April 2009 MAC Trip!

I figured I would start my blog off right by posting several makeup do's and do's and must have's and can live withouts. However, I just cannot WAIT to blog about my lovely (but LONG) MAC experience so here it goes:

A few girls from work and I decided to venture up to Chicago on Good Friday to visit the M.A.C. store at Oakbrook Mall. While I have always liked MAC and own a few shadows and brushes of theirs, I mostly have stuff that I can get in the Quad Cities (i.e. not MAC). Unfortunately, we don't have a MAC or a Sephora so yes, we are deprived majora. Hence, me being cut loose at a makeup counter I can't find back home is just never good news... Yikes!

*The stuff in this pic looks so tiny but that's because I had to stand on a chair to get it all in the pic. Everything is normal sized :) The MAC pallette is kind of humongous (prob about the size of a very large greeting card) but it's very flat so it will fit into most handbags, if necessary*

I take every opportunity to get information and suggestions from the makeup chicas working there. I figure they know a heck of a lot more than I do about choosing colors and what goes together! I take note of all brushes they use and ALL products (this includes eyeshadow base, highlighter blushes, etc). Even if you can't buy it all, at least know what they used and have them write it down for you. I ask questions about every technique they used. You'll find the artists are overjoyed to explain this stuff to customers. In most cases, they are under-used for the vast amounts of knowledge they have gained in their training programs. USE 'EM. Tell 'em you have no clue what you're doing. They can't help you unless you let them help you - similar to psychologists. :)

One of the key things to note is that not all shadows go with all blushes go with all lipsticks/glosses. I know this sounds totally obvious. But seriously, most people buy just new shadows and stick with the same blush. Or a new lipstick but stick with the same everything else. It's highly important to see the bigger picture, even on a day-to-day basis.

That being said, I have been in an un-cute funk so I was overjoyed for a full Spring/Summer makeover on Friday. I was needing a new look somethin' severe. I just went ahead and immediately told this to my fabulous artist chica. I ended up buying sooo much stuff! The good thing about MAC is that it's really not that expensive! My Chanel stuff (dearly love it) is more than twice as much for each item. For example, MAC mascara is $12, Chanel Inimitable is $30!! I love Inimitable but I have a couple of issues with it that will be covered in a later blog.

BACK TO MAC:

Eyes
MAC is an AWESOME place to buy eyeshadow. You can buy MAC shadows individually or for suprisingly cheap, you can buy a little quad case with four slots in it, and refill eyeshadows for it (they clip in with magnets). I told her I would love some help designing a quad of color, then everything to go with it (meaning blush, lipstick, etc). She ended up enticing me into buying the fifteen-color pallette. By cheap, I mean the case cost $12 and each shadow was $11. Chanel, by comparison is $28.50 for a shadow. Last time I checked, Lancome was $16.50. Granted this was not the most reasonable decision to make (especially considering my shadow drawers at home), but seriously, I love the darn thing. It's going to be great at weddings so I don't have to take a whole train case of shadows with me! I let her pick the entire pallette, saying she knew what colors I should wear more than I did. She picked an array of "must have" colors for me and organized them in the pallette by highlighter, lid color and crease colors.

This chica taught me some awesome new shadow techniques and of course I had to buy the #222 brush ($28)!! This brush works great as a highlighter brush for the crease and the crazy thing is that you should use it with your eye OPEN and it shadows your natural crease.

Well, hello, goldmine. Chica showed me MAC Fluidline ($15). I am A HUGE FAN of Laura Mercier's tight line technique with their eye liner (to be blogged about at a later date) so I was SHOCKED when I found another liner that is just as good, if not better! You definitely need the #210 brush ($17.50) or something exactly like it, though, to get the look right.

