MAC Makeup

Last-Minute Halloween Costume Ideas: A Fall Fairy Using the MAC Rick Baker and Divine Night Collections

October 24th, 2013 by Karen 30 Comments

My inspiration for this Halloween look was a fall fairy prancing home through a damp, leaf-covered forest floor early in the morning after an all-night dance party with her fairy friends.

To really sell the fairy angle better, I even got some elfin ears, but, uh, getting those suckers to peek through when your hair is teased out “to here” and there are leaves and berries all over the place is really hard!

Hey, man. I tried.

My goals for this look were to…

Make my skin look both muddy and shimmery, like I’d been prancing around in wet leaves. I figured that fairies partying all night long in the forest would tend to get a little dirty, but being magical creatures, they’d still retain their elfin glow.
Wear fall leaves in some big-@ss hair
Wear autumnal colors on my eyes
Freak out my neighbors — because that’s how I roll 🙂

It’s weird, but I think that even with the dirty skin, the look still ended up kind of bridal/Victoria’s Secret.

Too bad about the elf ears, because I think they would have taken the look to the next level.

If you’re on the market for Halloween makeup-based ideas, this one was actually pretty easy to achieve, as far as the makeup goes.

The (muddy) skin

Even though I wanted my skin to look dirty, I still started with my regular foundation, MAC Face and Body, to smooth everything out.

Next, for the muddy/glowy effect, I mixed MAC Monster FX Tinted Mixing Medium in Dirt from the Rick Baker collection ($22) with shimmery MAC Old Gold Pigment ($21), and then stippled that randomly around my face, neck, shoulders and arms with a MAC 159 Duo Fibre Brush (although any skunk brush should do).

When it was dry, to create sort of an earthy feel, I contoured my face with MAC Give Me Sun Bronzer.

Then, because I really wanted a noticeable glow, I highlighted my cheeks, nose and cupid’s bow with a bronze highlighter, MAC Mineralize Skinfinish in Perfectly Poised ($33), from the new Divine Night holiday collection.

The big-@ss hair

Today marked three days since my last shampoo/conditioner session, which I did because I wanted my mop to actually look a little dirty and “lived in.” I think that made it easier to go bigger with the hair.

I also used hot rollers yesterday, so I had some leftover curls.

To lift my roots and boost volume, I applied a dry shampoo to the roots and teased the top layers, then sprayed hairspray all over everything to keep it big.

Next, the leaves and berries, which I snipped from a couple of plastic garland strands I got from Joann (on sale for $4!), and tied them into pieces of my hair with some brown paper jewelry cord ($3), also from Joann.

The autumnal eyes and lips

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A 30-Minute MAC Divine Night Look, and Another Note to My Perpetually Late Self

October 23rd, 2013 by Karen 54 Comments

Dear Perpetually Late Self (yep, that’s you, Karen),

Duuuuuuude. Sometimes you really surprise me.

I used to think your best idea was dumping that guy you met dancing in that cage at the club, because really now, what kind of future can you have with a cage-dancing, club-hopping, Kangol-hat wearing player?

But this? Using your iPhone’s timer to track how much time you’re spending on your makeup? That’s brilliant. Your best idea yet.

I don’t know how you came up with it (perhaps you got tired of being late for, like, everything?), but in just a couple months it’s already saved you about a zillion hours.

And setting the phone’s Auto-Lock feature to “Never” was a pretty good idea. That way the phone didn’t even go to sleep. All you had to do was set the timer for 30 minutes and click “Start.”

Earlier this week I tried a 15-minute MAC Divine Night look. Today I gave myself a little more time…

Today you gave yourself 30 minutes to get your face on using the new MAC Divine Night collection and — “WOOP! WOOP!” — you actually did it.

Kudos. 🙂

Minutes 30:00-20:00 — Face

I like that you started with the basics — primer, foundation, concealer, powder and brows. You got your skin finished first, so if something unexpected had come up, at least you were done with that.

20:00-5:00 — Eyes

MAC Mineralize Eye Shadow in Past Midnight

For your eyes, you went with a shadow duo — purple and pink Mineralize Eye Shadow in Past Midnight — which seems wise because you were in a hurry. I remember you mentioning the duo before and how it had very little fallout and was easy to blend. Those things always save time. And when I saw that you decided to do a simple smokey eye, I thought, “Good call.”

