 limited edition releases, the award for Best Dressed Collection could easily go to MAC Guo Pei.

This one is a beauty! — and the packaging is also unusual for MAC. The compacts, lipsticks, brushes and glosses are all wearing fabric accents with floral flourishes (there’s even a cute little lady bug on the print) and have details like real stitching on the fabric sides.

mac guo pei night sky — MAC Guo Pei Eye Shadow X 4 in Night Sky

mac guo pei morning light — MAC Guo Pei Eye Shadow X 4 in Morning Light

mac guo pei zenith ethreal orchid brave red — MAC Guo Pei Lipsticks in Zenith, Ethereal Orchid and Brave Red

Unfortunately, the designer treatment also results in one of the more expensive MAC collections around. The two eyeshadow quads are — brace yourself for it — $70 each (!).

Yes, that’s crazypants.

Thankfully, the shadows are up to par for MAC. Unlike the shadows in some of MAC’s other limited edition quads and palettes, which for me are sometimes hit or miss (some feel harder than usual and aren’t as pigmented as their permanent collection counterparts), these are of comparable quality to the shadows in the permanent line.

Thank goodness for that.

All of the shadows in the two quads swatch beautifully, and I haven’t had any problems with blending, skipping, fallout or patchy/uneven application.
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Tarte Fall 2015 Energy Noir

September 10th, 2015 by Karen 33 Comments

tarte energy noir palette — Tarte Energy Noir Clay Palette ($38)

“Energy Noir” = “Energy Night” or “Night Energy.” That’s the name of Tarte’s fall 2015 collection, which has been out for a while now. Thank you, high school French. Or, rather, merci beaucoup, high school French.

Geez…I could have sworn that “noir” meant “night.” Well, someone clearly wasn’t paying attention during vocab in high school French class… Guess who that someone was. 🙂

Energy Noir! You may have strolled by Tarte’s fall 2015 Energy Noir collection recently at Sephora. If it aroused your curiosity, but you’re wondering if it’s worth your time, here’s a closer look at three of the 12 pieces, including the $38 Energy Noir Clay Palette (thumbs up!). I’d even go so far as to call this eyeshadow and cheek palette one of my fall faves.

tarte fall 2015 park ave princess — Tarte Park Ave Princes Contour Palette Vol II ($38)

tarte fall 2015 lash primer — Tarte Opening Act Lash Primer ($22)

It’s kind of funny that I’m wearing something in this video review called Energy Noir, because when I filmed it — this was a couple weeks ago at the height of Baby Girl’s first trimester antics — I had absolutely NO energy at all, and as for energy at night? Forget about it. My mom called me one night at 7:15, and I was like, “I gotta go to bed now!”

Haha! It’s so true though.

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Urban Decay Holiday 2015 First Impressions

September 1st, 2015 by Karen 23 Comments

I was so confused today because I thought this was Urban Decay’s fall collection, and not the holiday collection, which is what it is.

I know that sounds really dumb…but in my defense, it’s 80 degrees outside! I’m wearing shorts and a tank top. I guess my mind just couldn’t make the leap to snowmen, Christmas trees and wearing mittens.

Heck, I don’t even have shoes on!

Be that as it may, it is holiday time in Urban Decay Land (ho-ho-ho!), so let’s don our mittens, our earmuffs and our J. Lo “Jenny from the Block” coat, and take a look. 🙂

urban decay vice4 — Urban Decay Vice4 ($60)

There are a couple of palettes in the release, some new liners (which I’m not crazy about, but I’ll get into that in the video) and a highlighter.

I have no idea how any of it fits with the holidays because, you know, there’s a lot of black in it and references to oil slicks, and nothing that seems particularly holiday-esque, but we’re just gonna go with it. 🙂
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The MAC Vamplify Collection!

August 28th, 2015 by Karen 15 Comments

What’s Going On!?

And I mean that both literally, and also in reference to one of these new $20 Vamplify Lipglosses. What’s Going On is the hot, intense fuchsia shade.

I haven’t felt this amped about a MAC lip product launch in a while. First time I tried one on, I was about ready to drop my stretchy pants, no joke! 🙂 These lipglosses are what your brain cooks up when you’re having a really fantastic makeup dream that you never, ever want to wake up from. There’s just So. Much. Pigment. I needed someone to pinch me at first because I wasn’t sure if I was straight trippin’.

And there’s so much to love about them beyond the pigments and colors. If these fly off the shelves, I won’t be surprised.

Here are swatches and pics, but I go into a lot more detail in the video.

