MAC Makeup

Wearing the New MAC Aaliyah Collection (VIDEO REVIEW)

June 7th, 2018 by Karen 14 Comments

You know what I just realized? I just realized that I can tie different eras from my teens and 20s to Aaliyah’s music. Like, Jen, Cindy and I played Back and Forth so much in the summer before I left for college, and then in the spring of my senior year at Davis, Are You That Somebody was almost constantly on the radio whenever Eleanor, Mary Anne, Christine and I drove anywhere (In-N-Out after class, to the city late at night to go clubbing, house parties, the library, to go rollerblading all over town, to the gym).

And then around the time El Hub and I met, Rock the Boat was THE JAM.

Aaliyah’s legacy lives on through her music, and her fans lobbied hard for a MAC collection.

I wore my first look with it today (I plan to do at least one more with a lip), and here are pics, swatches (NC42) and some thoughts (in the video). First impression: holy shimmer!

Mini reviews of a few pieces from the @maccosmetics Aaliyah collection (swipe to see the second vid): Age Ain’t Nothing Eye Shadow X 9, Baby Girl Bronzer and Li Li’s Motor City Lipglass. Coming to maccosmetics.com June 20 and to select counters June 21. #maccosmetics #aaliyahformac #makeupreview #igmakeup #instamakeup

A post shared by Karen | Makeup and Beauty Blog (@karenmbb) on Jun 7, 2018 at 4:24pm PDT

mac aaliyah age aint nothing eye shadow x 9 — Eye Shadow X 9 in Age Ain’t Nothing ($32)

mac aaliyah bronzing powder — Bronzing Powder in Baby Girl ($27)

mac aaliyah lipglass — Brooklyn Born, Li Li’s Motor City, At Your Best You Are, 1 in a Million ($17 each)

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The Revamped MAC Eye Brows Styler Stands Up to Sweat

June 6th, 2018 by Karen 9 Comments

It cooled down quite a bit here since last weekend. At least 20 degrees. Last weekend it was freakin’ ? hot. Like, the type of hot that makes you feel like your thighs are going to spontaneously combust into beef jerky slabs when you climb into your car.

To beat the heat, I left the house to get my errands done early on Saturday morning, but I was still sweating like a nervous teenager on a first dance. I was really surprised when I got home to find that my brows were still doing their thing. HELLO! — it’s the little things, ya know? Like not sweatin’ your face off while you’re buying watermelon and strawberries.

Thanks, MAC Eye Brows Styler pencil!

MAC revamped it recently, and I’ve been using the new version. I like it! Did you ever use the old one? I used it once or twice, and I can’t remember why I didn’t use it on the regular.

This new version is cool. Granted, I don’t remember how I felt about the previous one, but this one doesn’t budge at all.

“Self-propelling, self-sharpening, brow-defining – and now with an updated water-resistant formula and added spoolie. Offers grooming alongside extreme colour precision in one dynamic microfine pencil that emulates fine hair-like strokes on brows for a perfected look. Confidently adds what you need: shape, colour and/or density. Like a pen, creates its own just-right point for striking arches. Easy to tote around — no sharpener needed.”

— MAC website

The old one didn’t have a spoolie, but this one does, and I like it because it means that I can fill in my brows without having to grab a separate brow comb.

Also, the tip of the pencil is thinner than it was in the old version, and it’s crazy precise. I can draw individual tiny brow hairs without really thinking about it. By comparison, it’s more precise than MAC Brow Sculpt, which I also like.

Overall, I like the defined look and overall shape of my brows when I use this (they’re sharp, but not Insta-sharp, although you could easily do that too if you wanted).

mac brows styler stud — Stud in my brows, along with a bit of MAC Clear Brow Gel

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New From MAC and Patrick Starrr: The MAC Summer Starrr Kit and Hot and Heavy Face Powder

June 5th, 2018 by Karen 8 Comments

“You must be my Summer Starrrrrrr!!!”

