Tag Archives: MAC

Travel Makeup Bag – February 2014

February 12, 2014Miscellaneous, VacationCollection, Illamasqua, Laura Mercier, MAC, Make Up For Ever, NARS, Nivea, Physicians Formula, Tarte, Too Faced, Urban Decay, yabyChelle

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I’m taking an extended vacation over the Family Day long weekend here in Ontario, so I’ll be heading back up to my parents house in Ottawa right after work on Wednesday (same date as this blog post if you’re reading it then). After having been ridiculously sick over Christmas vacation and not getting to hit any of the hills with my snowboard, I’ve been itching to get back up there. Toronto really doesn’t have any decent hills in the area (don’t even get me started on Blue Mountain… it’s not a mountain, it’s a sad, sad slope) so I really do need to get up to Ottawa and into Quebec to see some proper runs.

ANYWAY. All that to say I’m heading to Ottawa for about 5 days and thought I’d show you what makeup I’m bringing with me this time.

Urban Decay Naked & Tarte Off The Cuff palettes

First up are the palettes. Usually I pack my Naked palette and pop in a few loose blushes, but this time I decided to take advantage of the fact that the Tarte palette actually comes with four blushes and a bronzer. The Naked is a must have, but the Tarte palette is kind of a no-brainer.

Also, sad to say, but I’ve barely used the Tarte palette since I bought it in late last year, so I really want to get some proper use out of it. Not to mention the amount of space it saves.

Physicians Formula Shimmer Strip, Yaby foundation, Collection Concealer

For face products, I’m bringing the Physicians Formula Shimmer Strip in Sunset Strip (also because it’s underused), the Yaby foundation in Buff because it’s a great match for my skin and it comes in an incredibly small tube. Last up is the Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer in Shade 2 Light which I don’t really find to be a necessity on a daily basis, but I may want to use it so I threw it in there anyway.

Nivea Lip Butter, Laura Mercier Lip Glacé, MAC lipsticks

My Nivea lip butter in Vanilla & Macadamia tastes delicious (and reminds me of Ireland, since that’s where I bought it) and will be needed for hitting the slopes even though the packaging is kind of inconvenient. The mini Laura Mercier Lip Glace in Rose is in there in case I want to use a gloss (plus it also smells amazing). The two MAC lipsticks are Russian Red and Darkside, although I stupidly forgot to show you the actual colours. Whoops. I doubt I’ll even need this many lip products for a five day vacation, but the variety is nice for those “just in case” moments.

NARS Pro Prime, MAC Prep + Prime, MUFE Aqua Liner, MAC Lip Liner

And these are my necessities: NARS eyeshadow primer, MAC Prep + Prime for lips, Make Up For Ever Aqua Liner in 13 Black and a MAC lip pencil in Brick for if I decide to wear Russian Red.

Last up are Illamasqua‘s Imagine eyeshadow because I’ve never used it and I figured I needed to bring some kind of coloured shadow since the Naked palette is so very neutral. Too Faced‘s Better Than Sex mascara is also coming along for the ride since it’s in a tiny tube and easy to transport. Since I won’t be wearing any makeup while actually on the slopes, I don’t need a waterproof formula at all.

All of that fits into this relatively small makeup bag. For once I had a lot of small deluxe sample sized products which made it a lot easier to get everything crammed in there.

The makeup bag itself was part of the Liberty of London MAC collection from 2010. I’ve used this bag religiously to travel with over the years and love how it’s held up. I also love the colours and the pattern itself. If you’re wondering where my brushes are, I’ll probably end up chucking them in a Ziploc bag and stuff them between soft things somewhere between my clothing.

That’s it for this travel makeup bag. I’m extremely excited to get back out there snowboarding since it’s been far too many years!

My MAC Whites & Blacks Palette

February 7, 2014Makeup, Reviews, SwatchesMACChelle

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You know… I have this labelled as my MAC Whites and Blacks palette… and I have to say, while photographing and swatching this palette, it is very distinctly not whites and blacks. In fact, there’s only one white and only one black (and it’s a charcoal colour at that).

So I guess that my original thought when I created this palette would be that this would range from pure white to black, with all the shades of grey in between… but that never worked out. There’s some greys in here and some colours I probably should’ve put in other palettes if I have room.

Unfortunately (or fortunately, for my wallet), this palette isn’t full, so I have a few less shades to share with you today.

