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The MAC Pony Park Collection Is Luminous and Lighter Than Air!

September 26th, 2019 by Karen 7 Comments

mac pony park matte lip mousse — In the MAC Pony Park collection, you’ll find MAC’s latest lippie: a lightweight matte mousse

MAC’s new tarot-inspired collab with South Korean beauty blogger Pony Park (a.k.a. Park Hye-Min, a.k.a. a bondafide Instagram mega-star with over six million followers) makes me wish I could find my tarot cards…

I had a brief side gig as a tarot card reader, and by “brief,” I mean that it lasted all but a week, because I did one reading on my college roommate’s bestie, then lost my deck of cards in the shuffle of moving back home to the Bay Area.

Thus ended my brief stint as a diviner of fortunes!

Anyway, if I could find those tarot cards, they’d probably tell me what the universe (and you and I) probably already know: influencer collaborations are still a thing, and this one’s a big enough deal that MAC is releasing a brand-spankin’ new lip formula with it.

mac pony park collection — The MAC Pony Park collection

The Matte Lip Mousses ($20 each) practically float like feathery clouds and feel like an airy meringue whipped into soft peaks when you glide them across your lips.

Available in nine shades, ranging from neutrals to bright pinks to reds to deep plums, the Lip Mousses are the centerpiece in this limited edition collection, which features varying levels of luminosity, a central spoke in the wheel of K-beauty — and influencer Pony Park’s makeup looks.

MAC’s latest beauty partner, Pony Park

This looks fun.

Wearable, but with a twist

The Lip Mousses, along with the rest of the collection — a $35 eight-pan neutral eyeshadow palette, a $20 plumping gloss, a $30 pearly Fix+ setting spray, two highlighters ($37 each), a set of $19 lashes, a $58 face brush and a $35 eye brush — are all dressed in Tarot-inspired packaging.

mac pony park hocus pocus eye shadow — Hocus Pocus Eye Shadow X 8

mac pony park skys the limit cold comfort — Extra Dimension Skinfinishes and Prep+Prime Fix+

mac pony park matte lip mousse doe foot — Doe foot action

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New From bareMinerals: The Dusk Eyeshadow Palette and the Bounce & Blur Blushes

August 1st, 2019 by Karen 6 Comments

bareminerals bounce blur — Bounce & Blur, by bareMinerals

Everything in my condo is bumping. The walls are rattling, floors are clanging… Oh, and these four new bareMinerals blushes and eyeshadow palette are bouncing.

We started doing the household repairs I mentioned the other day, which means LOTS of noise and workmen doing stuff right now, but I should be living like royalty (“I’m the queen of the world!”) with a new furnace, new water heater AND a working air conditioner by the end of the week. YAY!

With the tools banging and the classic rock blasting from the very nice workmen, concentrating has been…a challenge, so if I seem a little disheveled, that’s why.

Hella random side note regarding classic rock and misheard lyrics, but Bad Moon Rising just played a few minutes ago, and when the chorus started, instead of thinking, “There’s a bad moon on the rise,” I thought, “There’s a bathroom on the right.” THANKS, SUZANNE!

OK, bareMinerals has a few fun new powder products for fall that bare fingers will be bouncing over, literally. The items in their new Bounce & Blur Collection (two eye palettes and four blushes) have a squishy, soft texture that boomerangs right back at ya when you press on the pans. They’re purposefully made to lay down diffused, hazy color, so they’re better for washes of color than precise placement.

I’ve seen this bouncy formula before from Chanel, MAC, Maybelline and Kaja Beauty, and the bareMinerals formula is comparably slick and smooth (it’s not wet, though, like cream blush). The powder skates across the skin.

Bounce & Blush Eyeshadow Palette in Dusk ($29)

I like using these eyeshadows as single washes of color on the lid, because fading the edges doesn’t require any work. Of course, you could use ’em with a brush, but for me, fingers work best both for application and blending.

It’s like working with a crayon cream shadow, but in a pot, and it’s easy and, most of all, fun. If you like simple, diffused glowing lids, I think you’ll have a blast with these.
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New From Urban Decay: Stay Naked Foundation and Concealer, and Vice Lip Chemistry

July 26th, 2019 by Karen 5 Comments

urban decay stay naked foundation concealer top — At Urban Decay, nudity rules.

Keep your underwear on, please. Even though Urban Decay wants you to Stay Naked, I would strongly urge you against going completely commando, because hello! — air conditioning is no joke!

Stay Naked, a new collection available meow from UD, includes a liquid foundation, concealer and sheer lip tints.

STAY NAKED WEIGHTLESS LIQUID FOUNDATION, $39

What is this — blood magic? Because one layer of Urban Decay’s new medium-coverage, pore-blurring Stay Naked Foundation hides uneven pigmentation on my cheeks without masking my freckles. It’s exactly the kind of sheer, barely-there coverage I love, and even though the matte finish is juuuuust starts out being a tad too matte for my taste (I’m a dewy kinda gal), it mellows out over the course of about an hour into something more satiny and natural looking — like an ever-so-slightly perfected version of natural skin. It’s one of those base products that looks better and better as the day goes on.

urban decay stay naked foundation swatches — I tested the following shades of the concealer and foundation, and the closest foundation match to my skin is 51WY, although right now it’s a little light for me because I’m tanner than usual at the moment. The concealers I tried are *waaaay* lighter than I’d normally wear, but I tried them anyway to see if I liked the texture and finish. By the way, I’m an NC42 in MAC.

