The Makeup Box

MAC Spring 2013 Apres Chic Collection

—

(**indicates the items I’m personally interested in checking out or purchasing!)

The items I’m mostly likely going to get are the Porcelain Pink Mineralize Skinfinish (PERFECT luminous pink cheekbone highlight for people like me who don’t like a stark yellow or white shimmer), and maybe one or two of the Mineralize lip balms. I’m hoping they aren’t sticky like Lipglasses but feel the same as the usual MAC Lipbalms.

Read More

Speaking of Guilty Pleasures…. MAC’s Holiday Mini-Sets are out. You know what to put on your Wishlists!

—

Just when I was talking about guilty pleasures indeed.

Well, if you’re the type to switch up your lip color a lot, getting 4 minis is a great way to try different looks without committing to any one particular color in full-size. The lip sets come in 3 groupings:

Nicely Nude: 4 nudes, creams, browns for the Mod girl.

Cocktail Coral: spans from creamy to peachy to pink. Good mix of shades, so check this out if you’re a beginner.

Lavish Rose: Cool creamy pink, and 3 mauve/purple shades for the drama-queen. 

As for the three pigment sets, I’m going to have to restrain myself since all my sets from the Snowglobe and Vera collections are all still pretty full. Still these are their usual gorgeous stacked metallic selves.

Tenderly Warm: Versatile mix of sugar-and-spice, with a soft pink, some beige/champagnes, and a soft brown.

Brilliantly Cool: The most interesting one if you’re looking for something different. Moss Garden from the Vera collection is re-released in this one, so if you love teals and marine shades, check this set out.

Guilty Passions: Arguably the prettiest-looking of the lot with a mix of pale pink, magenta, purple, and a dusty mauve. Might not be the most flattering and versatile shades for daily wear if you’re just starting out.

Check out the MAC page for more details here!

MAC Marilyn Monroe Collection

—

It’s amazing how one woman has come to signify glamor and sexiness for not just one but several generations of women in the 20th-21st Centuries.

She has two gorgeous looks that she works; one the sultry scarlet-lipped siren with the platinum blonde locks and sleepy eyes. The other, the fresh-faced, I-rolled-out-of-bed-looking-gorgeous kitten look with soft lips, loose waves, and Bambi-eyes.

MAC’s collection focuses emphasizing the lash line (liners, lashes, mascara instead of strong shadows), natural-looking skin, and a range of strong lip colors.

I like the concept if you’re a makeup collector (the packaging is beautiful), and this is a good reference collection if you want to start doing classic glamorous makeup but don’t have a clear idea where to start and what products to buy. Otherwise, you might not find anything that unique about the shades and products on offer since the drugstores are filled to the brim with cheaper alternatives of these classic colors. 

MAC Marilyn Monroe collection will be available worldwide around October 2012.

MAC Casual Color Lip and Cheek Color Swatches and Review

—-

MAC’s new collection was barely laid out on the counter at my local MAC when i swooped in on it. I was only able to check out the Lip and Cheek Colors this round and picked up 2.

Relaxation: Soft nude-mauve. If you enjoy Snob lipstick or Revlon Pink Pout you will like this color.

Weekend Getaway: Medium warm-pink. Similar to Chatterbox in tone. If you like Pink Nouveau but find it too blue or pastel, this is a very good option.

—

Texture and Coverage:

They look and feel a little like MAC’s potted balms but the coverage is quite opaque. I’d say these are between Cremesheens and Satins because they don’t go on glossy and can easily build up to a pretty full finish. Think of these as potted lipsticks more than a Cream Color Base or balm. On the cheeks, they blend out ok but note the medium tone shades in the range need to be sheered out well. They are also similar to Stila cheek rouges and leave a sheen so oily-skinned gals might want to avoid applying it to your cheeks.

