Grrr I’m so peeved with myself! Last night as soon as I got off work I picked up my best mate Jai and we took our fabulous selves off to Nordies to get the low down on the Nordstrom Exclusive MAC Colour Forms Collection (plus see the other exclusive bits and bobs)!
When we got there we headed to the MAC counter first and I was told that the pressed powder was sold out! UGH! I was so disappointed as this was the item I was the most excited about! My MA told me virtually everything was gone aside from two or so each of the new pigment shades, a few palettes, three shades of the highlighters (the rest were gone, gone, gone!) and the brush sets. Can you believe it? Who knew it would go this quickly!!!!!!!
I normally pre-book everything in advance but since I’m always seen these exclusives pop up at my local CCO a few months later at killer deals I was playing it safe by waiting until the date of release but sadly I got turned out in the cold! Can you believe it? The Muse missing out on MAC! Don’t they know who I am?
It’s not all bad as I can get it online but still! Damnit!
On top of that horror story I thought that the new green pigment was a re-promote of “Golders Green” so I skipped it…I got home and realized it’s called Glided Green! Someone shoot me please?
So the Muse is only bringing you part of my haul and the rest will come next week after my order ships from Nordies website!
Jai ended up with zero which is very unlike him as he’s like me and collects all the palettes. He was either suffering from some unknown disease last night or he just wasn’t too thrilled with MAC Color Forms. I can’t blame him too much as it really wasn’t too much to get excited about.
Do not get me wrong. There are some sincerely beautiful things in this collection but I just felt a little tiny bit meh about it. I ended up hauling one palette (very unlike me), one lipstick, and three piggies! $126 USD later I left swinging my bag and humming a happy tune!
Again, very unlike me but I only picked up one of the two palettes. I’d normally grab both but the Cool Eye palette was just blah. Not great colors at all! However, the Warm Eye palette was simply divine and well worth grabbing. It’s a perfect selection of great Fall colors plus it’s a design I haven’t personally seen from MAC before so that alone makes it unique!
The compact design is pretty much identical to last year’s Novel Twist. It’s a solid rectangle box with a flip lid, magnetic closure, and fabric cover. Aside from it’s bright green material cover it’s virtually the same exact compact style as last year’s design. Unlike last year’s five shadow line up this is a tiny bit different. Yes, it does contain five shadow shades but instead of a straight line placement they now have three shadows facing the standard upwards position and two shades that are laying on the side.
It’s an interesting set up for the palette and as I said I’ve never seen MAC do a palette like this. They choose to make the two shadows on the left hand side bigger sizes or at least they look bigger to me. The two lightest shades that you’d use as a base and highlighter are the shades that they give you more of (or it appears to be more but it could be just the set up!).
The color selection is pretty much a very nice array of Fall colors. Granted it’s probably very similar to past MAC palettes but I really like it anyway. I might be bias because I just enjoy MAC palettes but this seems really pretty to me.
MAC Colour Forms Warm Eye Palette versus Novel Twist Warm Eye Palette
Colors included are:
Chillproof-Creamy white comparable MAC Eyeshadow in Mylar or Nyon Tancentric- Pale Rose Rolled Gold-Smoky Khaki Green Rustic-Cranberryish Shade comparable to MAC Eyeshadow in Cranberry Fertile-Matte Chocolate Brown
Personally I like the palette and I think it’s worth picking up! It has a nice healthy array of Fall colors plus if you’re a collector you’re going to want one!
The lipsticks released with MAC Colour Forms are unique and again, not something I have seen from MAC prior to this. They contain a lip color that surrounds a core pearl finished core. Let me tell you it looks really pretty but it does nothing. The color I selected was Rose Go Around and it’s a gorgeous maroon red while the inside houses a peachy, gold shimmering core. It’s lovely, truly it is but that core doesn’t really do much that I see? Once I apply I just get beautiful, pigmented off red lips. I’m not really noticing any gold shimmer to my lips….I’m not even noticing that the lipstick applies easier or has some sort of moisturizing benefits due to the new core. Nada. Very nice to look at and definately worth picking up as the shades available are very nice but don’t get it because you’re thinking that the core will give your lips a slick look. That’s not the case, it applies as any other MAC lipstick would.
And finally, something I think everyone always gets excited about, the piggies! It’s always very exciting when MAC does some new pigments. It’s not something they do often and I think it makes everyone very happy when they do release new shades! I had two of the shades already so I ended up with three total and a fourth that I thought I had as I mentioned but didn’t get. Damnit! Review for that one later.
