Makeup and Beauty Blog | Makeup Reviews, Swatches and How-To Makeup

A beauty blog blooming with fresh makeup reviews, swatches and beauty tips from your friendly neighborhood beauty addict

mac

MAC Unsung Heroes: The 239 Eye Shader Brush

by 18 Comments

MAC 239 Eye Shader Brush

I can’t believe I haven’t unsung the heroic MAC 239 Eye Shader Brush yet!

Weird! — considering how much I love it. I’m even thinking about getting a second one to go with the first. That way, I could reserve one for powders and one for creams.

Heck, while I’m at it, might as well get a third (strictly for blending, of course).

No, no, I guess one is enough… It’s just a brush, after all.

Or is it? 🙂

A medium-sized flat eyeshadow brush with gloriously soft goat hair fibers packed into a firm, dense head with a rounded shape, the $25 MAC 239 is capable of a multitude of makeup tasks, from applying and blending eyeshadows (loose and pressed powders, and creams), to highlighting beneath my brows, lining my eyes and adding color into the outer V and inner corners.

I have a handful of brushes from other brands that by all appearances, look like the MAC 239, but that’s where the similarities end.

The size of the 239’s brush head is like my favorite part of the Story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, juuuust right. Not too big, not too small. It covers a fairly wide area on my lid, and yet is small enough to fit into the inner and outer corners of my eyes, and directly below my lashes.

It’s like getting a bunch of different brushes in one!
[Continue reading…]

MAC Unsung Heroes: Greensmoke Eyeshadow

by 18 Comments

mac greensmoke

It’s time, friend…

Time to clap our hands and stomp our feet! Time to raise our hands to the sky and testify to the dawn of a new era! — the season of smokey eyes!

Oh, fall… You make me so sad when you shoo summer away, but then your cool, crisp winds give me an excuse to bust out my MAC Greensmoke Eyeshadow ($15), one of my favorites for smokey eyes.

MAC describes it as a tarnished olive, but Greensmoke is so much more than that.

On my NC42 skin, I get a smokey, grayish khaki with flashes of golden pearl and flecks of silver glitter. It’s a complex color, and one I can’t recall seeing duped by anyone else.

Packing it my lids or applying it with a wet brush brings out more of the golden pearl and greenish tones, while buffing it coaxes out more of Greensmoke’s gray.

For a different, and wonderfully complex, take on smokey eyes, I’ll apply Tarnished Eye Kohl as a base all over my lids, layer Greensmoke on top (I keep wanting to type “Gunsmoke”), and then buff out the edges.

mac greensmoke

mac greensmoke swatch
[Continue reading…]

MAC Unsung Heroes: Ample Pink Plushglass

by 29 Comments

mac ample pink plushglass

Wait. Stop! Before we drive out to Modesto to roam the streets looking for Jeremy Renner’s family home — and hell yes, gurl! I totally agree that this is a perfectly sane idea — I need to check my purse.

Keys? Check.

Phone?

Phone…?

Okay, where’s my phone? It has to be here somewhere… I need it just in case the boss calls me.

Yes! There it is.

Now, where’s that tingly, creamy pink gloss I like to keep in my purse? MAC Plushglass in Ample Pink ($19.50)?

Hmm… I think I may have left it in my other bag. Hold up. Let me go check. I’ll be right back.

What’s that? Yes, I am aware that there are no fewer than 10 other glosses in my purse, but none of them are Ample Pink. And hello, we’re talking about Jeremy Renner here.

mac ample pink plushglass

A semi-sheer pinkish mauve, Ample Pink is like a cross between a subdued MAC Spite and a tube of MAC Viva Glam V without the glitter, and I can’t believe we haven’t talked about it before.

I feel like I’m always pimping it out to friends who love my-lips-but-better looks, especially the ones who prefer cooler-toned pinks without a ton of shimmer.

I love the way it looks with smokey eyes… Not overpowering at all.

mac ample pink plushglass swatch
[Continue reading…]

MAC Unsung Heroes: Indianwood Paint Pot

by 23 Comments

mac indianwood paint pot

The Walking Dead. It’s not just a TV show anymore.

It’s also an apt description of moi, specifically my eye area when I’ve stayed up too late pondering important issues like mint tea ice cream (how would it taste? — amazing or nasty?), or when I’ve stayed up too late reading post-apocalyptic young adult “literature.”

So yeah, I’m becoming increasingly familiar with my zombie girl side, although I have yet to develop a taste for brains…

But who knows? If I don’t start getting to bed earlier, I might start craving fleshy snacks!

Thank goodness for MAC Paint Pot in Indianwood ($18.50)… Right now it’s the only thing slowing the transition to full-on undead.

mac indianwood paint pot

Whenever I get up looking a little worse for wear, I like to smear this shimmery bronze cream shadow on my lids with a finger and blend out the edges with a fluffy domed eyeshadow brush (I’m partial to the MAC 217).

The stuff is nothing short of a minor miracle! It brightens my lids, making me look better rested, radiant and almost glowing (almost).

