Kits and Sets

MAC Nutcracker Sweet Holiday 2016 Gift Sets: Plum Eye Bag and Smoky Eye Bag

October 18th, 2016 by Karen 8 Comments

mac nutcracker sweet plum eye bag — Wearing from the MAC Nutcracker Sweet Plum Eye Bag, Pro Longwear Paint Pot in Stormy Pink, Extra Dimension Eye Shadow in Smoky Mauve, False Lashes Mascara, and the Technakohl Liner in Purple Dash. Also wearing NARS Blush in Unwritten on my cheeks and MAC Cremesheen Lipstick in Kingdom of Sweets.

These products suffer from an unfortunate name…

Eye Bags.

I keep thinking of my under-eye bags and, like, are these going to make my eye bags looks worse?? Why would I want something called an “eye bag”?

Haha!

OK, I think they meant to say that they’re bags that contain products for your eyes, and not that they’re designed to give you eye bags.

I get it.

There are two of ’em in the MAC Nutcracker Sweet collection — one Smoky, one Plum — and each one comes with a Paint Pot, a Technakohl Liner, an Extra Dimension Eye Shadow and a False Lashe Mascara, and surprise! — they’re all full size. So you get all that stuff and a bag for your eye bag products for $42.50, which is a pretty good price, seeing as how a Paint Pot is normally $22 and an Eye Shadow is $20.

M∙A∙C Nutcracker Sweet
Available online October 20, 2016
Available in stores on October 27, 2016 through December 8, 2016
#MACNutcrackerSweet

From reading about these before getting my hands on them, I thought I was gonna be all about the Smoky Bag because I love smoky looks, but nuh-uh. The Smoky one? Just OK. Plum is where it’s at.

Turns out the Smoky one is just too frosty for me — the combination of the frosty Paint Pot, and then when you put the frosty Extra Dimension Eye Shadow on top of that, and then the black liner, Graphblack (old-school fave), it’s just too much frost. For me, it’s just too shiny, but if you like super shiny, you may like the Smoky one more.

I like the Plum one’s mix of finishes. Like, you get the matte base, so you get a little of the matte peeking through when you pop the shinier Eye Shadow on top, so it seems more complex and elegant. It doesn’t just look like a frost fest, vis-à-vis the Smoky Eye Bag.

I keep laughing… Smoky Eye Bag. 🙂

The Plum Eye Bag ($42.50)
Stormy Pink Pro Longwear Paint Pot permanent)
Smoky Mauve Extra Dimension Eye Shadow in Smoky Mauve (permanent)
Technakohl Liner in Purple Dash (permanent)
False Lashes Mascara (permanent)
All are full size

The Smoky Eye Bag ($42.50)
Dream Scene Pro Longwear Paint Pot (not sure if it’s a re-promote, but I can’t remember seeing it before)
Fathoms Deep Extra Dimension Eye Shadow (permanent)
Technakohl Liner in Graphblack (permanent)
False Lashes Mascara (permanent)
All are full size

mac nutcracker sweet eye bags — The MAC Nutcracker Sweet Eye Bags with an iPhone 6S Plus for scale

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MAC Nutcracker Sweet Holiday 2016 Gift Sets: The MAC Nutcracker Sweet Lip Bags

October 18th, 2016 by Karen 11 Comments

mac candy cane — Wearing Candy Cane Lipstick from the MAC Nutcracker Sweet Red Lip Bag

It’s hard to talk about something that’s isn’t quite inspiring, but also isn’t junk.

I mean, I’ve been sitting here for gosh knows how long trying to say that I like the Red Lip Bag more than the Nude Lip Bag, but I think they’re both good deals.

These two bags are from the MAC Nutcracker Sweet holiday collection, and in the plus column, they come with three full-size MAC products — a Vamplify gloss (LOVE the Vamplifies), a Pro Longwear Lip Pencil and a Lipstick — for $39.50, but I wish they also came with a MAC sharpener, because I have a bunch of Pro Longwear Lip Pencils, and I’ve tried sharpening them with other pencil sharpeners, like the Chanel one and the Urban Decay one, but the only sharpeners that work well with them (for me) are from MAC.

