Category: MAC

Seven lip gloss reviews from 7 beauty bloggers

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Feeling royal? Jen Mathews from My Beauty Bunny shares her fave cruelty free lip glosses fit for a queen, http://www.mybeautybunny.com/2012/gold-lip-glosses/.

Julie (that’s me!) from The Style Page thought that lip gloss was kid stuff until she tried Three Custom Color Specialists.  Read her review of lip glosses from the Robert Jones Signature Collection from 3CC, http://thestylepage.blogspot.com/2009/08/review-of-3cc-robert-jones-signature.html

Expensive, but worth it: Brittany from Clumps of Mascara discovers cult favorite Fresh Sugar Lip Treatment, http://clumpsofmascara.com/2011/10/fresh-sugar-lip-treatment.html

Brooke from BlushingNoir reviews three Lipglasses from MAC’s limited edition Tour de Fabulous collection, http://blushingnoir.blogspot.com/2011/12/mac-rich-witty-rich-bounty-and-knockout.html

Brie for Madame B Fatale discovers a multi-tasking product with “completely environmentally friendly packaging, 100% natural active fair trade ingredients and fragrances, and no animal testing,” http://www.madamebfatale.com/2010/04/13/review-trilogy-everything-balm

Jessika from polish insomniac will be a repeat customer for the luxe French brand By Terry after trying its Gloss Delectation, http://www.polishinsomniac.net/2011/06/makeup-monday-by-terry-gloss.html

Melody from Cosmetically Challenged calls Afrobella’s All My Purple Life Lipglass from MAC’s Bloggers collection “amazing,” http://www.cosmetically-challenged.com/2011/06/23/afrobellas-all-my-purple-life-lipglass/. She looks gorgeous wearing it!

Lipstick tips

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I have a couple of MAC lipsticks – Plum and Bourbon from the limited edition Beauty Icon 3 collection – Catherine Deneuve.  These lipsticks are demi-matte in their finish and have a tendency to “grab” and not apply smoothly.  I remedied this problem by applying face primer to my lips – it gives “glide” to the application.

When applying lipstick, I finish by swiping lipstick inside my lower lip for a polished look.  It also makes lips look fuller.

No cosmetics brand inspires such fierce loyalty as MAC

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TotalBeauty.com,

TotalBeauty.com
The Best and Worst MAC Cosmetics Products

Your shopping guide to this cult-fave makeup brand

The Best and Worst MAC Cosmetics Products

Before you buy your next eyeshadow or makeup brush — check out these unbiased reader reviews. They reveal that of all (and there are thousands) of the MAC products available, the brushes top every makeup-lovers list. But not all MAC products are perfect — so be sure to steer clear of the ones on our readers’ do-not-buy lists.

See products

The Worst: No. 4: MAC Green Gel Cleanser, $19.50

TotalBeauty.com average member rating: 6.0*

The Worst: No. 4: MAC Green Gel Cleanser, $19.50

What you said: “It doesn’t [have a] rich lather and it doesn’t leave my skin feeling fresh. I guess it’s ok for…”

No. 3: MAC Prep + Prime Eye, $16

TotalBeauty.com average member rating: 5.7*

No. 3: MAC Prep + Prime Eye, $16

What you said: “I figured since MAC has such great eyeshadows, they’d obviously have a great primer for them… WRONG!…”

The Best: No. 15: MAC Eye Shadow, $14.50

TotalBeauty.com average member rating: 9.4*

The Best: No. 15: MAC Eye Shadow, $14.50

What you said: “THE best eyeshadow I have ever used. I will never switch to another brand when it comes to…”

Want to see the rest of the list? Click here!

What is with the nostalgia craze?

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Hello Kitty collection from MAC

This week, MAC launches its highly anticipated Hello Kitty collection, complete with an online charity auction of designer clothing inspired by the Hello Kitty collection. Expect this collection to sell out immediately.

Of any item with Hello Kitty’s face, here’s my favorite:

Hello Kitty HK-AK-47 with hand-crocheted cover for shoulder stock

What is with this craze for themes based on favorites from childhood? Stila has a Barbie Loves Stila collection in honor of the doll’s 50th anniversary – MAC had its own Barbie Loves MAC collection two years ago. Too Faced has a Smurfette collection, which is sold exclusively through Sephora and Sephora.com.

With the nostalgia craze in full swing, might we expect a revival of Tinkerbell (not to be confused with Disney’s Tinker Bell) cosmetics?

Nordstrom Holiday 2008 Cosmetics Trend Show

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Last Saturday, I attended the Holiday 2008 Cosmetics Trend Show at Nordstrom Tysons Corner outside of Washington, DC. The show began at 8 am. The first person arrived at quarter after 6.

The event was like a pep rally, and Nordstrom Midwest/Capital Beauty Director Julianne De’Chaump was head cheerleader. The show had three scenes, in which representatives from various cosmetics companies showed their latest products. While each of the scenes focused on makeup looks, attention was also given to skin care, bath & body, fragrance, nails, and hair products.