Repromotes are Steel Blue and Jardin Aires. Steel Blue shouldn’t even be a repromote actually..I believe Pro sales it or at the very least MAC’s website carries it or stores. Unsure but it’s definately available around somewhere! Jardin Aires was released with a collection that the name escapes me at the moment but it’s a color you’ll definately want to grab up if you missed it the first time around. It’s a creamy beige, peachy shade!
Now new colors that have never been released prior to Colour Forms are Royal Flush, Tea Time, and Circa Plum. Get all three if you have the spare cash as they are very nice shades for Fall. They aren’t very Muse-like but they are very pretty especially Royal Flush which is kinda like a lighter shade of MAC Cranberry in pigment form! Cool!
Royal Flush-Cranberry Shade Tea Time-Simply a light brown Circa Plum-Plummy purple
I guess that’s pretty much it! All in all it’s a pretty nice selection of items from MAC. I’m not really jumping around doing cartwheels over it but I think it’s worth checking out for yourself because there are a few items in the collection that you might want to see, swatch, or buy! And as always I highly recommend the brush sets, these are such a killer deal and it works out to like $10 USD per a brush if you do indulge! Good one!
Head on into Nordstrom to check out MAC Colour Forms for yourself or click on over to Nordies site and see it for yourself!
Expect a review of the highlighter/blush powders and Glided Green pigment shortly!
Here’s a simple Face of the Day using MAC Colour Forms Warm Eye Palette. I used Chillproof as a highlighter, Tancentric all over the and creaase, Rustic on the crease and V, and finished off with Rolled Gold on the lower lash line. On my lips I’m wearing the MAC Color Forms Lipstick in Rose Go Around.
So tell me…….
What did you haul?
What did you stash? What did you trash?
Love MAC Color Forms?
Not for you?
Tell the Muse!
Get your MAC cravings filled by clicking through past posts!
I hit some major sales at Sephora yesterday on the way home from work. Although I’m not a big lover of Napoleon Perdis I couldn’t resist the prices on some of the stuff so I ended up hauling items I wouldn’t normally go after. Expect either some ranting or raving reviews on the Napoleon Perdis line shortly!
I did get some Eye Patrol eye shadows which I fell in love with a while back ago! At $10 USD each these were a steal!
I also got some Bourjois Paris which are being phased out of the Sephora line up and are currently drastically reduced in price.
I’ll be showing you more of the items I scored in my next few posts so be on the look out!
Head on over to your local Sephora now to haul some Bourjois Paris, Napoleon Perdis, and a few other selected items are on sale!
Have you hit any Sephora sales lately?
Whatcha get?
Share with the Muse!
Feed your greed for cosmetics by checking out some past haul posts!
Click here to view my Beauty on a Budget Week haulage!
After reading about Everyday Minerals and the empty puff jars they sell on Vanessa’s blog I decided I needed to purchase a few for myself! These are identical to the Urban Decay Surreal Skin Mineral Makeup applicator!
So awesome!
I’m thrilled to bits that they have these! I’m not the biggest fan or supporter of mineral make up but I felt like Surreal Skin applied so well due to this style packaging so I purchased two of these empty puff jars and I’ll be emptying some long forgotten Bare Escentuals Mineral Foundation Powder into one to see if this improves my low opinion of the powder! The other jar I’ll be using for the Maybelline Mineral Powder Powder Foundation who knows maybe this will redeem my poor opinion of it!
These are only $5 USD each so you can’t really go wrong by grabbing a few. I think I’m going to invest in a few more to use with some loose powders blushes I have.
Since the world as we know it has taken a nose dive and gas prices have risen up to $4.95 USD per a gallon and the future of the presidential election is the biggest mystery since Elvis appearing on a slice of whole wheat toast I’ve decided that we must have a Beauty on a Budget Week!
Yes kids, now is the time to take responsibility for our money and hope for the best.
And everyone from England who’s groaning about the ridiculously low cost of gas should know we yanks are spoiled and $4.95 USD is damn expensive!
The moral of the story is today my sister brought me to Walmart (I should say a few days ago as this was written a bit ago! Sorry ’bout that peeps!) as I kicked, screamed, and pleaded with her to PLEASE DO NOT TAKE ME TO WALMART FOR THE LOVE OF GOD AND ALL THINGS GOOD AND HOLY!
