Switching Out MAC Compacts

You might recall that I had ordered Shell Pearl from the Liberty of London collection last month. Unfortunately, I was underwhelmed by the shade, but I absolutely adored the packaging it came in. The white shiny compact with the bright print was just too adorable. So I decided to do a switcheroo!

I used this tutorial here on youtube:


I had three MAC compacts that I switched around:
- Azalea Blossom Blush Ombre (Clear Lid)
- Shell Pearl Beauty Powder (White LoL Compact)
- Blushing Femme Irridescent Pressed Powder (Black Mirrored Compact) -- received this in a swap shattered but I had transfered the loose powder to a sifter jar and was planning on B2Ming the compact.

Following the tutorial, I managed to move everything around with minimal damage -- my first attempt was with the LoL compact and I accidentally nicked the surface with the knife. Luckily Azalea Blossom was unharmed.

And here's the end results!

Shell Pearl was swapped on MUA for an Esprique Precious lipstick, hooray! :) And I still have a B2M with the Azalea Blossom container. And doesn't AB look awesome in its new home?

MAC Hollidazzle 2003 - 7 Pink Lips

I received this gorgeous MAC lip palette in a swap last year and it's one of my favorites. It houses 7 pink shades -- 2 lipglasses and 5 lipsticks.

The shades are:
Junior Miss LS: Clean fuchsia with gold pearl
High Strung LS: A deeply enlightened pink silver (Perm)
Crème de la Femme LS: Baroque pink laced with gold (Perm)
Captive LS: Pinkish plum (Perm)
Tulle LG: Baby pink with silver pearl
Fluid: Muted brown plum with violet shimmer (Perm)
Vintage Violet LG: Icy violet with shimmer

 Yeah, I have no idea which of the above the gold one is supposed to be. Go figure.

MAC Liberty of London Haul

My MAC order arrived a few days ago; reviews to follow but I just wanted to show off the gorgeous packaging!

MAC Liberty of London is out!

MAC's LoL collection is now available for purchase online on their website. I only placed a small order as I have been drifting away from MAC lately. Isn't the packaging neat? I am a sucker for MAC's special packaging. I only have a few pieces but I love them. (My favorite is my Heatherette beauty powder compact and the Raquel Welch lipstick)

Anyway, my order includes:
- Shell Pearl beauty powder. This looks very soft and glowy, and it's a peach which I really don't have enough of! I want to try and wear some more peachy/nude shades this spring. Already planning a FOTD, actually!
- English Accents & Frankly Fresh lipglasses:

I passed on everything else. The eyeshadows I just depot anyway, so the packaging would be useless. The blushes were meh, and the lipsticks seemed too extreme.

MAC Lipgloss Swatches

MAC's lipglosses are hit or miss for me, but I can't stay away from that awesome vanilla scent that their lip products are famous for. MAC has many different formulas of their lipgloss, which is actually called "lipglass". There's the original lipglass, the sparklier lustreglass, the plumping plushglass, the discontinued 3D glass, and then there's dazzleglass, cremesheen glass, creme dazzleglass, lipgelees... and I'm sure I'm missing a few more of the limited edition spinoffs.

Here's my collection!

 

My collection isn't as large as most, but I use every single color and many of them are only about half full now. Quite a few are limited edition, and all of them are fabulous. I am not going to review every single one as MAC is so readily swatched/reviewed already but I did swatch them on my arms. 

I am, however, going to list the shade descriptions from MAC as well as what collection they are from!

Starting on the far left:

Cremesheen Glass

- Ever So Rich (Creme Team): Sheer Lilac

Tinted Lipglass

- She Loves Candy (Hello Kitty): Pale blue pink with gold pearlized pigments

- Viva Glam VI SE (Permanent): Soft pink-tinged mauve

- Viva Glam V (Permanent): Neutral pink with pearl

- Negligee (Lingerie): Bright mauve with pearl

Lustreglass

- Ensign (Naughty Nauticals): Peachy pink with white and gold pearl

- Hey, Sailor (Naughty Nauticals): Blue plum pink with white pearl flecks

- Wonderstruck (Permanent): Lustred-up clean pink coral

Marbleized Lipglass

- Miss Marble: Muted pink

Suntints SPF 20 Liquid Lip Balm

- Lilt of Lily: Soft, creamy pale pink

Lipgelee

- Shift to Pink (MAC In Lillyland): Light violet with pearl

Swatches on my arm, without flash and with, as always. Swatches are in the same order as the above. 

