unsungheroes

Hello, glitter! This way to Sparkle Central. Just a heads up, but Viva Glam VI Lipglass is all about glitter, so if you’re averse to getting glitter on the mattress, glitter on the highway, glitter on the front porch, glitter on the hallway, you probably won’t love (shack) this, baby!

Oh, and another thing — have I mentioned the glitter? Because this Viva Glam has loads of it. 🙂

As a member of the MAC Viva Glam family, 100 percent of the proceeds from the sale of VI go to support the MAC AIDS Fund, which helps women, children and men living with HIV/AIDS.

In true Viva Glam fashion, warm, plummy VI gets along with with most everyone, but I think it looks particularly fetching on girls with skin tones from NC and NW 40 and up; something about it just werks on skin tones from medium to dark.

[Continue reading…]

A sheer pink gloss to layer atop neutral pink lipsticks? — that shouldn’t be hard to find.

Right…?

Famous last words.

You’d think it would be easy peasy! — but quite a few sheer pink glosses have a milky quality to ’em and pigments that gather in the fine lines of my lips; the end result can look patchy and uneven.

Or how about sheer pink glosses that are just too sheer? Or too pigmented? Gah! In the first case, they don’t add much, if anything, to the lipsticks they’re supposed to enhance; in the second, they overwhelm the lipsticks they’re supposed to help.

With MAC Right Image Cremesheen Glass ($19.50), I can happily tick the box next to “None of the above.” 🙂

This sheer, pale mid-tone bluish pink packs just the right amount of pigment. It’s enough that when I wear it by itself, I can see the pink on my lips, but it’s not so bold or opaque that it overshadows lipsticks when it’s worn on top (oh! — I love how it looks on top of Modesty Cremesheen).

[Continue reading…]

I know that for some folks, especially ones who aren’t as fanatical about interested in makeup as you and I, it’s surprising to find wearable lip colors in MAC’s permanent line.

At lunch with my BFF Cindy a couple months ago, when I pulled out nude pink Modesty Cremesheen Lipstick ($14.50) to touch up after the meal, Cindy was shocked when I told her the lippie was from MAC.

Cindy, a makeup minimalist (to the extreme!), had an impression of MAC that many people share. She doesn’t wear makeup very often (the last time I saw her wearing eyeliner was at my wedding six years ago), but she has cruised by MAC counters many times before, and seeing the glammed-up artists there, always just assumed MAC only carried crazy colors.

No matter how many times I’ve tried to set her straight, gah! I swear, if I had a nickle for every time I’ve told that girl that MAC isn’t only about brights… But she doesn’t listen, probably because we’ve known each other for more than 20 years (she’s like the sister I never had), so she tunes me out when I go into makeup mode…or talk about Tabs. 🙂

She did show an interest in MAC Modesty, though, which is great! — because I think it’s one of those eminently agreeable lip colors that every gal should try.

[Continue reading…]

I usually have a pretty good memory. Like, I can normally recall the things you’ve told me about yourself — how many cats you assist or the name of your favorite perfume — even if you mentioned them months or years ago, but for some reason, today I can’t remember the last time I played Truth or Dare.

And it’s bugging me! — because I wanted to tie it into this post about MAC Cremesheen Glass in Double Dare ($19.50), today’s MAC Unsung Hero.

I’ve been sitting here racking my brain, but the best I’ve come up with is one hazy memory of my roommates back in sophomore year daring me to knock on the door of the guy who lived in the apartment across from ours to tell him that we thought he was hot (“Hi, uh… My name is Karen and I live across the way and my roommates and I just wanted you to know that we think you’re cute okay bye!”), but I don’t think that was the last time.

Maybe the last time was so traumatizing that I blanked it out. Or perhaps I’m just running out of free space in my mental storage area, so my brain is deleting some of the useless stuff to make room for more important things, like makeup. 🙂

Oh, well… I’m sure I get more value out of remembering to bring this creamy reddish coral lipgloss with me than I’m likely to get from any of the stupid stuff I did back in the day, LOL!

Now, coral glosses? I happily rock ’em all year round, but during spring and summer, when bright lips rule the school, I could wear them 24/7. Double Dare happens to be one of the glosses that rarely leaves my purse, and it’s the shade I usually recommend to friends who say they like the idea of wearing a bright coral gloss like MAC Lychee Luxe or Viva Glam Cyndi, but don’t want to deal with a sticky Lipglass.

It’s just so darn easy! I can wear it without a lip liner, and even apply it without a mirror, like when I’m walking through a parking lot, which I actually did last night when I stopped by Target.

[Continue reading…]