My MAC Collection - Beauty Powders, MSF's, and More

I thought it was about time for a new post in my MAC collection series, and sorry for sounding a little arrogant but this one was worth waiting for. I've really enjoyed having a play with this little lot, and I've definitely rediscovered a few forgotten gems. So what's this post about, my MSF,s, my Beauty Powders, my blusher kits, loose cheek colours, and some more blushers :) - basically cheek colour porn!

We'll start Mineralized Skin Finishes - I have 6 of these, well actually 7 I have a back up of Lightscapade :) but I have to say these 3 are my favourites and probably the ones I use most often

From Left to Right - By Candlelight, Lightscapade and Porcelain Pink - These are definitely my 3 favourites and I tend to wear these for highlighting etc. at least 80 percent on the time. I do own 3 others but I definitely haven't shown them as much love as I should, maybe now is the time to step out of my comfort zone - From Left To Right - Redhead, Semi Precious Rose Quartz, and Petticoat

I probably should have included this next item in my blusher post, but I've put it here instead, it is in fact the only Mineralize Blush, that I own, and I'm sure if you've read my blog for sometime you'll know which one it is...

Moon River of course, originally released with the Grand Duo's collection, this is one of my go to, shimmery winter blushers, the lovely icy pink / peach looks especially lovely on my skin when I'm pale. As you can see I've made a bit of a dent in this one, but no need to panic I have a back up :)

This next item of beauty is a Blush Ombre, I know these were much talked about when they were  originally released in 2010 as part of the Spring Color Forecast collection but it wasn't Ripe Peach that I went for, instead it was Azalea Blossom

This blush has the most amazing texture it is so smooth and velvety, I love the colour too, an icy purple and a gorgeous pale, mix together to create the most amazing blue toned pink, again a really nice colour to use on my skin in the winter months x If you love this blush, you'll be pleased to know that it is set to make a reappearance next year in the MAC Daphne Guinness collaboration :)

Perhaps one of the most popular and released cheek products in the MAC range, has to be Beauty Powders. I have quite a few of these mainly in limited edition designs and limited edition packaging, dare I say it though they all seem to be in very similar colours - whoops! First up the Beauty Powders from MAC Venomous Villains

From Left To Right -  Oh So Fair, Briar Rose and Her Own Devices, I probably use Briar Rose the least, but it's such a pretty pink I definitely need to show it some more love x  Next two more Beauty Powders in limited edition packaging

                                     

                                     

On the left, Shell Pearl from Give Me Liberty Of London and on the right, Pretty Baby from Hello Kitty. These look quite similar in the picture but they are a little different in real life Shell Pearl is a peach tone with lots of gold pearl, and Pretty Baby is more of a soft nude pink, with a tiny bit of gold shimmer. If I'm being honest I don't use this Pretty Baby that often, I know I'm sad but I don't want to ruin the Hello Kitty design. Finally 2 Beauty Powders that aren't in limited edition packaging, but like Pretty Baby they do features an embossed design

 I have to be honest and say that some Beauty Powders aren't the most pigmented, and this is particularly evident here. On the left is Blush Of Youth from Rose Romance, it's a gorgeous pale pink shade but the pigmentation is so bad you have to almost scrape it to get some coverage. On the right is Alpha Girl, I got this one from Fashion Flower so you can see the lovely floral, embossing on the powder, again the pigmentation isn't great but its a lovely peachy, coral shade.

Now for a few of the miscellaneous cheek products I have, first up an Iridescent Pressed Powder

                                      

Originally released with Fafi For MAC, Verve-Acious, is lovely yellow gold with loads of sparkle in it. Despite all the glitter and sparkle I'm surprised at how much of this I've actually used. It's really pretty but it isn't really something you can wear in the daytime, it's just a bit too glittery for that.

Speaking of sparkles and glitter, I also own the MAC Hocus Focus Colourful Face Kit, part of the 2009 Holiday Collection.

