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The Day in Beauty Vol. 23: MAC Bangin’ Brilliant Blush…and One of the Best Movies of 2016!

July 19th, 2016 by Karen 15 Comments

mac bangin brilliant blushes
The five new MAC Bangin’ Brilliant Blushes ($16 each)

Why are the $16 MAC Bangin’ Brilliant Powder Blushes in eyeshadow pots?

For the life of me, I can’t figure it out. I’ve picked one of them up assuming it was a shadow at least half a dozen times. Like the matte red, Never Say Never? — call me crazy, but I kinda wanna put it in my crease.

I dunno… Sometimes I think red smokey eyes can look super cool, but maybe I’ve been spending too much time on Instagram lately.

LOL!

These are so bright and so juicy that they remind me of summer fruit.

Mmm… Watermelon…

These five new blushes have joined the MAC permanent line, along with the rest of the Bangin’ Brilliant band, and after spending the past few weeks with them, I think they compare well to my regular MAC daily blush musts, which are Gingerly and Blushbaby, at the moment, in terms of wear time (they last all day long) and blendability (although you do need to use them with the right tools, but I’ll get to that in a few).

Where they definitely differ is size, obvi, and intensity.

I don’t know how MAC did it, but they made these even MORE vibrant than the boldest and brightest MAC blushes around, which is really super cool. I just wish they came in the regular 0.21-oz. $22 MAC blush pans.

These may cost a little less at $16, but they’re also much smaller (0.05 ounces). Technically, though, since you’ll probably need to use so very little, a small pan like this could still last a year or two, depending on how often you wear it.

But that part of me that likes to buy toilet paper in bulk at Costco still wishes they were bigger, man.

mac bangin brilliant blush swatches
From the left: MAC Never Say Never, News Flash, Bright Response, Bright Pink and Saucy Miss

Lately I’ve been liking very minimal cheek color, so because these are so intense, and because the pans are on the smaller side (which makes it kind of hard to load up a regular-sized blush brush with them…but really, I probably wouldn’t use a blush brush with them anyway because I only need to use a tiny amount, and a big brush head would be excessive), I use a small duo fibre face brush with them instead.

I like the MAC 199 Small Duo Fibre Face Brush ($35). It’s small and fits these pans better than a big blush brush does. I just lightly swirl the brush head in one of the pans, tap most of it off, then buff, ever-so-gently, like whisker kisses on my cheeks.

Then I grab the biggest powder brush I can find and gently run that over my cheeks to slightly take the edge off. The end result looks very natural.

Since these are so bright, I assumed I would look like a resident of crazy clown town, but that totally wasn’t the case! I’ve been wearing the orange shade, Bright Response, on the regular, and it’s completely doable.

But hey, if you are all about the “too much,” that’s cool too. You can easily get there with these blushes.

mac bright response blush
Wearing MAC Bright Response

I’m an NC42, by the way, and because I like to use these with a light touch, some of the colors look kinda similar. My cheeks look, more or less, like I just finished doing hardcore sprints whether I wear matte red Never Say Never, matte reddish orange News Flash or matte fuchsia pink Bright Pink.

The ones that look more distinct to me, at least on my skin tone, are matte bright bluish pink Saucy Miss and orange Bright Response, the shade I mentioned earlier, which is technically a frost, but it looks more like a matte on me.

Overall, I think these blushes are super fun! Just keep ’em away from your MAC eyeshadows if you’re easily confused like I am, LOL! They’re available now.

For Movie Night! The Invitation

I watched THE BEST, most intense movie last weekend, and it’s one of my favorite movies of the year.

It’s called The Invitation, and it’s streaming on Netflix right now.

OK…but first, something happened after I had Connor. I used to love really, really scary, suspenseful movies, and I still do, but I have less patience now for standard slasher horror movies.

There was this one movie I tried to watch recently — I can’t remember the name — where the opening scene had a bound woman crying in a dark room, and I had to immediately turn it off. I just can’t handle those kinds of scary movies anymore, but this movie? It’s more of a slow-burning suspenseful thriller.

Dude, it was SO GOOD that I actually watched it twice because I wanted to see what I missed the first time around.

Not gonna lie — I kinda want to watch it a third time now.

It’s about a group of old friends reconnecting with each other at a dinner party that one of them throws in the LA hills after not seeing each other for about two years.

Will is the main character, and his new girlfriend is Kira, but he used to be married to Eden, who now lives with her new husband in the same house she once shared with Will, and they’re all at the dinner party together.

Two years ago something tragic happened to Will and Eden that led to them splitting up. It ended their relationship, and it’s one of the driving forces in the story.

Anyway, Eden and her new husband invite their old friends to the house for the dinner party.

Needless to say, things go awry. Very, very awry.

I don’t want to give too much away, but all I have to say is be patient, and watch closely, because there are little breadcrumbs dropped along the way that, if you watch it a second time, you’re like, “Oh, I get it now!”

I can’t say good enough things about it. It’s SO great.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

The Day in Beauty Vol. 23: MAC Bangin’ Brilliant Blush…and One of the Best Movies of 2016! / Originally published July 19th, 2016

There are 15 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Face, MAC Makeup

The products in this entry were provided by the manufacturer for consideration. For information about my posting policy, please see my Disclaimer.