When I sharpen the Pro Longwears with other sharpeners, the tips get stubby and easily break. And the actual pencil part doesn’t sharpen correctly either. It’s weird. I ended up getting a MAC sharpener specifically to sharpen my Pro Longwears, so if you do get one of these bags (or one of the MAC Pro Longwears), seriously, get yourself a sharpener too. It’ll help.

As for the two bags themselves, honestly, maybe a little snooze-worthy…but it all depends on whether you already have the goodies. For $39.50, you get items worth $58, which could be a great deal.

M∙A∙C Nutcracker Sweet
Available online October 20, 2016
Available in stores on October 27, 2016 through December 8, 2016
#MACNutcrackerSweet

Both bags come with a Vamplify lipgloss, which is a major selling point, because I think the MAC Vamplifies are fantastic. Intensely pigmented like a lipstick, they feel good like a Cremesheen, and they’re easy to use because of the angled doe-foot. You can get really into the corners with it.

The MAC Nutcracker Sweet Red Lip Bag ($39.50)
Vamplify in Suggestive, an intense bluish red (permanent collection, regularly $20)
Lipstick in Candy Cane, an intense blue-red (LE, $17 value)
Pro Longwear Lip Pencil in Trust In Red, a bright cool reddish cream (permanent collection, $21 value)
All three are full size

The MAC Nutcracker Sweet Nude Lip Bag ($39.50)
Vamplify in Tuned In, a mid-tone rosy nude (permanent collection, $20 value)
Lipstick in Magic Spell (LE, $17 value)
Pro Longwear Lip Pencil in In Control, a brown mauve (permanent collection, $21 value)
All three are full size

mac nutcracker sweet red lip bag — From the Red Lip Bag: Pro Longwear Lip Pencil in Trust in Red, Lipstick in Candy Cane and Vamplify in Suggestive

mac nutcracker sweet nude lip bag — From the Nude Lip Bag: Pro Longwear Lip Pencil in In Control, Lipstick in Magic Spell and Vamplify in Tuned In

mac nutcracker sweet lip bag scale — The Lip Bag and the box that it comes in with an iPhone 6S Plus for scale

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MAC Nutcracker Sweet Holiday 2016 Gift Sets: Patentpolish Pink and Nude Kits

October 17th, 2016 by Karen 14 Comments

mac fearless — Wearing MAC Fearless Patentpolish from the Nutcracker Sweet Pink Patentpolish Kit ($35)

Excuse me while I touch up my lips…

Sorry, I couldn’t help myself. I had one of these cute MAC Patentpolish minis in my hand, and I had to do it. You just can’t not do it.

These are so tiny! I swear, all we need now are a bunch of cute kittens. That would be heaven. 🙂

These are two more of the gift sets from the new MAC Nutcracker Sweet holiday collection, and I know we’ve been talking a lot about MAC Nutcracker Sweet lately, but it’s a big collection!

Each of these two $35 kits — Nude and Pink — has four mini MAC Patentpolish Lip Pencils, which are normally $21 each for the full-size versions in the permanent collection.

So, I had a major MacGyver moment the first time I tried to open one of these. They open like little drawers, and for the life of me, I could not get the pencils out. They were really wedged in there.

I ended up using a bobby pin that I’d been using to pin my bangs back and sort of jimmied it into the side to pop them out one at a time.

Just FYI.

M∙A∙C Nutcracker Sweet
Available online October 20, 2016
Available in stores on October 27, 2016 through December 8, 2016
#MACNutcrackerSweet

All of these shades are re-promotes from the permanent line, so if you’ve been collecting MAC for a while and already have some of the Patentpolishes, you may already have some of them. If you don’t, though, this might be a chance to get a good deal on a bunch of them at the same time.

