MAC To The Beach Collection

The highly anticipated summer MAC collection, To The Beach, hit stores Thursday May 27th, and as I write this several products are already sold out online and in stores.

Knowing the buzz surrounding the To The Beach Marine Life Highlight Powder, I thought ahead and reserved one the morning the collection debuted. I picked up my haul Saturday May 29th, and I arrived to find numerous items already sold out. Luckily, the majority of the sold out items weren't on my pick up list.

MAC To The Beach (left to right, top to bottom): Marine Life High-Light Powder,

Firecracker e/s, Lazy Day, Thrills and Funbathing l/s,

Easy Lounger l/g, and 131 brush.

The items that were sold out when I got to my local store were To The Beach Marine Life High-Light Powder, Float on By eyeliner, Sand & Sun e/s,  Beach Bronze Body Oil, Pink Rebel Lustre Drops and Life's a Breeze and Temperature Rising lipliners.

Obviously this collection is striking a chord with many addicts. I can see why - in general this is a fun summery collection that along with the attractively coloured packaging offers people the requisite flattering corals and bronzes with splashes of fun colour here and there.

Tune in tomorrow for my review on the Marine Life High-Light Powder!

J

Almay Intense i-colour Trio for Blues "Bring Out the Blue"

 

 

On I go with my testing of the drugstore brand's obsession with complimenting your eye shade in a few easy steps (and multiple products). Since I quite liked the quality of the last Almay trio I tried (http://beautysquared.blogspot.com/2010/03/almay-intense-i-colour-trio-for-blues.html) I thought I'd pick up another and see how it did to enhance my baby blues.

This one has instructions for a classic eye make-up look, just like the one I tried previously but the colours are a bit different. For one, the lightest shade is the same size as the other two where in the first trio the lightest shade was twice the size. In this trio there's a silvery-blue shade:

A medium, shimmery blue shade meant for the crease:

And a warm-toned brown shade:

 

Swatched:

I'm quite enamoured with the blue shade - it's very pretty and I'll definitely wear it on it's own. But how does it shape up as Almay claims with the other two shades?

The instructions on the back of the package offer the same basic eye make-up shape - one shade on the lid, one in the crease and one on the brow bone.

So this is how I applied it. The results although, please note that I still have not mastered my flash so that it doesn't wash out the make-up. The application is much heavier than it appears here:

I do think this eyeshadow enhanced the blue of my eyes the best of all that I've tried so far. To compare, the link to the CoverGirl palette is here and the other Almay palette I tried is here. I do think it's the inclusion of the warm brown that has done the trick though, not so much the combination of the three colours. The application technique too, is not normally how I'd apply my make-up. If I were to apply these eyeshadows together again, I'd likely add a dark eyeliner along my top lash and/or smudge the brown or the medium blue shade along my lower lashline.

I do like the Almay eyeshadows I've tried so far. Their pigment is better than many drugstore brands and they're not frost-crazy like so many of their peers.

C.

MAC's To the Beach - In Stores Today!

MAC's newest sand, sun and sea inspired collection is released this week in North America. Think coral, bronze, gold, shimmer and teals. The To the Beach collection contains two new products - cream bronzer and bronze body oil - adorable seaside-inspired packaging and an awesome tote bag.

Check out the Marine Life High-Lite powder with an embossed golden seahorse - guaranteed this will be the first product sold out!

Read on for lots of photos (click for larger images) and info and let us know what you're loving!

MAC Bronzing Powder in Golden ($27 CDN/$22 US)

muted golden tan-beige with golden shimmer

MAC Bronzing Powder in Refined Golden ($27 CDN/$22 US)

finely spun golden with soft pearl finish

MAC Bronze Body Oil ($27 CDN/$22 US)

glowing tan with multidimensional golden shimmer

130 Short Duo Fibre ($45.50 CDN/$38 US)

a short round dual fibre with flat head composed of both natural bristles and synthetic fibres ideal for application with creams, emulsions & various powder products

131 Duo Fibre Powder Brush ($48 CDN/$40 US)

flat, tapered face brush that contains a combination of short natural fibres and longer, fibre optic fibres ideal for light application and highlighting/shading with various face powders, ideally suited with Mineralize Skinfinish powder products 

MAC Cream Bronzer in Weekend ($30 CDN/$25 US)

mid-tone deep orange brown with soft pink finish

MAC Cream Bronzer in Beach Bronze ($30 CDN/$25 US)

golden glow with soft gold

MAC Eye Kohl in Float on By ($17.50 CDN/$14.50 US)

dark green turquoise

MAC Eye Kohl in Rosemary & Thyme ($17.50 CDN/$14.50 US)

mid-tone olive-gold with shimmer

MAC Eyeshadow in Firecracker ($17.50 CDN/$14.50 US)

frosted mid-tone red orange (veluxe pearl)

