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MAC Mirage Noir Collection Extra Dimension Bronzing Powder in Delphic and Face and Body Foundation in Light Pearl

May 7th, 2018 by Karen 4 Comments

I’m wearing a few items makeup from the new @maccosmetics Mirage Noir summer collection. The two pearly Face & Body foundations are super pretty. #maccosmetics #macmiragenoir #igmakeup #instamakeup #makeupcollection

A post shared by Karen | Makeup and Beauty Blog (@karenmbb) on May 7, 2018 at 2:17pm PDT

Mission “Ketchup Run to Target” was a smashing success this afternoon, and Delphic Bronzer from MAC Mirage Noir looks just as swoon-worthy as it looked when I put it on a few hours ago. Also, just as swoon-worthy as it looked the first time I saw it back in — HOLY CRAP! — the MAC Alluring Aquatic collection in 2014.

Has it really been that long??

Incidentally, I think this is the best bronzer MAC has ever done. Yes, even better than Give Me Sun MSF. Seriously, it’s that creamy, dreamy, buttery, silky Extra Dimension formula, man. It’s amazeballs. It’s like applying pure color to your skin without a trace of powdery residue.

I don’t think there’s anything else quite like it. I’ve been rationing my one from Alluring Aquatic (yes, I don’t care how old it is) for years… Glad I don’t have to do that anymore.

That’s also MAC Eye Shadow in Sun Speck on my lids, which ended up being frostier than I expected, and MAC Face & Body Foundation in Light Pearl, which I mixed with Face & Body C4 and C5… I wouldn’t wear Light Pearl all by itself, except for maybe on my arms and legs, because it’s pearly, but I love it mixed with another Face & Body shade.

Oh, and haha! Yes, that’s the Coywolf saying “hello” in the background of the video. 🙂

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. I put pics and swatches of the collection in this post here.

MAC Mirage Noir Collection for Summer 2018: Pics, Swatches and My First Look Using the Products

May 7th, 2018 by Karen 23 Comments

Serious question for you: is this “bronzed peach” look too glam for a ketchup run? — because from among the list of “things that go well on BBQ,” I do believe that ketchup is the least fancy of them all. FOR SURE, the fanciest has to be dijon mustard, because — hi — if something can be prefaced with a word en français, it’s officially fancy. 🙂

Speaking of my limited high school French, can anyone out there confirm what Mirage Noir means? Is it “black illusion”?

Pics and swatches coming at’cha…

MAC Mirage Noir: Summer 2018

LE and coming May 17th, 2018, to select MAC locations and the MAC website.

LIPSTICK ($18.50 each)

Nothing to Wear: Cool nude (Cremesheen)

Twig: Soft, muted brownish pink (Satin)

Goodbye Kiss: Cool mid-tone pink (Amplified)

Beach Nut: Deep violet (Matte)

Noon Noir: Frosty brown (Frost)

LIPGLASS ($17.50 each)

Oysterized: Soft white shimmer

Strip ‘n’ Dip: Pink bronze with shimmer

Soft Shell: Mid-tone brown

Midnight Dip: Mid-tone violet shimmer

Treasure Beach: Bright fuchsia

EYE SHADOW ($17 each)

Dust Off: Soft beige shimmer (Frost)

Sun Speck: Light brown shimmer (VLXP)

Slow as You Glow: Purple shimmer (Frost)

Sun, Tan and Repeat: Forest green with purple sparkle (VLXP)

EXTRA DIMENSION BRONZING POWDER ($34 each)

Golden Rinse: Light brick reddish bronze with fine shimmer

Delphic: Coppery bronze with gold sparkle

BRONZING POWDER ($27 each)

Baiana Bronze: Medium deep-tone neutral matte bronze

Matte Bronze: Bare-shouldered bronze

PEARLMATTE FACE POWDER ($34)

Mother o’ Pearl: Gold (mid-tone golden brown), Pink (muted peach beige), Berry (red plum), Brown (warm chestnut brown)

M∙A∙C STUDIO FACE AND BODY FOUNDATION ($30 each)

Light Pearl: Light with added bronze pearl

Medium Deep Pearl: Medium deep with added bronze pearl

BRUSH ($42)

