Preview of MAC Sugarsweet collection

* sigh *

First, MAC had to collaborate with Hello Kitty. My wallet is still on fire from all the purchases I made from that collection.

But now MAC has to go and do a Sugarsweet collection??? AGH!

Don't they look delicious?


Picture Source: Temptalia.com

I think I can refrain from indulging though... I took a closer look at the collection, and while everything is super cute, nothing was a screaming must have.

(Of course, this may change if people start raving about certain products which is how I got sucked into the Fun & Games blush, the She Loves Candy lipglass, and the Pink Fish tinted lip conditioner from the Hello Kitty Collection. Which, by the way, I don't regret because I love all of them!)

Anyway, you can see more pics of the MAC Sugarsweet Collection on Temptalia.com, one of my favorite make-up sites. I think the collection is supposed to come out on March 19th.

Product Review: Urban Decay Deluxe Shadow Box

This post is dedicated to my buddy Kirby who is looking for some fun eye shadows for her crazy nights on the town. Although I do love my MAC shadows, I am really loving the Urban Decay Deluxe Shadow box and think it would be perfect for anyone looking to add some fun new colors to their collection.



It comes with nine colors as shown below and all are gorgeous individually and blend together nicely as well. I used this palette to create both my purple and rainbow looks.

As you can see, the bottom row has some really pretty neutral colors that are perfect for work so you can really get a lot of use out of this palette.



Here are some swatches - all were applied with no base. A base would really help these colors pop even more as well as help prevent the bright colors from fading, creasing, etc. And guess what? The palette comes with one! Yep - also included is a mini-sized Primer Potion which works really well.


(L to R) Fishnet, Honey, Ransom


(L to R) Graffiti, Zero, Peace


(L to R) Shag, Scratch, Underground

This is by far my favorite UD palette - I also have their Ammo one which I like but several of the shadows in that set have chunky glittery finishes which I hate! The colors in the Deluxe shadow box all have more of a frosty, shimmery finish.

The packaging is really cute as well - it's a soft purple velvet-like material with a fun metallic accent. Anyway, I definitely recommend this product - it's so much fun to play with!

Urban Decay Deluxe Shadow Box: $38
Audgepodge Rating: A

Recreating Rihanna's Look: Experimenting with cat eyes

I really liked Rihanna's simple but dramatic look from the 2007 MTV VMA awards. (By the way, happy belated birthday to Rihanna!)



So this should be pretty easy to re-create, right? Well for others, probably yes, but for me? Not really. I think my main problem is that how something looks in person doesn't really translate in photographs, especially with a simple point and shoot camera like mine. Also, everyone's features are shaped differently so I had to figure out what works for me.

Here is my first attempt which I think is kinda nice but doesn't look dramatic enough with the "cat eyes", although I felt like I had a whole lotta eyeliner in person.



So I decided to extend the "tail" a little more going from this:


To this:


By the way, I typically use the MAC 266 brush (angled eyeliner brush) when applying gel/creme-based eyeliner. But I recently just purchased the MAC 210 brush (fine point eyeliner brush) and I'm happy to report that it works really well in drawing precise lines. I'm still playing with the whole cat eye thing, but it seems the general guideline is that the "tail" should follow the line of your lower lash line.

Here's the final look. I also changed my camera settings so I wasn't so pink. I still think I could have built it up the cat eye more but by then, I was so tired of mucking around with my make-up that I called it quits.


What I used:

FACE
MAC Mineral Skinfinish Natural in Medium Plus
Pur Mineral Mineral Glow
MAC X-rocks blush

EYES
MAC All That Glitters e/s (Lid)
MAC Texture e/s (Crease)
MAC Espresso e/s (Outer V)
Bobbi Brown Black Ink gel eyeliner
MAC Engraved powerpoint pencil
Modlash 53 eyelashes (Note to self: Didn't really like the look of these lashes)
MAC Cork e/s (brows)

LIPS
MAC Subculture lip pencil
MAC Gel lipstick
MAC Love Nectar lipglass

A little note about false eyelashes

On a side note, this was attempt #4 with false eyelashes. It is my goal to get comfortable with these because my lashes are so non-existent! It went a little better by the time I applied the second lash. I switched to Duo glue which seems to be the recommended one vs the one that comes with the Ardell and Modlash kits. Note this comes in clear and dark options. I heard that if you're new with lash glue, stick with the clear version because if you use the dark glue and mess it up or get the glue where you don't want it, it will dry dark and be noticeable. I also think I need to trim the lashes more... maybe to the point that they are just half lashes, especially since I'm just looking for a natural, but fuller look. It also helps to hold the lashes using your tweezers when applying.