You can wear it with easy, elegant looks, like with some mascara and MAC Teddy eyeliner along your lash lines for a quick work look, or in sultry, seductive looks with false lashes and MAC Feline eyeliner along your lash and water lines.

mac indianwood paint pot swatch with rubenesque for comparison
Indianwood on the left, with MAC Paint Pot in Rubenesque for comparison

mac indianwood paint pot
MAC Powder Blush in Supercontinental on my cheeks and MAC Lipglass in Ready to Roam on my lips; both from the new Styleseeker collection
[Continue reading…]

A MAC Styleseeker Makeup Tutorial: Brown, Gold and Purple Cat Eyes With Red Cheeks and Bronze Lips

by 55 Comments

MAC Styleseeker Tutorial

Guess what, fellow style seekers! The MAC Styleseeker collection is now available online (yay!), and I thought it might be fun to do a quick tutorial this afternoon with a few of the pieces (complete with optional Victoria’s Secret wind tunnel effect).

mac styleseeker tutorial side

The 24-piece collection contains a mix of rich, warm bronzes, purples, browns and reds punctuated by a smattering of lighter pinks, corals and beige shades.

Something about it just says, “globe trekker” to me and makes me want to check on airfares to Southeast Asia for fall, LOL!

mac styleseeker tutorial k final 2

But seriously, this look features a matte brown, and a shimmery golden orange eyeshadow, and a dark purple cat eyeliner on the eyes; a surprisingly wearable red blush on the cheeks; and a bronze gloss on my lips.

Here are the Styleseeker pieces I used…

The eyes

mac styleseeker tutorial 2

I started with my eyes, using a finger to spread MAC Paint Pot in Quite Natural, a creamy matte brown eyeshadow, on my eyelids. The cream shadow acts as an intensifying base for the other eyeshadows I’ll apply on top.

Then, I grabbed some of Indie Spirit, the brown shade from the Eyeshadow X 2 Duo in Marche Aux Puces, with a MAC 217 Blending Brush, and applied it on my lids, concentrating most of the color on my lash line, and fading as I moved up.

After that, I took what was left on the brush and ran it along my lower lash line.

mac styleseeker tutorial 3

Next up, shimmer. Using a MAC 239 Eye Shader Brush, I applied Chessa, the shimmery golden orange shade from the same duo, directly on top of the brown shadow on my lids.

mac styleseeker tutorial 4
[Continue reading…]

MAC Pro Lip Palettes in Modern Browns and Editorial Oranges: Face Pics

by 44 Comments

mac pro lip palette editorial oranges

Last batch of today’s MAC swatch fest! 🙂

Face pics of the new Pro Lip Palettes in 6 Editorial Oranges and 6 Modern Browns ($40 US, $47.50 CDN), two of the five Pro Lip Palettes gliding into MAC Pro stores and maccosmetics.com in North America August 23, and internationally next month.

MAC Modern Browns Editorial Oranges Pro Lip Palette 6
Pro Lip Palettes in 6 Modern Browns (left) and 6 Editorial Oranges (right)

6 Editorial Oranges

mac pro lip palette editorial oranges so chaud
So Chaude, an intense reddish orange (matte)

mac pro lip palette editorial oranges crosswires
Cross Wires, a clean pinky orange (cremesheen)

mac pro lip palette editorial oranges morange
Morange, a loudmouth orange (amplified creme)
[Continue reading…]

More MAC Styleseeker! First Impressions and Face Pics

by 31 Comments

mac styleseeker marche aux puces eye shadow dark diversion fluidline hidden treasure blush ready to roam lipglass
Wearing Eye Shadow X 2 Marche Aux Puces, Fluidline in Dark Diversion, MAC Powder Blush in Hidden Treasure and Lipglass in Ready to Roam

Face pics of the new MAC Styleseeker collection in action. 🙂

mac styleseeker marche aux puces eye shadow dark diversion fluidline hidden treasure blush c thru lipglass
Wearing Eye Shadow X 2 Marche Aux Puces, Fluidline in Dark Diversion, MAC Powder Blush in Hidden Treasure and Lipglass in C-Thru

mac styleseeker marche aux puces eye shadow dark diversion fluidline hidden treasure blush restless lipglass
Wearing Eye Shadow X 2 Marche Aux Puces, Fluidline in Dark Diversion, MAC Powder Blush in Hidden Treasure and Lipglass in Restless
[Continue reading…]

MAC Pro Lip Palettes Pics and Swatches

by 15 Comments

mac pro lip palette editorial oranges

Pics and swatches of two of the five new MAC Pro Lip Palettes ($40 each US, $47.50 CDN). These cuties strut into MAC Pro stores and maccosmetics.com in North America August 23, and internationally next month.

MAC Modern Browns Editorial Oranges Pro Lip Palette 6
Pro Lip Palettes in 6 Modern Browns (left) and 6 Editorial Oranges (right)

MAC Pro Lip Palette 6 Editorial Oranges
6 Editorial Oranges
[Continue reading…]

Copyright © 2025 Makeup and Beauty Blog. Get in touch.