Using MAC Feline Kohl all over your lids as a base made sense. The super creamy, easy-to-blend formula makes quick work of smokey eyes.

Oh, and patting the purple shade from Past Midnight directly on top? I couldn’t figure out why you did that at first, but then it hit me — the black base intensified the purple, and because Past Midnight’s finely blended powder was so easy to blend, you weren’t spending forever and a day buffing out the edges with your tapered 224.

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The MAC Divine Night Collection Makes It Easy To Stay Frosty

October 21st, 2013 by Karen 20 Comments

The last time I felt this frosty was about 10 years ago when I almost finished an entire jar of Betty Crocker Vanilla Frosting during an all-night Sex and the City-watching marathon.

What can I say? The Aiden years make me stress eat. Carrie should’ve ended up with him…

Anywho, the frostiness. There’s lots of it in MAC’s new Divine Night holiday collection — lots of frosty finishes.

MAC Divine Night Eyeshadows — MAC Divine Night Mineralize Eye Shadows ($25 US and $27.50 CAN)

The MAC Divine Night Mineralize Eye Shadows, clockwise from the purple pan in the lower left:

Past Midnight — blackish purple with a violet pearl base on the outside, and a soft white with pink frost on the inside
Gilded Night — bright gold with a silver pearl base on the outside, and a black with pearl on the inside
Captivating — a bright white gold base on the outside, and a deep gold on the inside
Tonight’s Temptation — black with pearl base on the outside, and a royal blue on the inside
Exquisite Ego — bronze base on the outside, and soft white champagne on the inside

MAC Divine Night Mineralize Skinfinishes ($33 US and $38.50 CAN)

Clockwise from the light pink pan in the lower left:

Centre of Attention — a pastel peach pink with pink shimmer on the outside, and a 24K gold shimmer on the inside
Perfectly Poised — a bronzy coral with golden tones on the outside, and a creamy beige with a pinkish purple sheen on the inside
Scene to Be Seen — a mauve with a pink sheen on the outside, and a brick rose with golden reflects on the inside

MAC Divine Night Blush — MAC Divine Night Mineralize Blushes ($27.50 US and $32.50 CAN)

The MAC Divine Night Mineralize Blushes, clockwise from the plum pan on the bottom:

Lavish Living — a violet with a silver pearl base with golden pearl and a Satin finish
Talk of the Town — a warm brown base with yellow bronze and a Satin finish
Lured to Love — a coral pink base with pink frost and a Satin finish

The MAC Divine Night Fluidlines, clockwise from the purple pot:

Macroviolet — a deep smoked violet with reddish pearl
Deliciously Rich — a shimmering dirty taupe
Stares & Speculation — a dirty olive with golden pearl

MAC Divine Night Lipsticks ($16.50 US and $20 CAN)

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A 15-Minute MAC Divine Night Look, and a Note to My Perpetually Late Self

October 21st, 2013 by Karen 17 Comments

Dear Perpetually Late Self (yes, I am talking to myself),

What is it with you and clocks!? Why are you always running behind? Seriously, why can’t you ever get from point A to B on time? It’s a mystery that I don’t even know if the universe understands…

(#realtalk: I suspect that it might have something to do with time management, which isn’t exactly your strong suit… But I’m not about to tell you that. Oh, hell no. I value my life and sanity too much, so I’ll continue to pretend it’s due to cosmic forces out of our control.)

But I do appreciate that you’re working on it. Your decision to do a full face in 15 minutes today with the new MAC Divine Night holiday collection was a brilliant idea.

Snaps, man. At least you’re trying. 🙂

Minutes 14:59-9:00 — Eyes

OK, I can see why you chose to start with the Mineralize Eye Shadows from this collection. Each one has two shades, so they’re like a ready-to-wear duo in every pan.

MAC Exquisite Ego Mineralize Skinfinish Eye Shadow — Exquisite Ego Mineralize Skinfinish Eye Shadow, a bronze, and a soft white champagne

Good choice going with the bronze and pink Exquisite Ego. Bravo. Because the colors are neutrals, even if you do a slap-dash job applying them, people probably won’t even notice your mistakes. I’d do the same thing.