From left to right this kit contains, Pretty Baby, and Sunsparked Pearl Beauty Powders, and Peachykeen Powder Blush. This kit has some really nice shades in it, and it's one I use quite a bit, oh and this is the Pretty Baby I use so I don't destroy my Hello Kitty design :)

From pressed powders to loose ones starting with something long discontinued, a Pearlizer Sheer Pigment from the 2005 Belle Azure collection

Hundered Degrees Pearlizer is something I had forgotten about, but I'm really glad to have rediscovered it, it's a gorgeous champagne, pink shade great for highlighting eyes or cheeks.

Finally a product that can be used either as a highlighter, or as a finishing powder, Magically Cool Liquid Powder

I originally purchased this from the Venomous Villains collection, but I believe it's now a permanent item. The colour I have is Truth and Light, a sheer neutral with a subtle silver and pink shimmer. I predominantly use this as a very light highlight but you can also use it as an all over finishing powder for a glowy, healthy finish. The formulation is a bit of a gimmick to be honest but it is nice and cool applying it in the summer. I've heard a few stories about the cool effect wearing off when the tub has been open a while but I've had mine for over a year now and it's still fine, I think the key is not to dispense too much product at once :)

So that's the rest of my MAC cheek colour collection, quite substantial I'm sure you'll agree, if I'm being honest I don't think I really need anymore, in fact I've even started to buy pretty similar colours which is always a bad sign. What do think of my collection and is there anything missing from it ? Please let me know in the comments :) The next post in My MAC Collection series, will also be a Nail Polish Collection post, so guess that I'm looking at ? yes nail varnish lol, that will hopefully be up next week xx

My First MAC Haul In Ages and A Magazine Freebie Round Up

Hi Guys - I promised you a little MAC haul and here it is! I have to say MAC hasn't exactly wowed me over the last few months, a combination of Project 10 Pan and a few blaah collections has meant that I haven't added to my MAC collection very much this year but the new releases this month were right up my street, but I was still a good girl and only get 3 things. I have to say that I changed my mind several times over what I actually wanted from Fashion Flower, in the end I decided to move away from the usual suspects and things that I probably had dupes of, i.e Light Sunshine and Mlle and go for something completely, first up a lipstick, can you guess which one

Yes it's Ever Hip, a bright creamy coral which is way out of my comfort zone but I have to say it's gorgeous and nowhere near as scary as I'd thought - love it :)

Next up beauty powder - I had initially intended to get Light Sunshine but the more I saw of it the more I realised I could dupe it with things I already had, after all it's only a highlight shade, so I went for Alpha Girl instead

I love the flower design and it's almost too pretty to use but I'm sure I will as it's such a gorgeous peachy pink with a bit of gold shimmer- you can't see it too well here because I've fake tanned :)

Finally my one purchase from Semi Precious - as much as I love mineralize eyeshadows I have more than enough so I passed on those, which pretty much only left the MSF's I could easily have bought 3 but I just got the one - Rose Quartz

Close up of the centre splodge

This is a gorgous peachy / pink with a mass of shimmer and glitter in the middle

I have to say this is really pretty and I'm happy to have it in my all be it small MSF collection.
So that was it my MAC duck officially broken for the year - I have to say looking forward at future collections for the rest of the year there is every possibility my MAC drought will continue, the only things that really excite me are new paintpots, and the re-release of Porcelain Pink, and Lightscapade MSF, yes you heard me Lightscapade, it's my go to winter highlight and I will definitely be picking another one up, but hopefully I can be good and only buy things that I really need.
Oh and while I'm on about hauling just a heads up on this months magazine freebies, InStyle comes with either two Body Shop eye pencils or a mascara, Cosmopolitan as you saw the other day comes with a free Missguided nail polish, and today my mum picked me up a copy of this months Marie Claire magazine and with it comes a free Ciate Lipgloss

She got me the colour Ibiza which is a super hot pink - I guess I'm thinking positive getting all these summery shades

If that one isn't to your taste you can also get a nude beige shade - not only that but next months Marie Claire comes with a free Ciate nail polish, next months Cosmo comes with free Eyelure false lashes, next months Elle comes with a choice of 3 exclusive Mavala nail polishes and Red comes with a free Balance Me body wash. I don't know what it is but magazines are really upping their game as far as free gifts are concerned. If you have any questions on anything at all please leave me a comment xx

My Rather Large MAC Venomous Villains Haul and More (Pic Heavy)