140SES Full Fan Brush

mac sun tan repeat — Sun, Tan and Repeat ($17)

mac slow as you go — Slow as You Go ($17)

mac mother o pearl — Pearlmatte Face Powder in Mother o’ Pearl ($34)

mac mirage noir lipstick — Lipsticks in Nothing to Wear, Twig, Goodbye Kiss, Noon Noir and Beach Nut ($18.50 each)

mac mirage noir lipglass — Lipglasses in Oysterized, Strip & Dip, Soft Shell, Treasure Beach and Midnight Dip ($17.50 each)

mac face body light pearl medium deep pearl — Studio Face and Body Foundation in Light Pearl and Medium Deep Pearl ($30 each)

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MAC Unsung Heroes: Retro Matte Liquid Lipcolour in Burnt Spice

April 25th, 2018 by Karen 14 Comments

mac burnt spice — Why do I keep smiling like a coy piano teacher? I do not know.

What’s an unsung makeup hero? For me, it’s an oftentimes underrated makeup morsel, a permanent collection product that scoots under the radar screen of many makeup lovers but regularly rocks my world. The long-running Unsung Heroes series features some of my favorites.

Burnt Spice… That name always cracks me up. I picture the (hopefully it didn’t actually happen, and if it did, I’m sorry) rejected member of the Spice Girls who got cut at the last minute and therefore did not experience worldwide fame and fortune. She still holds a grudge against Baby, Sporty, Scary, Posh and Ginger…

LOL.

Matte rosy brown Burnt Spice MAC Retro Matte Liquid Lipcolour adds just enough color to my face without overwhelming whatever else is going on, and it superbly complements smoky and winged eye looks IMO. And bright blush.

It reads as a nude on my NC42 skin #nudelipsforlife #nudelipsforever and may look more lusciously brown and dramatic if you’re a lighter lass.

mac burnt spice swatch — MAC Burnt Spice

MAC’s liquid lipsticks are some of my favorites out there because they don’t make my lips peel or crack. I thought I was the only person who was all about them for that reason, but nope! I was texting with my friend Jen, who’s really not even a hardcore makeup person like you and I are, a few weeks ago, and she said that she loves Topped With Brandy. The Retro Matte Liquid Lipcolours are the only liquid lipstick formula that doesn’t dry out her lips, and I was like, “Me, too!” And when a liquid lipstick formula can ignite zeh passion in someone who’s only marginally interested in makeup, you know it’s good.

That was my long-winded way of saying it isn’t drying. ?

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MAC Pink Hearts Glitter | Better Than Photoshop

April 17th, 2018 by Karen 12 Comments

The other day I covered up what the beauty/fashion world calls my “imperfections” — the freckles on my cheekbones, acne scars on my cheeks, the chicken pox souvenir in the center of my forehead that I got when I was three — with big ol’ heart-shaped glitter from MAC, and you know what occurred to me?

WE SHOULD BE DOING THIS, LIKE, ALL THE TIME. Screw Face Tune and Photoshop. This is much so cooler.

Weirdly enough, these glitter hearts, which are even more epic in person, do a bang-up job of sticking to my skin. I wore them all day long without any glue (just on top of my usual foundation and powder), and only two hearts fell off.

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MAC NICOPANDA | Can You Guess Which of These 5 Looks Was Done By a Child?

April 13th, 2018 by Karen 12 Comments

Can you guess which of these looks was done by a real, live human child? And by “child,” I don’t mean my inner child. ? I mean the other child who also resides at this address. (The two-year-old one.) HAHAHA!

Is it look one, two, three, four or five? I know, it’s quite a mystery…

I was inspired by the visuals for the MAC NICOPANDA collection (which is available meow, BTW). There’s something very “Matisse meets Jem and the Holograms” about it…

It’s cray but I love ❤️ it.

mac nicopanda visuals — Not to be confused with Kung Fu Panda…

The colors are mostly pastels, mint green, pink and violet interspersed with darker shades like navy blue, gray and a dark plum, which I like because those are colors I wear all the time, although normally with browns.

I get a cool, edgy, artsy-fartsy theatrical performance vibe, like this is makeup that androgynous club kids who are tight with the bouncer and never wait in line might wear.

