MAC me over

I picked up a few things from the new MAC collection. Over all, I wasn't super impressed with MAC me over, it was a very large collection but nothing really jumped out at me. I am trying to build up my core collection and not get too distracted by the collections.

One item that I knew I wanted was the 226 brush. I smaller version of the 224, this brush does it all. It applies highlight, lid and crease colour really well. I am really happy with it, and considering picking up another one...

MAC 224 left, MAC 226 right

Back 2 Mac

Do you stroll into MAC and feel completely and utterly lost? Even after you have spent countless hours on blogs, youtube, makeupalley, reading up on products? For me it is like I am a kid in a candy store and I can't decide what I want. Normally, I am pretty fearless, I know what I want and nothing is going to stand in my way...but at MAC I am so overwhelmed, I want everything...(hence MAClust).

I am a huge fan of the Back 2 MAC program, it is one of the reasons why MAC is my favourite brand. So recently, I hauled in 18 items to MAC. I was nervous that they wouldn't take back my eyeshadows with the pan missing (as I depotted it) but I had no trouble. I feel like the "MAC won't return eyeshaows without the pan" is some cruel ubran myth that was generated on the internet.

Quarry and Handwritten ended up following me home. Quarry is a mauvey grey and Handwritten appears almost like a deep brown purple, but when swatched it is more brown than purple. Both are matte but Handwritten is classified as a Matte^2 (squared), which is intensely more pigmented than regular matte shadows. A gal could run into trouble with these if she isn't careful, these are great shadows for in the crease.

Left Quarry, Right Handwritten

Imats Hoard - Ben Nye

Hellloo August!

Hope you had a lovely weekend! Happy BC Day if you are Canadian...and from BC of course. It has been pretty hot here, finally!

I decided to test out my new Ben Nye eyeshadows, that I got at Imats Vancouver 2011. The deal was that if you bought 4 of any pan colour (which were a steal at 6$ each) then you would get the palette for free.

 The palette is magnetic and has small pinholes in the back that can be used to pop the colour out of the palette.

Top Left: Bahama Blue, Top Right: Royal Purple,
Bottom Left: Caribbean, Bottom Right: Fuschia 

The colours I got were Caribbean - green, Royal Purple - purple, Fuschia - pink, Bahama Blue - blue.

The pink was actually a blush, but it can be used for either a blush or an eyeshadow. This bright colour would look amazing on darker skin tones.

Left to Right: Bahama Blue, Royal Purple, Caribbean, Fuschia

So bright outside!

Eyes: My Ben Nye palette of course. Blue on the lid, Purple in the crease, Green underneath the eyes. Black in outer V, and shimmery white brow highlight. Nyx white eyeshadow base, Nyx Milk Jumbo pencil, Physicians Formula Black eyeliner, L'Oreal Intense Black Liquid Liner, L'Oreal Voluminous Mascara, MAC demi lashes.

Excuse the brows, I'm growing them out, I'm beginning to think that even though the lash glue says clear, you pretty much always need to go over it otherwise it looks white

Face: Nars Sheer Glow in Deauville (oh just wait for the review on this!), Hard Candy blush in PinUp, Hoola Bronzer

Lips: H&M Lipgloss in Jet Set Queen

Now how to make this look wearable!

Hope you are having a good day. I haven't been very productive. Damn Shark Week! I can't tear myself away!

-Emily

IMATS HOARD!!! (and 10 things I learned from my first Imats)

Seems like so little, but it was so much!

10 Things I learned:

1. DO have an idea of what you want, so you spend less time fumbling around.

2. DO wear comfy shoes.

3. DO (do?) a lap of the floor and check for vendors carrying similar items, as they will often mark their products down for competition sake, and you won't risk paying more.

4. DO buy something if it is an original, DON'T wait or you might miss out (my small stippling brush)

5. DO take a small cross body purse, bags are provided there.

6.Do say Hi! to fellow bloggers, vloggers and guru's, don't be shy (like me)

7. Do start with the vendors/products that you don't see everyday

8. Do go early!

9. Do go for BOTH days. I found that once I got home there were a few products that stood out from the hourd. I would have liked to go back and purchase more the second day.

10. Do stop, enjoy, and take pictures! (which I didn't do enough of!)

I wish I could write more but I am soooo tired!!!! It has been a long day! There will be a further breakdown of what I got, thoughts and reviews!

All in all I had an amazing time! I am in makeup shock! (my wallet will require some CPR as well)

Talk to you soon!

3 wants,5 impulse!

Wet'n'wild Comfort Zone palette- I managed to get a hold of this while a friend was traveling in the USA. 

I love it!! I can't believe how amazing these shadows are! I have been using them everyday. WANT

Wet'n'wild Night Elf palette - Bought this when I was still on a high from the Comfort Zone. IMPULSE

EOS lipbalm - I have been lusting after these for years and they were right under my nose, in the local Rexal drugstore!!! Mind you they were on the very bottom shelf...WANT

Annabelle bronzer in Borabora Sun - For some reason I had to have this...packaging is nice, I like the 4 different shades, it is only a little shimmery, is a bit powdry however, so does require some extra TLC when applying but..IMPULSE

Annabelle Volume Lip lipgloss-....but the model looked so good with it on! I couldn't help it! Decent packaging, like the colour, it brings out peachy tones in nude lipstick particularly well, does not plump lips whatsoever..IMPULSE

L'Oreal  Nude Lipstick #235 - Went in on buy get one with my mom (she made me) and it is okay, it is moisturizing but has a little of that perfumey old lady smell, colour is same as my lips.. IMPULSE

Marcelle Moisture Rich Foundation in Barely There - the name speaks for it self on this one, it is really moisturizing but the pigmentation is brutal, it is more like a tinted moisturizer...in fact they probably have more coverage...I don't want a lot of coverage for the summer though, so this works, NEEDS to be applied with a brush, I don't hate it...IMPULSE

Annabelle Eyeliner in Mink - I have been looking for a brown eyeliner for a while and I bought this because it was the only brown that didn't have red undertones, it is a cooltoned greyish brown, which I like, formula isn't the best but that is what you get....WANT

Featuring: Annabelle bronzer, and lipgloss, Marcelle foundation as well as Comfort Zone palette

I need help.