 

Taupe is Dope - Eyeshadow Swatches

I love taupe. I wish I had more taupe, because it's fun to wear as a more intricate EOTD, but it can also look pretty on its own.

I've rallied up the five taupes that I have, swatched 'em, and reviewed all five (yes, just five) for you! Three of them are from palettes, so they have no specific shade name. I've photographed them without flash and with flash, as the flash shows off the shimmer/metallic finish more.

 

L-R: MAC Satin Taupe, Christian Dior Incognito, Majolica Majorca Majotrick BR711, Majolica Majorca Jewelling Eyes BL711, Laura Mercier Alloy.

MAC Satin Taupe: This is a Veluxe Pearl shadow, which is my absolute favorite finish from MAC. It's soft, creamy, and pigmented and applies like a dream. For the longest time I would just wear this with Naked Lunch as my go-to look. It also looks incredible on its own.

Christian Dior Incognito: This is one of the five shades in the Incognito quint by Dior, and it's my only matte taupe. I find that the matte Dior shadows are easier to work with than the shimmery ones, which are so sheer I look like I have discoballs on my eyelids once the color is built up enough. The entire quint is neutral but I have to say the light pink and the grey-toned taupe are the standouts of the group.

Majolica Majorca Majotrick BR711: This is part of a quad from Shiseido's popular drugstore line in Japan. It's actually quite similar to Satin Taupe, but not quite as warm as it has a silver flash to it whereas MAC's has more gold in my opinion. MM shadows can be hit or miss, especially their palettes, but I found that it applies very well on the eyelid even without a primer.

Majolica Majorca Jewelling Eyes BL711: Brand new for Spring 2010, this quad has a lovely cool taupe as the darkest selection. I haven't tried a complete look with the quad, only with the green and blue, but the taupe is lovely and I'm sure I'll be using it soon.

Laura Mercier Metallic Creme Eye Color in Alloy: I have another of LM's metallic cremes (in Platinum) and Alloy does not disappoint either in terms of pigment, staying power, and ease of applying. It's one of the best formulas for creme eyeshadow that I've tried, and Alloy is such a gorgeous color. It's more red than Satin Taupe. It is definitely the warmest of my taupes, and I'm a NW10 so I'm amazed I can pull it off.

And that's the last of them! I'm hoping to get my hands on some more taupes in the future, as they are so wearable and my favorite neutral. There are so many different kinds! Please feel free to drop a comment with your recommendations for other taupes. :)

Annabelle Custom Quad Magnetic Compact

I recently decided to downsize my MAC eyeshadow collection to the few shadows I actually use. I went through a neutral phase where everything I bought for the eyes was neutral, so I had a lot of duplicates. Lately I've come to realize that I have dupes in other, smaller palettes that I prefer to their MAC equivelant.

I went from having 13(!) pans to just 4. Since the nearest MAC store is half an hour away, I decided to go for instant gratification and picked up a magnetic quad from Annabelle.

Annabelle is a Canadian exclusive drugstore brand that just recently came out with a system similar to MAC's pro palettes -- customizable quads with the pans ready to be popped into them. Unlike MAC's system, Annabelle's quads are magnetized, not the eyeshadow pans themselves.

The Annabelle quad is available in a couple of designs, and currently they are only available in Shoppers Drug Mart in Canada. RRP is $4.95, but I paid about $5.75 for mine which is just a few cents less than the MAC ones. They feel heavier and more sturdy though.

If you are in the United States, you can order from Annabelle directly by calling their CS line. More information is available in their FAQ on the official website.

Here's my quad in action next to my MAC 15-pan (which will hopefully be going to a new home!) Eyeshadows pictured are MAC Shroom, Naked Lunch, Satin Taupe, and Brun.