I hate Walmart.
With a passion.
I really do.
Sorry if you love it.
I simply hate it.
It’s a giant space filled with really cheap stuff…I mean seriously cheap….I mean tacky cheap….I mean….ok I’m being a bit dramatic…you get the point. Aside from that I won’t get into what an evil empire it is!
Anyway. She’s going on holiday shortly and needed a few bits and bobs so somehow that translated into “Let’s go to Walmart!”
And it turned into a day trip with her, my best friend Jai, and myself. Praise Jebus that Jai came along for the ride! I mean seriously who else could I trade catty remarks with while browsing the aisles of really cheap crap laying around Walmart.
I’ve no idea how we got invovled in this road trip but obviously we had nothing better to do with our fabulous selves aside from following my sister around while she loaded her cart with enough stuff to cloth, feed, cleanse, and make up an entire country.
Since Jai and I drew the line at following her into the clothing department (our eyes were burning enough already imagine if we were presented with racks and racks of cheap clothes???) we wandered into the cosmetic aisles and amused ourselves with really cheap drugstore cosmetics.
And as we browsed we decided that we’d spend some bucks on really cheap drugstore finds and do an article on all the cool or maybe not so cool stuff we found!
So since inspiration struck in the middle of the cosmetic aisle at Walmart I’ve decided to bring you a week in review of really cheap, Beauty on a Budget finds!
You’ll see a new Beauty on a Budget review each day for the next week (or until I run out of crap to review).
In all seriousness, catty comments aside, I think it’s a great way for me to broaden my horizons and see what else is available that can’t be found at Neimans, Saks, Sephora, Nordies, or the inside of Japanese, Korean, and Singaporean drugstores.
It’ll be a real learning experience for me!
It’s a great essential guide for you as well since these may be a few items you might have wanted to try but like me have been burned one too many times by drugstore brands and have passed them by chalking them up as money well NOT spent.
I’ll be featuring many items I’ve passed up MANY times that I’ve wanted to try but have been highly skeptical of!
I hope you’re excited to learn more about these items and hey maybe I’ll find something in this pile that I actually really do LOVE!
Shockingly I didn’t rush out to my counter yesterday to purchase MAC’s newest collection, Nauguty Nauticals. I’m unsure whether I should be proud of myself for showing such willpower or maybe just honest and admit that I just got too busy to actually get to the counter!
However, today nothing could hold me back, not even Prom! It appears it’s Prom Night for some schools in my area tonight! Who would have guessed? It’s so bloody early for Prom isn’t it?? Prom Night has caused mayhem at the MAC counter this evening! I was happily doing a little jig at the array of yum that was Naughty Nauticals while patiently waiting for my regular MA to help me with my selections. Even though my mate Jamie was nagging me about having to wait I wouldn’t let anything ruin my first glance at Mutiny! It was love at first sight!
I just stepped in from seeing Iron Man and going to dinner with friends (more on Iron Man later) and it’s really late and I’m really tired but I can’t help but blog this now for you guys!
MAC’s Naughty Nauticals is a fantastic collection and there are absolutely a few essential items you’ll most definately want to pick up from this! I was very pleased in particular with the pigment selection! A total of four pigments were released with the collection but only three are brand new. Lovely Lily was a previous release so I safely skipped it. If you missed Lovely Lily the last round you’ll definately want to grab a jar as it’s a gorgeous, shimmering Lilac. My absolute favorite pigment of the bunch and the one I highly recommend you grab would be Mutiny (you might need two as this is a brilliant color!). Mutiny is described as sky blue on the MAC site but I beg to differ! It’s much more of a tranquil, light aqua. It reminds me of the ocean in the Caribbean! Simply gorgeous and by far the best of all the pigments in this collection! Bell Bottom Blue has a few folks scratching their heads and wondering if they really need it. It’s a bit of an intimidating color as it’s such a dark, true navy blue but I’d say definately pick it up as it goes wonderfully well with one of the shadows released with the collection and will also compliment well with any Blue Storm shadows you might have hauled! It is dark but it can easily be tamed down! Lastly I got Lark About which I originally thought might be a shimmering white but I’m happy to report it’s more of a dirty white, almost gray with iridescent blue running through it! Lark About is also worth picking up in my humblest as it compliments the other pigments in the collection (aside from Lovely Lily) perfectly and will make a rather good base to tone down Bell Bottom Blue!
