MAC Makeup

5 Things I’ve Been Loving Lately

October 23rd, 2019 by Karen 5 Comments

three fall scents — Lovin’ these perfumes

1. These fall fragrances

Mind you, I don’t know if these three should be officially considered “fall scents,” but it is fall here now…and I have been rotating among these scents and lovin’ ’em.

Maison Francis Kurkdijian Femin Pluriel: A chypre floral with notes of iris, violet, rose, jasmine, lily-of-the-valley, orange blossom, vetiver and Indonesian patchouli leaf.
I like this one, and it doesn’t hurt that nobody else I know wears it.
MAC Shadescent in Creme d’Nude: This soft, clean amber musk is spiked with caramel, and it smells like clean, schmexy skin.
Chanel Coco Mademoiselle: An oriental floral with notes of mandarin orange, orange blossom, bergamot, jasmine, Turkish rose, ylang-ylang, vanilla, vetiver and white musk. This one’s a classic feminine “sweater weather” scent.

2. This funk version of Alicia Keys’ If I Ain’t Got You by Scary Pockets

Those runs are so crisp! Plus, how could you not love that name: “Scary Pockets?” LOL!

3. Vegetables

My sweet tooth GOES HARD, so 99% of the time I’m more likely to crave fruit than vegetables, but lately I’ve been all about the veggies. Literally, I’ve been eating plates and plates of them for lunch and dinner (not so much for breakfast though). My faves du jour right meow are the little bags of organic snap peas from Trader Joe’s.

Park me in a corner with a side of Bolthouse Salsa Ranch Yogurt Dressing, and I’M A HAPPY GIRL. 😁

bolthouse farm salsa ranch — So yummy… So healthy…

4. 1920’s-era dresses

Must be all the Downton Abbey I’ve been watching, LOL! I love the drop waists and how loose and comfortable everything looks. I also like the beading and the fringe (even if the fringe doesn’t look cat lady-friendly).

5. Having a cat place demands on me again

Every day, Pretty Girl Rosie opens up a little more and lets us get to know her better. This week we learned she’s quite feisty! Like, if she wants lurvies, and she wants them now, you’re GOING TO GIVE THEM TO HER. Or, there will be consequences…

She’s already claimed my desk and windowsill…

What’ve you been loving lately? 😊

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Doing the Dew With MAC Cream Colour Base in Luna

October 10th, 2019 by Karen 3 Comments

mac luna — MAC Cream Colour Base in Luna

Dear 1990s-era mattes,

Enjoy your moment in the makeup world, my friends, because in 30 or so, tastes will shift, and people will be all about shimmering skin. They’ll even go so far as to talk about varying levels of dewiness… Can you imagine? I KNOW. It’s craziness.

Your friend,

MBB

As you know, I’ve been into dewy skin for… What has it been now? Years? And what has propelled this obsession to stratospheric levels has been the sheer breadth of different types of dew and shininess (yes, there are varying levels of dewiness).

One of my favorite ways to “do the dew” is to have skin that glows with just the sheerest, subtlest opalescence, and that’s what you get with MAC Cream Colour Base in Luna ($24).

Now, I realize that Luna looks a little like a stark and scary full moon in the pan… I think of it as a cream version of MAC Strobe Cream, but without the pink or gold tones. The color is a warm pearly white sheen sans any glitter or frost, and as long as you don’t pile too much of it on (because it’ll start to look harsh and obvious), it’s totally wearable. When you blend a thin layer on your skin, Luna reflects light in soft, subtle ways… It’s the polar opposite of hard, harsh metallic creams and powders, and it looks very natural.

Luna is most often used as a highlighter, but I think it also shines (ha ha ha, very punny, Karen!) when you layer it underneath other products. I love it as an eyeshadow base for neutral tan, taupe and beige powder eyeshadows because it brightens up your toasty tones a tad while adding the softest hint of pearl.

The overall effect? Fresh-faced, sightly dewy lids.

Side note: if you have MAC Satin Taupe, Naked Lunch or Era on hand, Luna looks magical underneath any of ’em.