Quality-wise, I think these are just as good as the full-size Patentpolishes in the permanent collection. They look and feel exactly the same — same non-sticky, lightweight, moderately moisturizing formula and lip balm-like consistency.

One thing that makes the Patentpolishes so great is that you can build up the coverage in layers from medium to full, but because they feel like a lip balm, their wear time is limited. I have to reapply them every two or three hours, but it’s not a big deal because they’re so easy to have around. You just twist them up and apply. You don’t even need a mirror.

Nude Patentpolish Kit ($35)
Pleasure’s All Mine, a pale warm nude (perm)
It’s Really Me, a warm nude (perm)
Revved Up, a creamy peach (perm)
French Kiss, a warm Caramel (perm)

Pink Patentpolish Kit ($35)
Patentpink, a washed out lilac (perm)
Fearless, a deep bluish pink (perm)
Hopelessly Devoted, a bright clean fuchsia (perm)
Ruby, a mid-tone rose (perm)

mac nutcracker sweet patentpolish kits — MAC Nutcracker Sweet Patentpolish Kits in Pink and Nude

mac nutcracker sweet pink patentpolish swatches — Pink Kit swatches from the left: Patentpink, Fearless, Hopelessly Devoted and Ruby

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MAC Nutcracker Sweet Holiday 2016 Gift Sets: The Cool Eye Compact Eye Shadow X 9

October 17th, 2016 by Karen 18 Comments

mac-nutcracker-sweet-cool-eye-compact-k-final — I’m wearing Performance Art, Marzipan, Quite Spoiled, Absurdly Pretty, Sugar Plum and Nutcracker from the MAC Nutcracker Sweet Holiday 2016 collection Cool Eye Compact Eye Shadow X 9 ($39.50)

In the closet in my office there’s a homage to hoarders/makeup storage area with a bunch of acrylic drawers stacked one on top of the other, inside of which I keep my very favorite workhorse products that I truly love.

Most of the items I review, I give away to friends or family or the women’s shelter, but I put the stuff that I want to keep for myself into those drawers.

One of them is dedicated to MAC Eye Shadow palettes, and whenever I’m in a hurry and just want to throw some makeup on without really having to think about it, that’s my go-to drawer. I know that I can pull anything out of it and basically be OK.

I’m going to put the MAC Cool Eye Compact Eye Shadow X 9 palette in there. 🙂

But I’m not going to stick it in there because it’s the most mind-blowing palette. I’m going to stick it in there mostly because of shock value!

I’m kind of shocked that I like it as much as I do, because I rarely love the MAC holiday eyeshadow palettes, to be honest. I don’t think most of them are as good as the singles in MAC’s permanent line.

But this one is.

I really don’t want to say, “I was surprised that I like this,” but I was really surprised that I like this! It’s actually very good, and I keep trying to find ways to talk myself out of liking it, because I’m just so used to not liking the holiday palettes. The more I use this one, though, the more I like it.

M∙A∙C Nutcracker Sweet
Available online October 20, 2016
Available in stores on October 27, 2016 through December 8, 2016
#MACNutcrackerSweet

OK…now let me back up a little. This is one of three X 9 palettes in the MAC Nutcracker Sweet holiday collection. We looked at the Smoky one the other day, and I’ll have a review of the Warm one coming soon, but I think this one is my favorite of the group.

I don’t recognize any of the colors, either. I went to the MAC website and typed in their names, and none of them came up, which is cool because MAC’s Eye Shadow palettes are usually heavy with re-promotes.

So many mattes, too! So many of them. MAC holiday eye kits also tend to go all out on shimmer, with maybe a light sprinkling of mattes, but this one has quite a few.

I love using mattes in the crease, on my lower lash line and also as liner. Of course, you can also use shimmers the same way, but I think that if you’re a lady of a certain age, mattes are more forgiving.