So, the theme isn’t exactly my gig right now (my scene is Club Toddler in My Living Room), but I’m feenin’ hard for the packaging, because the second-grade me who loved all things Hello Kitty is going bananas ? over the panda heads.

I would’ve traded all of my hologram AND scratch-and-sniff stickers to get hold of one of the lipsticks or glosses, and, funnily enough, those are my favorite things from the collection.

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MAC x PatrickStarrr Me So Chic Face Kit | The Power of Gold Stars

April 12th, 2018 by Karen 9 Comments

mac patrick starrr me so chic — MAC x PatrickStarrr Me So Chic

So I’ve been doing The Five-Minute Journal now for about a month, and the big thing that’s helped me stick to it — and this is major because I’ve started and stopped more projects than I can count — is something so simple and really very elementary, and by ‘elementary’ I mean something that kids in kindergarten probably still do (because I did it about a bazillion years ago).

This: tracking your progress every day with gold ⭐ stars. (I use hand-drawn Sharpie stars because I couldn’t find gold sticker stars anywhere in my town.)

Every day you complete a task, and for me it’s filling out a page in the journal, you stick a star on the calendar, and after ‘X’ number of days, you treat yourself to a reward. ???

mac patrick starrr me so chic k down — With my trusty gold Sharpie by my side! I’m wearing the quad, lipstick, gloss and blush duo from the MAC Patrick Starrr Me So Chic Face Kit.

The reward part is totally key, but ya know…you don’t have to buy yourself a Lambo or anything. A trip to your favorite lunch spot so you can buy that bougie $20 salad you love so much (*cough* Blue Barn Tostada Salad *cough*), a new eyeliner, or — ooh! — a spa treatment (I WISH). I’m going to get myself some workout pants from Senita because I’m all about that high-waisted life these days.

mac patrick starrr me so chic k side — Gold stars!

Even though this system is low-tech, it’s very effective. I don’t know if it’s something hidden deep inside the folds of the most primitive part of my brain, but I love seeing those stars pile up week after week. It feels like a good habit.

The Five-Minute Journal has enough pages for six months, and I’ve got about five more left.

I can’t wait to see my calendar filled this gold stars. 🙂

Speaking of stars…

The MAC x PatrickStarrr Me So Chic Face Kit ($49.50, coming April 19 to the MAC website and select MAC counters)

I feel like I’m wearing makeup that the girls in my high school marching band’s color guard wore in the late-’80s/early-’90s. Like, gimme an over-sized flag, a sequined outfit, shiny flesh-colored tights, and I’m be good to go!

I think the blush duo (a matte warm bronze and satiny peach) flatters my NC42 skin, but my eyes get watery when I wear the purples in the quad. Also, the nude lipstick and gloss… I think they’re pretty, but they’re pretty easily duped, too.

I like the MAC x PatrickStarrr Me So Fleek Kit more than this one…

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The MAC Patrick Starrr Me So Fleek/Patrickstarrr Full Face Kit

April 4th, 2018 by Karen 16 Comments

mac patrick starrrr me so fleek — I wore this MAC Patrick Starrr Face Kit to Trader Joe’s yesterday and had a moment.

It’s not like a Mariah Carey diva spotlight shot down from the heavens in the middle of Trader Joe’s yesterday, but one might as well have. I was standing in front of the eggs gawking at an empty section on the top shelf where the liquid egg whites were supposed to be. Connor was sitting in the cart, and I looked at her and said, “THERE’S NOOOOO MORRRRRRRRE!” perhaps a little too loudly (and my family wonders where she gets her expressive tendencies).