Oh, you can also layer Luna with blushes, too. Yup, both powder and cream blushes. Dab a little on the apples of your cheeks, then tap your blush on top with either fingers or a skunk brush. Or, mix it with your cream blush on the back of your hand before applying from there with your fingers.

mac luna swatch — Blended and unblended on my NC42 skin

Luna feels like an ever-so-slightly thinner and creamier MAC Paint Pot. Don’t worry if it seems stark white in the swatch because you won’t see it sitting on top of your skin if you blend it.

Yes, because it’s a cream, Luna will scoot a little bit…or a lot, depending on your skin type. I’m combo oily/dry, and my dry spots like the Cream Colour Bases. They latch onto them for about five hours (maybe six in winter), and I don’t normally reapply them throughout the day because if/when my makeup shifts and changes, I’m usually cool with that.
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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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These Are My Current MAC Crushes (What Are Yours?)

September 24th, 2019 by Karen 19 Comments

mac crushes top — Wearing my latest MAC Crushes: Studio Fix Soft Matte Foundation Stick (I’m an NC42), Love Me Lipstick in Under the Covers, and a mix of Satin Taupe and Woodwinked eyeshadows

Sometimes, you just gotta spend some quality time with your first love… Your first makeup love, that is! For me, that’s MAC, ’cause I am still, and always will be, forever a MAC girl at heart.

There are a couple of things (actually, quite a few things) they’ve released recently that I’ve really been into, like the Love Me Lipsticks.

This line of really cute lippies came out this summer (which officially just ended here in the Northern Hemisphere), with distinct, colorful packaging that hints at what’s inside — crimson tubes for red shades, peach tubes for the nudes, purples for the violets.

You get the picture.

mac love me lipstick — MAC Hug Me Lipsticks, available now

mac love me lipstick swatches — 12 of the 24 shades of Hug Me Lipstick

The lippies are infused with argan oil, and they’re super moisturizing (no lip flakes here!). I like the satiny finish, which reminds me of the Cremesheens, but the shine is turned down a notch or two.

I’ve been wearing a few of the shades lately, and — big surprise! — my favorite is a neutral pink. It’s called “Under the Covers,” and it basically goes with everything.

(Side note: you can see Let Them Eat Cake, French Silk and My Little Secret in action here.)

The Love Me lipsticks are SO intense, SO concentrated, that sometimes, if I apply a little too much, they pool in the vertical lines on my lips.

NOOOOO!

Thankfully, it’s only temporary, because after a quick blot and a few pats from a finger, they look perfectly smooth and stay that way for the duration, which, depending on the color, is from 3-4 hours.

So lovely!

Another thing I’m loving? The new MAC Studio Fix Soft Matte Foundation Stick. It’s a light-to-medium coverage foundation that comes in a cream stick, and it’s clearly catering to that “skin is in” moment happening in makeup right now.

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MAC Studio Fix Soft Matte Foundation Sticks: The Latest Way to Get Your Fix

September 3rd, 2019 by Karen 6 Comments

Update for all MAC foundation fan-atics: Thanks to the new MAC Studio Fix Soft Matte Foundation Sticks, this fall we’ll have yet another reason to stick around the MAC counter.

One of my tried-and-true all-time MAC faves is their Studio Fix Foundation (it’s wicked dermatological wizardry when mixed with a few drops of Strobe Cream and set with Mineralize Skinfinish Natural), so I’m excited about this cream stick foundation, which comes in 33 colors and hits shelves beginning September 5.

Like the O.G. Studio Fix Foundation, these sticks promise a flawless finish and a formula that’s theoretically supposed to last 86,400 seconds…which is 24 hours, in case you were wondering.

However, unlike the original Studio Fix Foundation and its ultra-perfected, complete coverage, Studio Fix Soft Matte Foundation is medium coverage and made to appeal to makeup minimalists, a la the low-maintenance girl (or guy) looking to even out their skin tone and ever-so-slightly blur some pores.

From the official MAC PR:

“There’s a definite skin moment happening right now,” says Terry Barber, MAC Director of Makeup Artistry in London.” We’re not talking rawness here, or the whole no makeup, makeup thing. “It’s premium skin; enhanced, plumped, smooth and packed with moisture. Matte in the past was associated with dryness and dullness, whereas the new matte is about soft focus and blur with no blanket coverage and light hitting in all the right places.”

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