MAC Makeup

The MAC Min Liu Collection Is Pretty in Pink and Red

April 10th, 2017 by Karen 9 Comments

mac min liu for mac collection — Pieces from the new Min Liu for MAC collection (six of 10)

Happy Valentine’s Day! ?

Um…yes, I do realize that it’s April, LOL! 🙂 But look at all the pink and red in this collection. It totes reminds me of Valentine’s Day.

It’s the new limited edition MAC Min Liu for MAC collection, and it’s a collab with fashion designer Min Liu, the gal behind Ms MIN.

I looked through the line’s Spring/Summer 2017 look book this morning, and this outfit with the white pants spoke to me…

I know that the pants are long for fashion’s sake, but seriously, this is me every. Single. Time I put on a pair of pants at a store. #shortpeopleproblems

The collection contains 10 pieces, and most of them are new. The only re-promote I see is Blacktrack Fluidline.

There are two $20 lipsticks, two $18 Lipglasses, a $29.50 Eye Shadow X 2 Duo, a $40 Pearlmatte Face Powder, a $26 Cream Colour Base, a $35 Makeup Bag and a $52.50 Brush Bag with three short-handled brushes.

The launch arrives April 20th online and in stores (available through June 1st).

Trendy tassels

First things I noticed were these trendy tassels! They remind me of earrings. I thought they might get in the way of applying the lip products (no likey fringe in my gloss, please), but they don’t, yay!

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Behold! Introducing a New Collection of MAC Extra Dimension Blushes and Skinfinishes (Highlighters)

April 7th, 2017 by Karen 17 Comments

mac extra dimension collection — From the new MAC Extra Dimension collection — the MAC Extra Dimension Blushes (nine of 11, $28 each) and Extra Dimension Skinfinishes (three of three, $33 each), available now in the permanent line

Picture it: another dimension beyond ? our own, where brownie calories don’t count.

Actually brownie, ice cream, cake, doughnut and pie calories… And doughnuts.

Did I mention the doughnuts?

Also, the cats there clean up their own litter boxes.

Yeah, it’s amaze-balls. 🙂

But, sadly, this is not that dimension… In this dimension, brownie calories do count (boo!); however, for what it’s worth, there is an Extra Dimension of new blushes and highlighters open right now at MAC (yay!).

mac extra dimension blush into the pink sweets for my sweet — The new MAC Extra Dimension Blushes in Into the Pink (top) and Sweets for my Sweet (bottom)

mac extra dimension blush rosy cheeks husehd tone — The New MAC Extra Dimension Blushes in Rosy Cheeks (top) and Hushed Tone (bottom)

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MAC Lipglass Swatches: All 57 Shades in the Permanent Line, SWATCHED!

April 6th, 2017 by Karen 31 Comments

There are 57 (!) MAC Lipglasses in the permanent collection now ($17 each), and all of them just got new packaging/outfits.

Here are some fun facts you may or may not know about them…

None of them start with the letter “F.”
Two of them start with the word “love.” (Love Child and Love Nectar)
Three of them start with the word “pink.” (Pink Lemonade, Pink Nouveau and Pinkarat)
One of them is named after an insect. (Yellow Jacket)
There are three “Rs” (not two) in Prrr.
Several of them have color counterparts, like Russian Red (also a Lipstick), Impassioned (Lipstick) and Soar (a Lip Pencil).
Even though it’s not in the permanent collection, once upon a time there was a shade called Evolution Revolution. ?

In addition to their even shinier outfits, ~~they also got a little bigger~~ (update: the new tubes hold 0.10 ounces, and the old Lipglass tubes held 0.17 ounces).

You’ll recognize your old faves among them, like Nymphette, Spite and Lychee Luxe…

Oh, wait! Those are my old faves. 🙂 The glosses themselves haven’t changed (same patent-leather shine and hella sticky vanilla-scented formula). They’re just wearing new outfits.

1. Angel

2. Baby’s a Vamp

mac babys a vamp lipglass — Baby’s a Vamp

3. Beaux

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15-Minute Makeup: Colorful Springy Green and Purple Eyes With the Clinique Chubby Stick Shadow Tints in Mighty Moss and Portly Plum

March 31st, 2017 by Karen 4 Comments

I looked outside my window this morning and noticed that the oak trees on my street have their leaves again! When you look up, all you see is green. It’s gorgeous!

So, I wanted to wear green today.

It is possible to wear color and still finish your makeup in 15 minutes or less

You know, I also wanted to attempt a 15-minute look that wasn’t 100% neutrals.

It’s easier to do quickie makeup with smoky browns and beige (which you know I love), but sometimes I like to challenge myself (but not too much), so I paired a green lid with a purple lower lash line, pink cheeks and pink lips today.