Name: Crystal Avalanche
Finish: Frost
Notes: Super frosty and super white. I use this primarily on the lid with Print in the crease. I think I also bought this as a replacement for the now discontinued Krisp from years ago (it’s not even remotely a dupe though).

Name: Vellum
Finish: Frost
Notes: I’ve owned a few of these pans, in fact, probably about three or four of them over the years. This used to come in the larger pan sizes (back in the 90s anyway), but I can’t quite remember if it was the same size as a blush. It’s a white frosted shade with a blue/violet sheen to it which is a nightmare to photograph. You can see that the pan has shades of purple in it, and you can see the swatch has shades of blue, that’s the duochrome. I love the colour, but the current pan I have (and I remember this from older version as well) gets really crusty on top and ends up requiring you to scrape a few layers off every now and then in order to get colour payoff. Very much worth owning however.

Name: Vex
Finish: Frost
Notes: Another nightmare colour to photograph. This is a pinky-green duochrome shade. It’s beautiful and is one of MAC’s softer shades – I always love applying this colour to my lids because it just goes on so easily.

Name: Vanilla
Finish: Pigment
Notes: Unlabelled in my palette at the moment since I’d just recently pressed it – this colour is like fairy dust. I don’t even know how to describe the base colour of this shade, maybe off-white, although I wouldn’t use it hoping for “off-white” on my lids. The sparkle within it is gold with some pink and orange in there. It’s absolutely stunning.

Name: Club
Finish: Satin
Notes: Satin is a weird finish for this one since it’s a duochrome and definitely has shimmer to it. The base of the shade is a red-brown colour and the duochrome is decidedly green. I love this especially with Vex.

Name: Copperplate
Finish: Matte2
Notes: Beautiful brown-grey in a lovely matte2 formula (although not as soft as Handwritten which is like butter!).

Name: Electra
Finish: Frost
Notes: Probably my second pan of this shade – I used this to death in my early twenties as my “going out” look. It’s a very frosty, very shiny silver.

Name: Bough Grey
Finish: Satin
Notes: Limited edition – I picked this up with the Liberty of London collection in 2010. Very muted grey.

Name: Print
Finish: Satin
Notes: A not-quite-black shade (more charcoal than black) that goes on with very minimal sheen.

Crystal Avalanche
Vellum
Vex
Vanilla Pigment
Club
Copperplate
Electra
Bough Grey
Print

There’s only one palette left in my MAC collection, and that’s my Purples and Pinks palette, which should be up within the next two weeks. If you’re interested in seeing my previously posted palettes (wooo alliteration!), you can check them out here:

What’s On My Face – Volume 10

February 5, 2014Makeup, TutorialsArdell, Bourjois, Dior, Kiko, L'Oreal, Laura Mercier, MAC, Make Up For Ever, Makeup Geek, MUA, NARS, NYX, Physicians Formula, Revlon, Sephora, Sleek, Tarte, Too Faced, Urban DecayChelle

More makeup looks I’ve done over the past few weeks ranging from stuff I wore to work, out to a bar or was just headed over to a friend’s place! I was really happy with this set of looks and I hope you enjoy them.

As a note, I’ve switched to NARS‘ Pro Prime eyeshadow primer, so that’s what I use in all of my looks now unless otherwise stated.

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I loooove this one! It took me a lot more time to put this one together because I don’t normally get this creative and use so many shadows. (Seriously, if you haven’t noticed, I tend to stick to about two lid colours!) I don’t typically wear this much shadow/liner under my eyes on a regular basis because holy hell is that area ever sensitive on me and I usually end up with very watery eyes. This frustrates me because I realize just how much a makeup look comes together when you shade under your eyes!

Anyway, moving on.

With this, I had one goal: I wanted to use the MUFE rainbow glitter that I had picked up last month. I also hadn’t done purple look in quite a while so I figured this was as good a time as any.

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Eyes: I first applied NYX‘s Jumbo Eye Shadow Pencil in Milk all over the lid as a base.

The first colour from a ginormous Sephora eyeshadow palette I have that unfortunately does not have shade names, however, the colour is very similar to MAC‘s Crystal. Essentially, the colour is a very pale lilac shade with a bit of a sheen to it. This shade was placed on the inner half of the lid.
I then used MAC Dame’s Desire right beside the previous shadow, but not all the way out to the corner.
Sleek Sugarlite was blended heavily into the upper crease.
Sleek Highness filled in the outer corner, with;
Sleek Noir at the very edge of the outer lashline to darken up that area.
I then used MAC Vellum to highlight the inner corner of the eye and blended it into the pale purple.

