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Unsung Heroes

Unsung Makeup Heroes: Have a Cookie, Sugar, with Benefit Sugar Cookie Lipstick

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benefit sugar cookie review swatches photos
Did I mention it’s fat free?

Do me a quick favor and check your blush stash, boo. If you find enough peaches to bake a cobbler, then I’d like you to meet my new go-to girl, Benefit Silky Finish Lipstick in Sugar Cookie ($18).

The color — a warm, shiny peach with flecks of gorgeous gold — has been around for a while as a permanent member of Benefit’s Silky Finish Lipstick line. Like the other Silky Finish gals, she’s got a thin, creamy texture (very hydrating, to boot) that glides on slick and smooth, and I think she looks GREAT paired with peach blushes like Benefit Georgia, NARS Orgasm, MAC Sunbasque, MAC Margin and MAC Peaches.

benefit sugar cookie and nars orgasm blush equal fabulous

Do you remember the sparkly glitter from last week’s look with MAC Lipgelee in Resort Life (part of the Venomous Villains release)? — how it ended up all over the place? Well, Sugar Cookie isn’t messy like that at all. Her golden glitter stays put, but all is not peaches in the garden of golden glitter.

Sadly, this Sugar Cookie disappears faster than…sugar cookies, or the box of toffee macadamia nut chocolates I opened last night right before bed.


My thighs keep telling me “No,” but my taste buds keep telling me “YES!”

I have to reapply Sugar Cookie often — about every two hours or so — unless I layer it atop a nude lip liner, which almost doubles her wear time.
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MAC Viva Glam V: An Unsung Makeup Hero

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mac viva glam V

Have I got a thing for bright lipsticks, HELLO! But sometimes I don’t want the hassle they can bring. Sometimes I just want something easy and effortless on my lips — something like the perfect pink.

That’s where today’s entrant in the MAC Unsung Heroes series shines. She’s MAC Viva Glam V lipstick ($14), and she happens to be one of the most wearable neutral pink lippies I’ve ever met.

Shimmery like a pearl and with a shiny finish, the color’s one Goldilocks (of Three Bears fame) would love, because it’s not too cool or too warm. It’s one of those products that seems to be juuuust right for almost everyone.

mac viva glam V

mac viva glam V

And it doesn’t just look good on the lips; it feels good, too — rather, it makes me feel good to wear. 🙂 Since its introduction (Viva Glam V came out in 2004), the proceeds from its sale and those of MAC’s other Viva Glam lipsticks have gone to support men, women and children living with HIV/AIDS. Millions have been raised since the program’s start in 1994, much of it one tube at a time.
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MAC Unsung Heroes: Soft Brown Eyeshadow

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mac soft brown

Oh, the buckets of glittery tears I’d shed if MAC ever discontinued Soft Brown Matte Eyeshadow ($14.50).

Don’t be fooled by how uninspiring it looks in the pan. Soft Brown’s like the sun and the rain, and it makes my life a foolish game. Okay, well, that may be going a little too far, but I do think I could probably wear it every day for the rest of my life (no joke).

Because it’s a color I reach for so often, I think of Soft Brown as an “anchor” shade — like the glue that holds many of my eye looks together.

Worn in the crease, Soft Brown’s warm orangey brown gives depth and dimension to smokey looks. In a matte finish, I think it also ups the contrast of any shimmery shades I wear with it in blue, green, peach, pink — you name it.

A few shots of Soft Brown in action…
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MAC Unsung Heroes: Woodwinked Eyeshadow Fakes a Good Night’s Sleep

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MAC Woodwinked Eyeshadow ($14.50) rocks harder than Metallica. 🙂 Like a beauty BFF, this shimmery shadow’s been with me through good times and bad. Brown in the pan, it applies like a lovely warm gold, and I find myself still reaching for it often because it’s one of those disbelief-suspending shades able to fake a good night’s sleep.

If I had to pick one shadow to have with me after an all-nighter, Woodwinked would be it. A few swipes of this permanent collection shadow on my lids, and I swear I look well rested.

The MAC Unsung Heroes series features some of my favorite products from MAC’s permanent collection…

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MAC Unsung Heroes: All That Glitters Eyeshadow Is Not Just Another Gold

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There’s an old saying that goes, “all that glitters is not gold.” And it’s true, because sometimes All That Glitters is more like a shimmery golden beige. 🙂

I’m totally kicking myself for not getting to know MAC All That Glitters eyeshadow ($14.50) sooner. It’s been a member of the MAC permanent posse for years but just moseyed into my life last week.
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MAC Unsung Heroes: Lychee Luxe Lipglass

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Question for my coral lovin’ babes: Do you have a favorite coral lipgloss? Hands down, mine’s got to be MAC Lipglass in Lychee Luxe ($14). It’s a shimmery coral from MAC’s permanent line, and if I had to guess I’d bet I’ve gone through a double-digit number of tubes, yikes!

Wish I could say I stumbled upon Lychee Luxe on my own, but I actually heard about it from my mom. She gave me the heads-up about 10 years ago, which is funny to me because she’s never really been into makeup.

Proof positive that Lychee Luxe holds *great* magical powers. 🙂

One day she swung by a MAC counter looking for a gloss with just the right amount of color for her fabulous 50-ish self. She left with her first tube of Lychee Luxe, and a familial makeup obsession was born.


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MAC Unsung Heroes: The Technakohl Liners

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Question por tu: Do girls with thicker, fuller lashes have more fun?

A flirty fringe comes in handy when you’re batting eyelashes with a stranger across the room, or in my case with the old dude working behind the counter at the See’s (hook me up with another chocolate sample, holmes!). 🙂

My wimp-tacular eyelashes and I rely on MAC’s Technakohl Liners ($14.50, available in 11 colors), magical, twist-up mechanical makeup pencils that tightline like WHOA!


Graphblack, Brownborder

Yo, what’s tightlining?

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MAC Unsung Hero: Blacktrack Fluidline

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Raise your hand if you’ve ever thought, “Ahhh, fresh Blacktrack!”

If you have, then hello there fellow member of Cult MAC Blacktrack ($15). 🙂

If you haven’t, however, then allow me to introduce you to your new favorite (hopefully) gel eyeliner.

During my LBB years (aka Life Before Blacktrack), every liner I’d try would slip right off my oily skin. Blacktrack changed everything.

True story: I was wearing it when I watched The Notebook for the first time, and by the end of the movie my liner was still going strong. ‘Nuff said.
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