As always, thank you for watching! I hope you like these as much as I do.

mac vamplify pro longwear lip pencils — 11 of the 12 MAC Vamplify Pro Longwear Lip Pencils ($20 each)

mac vamplify collection reds — MAC Vamplify Lipglosses from the left: Suggestive (an intense blue-red), Tease Don’t Touch (an intense true-red), Flash Drive (an intense coral-red), Push Some Buttons (an intense orange-red) and Everybody’s Talking (an intense coral)

mac vamplify collection pinks — MAC Vamplify Lipglosses from the left: What’s Going On (a hot intense fuchsia), A for Attitude (a hot pink) and Speed Up (a bubblegum pink)

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MAC Brooke Candy for Fall 2015

August 25th, 2015 by Karen 15 Comments

Now, if you’re me, your first reaction to finding out about the new MAC Brooke Candy collection might have been, “Who the heck is Brooke Candy?” (I had to Google her.) I gotta hand it to MAC, because following their limited edition collaborations has been a good education in cutting-edge pop culture. My playlists are ever-expanding with new artists and performers.

I still have to listen to some of Brooke’s beats, but she seems kinda edgy…kinda raunchy, but raunchy can be hella entertaining sometimes (i.e. Lil’ Kim).

The new three-piece limited edition MAC Brooke Candy mini release arrives exclusively on the MAC website August 27, and since there are only three products, there’s not a lot to it — just two lipsticks and a liquid eye liner.

The lipsticks have an interesting formula called Amplified Cream, which is a little creamier and shinier than the regular Amplifieds, which I love, but the liquid eye liner, Boot Black, hmm… Of all the MAC liquid liner options, it’s my least favorite. Sucks that I can never get a crisp line with it, and it makes me feel like a 3-year-old trying to do liquid liner, or like liquid liner was put on this earth to torture me (“Liquid liner is your enemy, not your friend!”).

But I digress…

Let’s start the video! 🙂

mac brooke candy — MAC Brooke Candy packaging…

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MAC Viva Glam Miley Cyrus II and Trend Forecast Spring 2016

August 20th, 2015 by Karen 8 Comments

MAC Viva Glam Miley Cyrus II Lipstick is very red — warm orangey red — which I don’t quite understand because MAC calls it bright orange, but ya know…I like the color, so I’m not gonna split hairs. 🙂

Sadly, my well of Miley Cyrus fun fact trivia does not run deep… I think she was dating or engaged to a Hemsworth, wasn’t she? The one who played Gale in The Hunger Games?

I dunno…

I do know that she’s the latest MAC Viva Glam spokesperson and has a new Viva Glam Lipstick and Lipglass coming out next month, which I keep wanting to call Miley Cyrus Deux, because sometimes I go French when there is absolutely no need to do so…

Here’s a video look at them, along with MAC Spring Trend Forecast 2016. Just press “play” to begin.

mac viva glam miley cyrus ii — MAC Viva Glam Miley Cyrus II Lipstick ($17) and Lipglass ($15)

mac trend forecast spring 2016 — MAC Trend Forecast Spring 16/Eye ($40) on the left and Studio Eye Gloss in Money Honey ($22) on the right

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MAC Haute Dogs Collection Fall 2015

August 20th, 2015 by Karen 14 Comments

It’s time to raise the roof! (Get it? Sorry…) It’s MAC Haute Dogs time.

I wish I could have hired a professional dog actor to serve as my cuddly co-broadcaster for this video… I guess I could’ve put Tabs in a dog outfit, or better yet, dressed him up as an actual hot dog of the “meat in a tube” variety — complete with all the fixin’s, of course (but please hold the sauerkraut) — but you and I both know how either of those scenarios would have gone down. There would have been hell to pay, and the payment would have involved me being scratched-the-eff-up by some very sharp tabby talons!

MAC Haute Dogs is a pretty hefty fall release with 33 pieces, and here’s a look at 13 of them (limited edition products), along with thoughts on the MAC Mineralize formula, because the collection is heavy in the Mineralize department. Got some swatches in there, too. 🙂

mac haute dogs collection — 13 of the 33 pieces from the MAC Haute Dogs collection

mac haute dogs pure bred quad — MAC Haute Dogs Mineralize Eye Shadow X 4 in Pure Bred ($46)

mac haute dogs glimmer of gold quad — MAC Haute Dogs Mineralize Eye Shadow X 4 in A Glimmer of Gold ($46)

mac haute dogs posh pedigree quad — MAC Haute Dogs Mineralize Eye Shadow X 4 in Posh Pedigree ($46)

mac haute dogs lipsticks — MAC Haute Dogs Mineralize Lipsticks from the left: Fashion Pack, Rare Breed, Barking Gorgeous, Nose for Style and Labradorable ($23 each)

mac haute dogs collection glass — MAC Haute Dogs Mineralize Glasses from the left: Lap Dog, Sheer Coincidence, Modest, Dressed to the K9S ($23 each)

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