MAC Divine Night Exquisite Ego — The flat shape of the MAC 239 Brush helps keep fallout to a minimum

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A Face of the Day With a Dramatic Plummy Black Lip, and an Old Lip Trick From My College Days

September 27th, 2013 by Karen 27 Comments

MAC Strong Willed — Yeah, I’d walk my cat lookin’ like this…

True story: It was 1994. I was in my second year of college at Davis, and I’d become full-on obsessed with the idea of wearing a dark, almost black, matte red lipstick, but I couldn’t find the color at any of the drugstores in town.

It didn’t help that Davis was a small town out in the middle of nowhere. No, seriously, it’s pretty built up now (they have a Gap!), but back then it was just farms and cows as far as the eye could see.

Cutting-edge makeup (for the time) was not easy to track down.

Eventually, I realized that I probably wasn’t going to find what I wanted on a shelf. I was about to give up when, one day, inspiration struck!

With a black eyeliner, I lined and filled in my lips, and then layered my darkest red lipstick on top.

Eureka!!

I ended up rockin’ that look so hard to chem class, you don’t even know.

Today that same trick with eyeliner on my lips came in handy again while I was getting ready.

So, I’ve been wanting to try something like that Goth-ish look from Lorde’s Tennis Court video. In the video she wears a striking look with eyeshadow in a cat eye shape, with white liner on her lower water line and a dark, dramatically delicious purplish black lip.

Since there isn’t a lot of color on her eyes and cheeks, it puts the focus firmly on her lips.

Gah! I love it.

The eyes? Super easy. I used a few MAC neutral eyeshadow staples (Bamboo, Soba and Cork) to create the lifted, cat eye shape.

Wouldn’t you know it, though? The ONE TIME I needed the white eyeliner that I hardly ever use, I couldn’t find it, so I used a pale beige eyeliner on my water lines instead (Rimmel Scandaleyes in Nude).

I didn’t do much with my cheeks. Just some light contouring (using MAC Give Me Sun Bronzer) and highlighting (Becca Opal).

Last, but not least — the lips!

I really wanted them to look dark, almost black, so I ended up using — yup, you guessed it — an eyeliner, MAC’s Pro Longwear Eyeliner in Strong Willed ($19.50), a matte plummy black.

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MAC Unsung Heroes: Pro Longwear Paint Pot in Painterly

September 27th, 2013 by Karen 18 Comments

Please pardon my less-than-pristine pot of MAC Pro Longwear Paint Pot in Painterly. We’ve done a lot of lovin’ together over the past few years.

Painterly, a clean, classic nude beige with a matte finish, is one of my favorite cream eyeshadows in the MAC Paint Pot line. Mostly, I use it as an eyeshadow base or to even out my lid color by buffing a single layer of it on with a MAC 217 before some cat eyeliner and mascara.

I absolutely lurve the way it enhances other shadow colors when it’s worn as a base. It keeps other colors true to the way they look in their pans, which is a nifty trick. Products are also easy to blend on top of it, so when I’m doing a look with multiple colors and gradients, Painterly is almost always the base I grab.

MAC Painterly on NC42 skin — Painterly on my NC42 skin

On my (now, this time of year) slightly dry lids, Painterly lasts all day long without creasing, but if you have uber-oily lids, you might want to give it a hand by applying it atop a layer of NARS Pro-Prime or Too Faced Shadow Insurance.

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Dolce & Gabbana PassionEyes Duo Mascara: Lash Passion Now Comes in Blue, Brown and Black

September 26th, 2013 by Karen 6 Comments

Dolce Gabbana Passioneyes Mascara — Dolce & Gabbana PassionEyes Duo Mascara ($32)

Brown mascara, wha!?

Ain’t nobody got time for that!

That’s the first thing I thought when I saw Dolce & Gabbana’s new PassionEyes Duo Mascara ($32).

It comes in three shades — black, blue (referred to as Blue Indigo online, but it’s called Blu Indaco on the tube) and brown — the least exciting of which, for me, is the brown, mostly ’cause the tint is almost indistinguishable on my dark lashes.

