MAC Je Joue

As promised, here are my thoughts on some recent acquisitions from the CCO. But before we get to the reviews, I'd love for you to watch this fun little stop motion clip I made with the products. Indeed, I play with my makeup more than I should.

Did you like it? I hope it wasn't too choppy because I was holding my camera between my knees (since I lack a tripod). Anyway, onto the actual reviews! I felt like being more creative with my product shots by the way, so don't mind me. :P

In order of appearance, first up is the MAC Fluidline in Rich Ground. This was the first product that caught my eye on the shelves of the CCO. The color was just beautiful. It screamed 'fall' to me, reminding me of cinnamon and honey roasted pecans. I swatched the tester gently and immediately asked the lady for a new one.

I finally understand what the hype around Fluidline is all about! It applies so so so smoothly, like fluid. The color is pigmented and stays put for hours without smudging. It's amazing! It has the loveliest subtle shimmer running through; it's totally not a boring brown eyeliner! I can tell I'll be using this very often this season in lieu of black liner. Here's a swatch of the Rich Ground in all its glorious beauty.

All the pretties, yes?

Next up is the MAC Sheen Supreme Lipstick in Supreme Style. I remember when these first came out, people ran out to get them. Everyone was raving about how this was the perfect hybrid of gloss and lipstick. And that really appealed to me because my favorite type of lipstick is this hybrid. I never really got to getting these MAC ones, so when I saw this on the lip display, I had to snag one.

Supreme Style isn't very unique or out-there, it's basically a pale peachy pink with a pretty gold sheen. I chose a more neutral shade because I wanted to get more wear out of it. The texture and feel to this is reminiscent of the Revlon lip butters. It glides right on and feels lightweight and moisturizing. The lipstick has the signature MAC vanilla scent, which I actually quite enjoy. I wouldn't say that this product is as super amazing and revolutionary as it was raved to be, but it is nice to have. I really like the sleek glossy, black packaging for this, though, as opposed to the regular MAC lipsticks.

That sheen is really pretty though, I must say.

Lastly, I have the MAC Sheertone Blush in Loverush. It's a matte deep reddish plum, and I would say this is the quintessential fall blush color. It gives you a natural, flushed color, kind of like how your cheeks get really red when you're out in the cold.

The powder is so unbelievably smooth, and applies really well. The color is pretty pigmented though, so I would use a light hand in order to not look like I'm all bruised up. I think this color definitely suits a lot of skintones, and I read up that it's the perfect blush for dark-skinned ladies. Now, I'm not necessarily dark-skinned, but blush usually never shows up well on my skin, but this does! Praise tha lawd, this does!

I applied it rather heavily and messily here, but you get the gist, right? Perfectly flushed cheeks.

I have to say, I'm very pleased with these purchases. MAC re-promotes their colors a lot, so I wouldn't worry too much about these not being readily available. Be sure to check out a CCO if you must! I hope you're all having a great week. What products have you acquired recently?

1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and the Same!

Well, errr, same family!

For a heart-wrenching few seconds, I thought I had misplaced my beloved Revlon Soft Rose. In desperation, I looted my makeup drawer and found it lying in a corner, unscathed. Thankfully. I breathed a big sigh of relief. After rescuing my Soft Rose from that miserable little corner, I pulled out a lip gloss that I thought looked quite similar to the lipstick: Korres Natural Purple. And then I pulled out another one that looked similar and then another and then another...until I had 5 things in my hands and 5 swatches on my arm.

The theme turned out to be deep, plum/purple shades. It's funny though, because Soft Rose is well, a rose. But one shade let to another and it turned into a bunch of purples and plums. But I must say that there really isn't much actual purple going on in this group. However, the overall feel of the shades is very autumn-esque...and aren't plummy purples the quintessential fall color? I guess I gathered a little welcoming committee for the fall season, huh?

• Rimmel London Blush in Plum: An oldie but a goodie. This tiny little blush is quite lovely for the price I paid (under $1 since it was being discontinued). It's pigmented but just a little bit on the chalky side. The color is kind of this dirty plum but at the same time, it's also kind of a hybrid rosy color. It's almost like a slightly darker version of the popular Tarte Amazonian Clay Blush in Exposed. Plum is probably my favorite fall blush color.
• Revlon Colorbust Lipstick in Soft Rose: This is my one of my most loved lipsticks ever. It's the perfect mid-tone lip color, not a pink or nude and not a red either. Soft Rose is, like its name suggests, a muted rose with a lovely cream finish. It's not very glossy or shiny, which I love because I can pat the color down to make it a stain. It's one of those no-brainer shades that I pop on as I rush out the door to school, and it adds such a nice, natural flush of color to my lips.
• L'Oreal HiP Jelly Balm in Succulent: It seems that L'Oreal's HiP line is basically non-existent nowadays. I remember that it was such a hit a couple years back, but now I hear next to nothing about it. They still have those awesome color liners, though, right? It's a shame because they had some pretty good products. Succulent is this grape jelly (how aptly named) color that sheers out to be a nice pink. The texture and feel of this is very reminiscent of the The Body Shop Born Lippy Lip Balms, but with a less overpowering scent.
• Korres Cherry Lipgloss in Natural Purple: When I pulled this out of the drawer, I thought that this was the lip gloss version of Soft Rose. But it really isn't. Natural Purple is more neutral/brown while Soft Rose leans slightly more pink/red. There's also this milky-looking factor to the gloss that the lipstick lacks. They're kind of close, though!
• Lancome Color Fever Plumper in Downtown Pink: I'm not sure why I picked this out to add to the group, the color doesn't really match all the others, but it sure is a really pretty autumn lip color. Downtown Pink is a deep magenta with a very fine golden sheen. The consistency is rather thick and very pigmented so it's almost like a liquid lipstick. I don't always like the tingly feeling that plumpers give your lips, but this one actually feels pretty comfortable.