If you’ve ever tried and liked Estée Lauder Double Wear Light, you’ll probably love Stay Naked, too. It very much looks and feels like that underrated foundation hero, but UD’s comes in a BILLION different undertones for cool, warm and olive tones, as well as 50 different colors.

Site note: The Fenty effect is still alive and well!

STAY NAKED WEIGHTLESS LIQUID FOUNDATION

Doesn’t oxidize
Lightweight and breathable
Touchy pump! (Mine squirts stuff halfway across my desk if I’m not careful.)
I’m a MAC NC42 and wear 51WY.
I like to apply it with a synthetic buffing brush for the most natural coverage.
Looks like real skin in all types of lighting.
Long-wearing and sticks to skin like glue, even if you rub at it aggressively.

You’ll probably also like this if you like the sheerness of a BB cream, tinted moisturizer, or even something like MAC Face and Body, but you just want a little more coverage (but not full-on opacity). I think it’s more like an intense tinted moisturizer — like, if you took Laura Mercier’s classic TM and added a few drops of a full-coverage concealer to it.

STAY NAKED CORRECTING CONCEALER, $29

Along with the foundation, UD also recently launched a new line of complementary liquid Stay Naked Concealers. Like the new base, Stay Naked Concealer is lightweight and long-wearing with a matte finish, but the coverage is completely opaque, with high pigment on par with full-coverage baddies like Tarte Shape Tape. Just for fun (and for old time’s sake), I packed it on beneath my eyes and was wowed by the fact that it refused to settle into my fine lines and did not look heavy at all.

urban decay stay naked foundation concealer — I’m wearing the foundation in 51WY, concealer in 50WY, and Love Child Vice Chemistry

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It’s MAC Electric Wonder Swatches: That’s Watt’s Up

June 7th, 2019 by Karen 17 Comments

mac electric wonder collection swatches — ZAP!

Ponder, if you would, how much fun it would be to have an electricity-themed dance party.

Question: How much fun would it be?

Answer: Shockingly fun. 😂

Of course, all of the song titles would have to include a reference to electricity. I suggest we start with the following…

Speaking of shocking developments (ha ha), I just realized that it’s a LOT harder to draw a thunderbolt on your arm than you might think. Seriously.

Below are swatches of the new MAC Electric Wonder Summer 2019 collection, errrrthing on my NC42 skin. Overview pics first, followed by closeups.

As you might expect from such a highly charged topic…there’s lots of glimmer, shimmer and glitter!

The collection is available now in stores and on the MAC website.

Overview swatches

mac natural vice — Eye Shadow X 12 in Natural Vice ($48)

mac desert lightning — Eye Shadow X 12 in Desert Lightning ($48)

mac ignite wonder face palette — Ignite Wonder Face Palette ($42.50)

mac iridescent powder next to nothing — Electric Wonder Iridescent Powder ($36) and Next to Nothing Bronzing Powder

mac electric wonder lipstick — Lipsticks ($19.50 each)

mac electric wonder lipglass — Lipglasses ($18.50 each)

Closeup swatches

mac desert lightning swatch 1 — Eye Shadow X 12 in Desert Lightning

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MAC Aladdin Collection Swatches

May 28th, 2019 by Karen 14 Comments

Even though I’ve had very little real-life experience with magic lamps, I do know this much: Your wish, no matter what it is, will always end up a little wonky.

OK, usually a lot wonky.

HELLA WONKS, if you will.

Like, if you wish for a million dollars, you’ll get a million dollars…but it’ll be in shredded $5 bills that have been stuffed into random prickly cactus plants spread out across the Mojave Desert.

Those genies, man. They’re tricky.

I may not be a genie, but if you wish to see swatches of the new MAC Alladin collection on NC42 skin, I can make that come true, no strings attached!

Below are swatches of the entire collection — the first three are overview swatch pics, and closeups with the product names come after.

FYI, the eye quad and black liner are sold out (but the black liner is just a re-promote of Technakohl in Graphblack, which you can still get in the permanent collection in the regular packaging), but everything else is still available.

Overview swatch pics

mac aladdin lipsticks — The Lipsticks ($20 each)

mac aladdin lipglass — The Lipglasses ($19 each)

mac aladdin princess jasmine — Eye Shadow X 9: Princess Jasmine ($35), Technakohl Liner in Graphblack ($20) and Pigment in Rose ($24)

mac aladdin powder blush — Powder Blushes ($35 each) and Crystal Glaze Gloss ($24)

Detailed swatches

mac aladdin friend like me princess incognito — Lipstick in Friend Like Me and Princess Incognito

mac aladdin rajah whole new world — Lipsticks in Rajah and Whole New World

mac aladdin jewels on jewels diamond in the rough — Lipglass in Jewels on Jewels and Diamond in the Rough

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