MAC’s Love Connection Mineralize Eye Shadow Duo ($14) makes me nostalgic for the olden days (um, like, 2003), when one pan of eye shadow, a primer, eyeliner (if I was feeling adventurous) and some mascara gave my eye makeup itch all the scratch it needed. Ahh, take me back!
One of nine eye shadow duos from MAC’s recent Electro Flash release, Love Connection’s shades — a peachy bronze and a pink-beige — may not instantly dazzle like some of MAC’s flashier duos (Fresh Green Mix and Odd Couple come to mind), but I’m glad I took a chance with this Love Connection because the neutral, pastel colors work wonders.
One side of the pan of Love Connection glows like the inside of an abalone shell, with a luminescent, peach-beige with hints of blue. The other side shines like a new penny. Like all of MAC’s Mineralize Eye Shadow Duos, this one is all about big shimmer. You’ll either love or hate it (those in the “hate it” camp may find it too chunky or flashy). I love it because the shimmer reflects a lot of light, making it a great brightener. Just a quick swipe on my lids makes me me look as though I’ve slept for hours. Trust me, girl — this is no small feat. I’ve slept a maximum of 10 hours over the course of two days, and it takes a minor miracle to make me look wide awake.
MAC Mineralize Eye Shadow in Love Connection
Price: $14
Use: A shimmery pastel shadow for easy looks
Makeup and Beauty Blog Rating: A+
Although Love Connection contains lots of big shimmer, the pastels keep it subtle enough to wear to work or on low-maintenance makeup days when all you need is a little oomph. I’ve worn it to work, on dates with El Hub and on the weekends when I’m running errands. It’s a low key look, but it’s still very pretty (oh, and when worn on top of Too Faced Shadow Insurance primer, the shadow lasts for hours).
A Super Easy Pastel Eye
Here’s the look I’ve been wearing for the past few days. I applied Love Connection on top of Too Faced Shadow Insurance, layering the peach shade on top of the bronze on the lid area and just slightly into the crease. I added a little definition with Lancome Le Stylo Waterproof Eyeliner on the upper water line and smudged into the lower lash line, and finished the look with two coats of MAC Mascara X.
Here I am just before I ran out the door for work yesterday! I had about 10 minutes, total, to get ready. And, yup, I wear glasses when I don’t have time to put in my contacts.
Ten More Looks with Love Connection
Don’t think you’re limited because you only have two shades to work with. There are so many different ways to wear this duo! Try applying the…
- Bronze shade on the lid area and just into the crease
- Beige shade on the lid area and just into the crease
- Bronze shade on the outer lid, beige shade on inner lid and inner corners
- Bronze shade as a light wash all over the entire eye
- Beige shade as a light wash all over the entire eye
To get even more lovin’ from Love Connection, you can also try these five looks using a wet brush head to get even more intense color payoff and shimmer. That’s ten looks with just one duo, baby!
Brushes to use with the MAC Mineralize Eye Duos
The texture of Love Connection and all of the Mineralize Eye Duos differs from that of MAC’s other shadows. These don’t apply as densely as MAC’s regular pan shadows do, and working with them reminds me of working with loose eye shadows like the MAC Pigments. Don’t be surprised if you find shadow flyin’ all over the place.
To create the looks above, I relied on just a few brushes. To cover large sections of the eye I like really flat, stiff brushes like the MAC 252, and for detail work I like flat brushes with smaller heads like the MAC 239. Even though Love Connection’s pastel colors don’t create harsh lines of color like bold blue, purple or green shades would, I still like to keep a blending brush with a soft head like the MAC 217 handy to create the effect of the shadow going from intense to desaturated colors.
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