Lovely Lily
Bell-Bottom Blue
Lark About
Mutiny
I was a little stingy when it came to making my lippie and lipgloss selection simply because I was also hauling DazzleGlass today and decided it was best to be a bit caution as I knew I’d be doing a bit of damage with DazzleGlass as well!
4 Lustreglass were released and 4 Lipsticks. I ended up with two of the lipsticks and one Lustreglass. The first lipstick that deserves to be mentioned is Port Red. You might know that I don’t favor reds so well and only ever fell in love with one red from MAC which was released this Holiday entitled Queen’s Sin. I am now officially in lust and love with Port Red. It’s actually a very good dupe to Queen’s Sin so if you missed the color now is your chance to own a pretty nice dupe of it. If you already own Queen’s Sin I’d say pick up Port Red anyway as it has little differences that are actually very pleasing! Queen’s Sin feels to me more like a maroon where as Port Red is a truer, bright red with a metallic sheen! It’s absolutely stunning and will look gorgeous with a blue eye look! The other lipstick I purchased was Party Mate which is an off color pink! For me these were the two best colors in the lot of colors released!
Party Mate
Port Red
Port Red Vs Queen’s Sin
I only ended up with one LustreGlass which was Hey, Sailor. I think paired up with Party Mate this will look rather fantastic! It’s a plummy pink that reminds me of some of the Viva Glam releases. This style of pink is always very flattering with my skin tone! The other Lustreglasses were very nice but I was saving myself for DazzleGlass so I only got the one!
Hey, Sailor!
Sadly, I wasn’t too thrilled with the eyeshadow selection. Meet the Fleet was a matte dark purple that I couldn’t see myself wearing and I know I’d have a bloody hell of a time blending with it and Pandemonium is a repromote so I skipped that!
Shore Leave
Illegal Cargo
Submarine Blue
I’m in love with Shore Leave. I’m always on the hunt for a perfect highbrow highlighter and Shore Leave fits the bill perfectly. It’s a frosty cream that will go wonderfully with all the colors in this collection! Submarine is my second favorite shadow from the releases. It’s a clean, off blue color that reminds me of MAC eyeshadow in Freshwater. And finally I picked up Illegal Cargo which is my least favorite of the eyeshadows but I thought it would go well with Lovely Lily. This is a dirty lilac color with traces of gray!
The entire collection has some sincerely wonderful items and I’m quite pleased with what I ended up purchasing! MAC did an excellent job with this Color Story!
MAC Naughty Nauticals is most definately Muse Approved for purchase!
How about you?
What did you haul from this collection?
Love the pigments?
Love the shadows?
Tell the Muse!
Stay tuned for my DazzleGlass entry! Coming Soon!
Click here to see what MAC made it onto my Year End Review list!
Click here to watch some MuseTV on the MAC Antiquitease Collection!
Click here to take a blast through the past and see last year’s awesome C-Shock Collection!
Click here to step back into the present and discover the joys of MAC DressCamp!
Click here to enjoy my babblings and first impressions of Fafi for MAC!
Cick here to view an FOTD using MAC Eyeshadow in Submarine Blue, MAC Lipstick in Port Red, and other items from the MAC Naughty Nauticals Collection!
Click here to enjoy an FOTD with MAC Dazzleglass and MAC Naughty Nauticals!
Etude House released a rather interesting Spring Collection this year and of course the Muse couldn’t resist picking up most of it for herself!
The Collection consisted of an array of “Peach” Themed items. One item in particular that caught my eye was the Pore Erasing Peach Base. This quite reminded me of Benefit Erase Paste which I didn’t have the best experience with. I guess I’m a glutton for punishment but I decided that I needed to try the Pore Erasing Base because I had convinced myself that it had to be better than Benefit’s version! It’s 11,000 Won for the entire jar that’s under $10 USD! It’s freaking huge at 0.88oz!