MAC Eyeshadow in Humid ($17.50 CDN/$14.50 US)

intense green with shimmer

MAC Eyeshadow in Sand & Sun ($17.50 CDN/$14.50 US)

light peach matte

MAC Eyeshadow in Shimmermoss ($17.50 CDN/$14.50 US)

green with green pearL (veluxe pearl)

MAC Eyeshadow in Sweet & Punchy ($17.50 CDN/$14.50 US)

bright yellow green (veluxe pearl)

MAC High-Light Powder in Marine Life ($32 CDN/$26 US)
multicolour pressed powder

MAC Lipglass in Easy Lounger ($16.50 CDN/$14 US)

light baby-pink in multidimensional pearl

MAC Lipglass in Flurry of Fun ($16.50 CDN/$14 US)

sheer sparkly peach

MAC Lipglass in Splashing ($16.50 CDN/$14 US)

mid-tone blue-pink with soft gold pearl

MAC Lip Pencil in Life's A Breeze ($15.50 CDN/$13 US)

soft pink

MAC Lip Pencil in Temperature Rising ($15.50 CDN/$13 US)

loudmouth orange

 

MAC Lipstick in Beachbound ($16.50 CDN/$14 US)

sheer frosted pale peach (glaze)

MAC Lipstick in Funbathing ($16.50 CDN/$14 US)

mid-tone bronzed plum (cremesheen)

MAC Lipstick in Lazy Day ($16.50 CDN/$14 US)
light dirty blue-pink (lustre)

MAC Lipstick in Thrills ($16.50 CDN/$14 US)
rosy copper with gold pearl (frost)

MAC Lustre Drops in Pink Rebel ($22.50 CDN/$18.50 US)

blue pink with gold pearl

MAC Lustre Drops in Sun Rush ($22.50 CDN/$18.50 US)

peachy bronze with gold pearl

MAC Nail Lacquer in In the Buff ($14.50 CDN/$12 US)
muted taupe avocado

MAC Nail Lacquer in Scorcher ($14.50 CDN/$12 US)

creamy bright coral red

MAC Blush in Get Away Bronze ($22 CDN/$18.50 US)

mid-tone suntan (frost)

MAC Blush in Hipness ($22 CDN/$18.50 US)

intense coral with soft white pearl (frost)

MAC To the Beach bag (available at MAC stores only) ($59.50 CDN/$49.50 US)

EOTD: Antique Smoky eye

This is an eye look that came together as I was getting ready to go out to celebrate a friend's birthday. I wanted to do something sultry and smoky but also something different. I used pewters and greys and MAC's Heritage Rouge pigment to do a half-half eye look. I call it my Antique Smoky Eye because I used greys and pewters and of course Heritage Rouge!

It's a fairly basic eye look and you can use pretty much any combination of colours, from the dramatic to the neutral. This one though gave me the chance to use Heritage Rouge - a colour that can veer a bit too much to the red side (and make me look sick!). The red adds a pop to my eye colour as does lining my waterline with black eyeliner.

I wanted a slightly messy half-half eyelook so I let the colour bleed into each other a little. It's not a straight line down the centre of my eye. 

What I used:

As a base, I applied MAC Greasepaint Stick in Dirty to my whole eyelid, heavier on the outer corners than on the inner corner. I smudged it with my finger and had to work quickly as the Greasepaint sticks dry quickly. 

MAC Greasepaint Stick in Dirty

On the outer corner I applied MAC eyeshadow in Smut, smudging it from the lashline up to the crease and blended it slightly above with a clean brush.

MAC Smut

On top of Smut, I layered Laura Mercier eyeshadow in Pewter. This is one of my favourite eyeshadows - it's a medium grey-taupe with hints of khaki green and gold.

Laura Mercier eyeshadow in Pewter

I went back and forth with Smut and Pewter a little, adding a little more of each and blending with a fluffy brush.

Finally I applied Heritage Rouge on the inner corner, from the lash line up to the crease and buffing it out slightly above. Pigments are well, heavily pigmented so they go over other colours very well. I smudged it a bit messily onto the Pewter/Smut in the middle.

Tip: When you want a heavier application of eyeshadow, whether it's a pressed powder as Pewter and Smut are or if it's a loose pigment like Heritage Rouge, using a flat brush (like MAC's 242 and 252 brushes) will give you that application.

MAC Pigment in Heritage Rouge

To finish the look, I smudged a black pencil eyeliner onto my waterline, top and bottom for a smoky eye effect and smudged it slightly into my lashline. Then I curled my lashes and coated them with lots of black mascara. You want as much as possible for a dramatic smoky eye look like this. 

I've also done this look using MAC's Smoke & Diamonds instead of Smut/Pewter, with Heritage Rough on the outside half of my eye and without the black waterline liner. It's more subtle than the above look but I think the Heritage Rouge is too much on the outside corner - it makes me look a bit sick!

The Smoke & Diamonds is a richer consistency however and looks soft and rich, nearly as much so as the Heritage Rouge.

MAC Smoke & Diamonds

As always, clicking on the photos will open them in another window and give you a larger image if you want a better look.

C.