Category Archives: Makeup
MAC Cosmetics Kabuki Magic Collection (Review & Swatches)
MAC Cosmetics is just on the verge of launching an absolutely behemoth-sized collection on us: Kabuki Magic!
Available online on January 19, 2016 (it does say select MAC locations, but I’m not sure if they mean regional online for that launch date, or in stores regionally), the Kabuki Magic collection boats roughly 50 products in its lineup!
“The heart and soul of M∙A∙C Cosmetics comes alive backstage at the 34 Fashion Weeks throughout the world. We pride ourselves on discovering and nurturing new talent and working with the industry leaders who innovate iconic beauty styles. In January, M∙A∙C teams up with three adored makeup maestros – Diane Kendal, James Kaliardos, and Kabuki – to create colour collections reflecting each artist’s signature style.”
The collection stays true to MAC‘s traditional black packaging, but adds a little bit of extra flare with some layered gold lettering on the exterior packaging as well as on the products themselves.
I’ve got two pieces from the collection, so let’s run through them.
The lipstick Jasper is described as a deep reddish-brown with a satin finish. I’d say that description is fairly bang on!
Satin is one of my absolute favourite lipstick finishes by MAC as it has a lot of staying power, so I was really happy to see a shade like this in that finish. Jasper was easy to apply (although obviously not as creamy as an Cremesheen or Amplified) and the colour impact was there right at the get go. Beautiful, beautiful colour!
I was really excited to try out The Shining Hour dazzleshadow quad from the collection. I love me a good glitter shadow and I had never tried out MAC’s dazzleshadow formula before.
The quad as a whole is called The Shining Hour, but the shades each have individual names.
- Letty Lynton White pearl with white reflects
- Heaven Loves You Gold pearl with gold reflects
- Last Dance Light pink pearl with duochromatic violet reflects (repromote)
- Humoresque Light burgundy pearl with teal reflects
Sadly… I wasn’t impressed. These are very light and not that pigmented. They felt almost like speckly… fluff? Dusty? I’m not sure how to describe it other than that I wasn’t really happy with the colour payoff.
In the end, I opted to do a full eye look using only the shadows available in The Shining Hour quad, but I’m starting to think I did us all a disservice by doing that. These dazzleshadows are accent colours – you can’t truly build a singular eye look off of them unless you’re using one colour as a wash of pigment across your lid.
- In the look above, I made sure to use a sticky eyeshadow base. I applied Last Dance on the lid, Humoresque on the outer corner and through the crease, Letty Lynton on the inner corner of the eye, and Heaven Loves You rimming the entire lower lash line.
I personally see these dazzleshadows as more of a eyeshadow topper to add a punch of shine to the center of your lid, or to the inside corner. I wouldn’t suggest you use them as I did because the effect is not that great.
In the end? Huge thumbs up on the Jasper lipstick, thumbs down on The Shining Hour quad.
The products featured in this post were sent to me for consideration.
Swatch Sunday: Urban Decay Afterdark
I was originally going to resist the Urban Decay Afterdark palette. Some of the shadows are duplicates of shadows I have in other UD palettes (although you can never have enough Fringe eyeshadow as far as I’m concerned) and I figured I didn’t need it. But I kept seeing Rebekah putting together looks using the palette and my willpower caved.
I mean… my willpower was only so strong. Just look at this damn palette!
Urban Decay Afterdark Swatches
You can get the Urban Decay Afterdark palette from sephora.ca for $59 CAD or on sephora.com for $49 USD.
Physicians Formula Murumuru Butter Blushes (Review & Swatches)
The Butter Bronzer was an ENORMOUS launch for Physicians Formula in 2016, so it’s no surprise that they’d want to continue the line… I present to you: the Physicians Formula Butter Blushes!
However, I feel like the launch of the Butter Blushes was so incredibly subdued. I saw little to no hype about them online (aside from a random “free with purchase” on Ulta’s site that lasted all of six hours) and no one had mentioned them to me.
So when I saw these two Butter Blushes at Shoppers Drug Mart one morning, I gulped in shock at the price tag ($17.99 CAD each! EACH!!!) and glanced mournfully at my wallet who was about to eat the cost of them. But since I’ve been having quite the love affair with the Butter Bronzer in 2016, I didn’t even want to try to resist this launch!
The Murumuru Butter Blushes look and smell identical to the Butter Bronzer. Right down to having that weird spongey applicator thing in the base – do yourself a favour and throw it out.
So the two shades of the Butter Blush are Natural Glow and Plum Rose. And they show up enough in an arm swatch… and it smells nice like the Butter Bronzer... but… uh… that’s where all the goodness ends.
THESE FREAKING SUCK.
They are so goddamn bad it’s not even funny. I’m a relatively pale skin toned person in the grand scheme of things and these do not show up on me very well.
In the shot above, I’m wearing Plum Rose, but I had to pack about five layers on to get even the pigmentation you’re seeing there. (And frankly, you’re probably seeing more bronzer than blush on my cheeks.) Natural Glow (which I don’t have a cheek shot of) basically ends up looking like the most tame highlighter you’ve ever applied to your face.
While I stand by the amazingess of the Butter Bronzer, I can’t recommend these godawful butter blushes. I can’t even say they’d work on people paler than me. The pigmentation is so bad that it’s practically non-existent. These are just atrocious. I’m actually offended that I spent $18 EACH on these things. Save your money – do NOT buy them. (But if you’re a masochist and want to try them for yourself, you can get them at ulta.com for $12.99 USD each.)
Challenge Week: Urban Decay Full Spectrum
I’m finally getting this Challenge Week up! I’ve had the Urban Decay Full Spectrum for over a month now and it was definitely one of the releases I was looking forward to the most this holiday season! Even better? It’s still currently available at Sephora!
A rainbow palette… be still my heart! I used no other palette with these looks, so if you need neutrals to flesh it out, you’ll need to grab something else! If you’d like to see swatches of this palette, please see my Swatch Sunday post here.
Urban Decay Full Spectrum Looks
Please note that in all cases, I did use a white eyeshadow base to help amp up the colours. This says nothing of the pigmentation of this palette as that is just my habit with any and all bright eyeshadows.
I wanted some kind of rainbow-y, sunset look for my first look, so I that’s exactly what I did! Want to see it live? I wore it in my November 201 Favourites video.
Eyes
- Calavera on the lid.
- Seize on the middle of the lid.
- Gossip on the outer corner of the lid.
- Sketch through the crease.
- Delirious to deepen it up the outer corner.
- Iced on the inner corner.
- Bump was used lightly on the brow bone to highlight.
I lined the inner lower lash line with Hatter and used Blindsided on the outer half. I lined my lower waterline with the MUFE Aqua XL Eye Pencil in M-26 and applied Too Faced Better Than Sex Mascara to my lashes. I also have a pair of House of Lashes Bombshell falsies on.
Face
- Foundation: Dermablend Smooth Liquid Camo in 10N Cream
- Bronzer: Soap & Glory Solar Powder
- Blush: BECCA Flowerchild
- Highlighter: Anastasia Beverly Hills Marshmallow
- Lips: Kat Von D Everlasting Liquid Lipstick in Lovesick
A more red/warm toned look to watch my lips and the ever-present holiday season! To see it in action, check out my Beauty Empties for Q4 2016 video.
Eyes
- Warning on the lid.
- Alchemy through the crease.
- Delirious on the outer half of the lid (also used to line the lower lash line).
- Platonic to deepen up the outer corner.
- Jones on the inner corner.
- Bump on the brow bone.
I created the wing Kat Von D’s Tattoo Liner in Trooper and applied Charlotte Tilbury’s Legendary Lashes mascara. I also have a pair of Sephora Collection Plush falsies on.
Face
- Foundation: Revlon Colorstay Liquid in Buff with Illamasqua Skin Base in 6.5 mixed in
- Bronzer: Soap & Glory Solar Powder
- Blush: NYX Bright Idea in Coralicious
- Highlighter: NYX Bright Idea in Chardonnay Shimmer
- Lips: Kat Von D Everlasting Liquid Lipstick in Plath
I didn’t notice it until I rounded up my looks, but I’m really focusing on gradient lids with a different lower lash line colour with this palette! You can see this look in my December 2016 Makeup Favourites video.
Eyes
- Mean on the lid.
- Hatter on the outer corner.
- I tried to blend Hundred in, but it wasn’t working, so I added in Platonic to the outer corner.
- Goldmine on the inner corner.
- Bump on the brow bone.
I applied Jones to the lower lash line and some of Warning to the very outer corner. I created the wing with Kat Von D’s Tattoo Liner in Trooper and applied Charlotte Tilbury’s Legendary Lashes mascara. I also have a pair of House of Lashes Siren falsies on.
Face
- Foundation: Revlon Colorstay Liquid in Buff with Illamasqua Skin Base in 6.5 mixed in
- Bronzer: NYC Fire Island Tan
- Blush: Physicians Formula Butter Blush in Rose Plum
- Highlighter:
- Lips: Bite Beauty Pepper with NYX Butter Gloss in Cherry Pie on top
Again… one colour on top, and one on the bottom! I wore this one in my 2016 Beauty Favourites!
Eyes
- Blindsided on the lid.
- Minx on the outer half of the lid.
- Bump on the brow bone.
I lined the lower lash line with Jones and a touch of Warning. I created the wing with the Too Faced Sketch Marker in Black and applied Charlotte Tilbury’s Legendary Lashes mascara. I also have a pair of House of Lashes falsies on, but I’m not sure which particular pair it is.
Face
- Foundation: Revlon Colorstay Liquid in Buff with Illamasqua Skin Base in 6.5 mixed in
- Bronzer: Soap & Glory Solar Powder
- Blush: BECCA Songbird
- Highlighter: Anastasia Beverly Hills Mimosa
- Lips: Revlon Snow Peach with Clinique Melon Drop Pop on top
And for my last look, I was inspired by what I was wearing: I had a dark purple sweatshirt on that says “Look Me in the Eyeliner and Say That” that I got from the Urban Decay Square One Launch Event last month and I was wearing a neon chartreuse sports bra. Perfect colour combination in my opinion!
Eyes
- Faded on the lid.
- Sketch through the crease.
- Delirious to deepen up the outer corner.
- Iced on the inner corner.
- Bump on the brow bone.
On the lower lash line I have Mean on the inner portion and Hatter on the outer portion. I created the wing with the Too Faced Sketch Marker in Black and applied Charlotte Tilbury’s Legendary Lashes mascara.
- Foundation: ARTDECO Nude Foundation in 70 Neutral Vanilla Chiffon
- Bronzer: The Body Shop Honey Bronzer in 01 Light Matte
- Blush: BECCA Flowerchild
- Highlighter: Anastasia Beverly Hills Sassy Grape
- Lips: Urban Decay Ex-Girlfriend
And there we have it! Five fun, colourful looks using the Urban Decay Full Spectrum palette! Did you pick this one up?? If you didn’t, it’s currently on sale at sephora.ca for $57 CAD or on sephora.com for $39 USD.