Although I had never owned an Anastasia Beverly Hills palette before, I knew that the Modern Renaissance palette was going to be MINE!
Anastasia Beverly Hills – Modern Renaissance
It’s chockful of warm tones, namely a few RED shades. I can’t even express my excitement that makeup companies are finally starting to produce red eyeshadows in easily available commercial palettes. SO EXCITED!
Anastasia Beverly Hills – Modern Renaissance
A Challenge Week will be forthcoming with this palette, in the mean time, please check out the swatches!
Anastasia Beverly Hills Modern Renaissance Swatches
Too Faced Sweethearts Additions – Sweet Tea and Sparkling Bellini
With the launch of their summer collection, Too Faced added two brand new items to their Sweethearts lineup!
Too Faced Sweethearts Additions – Sweet Tea and Sparkling Bellini
Until now, the Sweethearts lineup had always been all about that blush life. This launch introduced us to a new blush *and* a bronzer shade! (And you KNOW how I feel about bronzers!)
Too Faced Sweethearts Blush in Sparkling Bellini
Encased in ridiculously adorable packaging, the Sparkling Bellini blush has three stripes of oranges and pinks.
Too Faced Sweethearts Blush in Sparkling Bellini
Since two of the shades in the pan are more on the orange side of things, this blush does lean quite orangey-coral. It’s also worth noting that there is some particles of glitter in the mix that will adhere to your skin. If you’re adverse to glitter, go easy with your brush!
Too Faced Sweethearts Blush in Sparkling Bellini – swatches
In Sparkling Bellini, the middle stripe had the least amount of frost/glitter in it. This is a very luminous blush – to the point where you may not even need a highlighter. I wore it a few days without highlighter, but then ultimately decided I still needed BECCA’s Champagne Pop in my life! 😉
Too Faced Sweethearts Bronzer in Sweet Tea
With my incredible love for bronzers, I was most interested by the Sweet Tea Sweethearts Bronzer. *Especially* because the left half of the pan can look almost grey/white in some lighting.
Too Faced Sweethearts Bronzer in Sweet Tea
In terms of customizing your bronzer tone, this product works out really well. If you’re a bit paler, you can stick to the left hand side. Darker toned? The right hand side. Or do what I do and swirl the brush into the two of them! Unlike the blush, the bronzer does not have glitter particles.
Too Faced Sweethearts Bronzer in Sweet Tea – swatches
Pigmentation is STRONG on these! I should probably opt for the paler side until I get my full summer tan, but I’ve been swirling my brush into the two shades and going in with a very light hand and blending out like crazy just so I can use the product to their full effect.
Wearing Sweet Tea and Sparkling Bellini
I’m wearing Sweet Tea on my temples, backs of my cheekbones and along my jaw line. Sparkling Bellini has been applied to my cheeks and blended backwards.
Wearing Sweet Tea and Sparkling Bellini
You can get a very subtle glow with both the bronzer and the blush, which is something I really appreciate.
Wearing Sweet Tea and Sparkling Bellini
OR, you can amp it up and get a lot more colour impact out of both of them.
Final Thoughts
This was my first time trying any of the Too FacedSweethearts products and I have to say they’re a lot of fun to use, although there is a bit of a learning curve.
I found the Sweet Tea bronzer intensely pigmented, which I definitely wasn’t expecting based on how luminous it looks in the pan. In my experience, luminosity usually means more sheerness in the powder but that definitely wasn’t the case this time! I had to scale back my bronzing technique in order to get the flush I wanted. If you’re fair, don’t be afraid! The product does blend out nicely so you’re not left with any kind of streaks! This is also potentially great news for those who are a deeper skintone than me and need that extra pigmentation to make a bronzer work for them.
Sparkling Bellini blush was also super pigmented and I definitely booped too much on my cheek the first time I applied it (I wish I had a shot of that, I looked hilarious!). With a gentle hand, this is a gorgeous blush that comes with its own built in subtle highlighter. You will find small particle shimmer suspended in the blush which will stick to your cheeks – just a heads up for those who are adverse to any kind of glitter.
The new Sweethearts bronzer and blush are permanent additions to the Too Faced lineup and each retail for $30 USD (blush, bronzer) or $38 CAD (blush, bronzer).
The products featured in this post were sent to me for consideration.
One of MAC‘s latest collection to launch is Fashion Pack! It’s currently available online now, and will be in stores on June 23rd. For full colour story details, please see Swatch and Review’s roundup.
MAC Fashion Pack lipsticks in By Special Order and Stylist’s Tip
I’ve got two of the limited edition lipsticks from Fashion Pack… and holy crap you guys… they are not messing with these colours! They’re jawdropping!
By Special Order is a deep reddened fuchsia (be still my heart) in an Amplified formula.
Stylist’s Tip is a deep violet, also in an Amplified formula.
MAC By Special Order and Stylist’s Tip – swatches
You can see from the swatches that they have a very creamy finish and are quite shiny. I did find that some of the sheen died down after about thirty minutes (which is a plus for me).
MAC – By Special Order
By Special Order has completely stolen my heart. This is the kind of shade that I’m drawn to time and time again. Anything with “reddened” in the shade description usually sends my heart aflutter, and this one is no exception!
Wearing MAC – Special OrderWearing MAC – Special OrderMAC – Stylist’s Tip
As for Stylist’s Tip, at first I wasn’t sure what the heck I was going to pair it with… however I quickly discovered that it goes with just about anything. I wore Stylist’s Tip the other day with an olive smokey eye and it turned out to be gorgeous!
Wearing MAC – Stylist’s TipWearing MAC – Stylist’s Tip
Final Thoughts
Although I have admittedly not been a fan of the Amplified formula in the past, there’s something different about these lipsticks now. While soft on the lips and easy to apply, they oddly (/amazingly) had more grip on my lips than I had ever experienced with previous lipsticks in this formula. THIS IS WONDERFUL! I didn’t get any excessive lip line bleed out which I was prone to with their Amplified formula even with a clear liner and primer! I can finally wear the Amplified formula and enjoy it – man oh man, I’ve been missing out on the wonderful shades they’ve been putting out!
As for the colours in this post, they both applied smoothly and were cushiony and comfortable on my lips. I’ve worn each of them for 5+ hours and noticed very little fading over time. They are completely non-drying on my lips as well. Of the two, By Special Order is my favourite shade, but hey, it’s up to you to pick whichever is YOUR favourite!
The products featured in this review were sent to me for consideration.