These contain castor oil, a primary ingredient in lipsticks, but that is very low on the comedogenic rating, so these should not clog your pores. Still, I’m not fond of communal lip/cheek dipping pots because things like grease from food, and other icky stuff can get transferred in from your lips and then applied onto your cheeks.

—

Application

Fingers are still my favorite for getting these on. After all the whole collection is centered around quick, easy, relaxed makeup. Sponges and stippling brushes would work as well for cheek application but it will take so much time to get everything evened out that I won’t even bother. This isn’t a liquid or mousse so it’s not going to spread easily without some gentle pressure.

For the lips, you can use a lip brush for precision and a fuller, glossier finish but I again use just my fingers. You just need to be very careful as around the corners of your lips as fingers don’t navigate those corners well. Be prepared to tidy up a little.

When I haphazardly swiped on a layer, I looked like a 7 year old that got into my mother’s makeup stash. A mess.

—-

Shades

There are 8 in total, and while I was also fascinated by the dusty lavender, I decided to just be practical and go with the 2 shades that:

1. I would use often. (Lavender is out.)
2. Would actually be blush shades I would wear. (The nudes and browns are out because I like a bit of pink/warmth to the cheeks.)

MAC In Extra Dimension Collection (Limited Edition) Review - plus Young Venus swatch

—-

Have you checked out MAC’s In Extra Dimension Collection? I must admit I was not aware until I saw them on the display at one of my local counters and was blown away by how pretty they looked.

These promise to be a powder-cream hybrid with the benefits of both; silky, high-pigmentation, high-sheen, and defined. 

I found the above to all be true, but I don’t actually find them creamy-feeling. They pretty much feel and wear like regular pearl finish shadows to me. If you like the Veluxe Pearl formula, you will love this. If you liked the Metal X Shadows but want something more intense and that won’t crease like a cream, this is good as well.

Each pot looks a lot larger than the regular shadows but actually only holds 2g of shadow (0.5g more than the regular shadows) but the cost is also significantly higher, so I’ll leave you to decide if it’s worth purchasing. It’s hard to resist when you’re staring at the sculpted metallic contours of these things in the shop.

I didn’t find the whole collection to be splurge-worthy, so I only got one item (Young Venus, image set above) which is a perfect pink highlighter for those with medium to fair yellow-toned skin. I wear pearlescent pinks on my cheeks all the time and prefer the subtle glowy effect to champagne (oily-looking) or gold colored (jaundiced-looking) highlighters on me.

Pink Venus is a pale pink pearl not as shiny and warm-based as Pink Swish, and not as pink as Da Bling. I love it on the cheeks and bridge of the nose as it’s not overly shiny and sparkly for day (as compared to something like MAC Iridescent Powder in Silver Dusk), but soft and glowy enough to not look like blush or turn chalky white against the skin.

As for the other shadows, they’re beautiful but I’m undecided about whether I need to get them as regular shadow since they’re

• limited edition, so any shade I fall for is not going to be available for long
• just like other metallic/pearl finish shadows. And I wear everything over a base anyway, so I don’t usually have problems with color intensity

—-

Also in the collection: MAC Extra Dimension Skinfinish.

I thought these were beautiful but I didn’t get them as they are better suited for caramel to really deep skins. For medium-to-pale skins, these look pretty brassy and unnatural. (If you can imagine applying a copper or bronze metallic shadow onto the cheeks… this are it.) There is one peach shade which might work a bit better for those with medium and medium-light skin, but I can’t promise it will work if you’re very fair, so definitely try before you buy.

If you have deeper skin, these might be gorgeous if you don’t mind looking quite metallic and shiny. Or, if you’re looking for a special FX finish for a show or shoot, these are worth checking out of course. Then again, I think you can get the same look using a metallic eye shadow or pigment, so I don’t know if it’s worth paying so much and worrying about it being discontinued.

So as beautiful as they are, I resisted the urge. I will probably go back and get the limited edition split-fiber brush for cheeks though. It’s a perfect size for highlighting!