MAC Hello Kitty Too Dolly Quad looks + the funniest Youtuber ever!

So as most of my friends know, I used to be makeup-illiterate. I used to only wear foundation and blush and couldn't be bothered with the rest. But then last summer I discovered the wonderful world of makeup videos on YouTube! It's so addicting - there are make-up tutorials, product reviews, hauls (where people show off their recent make-up purchases, very fun but very dangerous for your wallet), etc. Some are good, some are eh - but either way, there are hours of entertainment to be had.

Anyway, I've been "hauling" a whole lot of crap from the MAC Hello Kitty collection that came out last week. I really just need to stay away. I do have a post planned to discuss it more as it was my first MAC pre-launch party which was a lot of fun. But for now, I will just mention one of my purchases - the Too Dolly Quad (set of four eyeshadows) shown here. It has some fun, bright colors. I haven't had a chance to play with the quad yet but I've been watching some videos of YouTubers create their own looks.

The first two videos are what I'd consider the more classic YouTuber... they both are really creative with their looks and give helpful instruction when applying it. And they're usually pretty flawless, too.

MakeupGeekTV


jinahchae


But this third one is a YouTuber that I just recently discovered... OMG - she is hilarious! She's like the anti-YouTuber but she had me crying in tears from sheer laughter. Check them out if you have a chance.

jpmetz

American Idol and Make-up at Costco

Tatiana is killing me! Yeah, her performance wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. But it's the rest of her schtick... that marketing BS, her claim that she never laughed like that before, her little soundbyte about how it's up to us to keep her dreams alive... she's just too much!

I definitely like Danny Gokey and he's my fave of group 1. I kinda agree with Simon, though, he was good but I don't know he deserved all that crazy praise at the end. I thought he gave much better performances in Hollywood. I think the praise had a lot to do with the fact that most of the other contestants in his group kinda bombed.

And when Simon said Alexis Grace reminded him of someone... I totally expected him to say Nikki McKibbin, not Kelly Clarkson! Did you remember season 1? When Nikki first auditioned, she was kinda like a funky rocker and then when she showed up for the performance shows, she had what I think they called a soap opera makeover. I like Alexis... I'm just not sure about her look, but that's just me.

And is it just me or did Paula seem more kooky than normal? She kinda rambled on like she was drunk.

Anyway, on to make-up... I had seen a lot of YouTubers talk about these great make-up deals they get at Costco. I thought it was just some crazy myth because everytime I went there, they just had the standard Kirkland stuff.

But today... ta-da!!! Stila Cosmetics on sale for dirt cheap! They had two sets - a set of three lippies and a "shape up your face" set. I've been buying a lot of lip stuff so I just picked up the face set. It comes with a trio of three contouring powders, two lip pencils, and a full size powder brush. The sign on the rack said each set was $14.99 but when I checked out, my set rang up as only $9.99! C'mon - that's a great deal.





I would tell you what I think about the products but I can't seem to open the plastic packaging and I'm too lazy to fetch some scissors to slice it open. Maybe in another post :)

Happy Valentine's Day to me!!!

So I treated myself to a little Valentine's Day present over the weekend - NARS The Love Set.

It comes with a blush, a lip pencil (the jumbo kind), and a lip gloss. I have some NARS products but just eyeshadows and lipglosses. I've always heard great things about their blushes and I was excited to finally get my first one. I've always had my eye on the Orgasm blush since that seems to be their signature item. (Okay, seriously, NARS products have some really provocative names... I mean, teenagers buy this stuff!)

Also included is the Pillow Talk lip gloss and a Sex Machine velvet matte lip pencil (yep, again with the names!)

Isn't the packaging really cute? I might just hold onto the box...



I wasn't sure if I would like the blush because when I tested it on my hand, it looked really shimmery which I usually stay away from. (I just hate when the glitter/shimmer gets everywhere.) But when I put it on my cheek, it wasn't shimmery at all and it was just this soft pretty peachy color.



And here's a close-up of the lip gloss and lip pencil. I really like the jumbo lip pencil because it was really smooth when I put it on my lips. The gloss is nice, too, and not really sticky like others.



Ready for some lip swatches??? (Sorry if it's weird or creepy to see all these close-up shots of my mouth. I'm just used to seeing this on other beauty blogs!)

Pillow Talk lip gloss:


Sex Machine velvet matte lip pencil:


Sex Machine pencil plus Pillow Talk gloss:


Full mug... I don't think you can see the blush very well though:


Final thoughts: I love this set and I'm so glad I bought it! I'm a sucker for make-up "sets" and a lot of times I will only like one of the items but I really like all three of these.