I decided LOOONNNNGGG AGO I would not stray from Lancome Hypnose mascara EVER again. I have tried EVERYTHING else and always go back to the Hypnose. I use it on all my brides and on myself every day. I decided to give the MAC a whirl, though, because it's way reasonable and I'm always in the market for something bigger & better to add to my mascara army. I got Plush Lash ($12). Yummmmmy! It's SUPER thicking and I love the brush. The formula reminds me a lot of Hypnose (this is a good thing) but the brush seems to help separate the lashes more than *gasp* Hypnose (this is a really good thing). I took the advice of the makeup chica and also bought Dazzle Lash to put the finishing touches on the tips. What an awesome idea. It seriously works. For $12 bucks, eh who cares. If I'm only working on the lash tips with Dazzle Lash, this will last forever. Seriously.

I will admit I made a mistake in not buying the MAC shadow primer. Primer is VERY IMPORTANT but I've loved the Laura Mercier primer I've used for the last year or so. Unfortunately, not all product brands mix well and Laura primer works better with Laura or Chanel shadows. Buying a MAC primer is high on my list of "to-do's." After all, I just bought a 15-shadow pallette. I'll be using it for awhile and want it to rock to it's maximum potential.

Blush
I do have a lot of blushes. So I opted to only buy one MAC blush, Mineralize Due in Moon River ($22.50). This is the one she used in my Springy pink makeover and I loved it. It was a combo blush/highlighter. I also bought the blush brush #109 ($32) she used. To be honest, blush is an application weakness of mine but only on myself. It's weird I have a ton of blush brushes by Chanel, Laura and Lancome but love none of them. I used the brush today and was a lil' heavy handed with it as it's always weird to get used to a new blush brush.

Face
I told her I was obsessed with my NARS pressed powder but she took one look at it on my face and wasn't convinced (FYI - this is not a good sign and I later agreed). She put the Face & Body Foundation (like a tinted moisturizer) on me and I was SOLD! I have always wanted tinted moisturizer FOREVER but I'm allergic to Chanel and although I ADORE Laura's tinted moisturizer, I am BETWEEN colors. Yeah, it sucks. So I go between Chanel pressed powder and NARS pressed powder. I freakin' love the stuff so I'm praying I'm not allergic. Yesterday I had TWO people ask me what kind of foundation I was wearing. Isn't that random!? No one has ever asked me that question before (also not a good sign).

DEFINITELY need the #188 brush. I thought my Lancome and Chanel foundation brushes were the greatest things ever but now I love my #188 ($34). It works SOOOO good and makes the application SOOOO easy.

Lips
I bought the lipstuffs she used on me during the Springy pink makeover. Viva Glam VI ($14) which is a versatile pinkish/twigish color, Lip Pencil in Dervish ($13) and two awesome glosses.

Bottom line is I'M PSYCHED about my new goods. :) I've been able to experiement with them on Saturday and Sunday I'm still lovin' 'em. Today I gave myself a makeover similar to what I'm planning to use on a bride for a May 30th wedding. I thought of her as soon as I saw the colors. I took some pics for the blog and to send to the blushing bride (well a 7 year old took the bottom one):


I'm wearing all the MAC eyestuffs I mentioned. Shadow colors are: Naked Lunch (highlighter under the brow and blended into the middle after the base color application, Expensive Pink (base color - very summery!) and Corduroy highlighted in the crease and very slightly under the bottom lashes. Top eyeliner is FluidLine in Blacktrack. I used both mascaras I bought at MAC.

Foundation is MAC's Face & Body Foundation ($32).

Blush is Lancome's discontinued color Fantasia. This is my all-time favorite cheek color EVERRR. It matches LOTS of looks. It's kind of that pinky/peachy/sparkly/matte look that will never again be replicated (R.I.P.). Luckily, I found a few strays on ebay after the big announcement of it's discontinuance.

Lip color is Make Up For Ever's Aqua Lip in Rosewood 2C ($17) and Stila Plumping Lip Glaze in Melon Mint ($24). I love this combo. A Sephora girl picked it out for me a couple of months ago and I still love it! Yet another example of something I could not have picked out by myself :)

Mucho thank you if you made it this for in the super-long MAC blog! Not all blogs will be this long or detailed...I PROMISE! :)

Love y'all!

xoxo,
Ann