OK you may wonder why I've started a haul post with a beautiful view of a sun terrace and the ocean, on a a gorgeous sunny day all be it taken on my camera phone, well a week past Monday whilst I was on my hols in Cyprus MAC Venomous Villains launched online. The picture is the view out of the lobby window whilst I was sitting on a computer for €6 an hour INDOORS waiting for the collection to launch on the UK site. Dedication I think so - I have to say I love Disney so the packaging automatically appealed, and some of the colours appeared to be right up my street - it really excited me more than any other MAC collection for a while. Thankfully we had someone looking after the house so I was able to place my order - I have to admit I got way more than I intended too - I trimmed my original wish list right down but when it came to the crunch I ended up buying all the things I'd originally wanted -  so on with the haul that I missed a rep meeting and an hour in the sun for - no swatches as you've probably seen so many already - if you'd like to see some though let me know :)

First of all my favourite collection and the one I bought the most from - Cruella :) A film I always found super stressful to watch (I always thought she'd get the puppies) but she was so fabulously nasty in it and I loved her hair :) The first thing I got from Cruella was one of the things I knew I needed - the Beauty Powder in Her Own Devices

The next two items I'd originally wanted but they were trimmed from my eventual list only to throw themselves into my basket ;) - a lipglass in Devilishly Stylish

and the nude lippy Innocence, Beware

Next up Evil Queen - the nasty one from Snow White of course, thank goodness for the dwarfs, again the Beauty Powder was my must have - Oh So Fair

That was originally going to be it but maybe it was the heat and the thought of such a gorgeous coral colour on tanned skin but Bite Of An Apple blush became mine too :)

Next up the newest of the villains from Princess and The Frog I have to admit I haven't seen this although I remember the story; this has recently been released on DVD so this probably explains why Disney wanted MAC to include such an obscure villain - the only thing that really intrigued me was the magically cool liquid powders, which I believe were originally in the Prescriptives line - I ordered Truth and Light and I have to say it's really pretty a gorgeous, pale peach glow :) I was also surprised at the size of the pot I was expecting it to be much smaller

The last things I ordered from VV's as it's now been called were from Maleficent - in other words the bad fairy from Sleeping Beauty, spinning wheels and all that - she really is scary even to look at - been green and with horns -eeek Anyways the must haves from this part of the collection were the nail polishes - I'd already bought Orly Space Cadet which was a dupe of Mean and Green and the only one I desperately wanted was Bad Fairy - my pics really don't do it justice it is a beaut a red, yellow and copper sparkle ideal as many people have said for the festive season :)

So that was my Venomous Villains haul but that wasn't all I ordered - first of all I added a lipstick from Fabulous Felines to my order Pet Me, Please - a lovely frosty pink nude

and I also got the Viva Glam Gaga Lipglass

I have to say that wasn't it though (feels slightly embarrassed!!) arriving in Larnaca airport on Sunday afternoon, after the horrors of check in, in nearly 30 degree heat we noticed, Mummy LouLou with horror in her eyes and me with lust, that Larnaca airports duty free had expanded dramatically Hello MAC Counter :)

It wasn't the biggest but it would have been wrong not to look - The prices were about the same but I have to say Maleficent I am sorry I ignored you - quite a few bits of VV had sold out but I had some time to play and swatch on the counter and  you guessed it I got some more things, first of all Briar Rose Beauty Powder -  I had considered this to be fair but everyone said it was easy to dupe - but at first swipe it was love - sorry the pic of the compact isn't too good but it is so shiny

Next another nail polish Formidable, again I heard it was dupeable but it looked so pretty with the fluro lighting shining on it, it had to be mine - again the pics aren't doing it justice x

So that was it then I spotted a little section on the counter with a couple of pigments and low and behold they had one I really fancied Lithe from Fabulous Felines - I skipped felines initially but I've seen the pigment in YT vids and so on and I have to say I liked it but it had gone from the UK site :( but being in super haul mode I got the last one and the last Formidable from Larnaca duty free- evil villainous laugh ;)

So that really is it probably my hugest MAC haul ever and I have to say my last for some time I am well and truly stocked up :) Next up some pics from my holiday then a holiday haul probably in 2 parts  ;) If you have any questions or if you would like any swatches please let me know xx