The Cool Eye Compact Eye Shadow X 9 ($39.50) — Enchanted Beauty (Lustre), Absurdly Pretty (Matte), Raspberry (Matte), Plum Darling (Lustre), Performance Art (Lustre), Nutcracker (Satin), The Wrong Man (Satin), Sugar Plum (Matte), Marzipan (Matte) and Quite Spoiled (Satin).

It’s one of three X 9 palettes in the MAC Nutcracker Sweet holiday collection (the other two are Warm and Smoky).

The set also comes with…

The 214/213 Dual-Ended Brush

mac nutcracker sweet cool eye compact — MAC Nutcracker Sweet Cool Eye Compact Eye Shadow X 9

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MAC Nutcracker Sweet Holiday 2016 Gift Sets: The Smoky Eye Compact Eye Shadow X 9

October 14th, 2016 by Karen 8 Comments

mac nutcracker sweet smoky eye compact — MAC Nutcracker Smoky Eye Compact Eye Shadows in Kid, Swiss Chocolate and Dance in the Dark on my eyes; NARS Make Believe and Albatross Blushes from the Sarah Moon Recurring Dare Palette on my cheeks and MAC Saucy Little Darling Lipstick on my lips

Band ten hut!

Yes, I was a band geek, and yes, I was also, to sound even more band geekier (?), a squad leader, so I knew all of the commands and stuff. 🙂

Ugh! I shouldn’t have admitted that in print, but hey, the packaging for this MAC Nutcracker Sweet Smoky Eye Compact Eye Shadow X 9 looks like a bad uniform (I spent a majority of my teenage years in one).

It’s one of three eye palettes in the Nutcracker Sweet holiday collection, and it’s the smoky one. There’s also a cool-toned one and a warm-toned one.

As usual for a MAC holiday collection, there are lots of kits and sets. MAC goes hawd during the holidays, and I’m just kind of marching my way (haha, band reference) through all of them.

M∙A∙C Nutcracker Sweet
Available online October 20, 2016
Available in stores on October 27, 2016 through December 8, 2016
#MACNutcrackerSweet

OK, first things first…but don’t these look a little like the Urban Decay Naked palettes? Especially this one with the neutral colors?

I don’t know… *shoulder shrug* I’m not saying that anybody did any copycatting, but I think there’s a resemblance.

The Smoky Eye Compact Eye Shadow X 9 ($39.50) — Too-dle-oo (Frost), Deception (Frost), Sweet Dreams (Matte), Kid (Veluxe), Dewdrop (Lustre), Cake & Biscuits (Matte), Swiss Chocolate (Matte), Dance in the Dark (Matte), Licorice Lane (Matte)

The set also comes with…

The 214/213 Dual-Ended Brush

mac nutcracker sweet eye compacts — All three of the MAC Nutcracker Sweet Eye Compacts with an iPhone 6S Plus for scale. This post is about one of them, the Smoky Eye Compact Eye Shadow X 9.

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15-Minute Makeup: Fast and Smoky With NARS Sarah Moon

October 11th, 2016 by Karen 16 Comments

nars sarah moon look closer eyeshadow palette — Fast and smoky 15-minute makeup with NARS Sarah Moon

Does it take 30 minutes, five eyeshadows and three different brushes to do a smoky eye look?

Nuh-uh. Not at all. This look took 15 minutes, and I only used one cream shadow stick and one eyeshadow for my eyes.

Seriously, if you strip away the extra stuff, that’s all you need to do a quick smoky eye look.

And I’m talking about the entire look from start to finish — the whole thing took 15 minutes. That includes brows, skin, mascara — the works — and I think the key is to simplify what you do on your lids, because, as you know, it is easily possible to spend A LONG time on smoky eyes. But you don’t have to.

I applied a purple shadow stick from one of the new NARS Sarah Moon holiday sets directly on my lids from the stick, then blended out the edges with a fluffy blending brush.