I dare you to NOT sing Madonna’s Lucky Star out loud whenever you think of the name of this kit, ’cause I sure as heck can’t do it.

Mega-influencer and glamazon YouTuber Patrick Starrr is back with another collab with MAC, Summer Starrr, and it’s all about warm shades and peppy packaging.

The summer collection includes a kit containing an eye quad, glosses and a bronzer; and a separate shimmery face powder, and they’re up on the MAC website right now.

mac summer starrr swatches — Swatches on NC42

The Summer Starrr Full Face Kit ($49.50)

I looooooove me a summer eyeshadow quad! Gimme, gimme! ? All of those tantalizing, toasty golds and peaches… Basically, I like any and all shades that go well with a tan. Unexpectedly, Patrick’s new quad is actually warmer toned than usual for a summer collection.

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MAC Unsung Heroes: MAC Extra Dimension Eye Shadow in Havana

May 31st, 2018 by Karen 10 Comments

mac havana extra dimension eye shadow — Havana oh-nah-nah

Girl… One day. One day I’ll sit down, put on my makeup for the day, and NOT do a brown smoky eye.

But today was not that day. 🙂

I had to run errands, and I wasn’t about to spend 45 minutes on my makeup just to buy some Charmin, so I went with something I’m (very) familiar with. I had to go to the pediatrician’s office to get a form for Connor’s pre-school enrollment, and then hit Target to get an industrial-sized case of toilet paper because last night I realized that we only had four rolls left in the house — total — which amplified my anxiety by like a million percent, so out came one of my favorite brown eyeshadows in the world, MAC Extra Dimension Eye Shadow in Havana.

I think it deserves more love than it gets.

What’s an unsung makeup hero? For me, it’s an oftentimes underrated makeup morsel, a permanent collection product that scoots under the radar screen of many makeup lovers but regularly rocks my world. The long-running Unsung Heroes series features some of my favorites.

mac havana swatch — Oh, my gosh! It’s a floating arm!!

Side note: whenever I say “Havana,” I think of that Camila Cabello song.

Havana, oh-nah-nah… La-la-la-la-la-la Havana oh-nah-nah…

That’s about the only part I know, LOL!

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When You Go Out for the First Time in, Like, Years…

May 25th, 2018 by Karen 9 Comments

I peered into my dusty closet this morning because tomorrow night I’m going out for the first time in a billion years! I very quickly realized that the tiny sub-section that had, at one time in my life, been reserved for “going out clothes,” has disappeared.

Poof!

I don’t know when it disappeared or where it went, but it’s gone. So I don’t know what I’m going to wear, which appears to be a recurring theme in my life these days…

My friends Naaman, Cindy and I are getting together tomorrow night to go out dancing, which we used to do together all the time back in the day (we even took hip-hop dance classes together). Most of the time it was to some little hole-in-the-wall place that played really good music, and we’d dance our butts off for hours and just sweat. It. Out.

It was like our version of SoulCycle before SoulCycle was a thing, except with a $5 cover charge and free glasses of water at the bar.

I never wore anything too fancy or scandalous. I usually wore cargo pants (cringes) or Adidas track pants — basically, baggy pants, a tank top and a pair of shell-toe shoes.

So, like one of the background dancers in this Mariah Carey video…

I wish I knew where all those cargo pants went… They’re gone, baby, gone! I half-jokingly texted the crew to say that I’d probably end up wearing what I wear to spin class, but now that I think about it…black high-waisted leggings and my Prince tee sound like a legit option.

Maybe if I add hoops, my “weekend errands” Sauncony tennies and a faux-leather jacket, I can make it look purposeful? I dunno… I’m really NOT that concerned, but it’s just funny to me that I used to have a part of my closet dedicated to Saturday night adventures, and now I have a section dedicated to black and gray tops that conceal cat fur well.

As for the makeup…girl, you know I got that covered. ? Because I expect to be sweating for hours, and the room will be dark, I’m not even gonna put in that much effort. Just sweat-proof versions of the basics.