A brown mascara could come in handy if you’re very fair, or if you don’t want your lashes to look too dark or stark, so if that sounds like a good fit for you, haaaaay! — now you’ve got a PassionEyes option.

Dolce Gabbana Passioneyes Mascara wands from the left: Nero, Terra and Blue Indaco — Wands from the left: Nero, Terra and Blue Indigo

According to D&G, PassionEyes gives a double boost to lashes, amplifying lash length and curl, which is why they bill it as a “Duo Mascara.” Tapioca polymers lock lashes into place, while beeswax enhances flexibility and glycerin conditions.

The look? How about feminine and curvy (they say they were inspired by a classic Dolce & Gabbana dress)?

Today I tested Nero, the black shade, and Blue Indigo, the blue one, and they reminded me of mellower versions of YSL Faux Cils because most of the volume-enhancement occurs at the roots and slowly tapers toward the tips.

Both colors have a gorgeous glossy finish — very shiny and smooth — without any bumps or clumps.

Dolce Gabbana Passioneyes Mascara swatches from the left: Nero (black), Terra (brown) and Blue Indigo (blue) — Swatches from the left: Nero (black), Terra (brown) and Blu Indigo (blue)

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An Easy Everyday Neutral Look With MAC Permanent Products (and Pics of My New ‘Do)

September 23rd, 2013 by Karen 64 Comments

MAC Soft Brown, Sable Brownscript, Texture, Sketch — You can’t go wrong with MAC neutrals…

The new hair!

And the neutral look I wore all weekend. 🙂

First off, the hair. Remember how I couldn’t decide whether to keep the lighter brown and caramel highlights or go darker for fall?

Well, I was still waffling when I sat down in the chair on Saturday morning, but then I showed this pic of Megan Fox to Kelli, one of the fabulous colorists at A-Line salon in Corte Madera (they get five stars on Yelp), and we started brainstorming ideas.

Tom Ford Lipstick in Sable Smoke topped with MAC Big Baby Plushglass — Tom Ford Lipstick in Sable Smoke with MAC Big Baby Plushglass on top…

I came this close to not changing the color at all, but then I asked Kelli, “What would you do if you had free reign?”

She thought about it a minute, looked again at the pic of Megan Fox, and said, why don’t we make your roots closer to your natural color, change the current light brown to a dark chocolate, and darken your highlights? She thought that going dark would frame my face and be a fun look for fall.

Um…SOLD.

MAC Deep Brunette Veluxe Brow Pencil (eyebrows); and Clarins Be Long Mascara (upper and lower lashes) — Brows and lashes: MAC Deep Brunette Veluxe Brow Pencil (on my brows, of course) with Anastasia Brow Gel, and Clarins Be Long Mascara (on my upper and lower lashes)

I feel like a completely different person with dark hair!

And I kindasorta love it…

It’s fun to switch things up, ya know? It’s a really easy way to change your outlook.

Deep thoughts on hair…

If you’re ever feeling hair adventurous, but you can’t figure out what kind of cut/color you want, ask your stylist, “What would you do with my hair if you could do whatever you want?”

You don’t have to go with their suggestion, but it’s a good conversation starter and gets the creative juices flowing. Of course, it always helps when you know and trust your stylist and feel comfortable with them. I don’t know if I’d try this with someone new, but it depends… Sometimes you just know, you know? When there’s a good vibe?

Speaking of changes, I took a break last weekend from the vampire makeup I’ve been rocking lately (smokey eyes, dark lips and catwalk brows) and wore this soft neutral look mostly using MAC permanent collection products.

Dolce & Gabbana Blush in Peach (cheeks), Make Up For Ever Mat Bronze Bronzing Powder in 40 (under my cheekbones to contour) and Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector Pressed in Opal (my upper cheekbones, down the bridge of my nose and my cupid's bow) — Face makeup: Dolce & Gabbana Blush in Peach (cheeks), Make Up For Ever Mat Bronze Bronzing Powder in 40 (again beneath my cheekbones to contour) and Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector Pressed in Opal (my upper cheekbones, down the bridge of my nose and my cupid’s bow)

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