Sorry about all the babbling, here are some swatches!

1.) Succulent, 2.) Plum, 3.) Soft Rose, 4.) Natural Purple, 5.) Downtown Pink.

Are you enjoying the cooler weather like me? I know I'll be giving my Soft Rose some more love this fall/winter season, but what are your favorite fall lip and cheek colors? Do you have any makeup twins?

The Rose Gold Craze

I've noticed that in the past year, rose gold has become quite popular amongst bloggers, Youtubers, and well, general trend-conscious people. I see countless videos and posts with recently acquired rose gold accessories and bloggers dawning said rose gold accessories (namely those Michael Kors watches). And even more recently, the obsession has crossed over into makeup.

I cracked open my Polyvore I hadn't touched in 2 years for this. Can you feel the dedication?

Lately, I've been hearing and reading a lot of bloggers ooh-ing and ahh-ing at how such and such makeup product "looks almost like a rose gold color." It's a pretty interesting obsession. I personally don't own any rose gold things (though it'd be lovely to own just one), but I can see why it's getting so crazy.

Rose gold (also known as red gold and pink gold) is a metal mixture of gold and copper, which explains the rosy hue. The more copper there is in the mixture, the more intense the red color is. So with that in mind, I decided to mix up some "rose gold" myself...using makeup. Shall we begin?

And indeed it created some rather pretty pretty shades.

Center: L'Oreal HiP Shadow Stick in 'Unmistakable', Clockwise from top: MAC 'Springsheen' blush, The Body Shop 'Sundown Glow' Trio, Benefit 'Nice Melons' eyeshadow, MAC 'Evening Aura' eyeshadow.

I used Unmistakable as a base to create the rosy hue. I then layered the products over the red base. I chose these more orangey shades instead of an actual gold eyeshadow because I felt that a gold would just completely mask over any red I'd add to it.

For the Sundown Glow trio, I swirled all three shades together to create a pretty bronze color to lay over the base. This little experiment produced quite the variety of "rose golds." I was already ooh-ing and ahh-ing by the time I laid the first shadow over the red base.

A tiny bit of fun: I just had to do a mini photo shoot with this little structure I made with the products. Balancing the eyeshadows on top of the rounded top of the trio proved to be quite the challenge. But I conquered it in the end, huzzah!

Now, finally to the swatches. Feast your eyes on some lovely rosy metallic-ness!

 L-R: Sundown Glow, Springsheen, Evening Aura, Nice Melons, all on top of Unmistakable.

The Sundown Glow trio created a really gorgeous rose bronze. The Springsheen combination turned into a pinky rose shade with a gold sheen. The two eyeshadows produced much more "rose gold"-like shades. Evening Aura leaned more gold with an understated rosy undertone. The combination I liked the most was Nice Melons on top of Unmistakable. Not only did it create the best "rose gold", it also had the prettiest finish. Nice Melons itself already has *the prettiest* iridescent sheen, and so paired on top of the red base, it created a phenomenal, glowy rose gold. 

So, now I must ask, have you tapped into the rose gold craze? Do you have a rose gold-like makeup product?

Dis Blush be Bouncin' around

As I was walking home from school, I went into CVS to grab a little something to snack on. However, I happened upon this display of the new Maybelline Dream Bouncy Blushes. The font for 'Bouncy' was so ridiculously cute and bubbly (I'm a sucker for typography), it drew me in instantly. There were only a couple colors left, so I picked up one of the darker shades, Plum Wine. I didn't own a dark blush, so I thought, why not?

I had heard many things about the interesting texture and well, "bounce." It is indeed really different from anything I've tried before; it reminded me of a thicker version of Jello. It's like the perfect hybrid of a mousse/cream blush and a powder blush -- right in the middle of the two. It says it dries to a powder finish, but I feel like it still retains some of the moisture.

Plum Wine was moderately pigmented, but I'm sure it's much more pigmented than the other colors in the range. (I heard the lighter ones were a bit sheer.) It's certainly not as dark as it looks in the pan. I would describe the color as a berry-like stain, almost as if you rubbed strawberries on your cheeks --which I very much like! It also has a really nice, subtle sheen.

So far, I'm really intrigued by this blush, but I don't think I'll be purchasing other colors from the line. The colors are all too typical, though Orchid Hush and Coffee Cake do look a little bit more interesting. If you want to try this blush, I'd suggest getting a darker shade (due to its overall sheer pigmentation) unless you're really pale!

Have you tried these yet? Do tell me what you think about them! :)