Some new additions (aka Haul)

I purchased 3 new eyeshadows from MAC recently:

Clockwise: Aqua, Satin Taupe and Bisque

I wanted Bisque to act as an all over eyeshadow that matched my skintone for blending and such but it is just okay. I think the eyeshadow is fine but my purpose for having it is just boring.

I have had my eye on Satin Taupe for a while as a LUST product and I have to say I am a little unsure about it. After seeing so many gurus use this, I thought I knew what it would look like on me, but I was wrong! This is an unusual colour, with a mix of brown, grey and purple and I think it will look completely different on everyone. It is taking some getting use to.

Aqua was an impulse buy after my boyfriend said that he liked it. Turns out it is my favourite of the 3. It is different because it is so matte, it takes some time to build up but I think it is really fun for summer.

Do you own any of these?

B Day make up and lil haul/review!!

Every year on my birthday I go to MAC to get a makeover, as a treat to myself..and as an excuse to buy more MAC makeup. This year I asked for something more wearable ( usually I tell 'em to pile it on, gotta get my $$ worth) as I had loads of homework to do unfortunately, and I had to go to study group. I wanted some colour in the look because I am starting to get more and more interested in wearing colour. I am trying not to take make up so seriously and to have more fun with it now, while I can. The lovely Miranda did my make up and we had a blast!!! This is what we came up with.

All MAC
Eyes: bare study paint pot (base), honesty (inner corner & all over), coquette (crease), aqua and steamy ( lower lash line), blacktrack fluid line (winged liner), Lash #20's
Face: Strobe cream, Studio Sculpt in NC 15, Golden Bronzer, Blush in Peachykeen
Lips: Not shown here :( Sublime culture creamstick liner and Crosswires Lipstick

Tired and clearly not feeling photogenic

 I really loved the look, and so did the bf, who was with me!!! I ended up only purchasing 3 products:


MAC#20 Lashes: Which I love! They looked so great and were sooooo comfortable, they did not dig in at all!


MAC Fix+ : I love this product! I cannot believe I didn't pick it up earlier! It does wonders for my dry skin by restoring the moisture. This gives me a really fresh glowy, dewy look. LOVE


MAC Brush #224 : Have lusted after this for a while now, especially since I always see guru's like Pixiwoo using it! Torn between using it for concealer or for blending...... I don't want to get it all gunky and then use it to blend...Like it though.


Ciao!
Emily

Maybelline Fit Me

Finally, I was able to get my paws on this new foundation and concealer! I will do a full review on this in the future when I have had more time to formulate an opinion but for first impressions; limited colour range, very moisturizing, sheer coverage, slightly smelly, very inexpensive. I found this at Walmart and each, the foundation and concealer, were about 8$.

Maybelline Fit Me Foundation in 115 and corresponding concealer in Fair

Cheers!
Emily

NYX Haul!! (mainly)

I happened to come across a several large bins full of marked down NYX Chrome eyeshadow's recently and couldn't help but pick up a few, you know, for the road....

Top Row Left to Right: Apricot, Sunny Day, Lagoon
Middle Row Left to Right: Violet, Green, Yellow, Ocean Blue, KeyLime
Bottom Row Left to Right: Chaotic, Space, Orange  

Left to Right: Apricot, Sunny Day, Orange, *Sun Kissed*

Feenix Cosmetics in Sun Kissed

*Sun Kissed is by a brand called Feenix Mineral Cosmetics, I can't find too much information on them, I think they are primarily carried via Paragon Pharmacy, but I will have to investigate further. I am quite surprised at the quality of this product, it was slightly more expensive than the NYX but as you can see it does have a great colour payoff. I also spotted some matte colours as well that I might just go pick up and give a try, if they can do matte well, they can do anything. I'll keep you posted.

Left to Right: Violet, Space, Chaotic, Ocean Blue, Lagoon

Left to Right: Lagoon, Green, Yellow, Apricot

 (phew! Swatching is hard work!) These were all taken with a flash and without primer. I think I will most likely foil these, as I have hooded eyes and I don't want them to crease. I have to say that these shadows are more pale than the picture is presenting, with the flash they look more like how they are when they have been foiled.

Ocean Blue foiled with eyedrops!

NYX Eyeshadow's in Wild Flower and My Favorite Color

My Favorite Color and Wild Flower

I have to say that I really like Wild Flower, it is smooth and pigmented with frost finish, while My Favorite Color has all of those aspects except for the gianormous chunks of glitter that end up as fallout on my cheeks when I wear it. Which is surprising because I know this is some people's favorite color....

 New HG makeup remover! EVERYONE has been talking about this and I think it is fantastic.

 You get such a big bottle! I hate having to buy makeup remover all the time, and this is nice and light. It feels like water, it does a great job removing makeup and you don't have to rinse your face after you use it (if you don't want to that is). This is a repurchase for me, the first bottle I bought was the smaller one, 250mL, and it lasted me 3 months! So totally worth the price. Awesomeness, check it out!

 Lastly, I saw this lipstick on haul by Sokolum79 on YouTube, and on a whim I bought it. It was super cheap, 2$ or something like that, great colour, really creamy. Pow!

NYC Lipstick in 405B

Emily having bad hair/fabulous lipstick day

 That is all for now! What have YOU been hauling lately!?
Cheers!