NARS The Love Set: $49

(If you bought the three items individually, it would be $73 as the blush is $25 and both the lip pencil and gloss are $24 each. So buying the set is like getting one of the items for free.)

Bright Eyes & Neutral lips and vice versa

So yep, I'm playing with make-up again! :) I recently tried out two new looks. One had really colorful eyes so I paired it with a nude lip, similar to my purple look. But then yesterday, I wanted to do a fun Valentine's Day look that was highlighted with bright pink lips! Usually, I don't really pay too much attention to what I wear on my lips and just stick with my MAC Viva Glam V default but through these two looks, I discovered it's really fun to play with the lip colors as well!



Urban Decay Rainbow Eyes look

I wore this look for a GNO (girls' night out) in SF. I figured it was a good opportunity to do something a little funky (for me, anyway). I wanted to try a rainbow look I saw on YouTube but using just my new Urban Decay palette. Not quite as vibrant as I would have liked so maybe next time, I'll play with some different color bases to bring out the color more.

By the way, I also tried false eyelashes again and third time is definitely not the charm. I really messed these up, but left them on anyway. If you buy the Ardell starter kits, my suggestion is to not use the glue that comes with them. One of my lashes fell off halfway through the night! I heard Duo is really good and plan to buy that.

As for the nude lip, I am really loving that look! When I first put on my Blankety lipstick, my first thought was uh-oh, I look like a corpse! By itself, I don't think it works for me BUT it's really pretty when combined with a lip gloss. Can't wait to wear it out again next time I do a dramatic eye look.



What I used:

EYES
Urban Decay Fishnet (upper lid)
Urban Decay Ransom, Zero (outer corner)
Urban Decay Honey, Graffiti, Peace (along lower lash line)
MAC Texture (crease)
MAC Shroom (highlight)
Bobbi Brown Black Ink gel eyeliner (upper lashline)
MAC Smolder eye kohl pencil (lower lashline)
Ardell 109 lashes
Maybelline Full&Soft Mascara

LIPS
MAC Blankety lipstick
MAC Delicate Crush lipglass

Valentine's Day Look

This one was inspired by another YouTube video - a fun, pink, girly Valentine's day look. I had purchased these bright pink lip colors as part of the MAC Adoring Carmine Rose Lips Set collection but haven't really had a chance to wear them out so I was excited to try this look. If it wasn't for Valentine's Day, I probably would have just wore more neutral browns and golds in the eye but the pink was a fun accent.






What I used:

EYES
MAC All that Glitters (Lid)
Dior Plum Sheen from Chic Palette (Crease)
Loreal Brazen Hip Duo - Pink color (outer crease)
MAC Brule (Highlight)
MAC Penultimate Eye liner in Rapidblack
Maybelline Full&Soft Mascara

LIPS
MAC Romancin' lipstick (from Adoring Carmine set)
MAC Magnetique lipglass (from Little Darlings Pink Set)

Holy Purple, Batman!

OK, I'll admit it... I love to *play* make-up. I will put on make-up to try out a look and then take it all off and go to bed. Like tonight. I saw a purple look that looked really pretty and I was so excited to discover that I had the same colors used so I had to try it!

(FYI - in case you hadn't read my previous posts on this, I love to watch Youtube make-up tutorials... so addicting!)

"Hot Royal Purple Eyes" by Youtuber xteener:



Here's my take:

(False eyelashes would have definitely improved the look, but I save those for special occasions only - too much effort for me!)

What I used:

FACE:
MAC Mineral Skinfinish Natural in Medium Plus
Pur Mineral Marble Powder in Pink

EYES:
Urban Decay Ransom e/s
Urban Decay Fishnet e/s
Loreal HIP e/s Duo in Charisma
MAC Cork (brows)
MAC Penultimate Eye Liner in Rapidblack / Loreal Lineur Intense Felt Tip Liquid Eyeliner in Carbon black (will post a comparison soon)
MAC Technakohl Liner in Graphblack
Maybelline Full&Soft Mascara

LIPS:
MAC Blankety lipstick
MAC Love Nectar lustreglass



On a side note, I am *loving* my new Urban Decay Deluxe Shadow box. Yes, I'm a MAC addict but I definitely try out other brands, too, and these colors are crazy gorgeous! My pics don't do it justice - the purple used in the main part of the lids is crazy vibrant! There are some really pretty neutral colors in the palette as well for more work-appropriate looks. Can't wait to try more looks with this!