It reminds me that you CAN wear color while doing speedy makeup. It IS possible. You just have to be careful how you go about it, and I think that it also helps to focus on either your eyes or your lips.

Pick one — eyes or lips

If you go with bright lips, you get a lot of bang for your buck. With a bright red, coral, purple, pink or something else, you can dial back everything else, and don’t have to try as hard with your eyes and your skin, etc.

And when you’re in a major rush, bright lips are usually easier to do than bright eyes. There’s more room for error, and you don’t have to worry as much about perfect symmetry.

I mean, do you want to be moving like a makeup maniac at 100 miles per hour for your 15 minutes, or would you rather take a leisurely lip stroll?

I’m just sayin’.

clinique mighty moss 2 — Wearing Hourglass Ambient Lighting Blush in Radiant Magenta on my cheeks and Bite Beauty Lip Liner in 008 topped with MAC Fulfilled Plushglass on my lips

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MAC Next to Nothing Collection Face Colours, Pressed Powders and Fan Brushes

March 30th, 2017 by Karen 16 Comments

mac next to nothing foundation — The new MAC Next to Nothing Foundations, coming to MAC counters and online April 6

Next to nothing sounds like my approach to cat naps.

Hey, man! When I want to take a nap, it’s pants off, window cracked open, and then I peace out! Like, instantly.

Connor Claire does it too. She’ll pull off her pants in her pack ‘n’ play, and bam! — she’s asleep in 5 seconds.

Seriously, try it sometime. De-pants, then nap. It’s totally a thing. 🙂

A new sheer foundation from MAC

Next to Nothing is also the name of MAC’s new sheer liquid foundation, which really does feel like you’re wearing next to nothing. It’s a barely-there whisper of opalescence in a 1.2-oz. glass bottle with a pump, and it’s $31. Nine shades are coming to the permanent line, along with a line of Next to Nothing Pressed Powders and two synthetic fan brushes, starting April 6th.

mac to nothing swatches light final — From the top: Light and Light Plus

I think of Next to Nothing as almost like a liquid CC or a BB cream. It blurs my pores and covers juuust enough of my freckles to have a place in my arsenal.

Along the MAC family spectrum of sheer foundations, it sits about halfway between Face and Body (which is sheerer and doesn’t blur my pores as well) and MAC Studio Waterweight (which has fuller coverage and a matte-er (more matte?) finish.

If you like Face and Body but wish it was better at blurring pores, you should totes give Next to Nothing a try.

mac next to nothing swatches medium final — Medium, Medium Plus, Medium Dark and Medium Deep

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The MAC Metallic Lips Collection: The Nudes Are Rocking My World

March 23rd, 2017 by Karen 16 Comments

mac metallic lipstick — The MAC Metallic Lipstick Collection

I walked into Urban Outfitters last weekend and saw a dress that looks exactly like the one I used to wear on first dates (with black combat boots, of course).

The ’90s are back! — and they’re haunting me, but, like, in a friendly ghost kind of way.

Also, this new MAC Metallic Lipstick in Silver Spoon from the new MAC Metallic Lips collection looks exactly like a shade I wore at that time. It was a grayish taupe metallic marvel that I wore with unblended dark purple lip liner, and yes, girl, I thought I looked like hot sh*t, LOL!

mac silver spoon — MAC Metallic Lipstick in Silver Spoon

Lots of the lippies in this collection, which is available starting today through May 4th, look retro IMO. There are 18 of them, and they’re $17 each.

A new formula

It’s called Metallic, and MAC says it’s a combination of a matte formula and a traditional metallic finish. They feel like a matte, because they’ve got that weight and thickness, but they’re shiny, shiny, shiny!

While the MAC Frost lipsticks have a fine pearl, the Metallics have small and medium-sized pieces of glitter, and they catch A LOT of light. Very eye-catching and beautiful, particularly when you peep them up close.

They last about three hours for me and — surprisingly — aren’t drying. I’m serious, most of the time, matte and metallic lipsticks suck every molecule of moisture out of my lips, but these don’t, which is not to say that they’re moisturizing…because I wouldn’t go that far. I would just say that they aren’t very drying.

I sort of think of the collection as having three parts — the nudes, the basic bolds (your wines, burgundies and pinks) and your cray-cray colors (your greens, blues and “edgy” lip colors).