I was wearing, by the way, one of the two new MAC Patrick Starrr Face Kits with purple matte lips, a peachy mauve lid with blue liner, and plum cheeks…

It was subtle though. 🙂 It wasn’t too crazy for Trader Joe’s at two on a Tuesday afternoon, and I know this because none of the seniors from the nearby senior center shot me side eye while I was eyeing the pre-made salads.

mac patrick starrr me so fleek k1 — I’m wearing the MAC Patrick Starrr Me So Fleek Full Face Kit, and the lip is Queen P Lipglass.

mac patrick starrrr me so fleek k2 — Hey Boy Hey Lipstick is super pigmented, but it’s still easy enough that you can apply it straight from the tube, which is what I did here, without needing a lip brush or lip liner. It’s more pink and purple than MAC Heroine (in case you were wondering if it was a dupe)

Cut back to scene: me standing there with my arms outstretched to the heavens (the florescent ceiling lights) and saying, “THERE’S NOOOOO MORRRRRRRRE!” and this dude who was restocking a display of asparagus nearby said, “There’s no what, miss?”

And I was like, “EXCUSE ME? Did you call me MISS?” And I momentarily forgot that I wanted the egg whites to make overnight oats for my breakfast tomorrow because nobody — and I mean NOBODY — calls me miss anymore.

I mean…I feel like I look pretty young for my age, but I get called ma’am now, and it doesn’t help that I walk around with a grumpy piano teacher face all the time because I’m so friggin’ tired, and my lips are pursed, my jaw is clenched, and my hair’s up in a severe bun so the baby doesn’t pull it when she’s TT-ing (toddler tantrum-ing). But yesterday my locks were loose and flowing, and I was wearing this Me So Fleek Face Kit.

So I was workin’ it, son. 🙂

mac patrick star me so fleek swatches — Eye Shadow X 4/Play With Me (In Living Pink, All’s Rosy, Hickie, In the Shadows), Take Me Home Powder Blush Duo, Retro Matte Lipstick in Hey Boy Hey, Lipglass in Queen P

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MAC Supernatural Dazzle: Dazzleshadows in It’s All About Shine, Shine De-Light, Oh So Gilty, Dazzle Style, Dreamy Beams and Midnight Shine

March 30th, 2018 by Karen 14 Comments

Hey, if this were like an Internet spelling ? bee, and we had to spell Dreamy Beams, which is the Dazzleshadow from MAC that I’m super in love with right now, it would be spelled D-R-E-A-M-Y B-E-A-M-Z. But maybe with two Zs — NO, THREE Zs! Beamzzz. Then you’d be the the legit Internet spelling bee winner with your three crazy Zs. ?

mac dazzleshadow swatches — It’s All About Shine (NEW), Shine De-Light (NEW), Oh So Gilty (NEW), Dazzle Style (NEW), Dreamy Beams (NEW) and Midnight Shine (Repromote)

I’m wearing Dreamy Beams, a beautiful bronzed brown with a squeeze of purple, on my lids today and thinking that I need to wear it every day for perhaps the next two months! It’s one of the new $18 Dazzleshadows from the MAC Supernatural Dazzle collection, which quietly dropped on MAC counters and the MAC website a few weeks ago.

There are a bunch of these glittery eyeshadow singles, some Dazzleglass glosses as well, all being added to the MAC permanent line. Some of the shades are new, some are re-promotes… Among the Dazzleshadow eyeshadows, there are six new ones, and I have five swatched here. Beamy Dreams… HAHAHA! Dreamy Beams is one of the new ones, and it’s the most swoon-y to me, although there are several that make me fall out of my flip-flops, like moody Midnight Shine, a dark plummy purple.

A few of the gorgeous @maccosmetics Dazzleshadows glistening in the sunshine! From the top: It’s All About Shine, Shine De-Light, Oh So Gilty, Dazzle Style, Dreamy Beams, Midnight Shine #maccosmetics #makeupswatches #makeupstash #makeupcollection

A post shared by Karen | Makeup and Beauty Blog (@karenmbb) on Mar 29, 2018 at 9:34am PDT

These aren’t like the UD Moondusts at all, even though they look similar in the pans. I love the Moondusts, but they’re sheerer than these are, and the glitter bits are bigger, so I think of them more as glitter top coats. Like, if you already have your eyes done on Friday night, and you’re about to leave the house but you want a little something extra, you tap a Moondust on your lids.

On the other hand, you can build an eye look around a single Dazzleshadow. You don’t need to apply them on top of something else because they have a pigmented base, so they can stand alone.

mac dreamy beams — Dreaming of Keanu Reeves making me blueberry pancakes while wearing Dreamy Beams on my lids…

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