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Comments

  1. Ruchita says

    July 19th, 2016 at 11:42 am

    What fun, bright colors! I can definitely see these lasting a long time. A little would go a long way.

    Thanks for the movie recommendation. I love a good thriller, especially one you can watch more than once!

    Reply
    • Karen says

      July 19th, 2016 at 1:38 pm

      Yeah, I love how they are so vibrant and playful. The orange would look great on you!

      I hope you give the movie a watch; let me know what you think if you do. It’s a good one to snuggle on the couch with the kitties. (Hi, Mingy!)

      Reply
  2. Joyce says

    July 19th, 2016 at 12:12 pm

    I think these sizes are great for makeup artists. You can depot them and put them in the MAC 15 pan palette. That way, you’ll be carry more shades and using less storage space.
    Joyce recently posted … Swatches + Review: MAC Matte, Satin and Cremesheen Lipstick Collection

    Reply
    • Karen says

      July 19th, 2016 at 1:37 pm

      Great idea, Joyce!

      Reply
  3. Agata says

    July 19th, 2016 at 1:26 pm

    These blushes look really pretty but yes, they seem crazily pigmented and I don’t usually don’t have a light hand as far as my blushes go, lol!

    The movie sounds interesting, maybe me and my bf will watch it tonight!
    Agata recently posted … An Extraterrestrial Urban Decay Release- The Moondust Eyeshadow Palette Review.

    Reply
    • Karen says

      July 19th, 2016 at 1:37 pm

      Let me know what you think of the movie if you do. 🙂 I hope you like it!

      Reply
  4. Sheila says

    July 19th, 2016 at 5:00 pm

    Wow they look so creamy and beautiful!
    Sheila recently posted … Review + swatches – Dior Skyline Fall 2016 makeup collection – Diorskin Nude Air Luminizer, Diorblush Light & Contour Sculpting Stick Duo, and Dior Addict Lipsticks

    Reply
  5. Lulle says

    July 19th, 2016 at 8:27 pm

    Really not sure why MAC decided to make these blushes so small, what an odd choice!
    I’m not much of a horror movie person, I don’t really like when something makes me uncomfortable, and I can’t stand gore. Do you think I could watch that movie? I do like suspenseful shows, not violence.
    Lulle recently posted … Top 10 Lip Colors for Summer

    Reply
  6. Eesha says

    July 19th, 2016 at 10:05 pm

    Are these blushes in MAC eye shadow sized pans? That’s insane. Lovely playful colors though!

    I am going to watch this movie for sure and my husband’s gonna love it 🙂
    Eesha recently posted … Made these raved about mascaras work, which, otherwise didn’t work (for me)!

    Reply
  7. Erin says

    July 20th, 2016 at 8:16 am

    I love the bright blush on you. It actually looks perfectly natural. The movie sounds kind of intriguing but I hate horror movies!
    Erin recently posted … Rodney Strong 2014 Charlotte’s Home Sauvignon Blanc

    Reply
  8. Sandy says

    July 20th, 2016 at 11:09 am

    Nice to see you on here Karen with swatches and all! I’ve cued up that movie on Netflix to watch soon. It only has 2 stars on it but if you recommended it, it’s worth a try for sure. Thanks!

    Reply
  9. Christy says

    July 20th, 2016 at 2:17 pm

    Adding this movie to my list! I love thrillers and horror, this looks right up my alley. Plus I have hard time finding good movies on Netflix (they have a large selection but have a hard time finding something I want to watch) so this is def one I’ll check out.

    Reply
    • Karen says

      July 20th, 2016 at 2:20 pm

      Hi Christy,

      I’ve noticed that it’s been very hard to find good movies on Netflix now! I don’t know what happened but now it seems like I spend half my time searching for something decent to watch, so when I find something great I gotta share. 🙂 If you have any good Netflix recommendations let me know!

      Reply
  10. Susan T. says

    July 20th, 2016 at 2:52 pm

    I watched The Invitation last night after reading this post. I was disturbed by the beginning with the coyote but after that it was a good movie. Holy creepy people! I never trust anyone who is too happy so I would have been out of there!

    Reply
  11. Kim says

    July 21st, 2016 at 7:13 am

    I’m looking forward to your smokey, red eye! I love pink and red as shadow colors (probably because of the green eye thing) but I know it’s tricky not to look like you’ve been sobbing with some reds. I’m confident you can pull it off! 🙂

    You totally sold that movie. I’m going to check it out, for sure! I’ve been trying to finally finish Breaking Bad and I’m almost there. I can’t remember if you saw it (probably when it was actually on the air 100 years ago!).

    Reply

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Hi there! I’m Karen, your friendly neighborhood beauty addict, and I’m a Bay Area girl who hoards brown eyeshadow and covets coral lipstick. Every morning, I wake up and say, “I’m going to do something other than a smoky eye today.” Then…I end up doing a smoky eye anyway (most days). When I’m not putting on makeup, taking pictures of makeup or writing about makeup, which I’ve been doing daily since 2007 (!), you’ll find me hanging out with my hubby (“El Hub”), my four-year-old daughter (Connor Claire) and my torbie girl cat (Pretty Girl Rosie, a.k.a. PGR).

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