Then I just dipped that same brush into a matte brown shadow from one of the other NARS Sarah Moon holiday palettes, buffed that on top and did my best to fade the edges of the shadow up into my brows.

At that point, I grabbed a clean blending brush and buffed out the edges even more to smooth everything out. Then I just lined my upper lash line and smudged it out with a bit of black eyeshadow from the same palette.

The rest of the look was super easy. A bit of foundation, some concealer blended on top with a beautyblender, set that with powder, and then add blush, gloss, and that’s it.

Well, mascara, of course, and then brows… But that’s it.

So you CAN do a complete smoky look in 15 minutes. It’s definitely possible.

nars shadow side eye set — NARS Sarah Moon Shadow Side Eye Set swatches

nars sarah moon look closer eyeshadow palette swatches — NARS Sarah Moon Look Closer Eyeshadow Palette swatches

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Sarah Moon for NARS Holiday 2016 Collection: The $69 NARS Give In Take Dual-Intensity Eye and Cheek Palette

October 8th, 2016 by Karen 11 Comments

nars sarah moon give in take palette — Wearing the NARS Sarah Moon for NARS Holiday 2016 Collection Give In Take Dual-Intensity Eye and Cheek Palette ($69)

Rise and shine, pal o’ mine! Happy Caturday. 🙂 I hope you slept well. I’m still working my way through the NARS Holiday 2016 Collection LE palettes, and the one I’m looking at this morning is the $69 Give In Take Dual-Intensity Eye and Cheek Palette (coming to Sephora Nov. 1st).

Whether you’re warm-toned, cool-toned, Hypercolor-toned or scaly-toned like an alien lizard, you can wear the new $69 NARS Give In Take Dual-Intensity Eye and Cheek Palette, another one of the several palettes in the Sarah Moon for NARS Holiday 2016 Collection.

If I were a humanoid reptile, I’d wear it…but I’m getting sidetracked. Bottom line: You can wear cool-toned shades like these even if you aren’t cool-toned. That’s my personal belief. These shades are very cool-toned — cooler than I expected them to be — but that can be a good thing, even if you’re a warm-toned person like me.

These powders, which are all in the NARS Dual-Intensity formula, don’t have a problem with fallout, and they’re delightfully easy to blend.

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Sarah Moon for NARS Holiday 2016: The Mind Game Velvet Lip Glide Coffret

October 7th, 2016 by Karen 13 Comments

nars sarah moon mind game velvet lip glide toy — Wearing the shade Plato’s from the NARS Mind Game Mini Velvet Lip Glide Coffret ($45)

Welcome to the Dark Side! — and by “Dark Side,” I don’t mean Darth Vader’s neck of the woods. I’m talking about the $45 NARS Mind Game Velvet Lip Glide set (a Sephora exclusive, coming November 1st), one of several NARS sets in the Sarah Moon Holiday 2016 Collection.

It comes with six mini Lip Glides, and I’ve talked about the Lip Glides before.

Basically…I think they’re awesome.

They’re liquid lipsticks that feel like glosses, but unlike your typical liquid lipsticks, they’re comfortable. They also shouldn’t make your lips dry or make them look like a cat butt after a few hours. They stay nice and creamy, but they aren’t so malleable that they end up all over your face. I think they’re lovely and really great.

These have the same light vanilla flavor and scent as the ones in the permanent line and the same flat doe-foot applicator, which comes in really handy with the dark colors.

These aren’t high maintenance to wear or apply, and you can get nice, crisp, clean lines with the doe foot. A lip pencil or lip brush isn’t necessary.

nars sarah moon mind game velvet lip glide packaging — The Sarah Moon for NARS Mind Game Mini Velvet Lip Glide Coffret ($45)

nars sarah moon mind game velvet lip glides — The six Mini Lip Glides in the set

nars-snars sarah moon mind game velvet lip glide — Next to a full-sized NARS Velvet Lip Glide for scale

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