The nudes are rocking my world

Nude metallics can be tricky, because they can age you and make your lips look very dry when they settle into your lip lines. Thankfully, these are consistently smooth, so they don’t do that, and they aren’t patchy either.

mac in lust — MAC Metallic Lipstick in In Lust

mac modern manners — MAC Metallic Lipstick in Modern Manners

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What I Wore Wednesday, Vol. 5: MAC Swiss Chocolate and Heroine Lipstick

March 22nd, 2017 by Karen 8 Comments

I feel like this eye look with MAC Swiss Chocolate Eye Shadow is more fall than spring, but eh, whatcha gonna do? Sometimes, the body wants chocolate, and when the body wants chocolate, YOU GIVE THE BODY ?? CHOCOLATE, lest horrible consequences ensue.

I don’t know why it occurred to me today (CHOCOLATE, CHOCOLATE, CHOCOLATE), but I got this idea to wear Swiss Chocolate shadow with Heroine Lipstick from Sam at Pixiwoo (don’t you just love her?). She wore them together in a video a few years back. On her lighter skin tone, Swiss Chocolate looks reddish brown, but it leans a little more purplish on me. I think it’s a lovely color.

I didn’t follow Sam’s tutorial to a T because, ya know, I’m all ’bout that improv life, but I tried to maintain the “essence” of the look… I just put my personal Karen spin on it. 🙂

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Makeup and Beauty Blog Monday Poll, Vol. 465

March 6th, 2017 by Karen 25 Comments

So…what is the Monday Poll?

Well, it isn’t exactly a poll. It’s more of a constantly evolving (devolving?), somewhat random list of questions I’ve been putting out to readers every Monday morning for the past 10 (!) years. (It’s like a kickstart for your brain.) I’ve always enjoyed reading your answers in the comments, and I hope you enjoy reading mine. ?

1. Texting: love it or leave it?

Love it…sort of. It’s fun, and I think I’m funnier in print than I am in person.

I also love being able to take and send pictures instantly… Remember when you had to call people up and describe things?? I remember my mom calling me from a Victoria’s Secret years ago and trying to describe a pair of green pajamas that she wanted to buy for me. I wanted to know what kind of green they were, so I asked if they were green like grass, green like a Christmas tree or green like Jell-O, and she just kept saying, “They’re yellow green. THEY’RE YELLOW GREEN!”

So pictures make things like that easier. 🙂

That said, sometimes I also hate texting and wish that people would pick up the damn phone. Plus, like in the case of my parents, who aren’t native English speakers, some things get lost in texting translation that I think are easier to explain on the phone. But I do get a kick out of seeing my mom go emoji happy ???? over text.

2. An event that permanently changed your life?

I mean, it wasn’t deep or metaphysical…but when I was 12 and my hair suddenly turned from straight, shiny wash-and-wear hair to wavy, it pretty much set me up for many, many terrible haircuts.

And on a less superficial note, leaving home at 18 to go to college was a big one. Up until then, I lived a pretty sheltered life, and being on my own for the first time, I felt very alone, and I didn’t have the vocabulary to describe how I was feeling. It opened the door for depression to enter my life, and I’ve dealt with it off and on every since.

3. Can you now, or have you ever been able to, do the splits?

Girl, no. I would be the worst gymnast ever. I can barely touch my toes when I bend my knees, LOL! I can’t even fathom doing the splits.

4. What does sisterhood mean to you?

Ya know…it’s just me and my younger brother, so everything I learned about sisterhood, I learned through my friends. To me, it means being there for your girls, and not just for the big things like graduations, engagements and weddings, but for the little things, too, like bringing soup to a friend who isn’t feeling well, or sending a quick email to a new mom to ask how she’s holding up, or offering a shoulder to cry on.

5. Converse shoes: high-tops or low-tops?

I like the look of high-tops but the comfort of low-tops, because every pair of Converse high-tops I’ve ever worn has dug into my ankles.

So, low-tops then. Pink low-tops, to get technical.

Happy Monday, my friend

Indulge me for a second, my friend. Take a deep breath in… Hold it. Now exhale…

Good. Relax those shoulders. They shouldn’t be scrunched up to your ears…

Ah… OK. Let’s take it easy until the coffee kicks in, shall we? Then all bets are off. 🙂

Good morning! I hope there’s a smile on your face. If there isn’t yet, then hey, here’s some hand lotion. *hands you a tube* For some reason, I always feel better when my hands are properly moisturized. Don’t ask me why.

Also, here’s a cup of coffee in a cat mug, because that ALSO always makes everything better.

If it’s raining there today, don’t forget that we’re inching toward spring! Pretty soon we’ll feel warm sunlight ☀️️ on our shoulders and our neck. It’s going to be glorious.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. Here are the poll questions to copy/paste:

1. Texting: love it or leave it?
2. An event that permanently changed your life?
3. Can you now, or have you ever been able to, do the splits?
4. What does sisterhood mean to you?
5. Converse shoes: high-tops or low-tops?