MAC Blanc Type to highlight the browbone with MAC Omega on my brows. On the lower lashline, I used Sugarlite to line the outer half of the lid, then applied some Too Faced Glitter Glue to the inner half of the lid and tapped on Make Up For Ever‘s Glitters 13 (silver rainbow glitter) on top of the glue. I lined the upper lashline with MUFE‘s Aqua Liner in 13 Blackand used MAC‘s Feline Kohl Power pencil on the lower waterline. And finally, I finished up the eyes with some Ardell‘s 102 Demis and applied L’Oreal Voluminous Carbon Black on my lashes.

Rest of the Face

Foundation: Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum in 51 Light Vanilla
Bronzer: Revlon Photoready Bronzer in Bronzed & Chic
Blush: Tarte Exposed with Illamasqua Hussy layered on top
Highlighter: MAC Silver Dusk
Lips: I’m not wearing it in the picture, but I wore Rimmel Apocalips in Celestial out that night.
Extra: I used MAC‘s Select Coverup in NW20 under my eyes and set it with Laura Mercier

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It was just one of those mornings when I had no idea what to wear and just happened to look into the tub that contains all of my mineralize eyeshadows. Although it’s beautiful, I rarely use this shadow. A word to the wise though, this can apply really patchy and can flake off at a moment’s notice. Beautiful end result, however.

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Eyes:

With a dampened, flat, stiff makeup brush, I packed (and I do mean packed) on MAC Blue Flame all over my entire lid. You may will likely need to layer this.
I then blended Makeup Geek Creme Brulee into the crease.

I also lined the outer third of my bottom lashline with the Blue Flame as well. Too Faced‘s Cream Colored Ponies on my browbone and L’Oreal Voluminous Carbon Black on my lashes.

Rest of the Face

No foundation, bronzer or highlighter.
Blush: Illamasqua – Hussy
Lips: MAC – Shy Girl

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Obligatory neutral eye look, using the Too Faced A Few of my Favorite Things palette.

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Eyes: (Urban Decay Primer Potion as a primer for this one!)

Too Faced Snowflakes all over the lid.
Too Faced Buche de Noel slightly into the outer corner.
Too Faced Woolen Mittens on the outer corner and blended into the crease.

I did the winged liner with MAC‘s Dipdown fluidline. Too Faced Cream Colored Ponies to highlight the brow with L’Oreal Voluminous Carbon Black on the lashes.

Rest of the Face

Foundation: MUA Matte foundation in Shade 1 Soft Sand
Bronzer: Physicians Formula Bronze Booster in Light/Medium
Blush: Errr no idea. Maybe nothing?
Lips: MAC Boldly Bare lipliner with MAC Viva Glam Cyndi on top

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This look features Jealousy Wakes, the eyeshadow created by Christine (Temptalia) for MAC. Unfortunately it was limited edition (boy, was it EVER) and it sold out almost instantly back when it was released. It’s a beautiful shade and this is my default look when I want to wear that shadow.

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Eyes: (Again with UDPP)

MAC Vex, inner two thirds.
MAC Jealousy Wakes, outer corner and into the crease.
Makeup Geek Creme Brulee throughout the crease.

MAC Brule to highlight the brow and L’Oreal Voluminous Carbon Black on my lashes.

Rest of the Face

Foundation: MUA Matte foundation in Shade 1 Soft Sand
Bronzer: Physicians Formula Bronze Booster in Light/Medium
Blush: Physicians Formula – Natural
Highlighter: Dior Amber Diamond
Lips: MAC Petting Pink Lip Conditioner

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A shame the sparkles don’t show up more – I was going for a wintry snowfall at night look.

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Eyes:

MAC Crystal Avalanche on the inner two-thirds of the lid.
MAC Print on the outer third.

Although it is incredibly difficult to see in the photograph (which is very frustrating to me), I did layer Illamasqua‘s Beguile pigment on top of Crystal Avalanche. Rest assured that it showed up much better in person.