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The “New” MAC 224 Synthetic Tapered Blending Brush…

May 18th, 2018 by Karen 20 Comments

Hey, can I borrow your hot tub/DeLorean time machine for an hour? Pretty please?

I need to get back to 2017 or, really, any time before MAC revamped their brush line and changed so many of their classic brushes. Like this one: the 224.

If you say “yes,” I’ll babysit your cat or bake you brownies. What do ya say? Deal? 🙂

MAC 224S Synthetic Tapered Blending Brush ($34)

I wish I could stock up those old 224s because — HELLO, CRANKY PANTS — this new version is scratchy and stiff, several of the bristles have fallen out, and the ferrule is already loose.

Such a bummer, too, because the old-school 224s are beasts. I have two that are more than five years old and still going strong, but they’ll have to be replaced sooner or later.

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REVIEW! MAC Mirage Noir Slow As You Go Eye Shadow and Mother o’ Pearl Pearlmatte Face Powder

May 15th, 2018 by Karen 19 Comments

I went for ’80s today… Don’t know if I quite got there, but it’s all good. 🙂 I still like how this look turned out.

So, plums and purples today. And I found this top that I’ve had forever. It’s by Halogen, and I got it at Nordstrom a zillion years ago.

I wanted my makeup to complement the top, which is something I don’t do very often — coordinate my makeup with my clothes — especially lately. Lately my clothes have basically been an afterthought (although I’m working diligently to change that), but today I thought I’d coordinate. Plus, big hair. I was going for ’80s hair…or a modified version, but I’ll get to that in a sec.

First, the two key ingredients in this look… LOL! Ingredients. 🙂 What, are we making brownies? OK, the two key “elements” are a purple eyeshadow called Slow As You Go, and a plummy golden bronzed cheek/face powder called Mother o’ Pearl.

Both are from the new MAC Mirage Noir summer collection available now.

MAC Slow as You Go Eye Shadow ($17)

You’re gonna dig this if you’re a fan of MAC Trax. Slow as You Go is similar, but I actually think I like it more than Trax because it’s shinier (in a good way) and more richer. Like Trax two point oh. It’s also silky soft and blends like a dream. And — this is important — it doesn’t make my eyes water like so many other purples do.

❤️❤️❤️❤️ 4 out of 5 hearts.

Did you know? Golden purples like Slow as You Go pair very well with MAC Powersurge and MAC Prunella eyeliners. 😉

mac mirage noir mother o pearl slow as you go — Makin’ mah heart flutter!

MAC Mother o’ Pearl Pearlmatte Powder ($34)

This plummy gold has a slightly warm bronze undercurrent. It’s like a combo bronzer, blush and highlighter. Normally I just mix it all together and sweep that on my cheeks and blend.

Technically, it’s a powder, but it feels almost like a cream, and the opalescent finish is pure purr-fection.

It’s like a bronzier MAC Plum Foolery, but not as shiny.

❤️❤️❤️❤️ 4 out of 5 hearts.

Did you know? You can also use Mother o’ Pearl as an eyeshadow. Yup, it’s also approved for lids.

mac mirage noir other o pearl k — CHEEKS!

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Shout-Out to the MAC Cream Colour Bases!

May 15th, 2018 by Karen 8 Comments

Old-school MAC right hurr! It’s been a minute since I’ve talked about the Cream Colour Bases, but I’ve been wearing Improper Copper and Vintage Rose as cream blushes lately and just remembered what makes them so, so good.

mac cream colour base swatches — Hello, my pretties!

mac cream colour base insert — Not all of the shades are eye, cheek and lip safe.

These multitasking creams moonwalk across the skin and stay put on my lids, lips and cheeks. You can easily blur the edges with your finger, too, even if you consider yourself blending-challenged.

I wear Shell and Hush as eyeshadow bases and highlighters all the time, and I give them ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ out of 5 hearts for being awesome.

Do you have a fave? Which one, and how do you use it? Inquiring minds want to know.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen