MAC Makeup

Makeup Shortcuts: Save Time by Using Blush as Eyeshadow

April 19th, 2017 by Karen 12 Comments

mac hard to get blush top — See the blush on my cheeks? I’m also wearing it on my lids!

Sometimes I don’t want to think too hard about what makeup colors I’m wearing, so I’ll wear my cheek color (the same color I’m wearing) on my lids as a shadow. It’s just one of those things that saves a little brain power, and here’s whatcha do…

It’s a lazy girl’s guide to using your blush as eyeshadow.

Step 1: Apply an eyeshadow base

You can use whatever you want — a potted cream shadow, stick shadow, what have you. I’m actually wearing an eyeliner here (MAC Costa Riche) as my base. You just want to make sure that whatever you choose will work in concert/harmony with the blush you plan to wear.

Step 2: Load an eye brush with your chosen blush

And after you load it, you have a choice to make. Do you keep the brush head dry and apply it like that? Or do you wet it with a makeup setting spray (like MAC Fix+) to intensify the color?

Up to you.

mac hard to get blush — MAC Extra Dimension Blush in Hard to Get with a MAC 217 Domed Eyeshadow Brush

Step 3: Blend that blush…on your lids

Sweep and pat to blend your blush on top of your eyeshadow base, and the higher up you take it, the more dramatic it’ll look.
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Makeup Shortcuts: Save Time by Using Eyeliner as Eyeshadow

April 18th, 2017 by Karen 15 Comments

mac costa riche top — Using eyeliner as eyeshadow

Sometimes you wanna get lost in the moment, forget your cares, and blend your eye makeup to your heart’s ? delight…and sometimes you don’t.

Next time you don’t, try using an eyeliner as eyeshadow. You can whip out a quick look in minutes.

It’s usually easier if you use a soft liner because you can scoot it around with a brush, and liners that don’t dry immediately and stay pliable longer will give you more time to blend them out. I’m wearing MAC Costa Riche Eye Kohl in these pics.

Step 1: Get to linin’

Start by lining your lash and water lines with the eyeliner, then apply it your lids and just barely into the crease.

Note: you don’t have to be neat here at all. In fact, if you look in the mirror and see a crazy person starting back at you, you’re doing it right, LOL! 🙂

Step 2: Buff with a fluffy brush

Buff and smooth out the liner doing tight little circles and sweeping motions with your brush until it looks sufficiently buffed and even. FYI, you can coax it up and out as far as you’d like.

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Get Fresh-Looking Skin in a Flash With Three Products

April 17th, 2017 by Karen 28 Comments

fresh skin in a flash top pic — Keepin’ it simple

Holy, mackerel! I’m amazed (and sometimes intimidated, to be honest) by how complicated some YouTube makeup tutorials are, even when it comes to foundation and under-eye concealer.

Sometimes I don’t mind following a lot of steps, but it depends on whether I’m just having fun, or whether I’m watching the clock. When it comes to my basic face makeup aesthetic, though, which is effortless (looking) and natural, I don’t necessarily think that your face makeup routine needs to be complicated.

You can get fresh-looking skin in a flash with three products — a sheer foundation (or a BB cream, CC cream or tinted moisturizer), a full-coverage concealer and a face powder. You can even out your skin tone, keep the coverage looking light, and it doesn’t have to take forever.

Step 1: Prep

Start by applying moisturizer and/or primer to your skin to prep it and smooth your canvas for foundation.

Or…you can skip this step and just make funny faces ? in the mirror. Totally up to you. Your foundation might not look quite as smooth, but it’ll still look fine.

Step 2: Grab your favorite sheer foundation and a full-coverage concealer

Put one or two pumps of your favorite sheer foundation (or BB cream, CC cream or tinted moisturizer) on the back of your hand, then add one or two dots of full-coverage concealer, and mix them all together with a finger.

Adding the full-coverage concealer dots boosts the coverage of your sheer foundation to even out your skin a bit more, and it also saves you from having to apply and blend concealer on top of your foundation.

Make Up For Ever HD Invisible Cover Concealer in Y41 and MAC Next to Nothing Foundation in Medium Plus

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#MACxLarLarLee and #MACxGabrielZamora Lipsticks: Online Exclusives Coming April 20th

April 14th, 2017 by Karen 13 Comments

mac larlarlee — #MACxLarLarLee Matte Lipstick, an online exclusive coming April 20th

MAC is back in the #collab #influencer game, and this time they’ve partnered with 10 YouTube and Instagram influencers on a new line of 10 limited edition online exclusive international lipsticks launching in different countries over the next few months for $17 each. If you want to track them all down, you might have to make friends in the UK, Canada, Brazil, the Middle East, France, Germany and Australia.