I used KIKO‘s Twinkle Eye Pencil in 06 (I really need to use this more, it’s fantastic) on the lower lashline. The upper winged lined was created with MAC Blacktrack fluidline. I appliedToo Faced Better Than Sex mascara to both sets of lashes and ran some MAC Omega through my brows. (The brows really never change, I’ll probably stop repeating this…)

Rest of the Face

Foundation: MUA BB Cream in Light mixed with some moisturizer
Bronzer: Physicians Formula Bronze Booster in Light/Medium
Blush: MAC Warm Soul
Highlighter: MAC Silver Dusk
Lips: Nothing – was heading out to eat so I didn’t see the point!

I’m pretty pleased in the makeup department lately… most of my looks have been suitable enough to post on here and I had about 15 or so looks to choose from for this post! Pretty happy with that because sometimes I can get a nasty streak where I don’t like anything I applied at all for several days. (That’ll make for an interesting post some day.

How I Used To Wear Makeup

January 29, 2014Makeup, Tags, TutorialsMACChelle

Ever wonder what you’d look like a decade or so later wearing the exact same makeup you used to wear in your teens? I’ve seen a few videos and blog posts on this and I wanted to give it a try. I dug into some old folders on my harddrive and found a few decent examples. With the old photos as reference points, it all started coming back to me and I decided to recreate my old makeup looks on my thirty-one year old self.

As I didn’t wear foundation, blush, bronzer or even fill in my eyebrows back in the day, I wanted to keep this as “true to the past” as I possibly could so I’m not wearing any of the usual suspects. Onwards with the flashback!

I was 18 years old in the shot on left and it was 2001. My grandmother took this shot before I was headed out to a bar or club, probably to see some live music at Barrymore’s in Ottawa. My mom still keeps this photo on her bedroom dresser, so I had her scan it for me so I could post it.

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There is really nothing to this look but I remember liking it because I thought it looked pretty badass to be wearing black liner. I also had no idea what the heck blending was back in the day, so I assure that this was completely unblended. I also didn’t wear any primer or eyeshadow so by the end of the day, that black liner had completely transferred to my upper lid. Classy! In the shot above I used MAC‘s Feline Kohl Power pencil and Too Faced Better Than Sex mascara, but in 2001 I know I used MAC‘s Ebony pencil liner and some kind of CoverGirl mascara.

This was an absolute favourite look of mine. I used to wear a lot of light blue tops, and I usually matched my eyeshadow to my clothes (which is something I still do now). I remember getting the idea to do this look from a friend of mine in high school who did something very similar with a silver eyeshadow.

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This is one I’m surprised I still like. It’s completely unblended (I remember a friend pulling me aside, grabbing a cotton swab and vigorously blending out my liner because she was so incensed that I hadn’t done it) but I really like it. Maybe I’m just nostalgic for this look because I wore it so frequently. As you can see, there’s nothing on my lid. The only thing I used for the blue liner is MAC‘s Tilt eyeshadow and that’s exact same shade I used in my teens as well. I probably lined my lower waterline with Ebony pencil back then, but I used Feline for it today.

I remember this one so well. I went to a MAC counter and asked for help creating a smokey eye. Annnnnd this is what I got. Now, this isn’t how I’d do a smokey now (and heck, I don’t even know if this was considered a smoky eye back in the early 2000s) but I do like the overall effect. I’m also fairly certain I dumped half a container of MAC‘s Silver Dusk on my face in the shot on the left since there’s glitter particles everywhere… something I definitely didn’t recreate in the present! 😉

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I had used MAC‘s liner in Phone Number and Krisp eyeshadow (no longer available) to blur out the harsh edges. I have since rebought Phone Number and have it still in my collection, but I used up Krisp a long time ago and it’s never become available at MAC again as far as I’m aware. I lined my upper and lower lashline with Phone Number, and then blurred out the edges slightly with an off-white, slightly grey eyeshadow from a Sephora palette I have (no shade name, sorry). I also lined my inner waterline with Phone Number as well and applied Too FacedBetter Than Sex mascara to my upper and lower lashes.

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I look back on this one and smile! This was my “special event” makeup when I was in grades 9 or 10 (~1997). I considered it special event makeup because at the time it was darker and shinier than anything else I owned at the time. It’s fairly simple and I still have the same colours I did back then: MAC‘s Nylon on the lid with Shag (no longer available, although Haux is a very good dupe) on the outer third and through the crease.

I’m surprised at how much I actually still like these looks on me. They may be a bit dated, but they don’t look nearly as bad as I expected them to which is slightly relieving. Another thing I noticed is that I wore a lot of liner/shadow on my lower outer and inner lashline, something I don’t do nearly as often today as my lower lashline seems to get irritated very quickly.