Scene One: Bright Metallic Textures was best exemplified by Bobbi Brown’s Shimmer Brick from her Copper Diamond holiday collection:


Bobbi Brown ‘Copper Diamond’ Shimmer Brick Compact

This compact features shimmering shades of candlelight, gold, copper, beige and sand that would be great for highlighting the browbone, inner corner of the eyes, and top of the cheekbone.

Scene Two: Winter Berry Lips was exemplified by lip colors from MAC’s Red She Said collection:


MAC Red She Said Collection

Scene Three: Black, Smoky Eyes was best exemplified by Laura Mercier’s Eye Colour Quad in Tuxedo:


Laura Mercier Eye Colour Quad in Tuxedo

This eye shadow quad features both shimmer and matte shades of black and white, just like its namesake. It’s from Laura Mercier’s Black Tie Collection.

Actually, all these trends are perennials for the winter holiday season.

Funny … but not surprising

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Here’s this intriguing snippet from WWD: Droll Dame Edna Creates Mac Color Collection:

There’s a new dame in MAC Cosmetics’ arsenal: the irrepressible Dame Edna Everage, who has created an eponymous limited edition color collection for the company.

“I’m doing this out of love — I’m a giver,” said Dame Edna, the lavender-haired alter ego of Australian comedian Barry Humphries. “The audience’s applause was a little louder when I was wearing MAC on stage, so I was a convert. They didn’t have to coerce me.”

To compose the line, Edna holed up in a conference room with James Gager, senior vice president and creative director of MAC Worldwide, and Jennifer Balbier, senior vice president of product…


Dame Edna (Barry Humphries) channels Christine Keeler

Black Cherry

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While many beauty bloggers are MAC fanatics (Temptalia is the foremost example), I am not. Frankly, the outré presentations for its frequent collections are a turnoff.

That said, I think that MAC’s lipsticks are some of the best on the market. I’m craving a few lip colors in MAC’s latest collection Cult of Cherry: lipstick in Crème Cerise (sheer yellow taupe) and Mattene lipstick in Kirsch (blackened cranberry), Bing (blackened eggplant), and Chock-ful (blackened brown). The descriptions sound scary, but the shades, as represented on the web site, look beautiful.


Cherries Noir collection from Laura Mercier

UPDATE Laura Mercier has come out with her own collection Cherries Noir.

Big MAC Attack

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I hate crests and emblems. It’s probably because I dislike Juicy Couture. I don’t like its gaudy accessories with their insignia, and frankly, its velour tracksuits with the word “Juicy” emblazoned on the butt are tacky. Who wants to see (as I did) someone’s muffin top above a waistband with the word “Juicy” on it?


MAC Royal Assets holiday collection
6 Warm Eyes eye shadow palette

Still, I couldn’t resist buying this eye shadow palette 6 Warm Eyes from MAC’s Royal Assets limited edition holiday collection. The packaging features a white cover accented in gold with a crest in relief. The casing is made of metal, which provides some heft to the package, and has an authentic vintage look.

Makeup artist and blogger Elke von Freudenburg describes the shades in 6 Warm Eyes as “Golden leaf gold, pale shimmer peach, rich forest green, deep burgundy and rich earth brown.” There is also a matte tan with some pink undertones. The description on MAC’s web site has no relation to what’s in the palette.

Still, Elke didn’t describe the finishes. The shade that she describes as “rich forest green” has shimmer and looks like greenish gunmetal when applied. The deep burgundy is shiny. The rich earth brown shade (bottom row, right), which is matte, coordinates easily with the with the pale peach shimmer (top row, L), the matte tan (top row, R), and golden leaft gold (middle row, L). Coordinating the burgundy (middle row, R) and forest green (bottom row, R) shades with the other shades is more challenging (I prefer tonal shades). The burgundy and forest green shades probably would best used for the crease or outer corner of the eye.

I’ll defer judgment on this palette until I’m able to experiment with all shades, including the burgundy and forest green shades.

Viva Glam

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M·A·C Cosmetics | Viva Glam

Although it’s been over a year since MAC launched Viva Glam VI, it’s brought back Eve and Dita von Teese for a new ads to promote the Viva Glam series of lipsticks where the proceeds go to fight HIV/AIDS.

I didn’t blog on Viva Glam VI when it was first launched, but the current promotion makes a review relevant once again. MAC describes Viva Glam VI as a “Warm terracotta-plum fusion with subtle pearl.” Terracotta and plum are among my favorite makeup colors, so this fusion sounded very tempting.

However, Viva Glam VI was disappointing. It had less pigment than other MAC lipsticks that are among my favorites (Plum, a discontinued satin lipstick, and Bourbon, a lipstick from the limited edition Beauty Icon 3 collection featuring Catherine Deneuve). Moreover, the color didn’t intensify my lips. I’d practically recommend giving the money directly to an AIDS cause, but I know that getting a lipstick at the same time is a lot more fun.

I certainly can’t imagine burlesque dancer Dita von Teese, who was in the original Viva Glam campaign, wearing this lipstick. If red lipstick was created for anyone, it would be her, with her raven-black hair and fair complexion.