MAC Forever Marilyn The Perfect Cheek, Beauty Powder and Love Goddess Lipstick Review and Swatches

The MAC Forever Marilyn collection sold out pretty quickly, and I was lucky enough to get what I wanted from it, thanks to Jill!

Only three items, but it turns out I chose well because they're all great products. And the packaging! Oh, the packaging! For sure, this is why the collection sold out so quickly. Each box and the packaging of the makeup itself has a black & white photo of Marilyn Monroe posing in a top hat and her signature in cherry red written on top along with the MAC logo.

First up, Forever Marilyn Beauty Powder. MAC's Beauty Powders are "a silky-soft 'beauty' powder that's delicately tinted and luxuriously pearl. Goes on as an ultra-fine shimmering 'veil' to the skin. Can be applied as a highlight, soft blush or overall finish."

A kiss from Marilyn on the inside flap of the box.

The Forever Marilyn Beauty Powder comes in a shiny black compact with a mirror, for touch-ups on the go. No brush or sponge is included. The photo of Marilyn which appeared on the box is also on the compact. Totally glam!

Forever Marilyn is described as a sheer pale peach highlighter and is intended to give you that Marilyn porcelain glow. You can use it as a highlighter or as a finishing powder all over your face.

On my skin (NW15), it is very soft, very pretty, a little chalky and a little shimmery. This is a good finishing powder and light highlighter for fair skin types but on darker skin tones it might look chalky and pale. 

I wear it as a finishing powder when I want to have that glowing, powdered look, a la the 1950s film starlet. I've also brushed it along the tops of my cheekbones for a very soft highlight.

Here's The Perfect Cheek Powder Blush. Also in shiny black packaging with a black & white photo of Marilyn. This same photo is on the blush packaging as well.

The Perfect Cheek is described as a neutral pink beige and has a matte texture. Jill said this "I think you do want The Perfect Cheek, it's a great neutral cheek colour and is so handy when you want to balance out dark eyes or lips. It also works great as a contour. Trust me on this one, I'm buying 2 for myself."

I've worn The Perfect Cheek as a blush and as contour colour. As a blush and as a contour colour it's very subtle, and very sophisticated on me. The colour is warm enough on me to give me some colour, though I often layer a brighter colour on top (as in the photos of me below). With smoky eyes, it's the perfect amount of colour on the cheeks.

And finally, one of the four gorgeous Forever Marilyn lipsticks - Love Goddess. Love Goddess is described as a brightened pink-red with a satin finish. It is GORGEOUS.

The packaging is also a shiny black with a black and white photo of Marilyn and the red signature and MAC logo. This is a sleeve that slides off revealing a standard MAC lipstick box underneath.

The tube itself also has the photo and red script on it. LOVE!

Love Goddess swatched on NW15 skintone

Here it is on me. Love Goddess is a very pretty, bright pink-red and a sheen when first applied but matte otherwise. In the photos below I'm also wearing The Perfect Cheek under a brighter matte pink blush. I have Love Goddess lipstick on and I have Forever Marilyn Beauty Powder dusted all over my face.

It goes on very smoothly and easily and isn't drying at all. Here are some iPhone photos of me wearing it. I love this colour. It makes me feel like a movie star! It's a little softer than a true red lip but still plenty bold, ladylike and glam.

LUSH Emotional Brilliance Believe Lip Colour Swatches and Review

I finally checked out Lush's new Emotional Brilliance cosmetics colours the other day. Walking into that store is something you either love or hate - anyone whose been to Lush knows what I mean! I didn't go through the colour selection process, but got to play with all of the colours. 

There are 30 shades in the Emotional Brilliance line - ranging from soft shimmery neutrals to bold blues, oranges and greens. Some are lip colours and come with doe foot applicators, some are eye colours and also come with the doe foot applicators, and there are two liner colours with liner brush applicators. The containers are what you might expect from unconventional Lush, and are unlike what you've probably seen in the makeup world before. The Emotional Brilliance line comes in small glass vials, like something you'd see in an old-fashioned pharmacy. Similar to the bottles of iodine you can get at the drugstore, each one comes with a dropper cap, although they're not usable in the Emotional Brilliance products. 

I swatched a bunch of the shades but settled on just one lip colour - Believe. I may go back and get Bubbly as well. 

Each bottle comes with a nametag, attached with a hair elastic, containing the product ingredients and basic usage instructions. 

Believe contains: Jojoba Oil (Simmondsia chinensis), Candelilla Wax (Euphorbia cerifera), Titanium Dioxide, Rose Wax (Rosa damascena), Mica, Tin Oxide, CI73360 among other things (info from the Lush website).

Tag and hair elastic

Believe is described as a raspberry ice-cream pink. It's got no iridescence to it (I was also looking at Bubbly while I was at Lush and that one's got a metallic sheen to it) although it's not matte. There's a definite sheen to it. 

Believe applicator

Since the brush is housed in the bottle, it's short. I was a little concerned since it's so much shorter than any other lip applicator I've used, but it's actually pretty easy to use. The bottle itself is about the size of a standard lipstick tube, only thicker. 

The consistency of the product is thicker (especially compared to the eye colours I was also swatching) allowing for more accurate application. 

It was difficult to get a good photo of the swatch since my camera didn't have much to focus on, but hopefully the following photos give you an idea of what the colour is. 

And here it is on me. I'm a huge fan of a bright lip, so Believe was irresistible to me. The photo make it look more orangey-red (on my computer screen at least) than raspberry pink.

Here is Believe swatched next to MAC's Love Goddess (from the Marilyn Monroe collection). They're different colours - Love Goddess is a blue-pink and Believe is red-purple - but the texture is similar as is the punch of colour. Bold lip colours FTW!

L-R: MAC Love Goddess, Lush Believe

The texture of Believe on my lips is quite dry and smooth but not drying. It doesn't quite feel like a lipstick - it's not tacky or sticky or slick at all. It wore well too, as it's almost a stain as compared to a lipstick. The dryness of it allows it to adhere to the skin better. I'd say it lasted 4-5 hours before I needed to reapply. My lips never felt dry or in need of lip balm. Believe was very comfortable to wear.

You don't need to use a lot of Believe, a tiny dab is enough for at least half of my lips, so one bottle will last a long time. I won't be able to use it all before it dries out or is past its expiration date (Lush products don't contain the chemicals regular make-up products do so they don't last as long as you

In the photo of me above, I'm also wearing it as a cheek colour. I applied a dab to the apples of my cheeks and blended it out. Believe can be applied as intensely as I did in the photo above, but it also can be dabbed on for a soft lip effect. 

I really like the look and feel of Believe. The packaging takes a little getting used to, but it looks cool and it's certainly unique. I wish you could get a regular make-up brush into the bottle, rather than having to use the doe foot applicator. 

Grade: B