Here in North America, the two Lipsticks launching are Matte LarLarLee and Satin Gabriel Zamora, collabs made with YouTubers Laura Lee and Gabriel Zamora.

They arrive online April 20th.

Laura and Gabriel both have full-on glam makeup styles, but I really like that they created lipsticks that can work well with dressed down (more my style lately) or super glam looks.

Laura Lee

Gabriel Zamora

Matte Lipstick in #MACxLarLarLee

Warm palish nude beige #MACxLarLarLee Matte Lipstick is the matte-est of the mattes on my lips. It reflects absolutely NO light, which gives it a very high fashion/editorial Vogue-ish look, I think.

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The New MAC Extra Dimension Blushes in Telling Glow and Faux Sure

April 13th, 2017 by Karen 24 Comments

mac telling glow faux sure — MAC Extra Dimension Blushes in Telling Glow and Faux Sure

UPDATE!

Well, more like a part deux…or an addendum, if you will, to last week’s Extra Dimension post. You might remember that there’s a new line of blushes and highlighters in the exquisitely soft and long-lasting Extra Dimension formula now at MAC counters and online, and these two blushes, Telling Glow and Faux Sure, are the ones I was waiting to swatch.

Ooh! So worth the wait. Aren’t they beautiful?

mac telling glow faux sure swatches — Telling Glow (top) and Faux Sure (bottom)

Bright coral Telling Glow (which also has golden pearl in it) and pinkish mauve Faux Sure (haha, love that name) both have warm, subtle terra cotta undertones, and I think they flatter the heck outta toasty caramel-colored cheeks. My fellow tan babes, you’re gonna want to get these ASAP!

mac telling glow — Telling Glow, a bright coral

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The New MAC Min Liu Pearlmatte Powder…and Thoughts on the Min Liu for MAC Makeup Bag and Brush Bag

April 13th, 2017 by Karen 19 Comments

mac min liu first waves closeup — MAC Min Liu for MAC First Waves Pearlmatte Face Powder ($40)

I’ve been staring at this pan for 10 minutes, and now all I can see is a red crescent moon with a milk mustache…

Clearly, someone here needs more ?? sleep.

This pretty pan is MAC Pearlmatte Face Powder in First Waves from the new MAC Min Liu collection.

mac min liu first waves — MAC Min Liu for MAC First Waves Pearlmatte Face Powder ($40)

You probably know how face powders like this work. You mix all of the colors together, brush the blend on cheeks, and go about way, gleefully taking names and kicking butt.

This pan, though, has an unexpected melange of shades. There’s a pearly red, a pink and a grayish beige.

Wait — did she say “grayish beige”?

Yes, yes she did.

Question for you: would you put a grayish beige on your cheeks?? I tell ya, I didn’t think I would, but then I mixed the shades together, and put it on anyway.

To test.

mac first waves — First Waves (I’m an NC42)

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What I Wore Wednesday, Vol. 8: Metallic Bronze Lids and Matte Beet Red Lips

April 12th, 2017 by Karen 16 Comments

Some might say that metallic bronze lids and beet red matte lips is a little too glam for hanging out with a toddler at home, but I went with it. 🙂

I got the inspiration for this look from one of my favorite makeup artists on Instagram, Katie Jane Hughes.

tom ford cheek eye palette warm kosas electra — Clockwise from the pencil at the upper left: NARS Velvet Matte Lip Pencil in Damned, Kosas Cosmetics Lipstick in Electra, Tom Ford Eye & Cheek Palette in Warm, Tom Ford Naked Bronze Cream Shadow, MAC Next to Nothing Foundation in Medium Plus, MAC Eye Kohl in Teddy, NARS Sun Lit Bronzer in Laguna

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MAC Future Forward: Justine Skye Iridescent Powder and Dua Lipa Cremesheen Glass

April 11th, 2017 by Karen 9 Comments

mac future forward packaging — MAC Future Forward collection (two of the three pieces)

In the future!

In the future, I predict that MAC will release a different new musically charged piece of makeup every month, starting this month, and they will do it for the next two months after.

Um…I’m not really going out on a limb there, because, uh, yeah. MAC Future Forward. It’s their latest musical collaboration, and it encompasses three LE items (yeah, it’s a small one), a different one of which which will be released in each of the next three months. Each one is a collaboration with a different singer. There’s one for Justine Sky, one for Dua Lipa and one for Lee Hi, and this was the perfect excuse for me to add some new songs to my running playlist, which has been in dire need of new tunes for months.

I mean, I love you, Lisa Lisa, but you can only listen to Head to Toe so many times before it starts driving you nuts.

“U Don’t Know,” Justine Skye