Recent Pickups

My weekend project was depoting all my MAC single shadows and putting them into palettes. Needless to say, I had a ton of pots to return for Back 2 MAC. (Just FYI: I did verify with MAC Customer Service via email that they will take pots with out pans back for the program).

Since I am making a trip to the Pro store this weekend, I only took in enough empties for two lipsticks I my Macy's MAC counter. They were out of half of the colors I was looking for, so I settled on Sweetie and Brave. Sweetie is a lustre finish in a bright, sparkly pink. Lustres do go on semi sheer, but can be built up. Brave is a pinky brown and a Satin finish. It does feel a tad drying on the lips.

I also picked up the MAC Archie's Girls quad in Caramel Sundae (from the Betty half of the collection). I did read some mixed reviews on this, but I love the colors and packaging so much.

At Ulta, I grabbed two Hempz lotions for my bag. One in Original and the other in Cucumber and Jasmine. I love this lotion! It's so moisturizing, smells great, and travels well.

MAC Prolongwear Paint Pot: Vintage Selection

I'm a big fan of MAC's Paint Pots. I love them as a wash on the lid or as a sticky base for other shadows, so I was super excited when I saw MAC was releasing a new Pro longwear version. When I was picking up my Archie's Girls goodies, I ha to take a peek at them.

Vintage Selection is a pretty beige with shimmer. It seemed like it would be a pretty, simple wash of color. Well...all I seem to get on my lid is shimmer. And fallout. And that's OVER a primer. I'll keep working with it, but I'm not impressed. Yet.

MAC Archie's Girls: Lipglass

Two of the lipglosses from the Archie's Girls collection came home with me. I picked up Summer Sweetheart from the Betty side and Mall Madness from Veronica's half.

Summer Sweetheart is a pretty peach. It really just lightens my natural lip color a bit and will be great for layering.

Mall Madness is a shimmery fuchsia. This is actually very wearable. It isn't totally opaque and leaves a nice pink color and sparkle! Love it!

MAC lipglass is thick and sticky, but this gives it better staying power than a typical gloss.

MAC Archie's Girls: Lipstick

I picked up two of the lipsticks from the Archie's Girls collection. I have Oh Oh Oh from the Betty half and Daddy's Little Girl from the Veronica half.

Oh Oh Oh is a lustre finish. It looks very brown in the bullet, but applies a pretty pink plum. Since its a lustre, it is semi sheer.

Daddy's Little Girl is a satin finish. It's a pretty blue based fuchsia. It is really opaque with one swipe of the bullet.

Overall, I'm happy with the colors I chose. I definitely see myself using Oh Oh Oh more often.

MAC Archie's Girls Blush: Cream Soda

Cream Soda is from the 'Betty' half of the collection. It's a satin finish peach. It's actually fairly pigmented and doesn't feel dry. I think it's a great Spring color! I'm happy with this purchase.

MAC Archie's Girls Collection Haul

MAC Archie's Girls Collection was released on counters today and I picked up a few things. For now, I'm just putting up pictures of everything. I'll do individual posts over the next few days!

Blush Swatches

I am not a big blush collector. I have a lot of natural pigmentation in my cheeks, so I've always passed on blush for fear of emphasizing it. Lately though I have started to experiment with blush a bit more and have added a few to my collection.

NARS seems to be the standard for blushes in the mid range cosmetics. I only have two: Douceur and a mini Orgasm (part of an old Sephora 500 point perk). Douceur is a dusty pink/mauve. It looks really dark and brown in the swatches, but looks less dirty in real life. I'm fairly sure everyone knows why Orgasm looks like...but it's a shimmery peachy pink.

From Tarte, I have two of the Amazonian clay blushes. Both were part of various kits and I'm not sure they are available individually. Charisma is a peachy pink with shimmer. Adventurous is a muted berry with shimmer.

As far as MAC blushes go, I currently own one (although I do have 3 MSFs). It is Launch Away and was released last summer. It's a nice, light pink with a bit of peach and no shimmer/sheen.

Lastly, I have a bareMinerals blush from the Ready line in The Natural High. I reviewed this recently, but it's (again) a peachy pink with shimmer.

(Do we see a trend with my choices?!?)

I definitely need to branch out some with my color choices and also get more matte/satin finishes, but I'm still a blush newbie. Do you have a favorite blush or one you can't wait to buy?

Current Face Favorites

My skin has been looking fairly good lately, so I've switched up my foundation a bit. I've been loving MAC Face and Body (I use shade N1). It gives sheer, but buildable,coverage and a natural, dewy finish. I pair it with MAC Mineralize concealer in NW20 for under my eyes.

I really only need one layer of foundation to even out my skin. I like how it is so light! I really don't feel like I'm wearing anything. The Mineralize concealer is so nice to work with. It isn't the heaviest coverage, but does a decent job and blends nicely without pulling.

The swatches below are: Face and Body foundation unblended/slightly blended; Mineralize concealer unblended/slightly blended/fully blended.

MAC Eyeshadow: Matte

Continuing on my MAC swatching mission; here are the eyeshadows I own with a matte formula. All swatches are on NW15 skin.

Matte formulas can be hit or miss. They can be buttery and blendable or stuff and difficult to work with. I've had decent luck with MAC's matte shadows, but I do a lot of 'research' before I buy.

First up is Sand &Sun. This is a limited edition from Summer 2010. It's a pinky peach with a semi stiff texture.

Next is Embark. This is a deep brown with good color payoff and is nice to work with.

Then we have Corduroy. This is lighter than Embark with more of a red undertone. Again, this one is nice to work with. I swatched Embark next to Corduroy (l-r) to show the difference in color.

Next is Wedge. This is my newest matte and I really like it. It's a light brown and is nice as a subtle crease color.

Finally is Plumage. This is a deep, dark teal. It has excellent payoff and is nice to work with. I did two swatches here, one heavy and the other sheered out.

Swatches below are in the same order as above.

Thanks for reading!