So that’s all I have for now! I really enjoyed taking a trip down memory lane with this post. I’m curious to see if I can dig up more old photos in my parents photo albums for another post at a later date.

My MAC Greens & Blues Palette

January 24, 2014Makeup, Reviews, SwatchesMACChelle

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Time to showoff my MAC Greens and Blues palette!

Green is my absolute favourite colour, so I love working with it. I also have a high affinity for teal colours just because they’re so darn pretty.

I’m a bit sad I didn’t photograph this palette earlier. I had a very old shadow called Sprout in there that MAC doesn’t make anymore (discontinued somewhere in and around 2007!). Sprout was sheer, but I remember using it on a friend of mine for a Halloween dance party in high school when she wanted to be Britney Spears from the Crazy music video (I’m dating myself here), so I had a lot of warm and fuzzy feelings towards that shadow. Humid is the other empty slot which I haven’t replaced yet (loved it, but I’m trying out an Inglot shade that’s almost an identical dupe). I Humid predominantly with Juxt and it was those two shades together that sparked a deeper interest in makeup several years ago.

Here’s a closer look at the individual shades that make up this palette.

Name: Juxt
Finish: Satin
Notes: Discontinued by MAC in 2011. This is my second pan of this shade – beautiful light green with subtle gold highlights. I’m surprised it’s a satin as this can actually get quite shimmery/reflective. Some people say it’s sheer, but I really just feel like it’s a light shade – heck, it’s almost pastel!

Name: Bio Green
Finish: Frost
Notes: I bought this over a decade ago when I think it was released in a special collection. I’m pretty sure it’s a PRO only colour now. Beautiful vibrant green.

Name: Golden Olive
Finish: Pigment
Notes: Pressed pigment. I don’t wear this often enough (which is not good news since I’ve got a LOT of it) but it’s absolutely beautiful. As the name suggests, this is a very golden olive shade.

Name: Jealousy Wakes
Finish: Veluxe Pearl
Notes: I bought this because as soon as I found out that Christine over at Temptalia had developed a shade for MAC, I knew it had to be good! I tend to wear this a lot with Vex. I wish I’d bought a backup because I doubt they’ll ever bring the shade back.

Name: Steamy
Finish: Frost
Notes: A bluey-green shade that can be kind of patchy if you don’t apply it thickly.

Name: Greensmoke
Finish: Lustre
Notes: Lustres are not my favourite finish as they can be really patchy, flakey and holy hell does it ever take some work getting this out of the pan. You really need to pack this colour on to get decent payoff.

Name: Fade
Finish: Satin
Notes: This shade has been re-pressed after being completely broken. I bought this ages and ages and ages ago. My older (wiser?) self has no idea how to wear a powder blue shade anymore!

Name: Tilt
Finish: Frost
Notes: Another one of the shades I’ve repurchased, this is my second pan of Tilt. It has a beautiful duochrome (light blue/violet) that reflects beautifully on the lids. This was one of my go to shades throughout my teen years.

Name: Freshwater
Finish: Veluxe Pearl
Notes: Beautiful… but underused. Honestly, I really have no complaints about this shade… I wonder why I don’t use it more.

Name: Deep Truth
Finish: Frost
Notes: Argh this one… I love the colour, it swatches beautiful, but I feel like it never looks this beautiful on my eyes. When I apply the shadow, it retains the dark blueyness of the shade, but the reflective properties seem to dissipate. Could just be user error… maybe I need to try a different brush.

Name: Birds & Berries
Finish: Veluxe Pearl
Notes: I’ve read that people consider this a dupe for Tilt, but I don’t see it at all. This one is darker, and doesn’t have the same duochrome that Tilt has. I picked this up with the Liberty of London collection.

Name: Moonlight Night
Finish: Pigment
Notes: Another pressed pigment and I use this one often. It’s a deep, dark teal (almost black really), shot through with teal glitter. This one was limited edition with the Tartan Tale holiday collection in 2010.

Name: Contrast
Finish: Velvet
Notes: Beautiful in the pan but looks mostly black on my lids.

My MAC Greens & Blues Palette – Swatches – Click to enlarge

Juxt
Bio Green
Golden Olive
Jealousy Wakes
Steamy
Greensmoke
Fade
Tilt
Freshwater
Deep Truth
Birds & Berries
Moonlight Night
Contrast

Two more palettes to go! Upcoming are my pinks/purples and whites/blacks.