Properly Made Up

I’m currently in the market for a good blush brush and I’ve looked into the Eco-Tools blush brush (if it’s anything like my powder brush then it will pick up too much product), the Revlon Blush brush (reviews are not so good on this), the MAC 116 (price is a little too much for me right now) brush and the MAC 187 brush (it’s too big and pricey). I remember people saying on the web that the MAC 187 brush is good for applying powders especially blushers and liquid foundations. I don’t wear liquid foundation (yet - I’m hoping my breakouts and scarring won’t last any longer) so I remembered that the MAC 188 (the smaller version of the 187) is available at my CCO. How nice.

What made me decide on the MAC 187 is that I read that it picks up a small amount of powder products which is nice because my NARS Taj Mahal is very pigmented so using a light brush is exactly what I need. I was using (and will continue to use) my Essence of Beauty Finishing brush (which is an odd brush to use blush for but I do not have a blush brush to use) to apply my NYX blush and it picks up a lot of product all at once and it’s the right amount for my cheek. When I go to use the same brush in my NARS blush the brush picks up too much or my NARS blush is very pigmented. I think it’s a pigmentation issue. The quality and pigmentation of my NARS blush is greater in that compared to my NYX blush, of course. I didn’t realize it because my only blush before my NARS was my NYX blush. No experience until now.

Anyway, what I had to do was go over my face with an MSF to cover up the over use of my NARS blush. It was too much product going my Finishing brush. I used my mineral face brush as well and I found myself in the same position. I’m hoping that the MAC 188 will pick up a small amount of product and will apply just right. I use a light hand in my NARS blush because I don’t want to waste it. I’m very careful with that blush as it cost me $25.00 for the one I have. Yikes!

Lastly, I was going to go ahead and splurge on the 131 brush, but I think it’s uncessary. I don’t really want to spend $40.00 on a brush I’m only going to use for blush. The 188 brush it is!

I was really wanting that Black Knight lipstick, but after seeing Christine’s swatches on Temptalia I was like ummm no.  It looks a mess even with a Style Black  glimmerglass on top.   The glimmerglasses are very sheer as well and to wear them alone your lips will literally look like they have dirt on them or look dirty.  No thanks.

Side note…what MAC needs to come out with is an orange color blush, more paint pots and cream colour bases.  Bleh.

I’m skipping out on the Style Black collection makeup wise,  unfortunately, but I’m definitely going to try out the MAC Volcanic Ash Exfoliator and the Mask - I want them!  If I like it I’ll go ahead and I buy backups of both.  Price $19.50 each

MAC Cosmetics has put up a new shopping feature on their website where you can pick and choose eyeshadows and a palette.  You can click and drag the eyeshadows of your choice and drop them into the palette.  This is a very cool feature because you can get to see how your actual palette could look like all together on one screen before you order it.

I am not sure when MAC put this on their site because I didn’t notice it yesterday (I practically live on the site).  A girl over at Specktra posted about it so I just hopped on the site to take a look see.  I only own some pre-made quads and no custom palettes yet so I put one together on the site and came up with this (see image below).

I only own three single eyeshadows from MAC and only two can be depotted as I will keep my Haunting in it’s Alexander McQueen packaging.  So, the only colors I’d omit from my custom palette would be Gorgeous Gold (I have this one) and Silver Ring (because I have Silverthorn).

The palette is priced at $177 dollars of course ($11 each for the shadows and $12 for the 15 pan palette).  So my starter custom MAC palette looks good, huh?  When will I be able to actually order it???  Not too sure, but I’ve got it saved in picture form which is easier to look at than my Excel spreadsheet cells.  Thank you MAC for making choosing eyeshadows easier!!!!!

MAC Custom Palette Page