MAC warm glittery ice FOTD makeup look

Wednesday 23 November 2011

I got down to doing a quick makeup look the other night using my newest haul - from the MAC winter collection. If you'd like to see the palette and swatches you can see them here.
I did try to use as many colours as possible from the palette so hope you like it!


Products used:
> UDPP
> MAC Warm palette - Winterscape, Patina, Buckwheat, Gaelic Gold, Midnight Flurry
> MAC fluidline - blacktrack
> UD 24/7 eye pencil - zero
> Dior Show mascara - black
> Khuraira ACC - light
> MAC studio concealer in NC35
> UD Brow Box in brown sugar
> UD baked bronzer in Toasted
> MAC Such Flare lipstick

After priming the eyes with UDPP, I used Winterscape (the lightest silvery white shadow) on the inner corners and a bit on the brow bone with the MAC 239 SE brush. I used Patina and Gaelic gold further along the eyelid, starting with Patina and following along with Gaelic Gold. On the outer corner I used Midnight Flurry and blended Buckwheat upwards into the crease with the MAC 217 SE brush.
I used MAC fluidline in blacktrack to line the top eyelid, whilst using UD pencil in Zero to line the inside waterline. Using the liner brush (212 SE) I used the same shadows from the eyelid to create a symmetry on the lower lashline.
Using Dior Show on the lashes I wiggled the brush to bring the most out of the lashes, and concealed under the eyes with the Khuraira ACC and MAC studio concealer:
For the rest of the face I used UD Baked bronzer predominantly on the cheeks and lightly brushed on the forehead, nose and chin. On the lips I used the MAC Such Flare lipstick, just one coat.
Have you bought any products from this years MAC winter collection? If so which would you recommend?

<3

MAC winter collection haul

Friday 18 November 2011

Hello my lovelies!!

If you've been following me on twitter (or instagram) you'd have probably seen me excitedly post up pictures of my MAC winter collection haul, which consisted of three things:

> Make It Perfect Special Edition Brush Kit
> Glitter & Ice lipstick in Such Flare
> Ice Parade: Warm Snowglobe Eyeshadow palette


Make It Perfect SE Brush Kit: 
I bought this kit as I have never actually owned any MAC brushes but always heard that the 217 is a great blending brush so I figured I'd buy this set as it was good value (and limited edition, which always is a plus!)
This special edition is described as: 
"a chic collectible. With their glittering clear-as-ice handles and see-through snowglobe-inspired bag, this set of the 167 SE, 168 SE, 239 SE, 217 SE and the all-white 212 SE is a must for your wish list!"
This set is quite cute, great to carry around with you or to take on short trips/holidays as they are travel sized. I'll be tweeting or possibly posting a review on how I got along with these brushes as I haven't yet used them!
As for the bag they come with.. it's a bit cheap looking but hey ho, its a set and at a semi-decent price so I can't expect better quality I guess!

Glitter & Ice lipstick in Such Flare:

This red lipstick is a matte, although as you can see from the swatch it has slight shine to it. It's described as a "true red" but has strong blue undertones to it.
Warm Snowglobe eyeshadow palette:
From the Ice Parade section of the winter collection.
 The Snowglobe on top of the palette:
 
The snowglobe's glitter settling after being opened:
I bought this palette after seeing swatches on Temptalia.com as I've been disappointed before by eyeshadow pigmentation from MAC collections. The pigmentation looked decent enough from the swatches for this palette, whilst the others looked fairly meh. In fact I wanted to get the Sultry palette but seeing the swatches on Temptalia made me quickly change my mind.
I have to say that these palettes remind me of Clinique bonus time freebies so I'm a bit dissapointed at the size of the shadows as they are just about the size of my index finger (and I have small fingers!).
Pigmentation wise, I had to rub my fingers back and forth a bit to get a bit of real colour to swatch with, which was a bit disappointing, especially as I am used to the soft and very pigmented UD eyeshadows I've been using a lot of lately.
Here are the swatches of the eyeshadows, with their names:
My favourite shade has to be the Gaelic Gold; it reminds me a lot of UD deluxe shadow in Honey but with a slight rustiness to it.
Winterscape has to be the least pigmented shadow from this palette as I had to swipe a good few more times to get a swatch, more than the others.

I'll be sure to post a makeup look very soon, I know I've been a bit awful lately but I'll defo get my makeup pictures up even if it means no written tutorial!

Did you get anything from the MAC winter collection? If so, which other products would you recommend?

<3

Beware of fakes!

Saturday 12 November 2011

To those of you looking for a bargain online, you may come across amazingly cheap knockoffs online of more premium brands.

I made the mistake of buying a "MAC" limited edition eyeshadow set, but if you think it's too good to be true, then it probably is, as I found out later. Knockoffs may look like the real deal but the quality of makeup is unparalleled. 
There's nothing wrong with buying cheaper products, I'm not a snob or anything, the 120 palette has every colour you could ever want for a bargain of a price. But in terms of pigmentation, it obviously doesn't have as much as an UD or MAC product. Plus you wouldn't want to pay a bumped up price for something that would be sold for much cheaper if it didn't have a "brand" name on it.

Accidental Beauty gives a great guide on how to spot MAC fakes, something you may all want to read, for future reference.

Fortunately, MAC products are quite widely available worldwide, but brands like Urban Decay are not.. so obviously fakes have also popped up for this brand, one of the fakes including the infamous Naked palette.

Have a look at this video comparing a fake palette to the real one!
As you can see the real palette has more pigmented lighter colours than the fake palette (I find that's the case with the 120 palette too; the lighter colours aren't as pigmented!)
If you do find a palette for unusually cheap online, you're advised to ask these questions to the seller:
"is this authentic?"
"is this a special LAHERON edition" (THERE IS NO SUCH THING)
"does the primer potion come with this?"
The attention to detail on fakes are amazing, but ultimately if you're going to be buying this for yourself or as a present, there's a difference and I can guarantee the UD one would last you longer.

Anyway, just thought I'd share this with you as we all see amazing products as bloggers and everyone would ultimately like a bargain, but just be wary online especially, as well as in dodgy shops!

<3

And the winner is..

Wednesday 2 November 2011

I've finally managed to put all the entries into the random name picker on classtools.net, thank you so much to all who have entered my competition, it was an overwhelming response!

So the winner of this competition is............

Kim - Dottie K

Congratulations Kim of Dottie K, I hope you enjoy your products!

As for everyone else, thank you for entering and hopefully next time I can have runners up prizes too, I feel bad there's only one winner!

Stay tuned for more makeup looks and reviews and maybe some more general posts.. do let me know if there's anything in particular you'd like to see =)

<3
 
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