I tested it this morning and it’s not anything like Erase Paste. It’s a pre-makeup primer through and through and sadly my hope that it would have some concealing benefits were quickly dashed as soon as I got it on my skin. I don’t have large pores however this is perfect for creating a smooth, matte finish on your face prior to foundation and makeup. This carries a beautiful scent of peaches as well. Understandably some girls prefer cosmetics without scent but I don’t mind in the least! Whether this allows my makeup to last longer throughout the day remains to be seen but right now I’m loving this as a pre-foundation prep! The texture is quite like Smashbox Photofinish Primer but I felt like it was a bit more moisturizing and blended easier plus I didn’t get a breakout after using it where as with Smashbox’s primer pimples crop up! I did notice although it wasn’t concealing it did lighten my face up a tad bit and almost made me appear ghost like but after applying the next stage of my makeup that effect was gone thankfully.
For the price I think it’s well worth looking into and trying out if you can get your hands on it! The good news is I got a small sample of this with my purchase and I’m giving it away to the first person that comments and is willing to review it for Musings of a Muse. I’d like to hear your thoughts on this so if you’re willing to review it give a yell! The first person who comments I’ll ship it out to and I’ll expect a review back within a week or so explaining if you loved it, hated it, etc…!
Sample of Etude House Peach Pore Erasing Base for Review!
I also got the Peach Skin Pact which is best used for setting the Pore Erasing Base. The formula is obviously very good for oily skin types and offers very nice matte coverage. Good for touch ups and setting your foundation plus the compact is so bloody cute it’s no great chore to tote this around with you! I’ll make proper use of this come Summer when my skin decides to take a field trip from dry and venture into oily!
My entire routine for makeup this morning consisted of using the Etude House Pore Peach Base and setting it with the Peach Skin Pact. I used no other foundation in my makeup process as I wanted to dupe the entire look from the video how to on the Etude House website. I don’t normally use powder as my sole foundation since I feel like I need better coverage plus powder wears off very quickly throughout the day! I’m curious if the base will keep the powder intact all day which is why I’m experimenting going without my normal foundation! If it works I’ll be doing this all Summer long as my makeup feels very light today which will be perfect for Summer! This, like the pore base, carries the sweet scent of peaches which I absolutely adore!
I got two of the Peach Cheek Blushers as well which are basically an exact dupe of Lorac’s Cheek Stamp that was released last season. These appear to be very sheer but they are not. They hold a beautiful pigmentation for an item that’s so cheap! The formula is a bit chalky but that’s simply because it’s catering to an Asian skin type that may be oily. The concept and idea of a cheek stamp is of course awesome not only for ease of application but for the cute factor! I’ve personally never tried Lorac’s version so I couldn’t say how good it is but I’m glad I decided to give these a shot. If you’re unfamiliar with the concept I’ll briefly explain. Basically this is a circle sponge that has blusher in the lid of the product. The sponge is saturated with the powder and you can pop it out and “stamp” it onto your cheeks for a pinch of color!
Lorac’s Cheek Stamp
I ended up purchasing the eyeshadow quad that was used in the Etude video as well. It’s actually not LE and is part of the normal collection but I was so juiced over the look they created using everything that I wanted to try and dupe the entire look thus this palette got tucked into my shopping list! It’s basically a quad of four shimmering shades that are very sheer but can be built up. They have about the same pigmentation as a Majolica Majorca Majolook palette. The shades in this particular palette are white, baby pink, light blue, and yellow. The shadows do have the standard chalky texture most Asian brands sport but I don’t mind as I’m used to this from various Japanese brands. They hold a beautiful shimmer and blend very well!
I also got the Peach Beam Blusher which reminds me of a MAC MSF. It has a metallic shimmer finish that’s applies as a highlight but is pigmented enough to act as a blush! The effect is a beautiful glow! If you enjoy tanned skin during the Summer I imagine this will be very fitting for not only highlighting your cheeks but giving you a beautiful peach kissed look!
Color Me Nude Lip Concealer also ended up on my shopping list! MAC makes a similar lip concealer but in a pot form. Basically it concealers your lips and primes them for lipstick or gloss. Supposedly when your lips are primed with a concealer your glosses and lipsticks appear more vibrant and bright! As I said MAC’s version comes in a pot and this just seems easier and convenient in stick form! I haven’t yet tried this and will be doing a review of it shortly!
Staying on track with dupes Etude House also released Tear Drop Lash which is identical to Givenchy’s Lash Sparkles and Dior’s Lash Pearls. This is basically a wand that distributes little tear drops onto your lashes for a bit of an interesting “teardrop” effect! The applicator appears to be thought out a bit better than both Dior and Givenchy’s version! It’s a flat square plastic applicator with a tiny hole. It works quite well at disturbing the product and applying it right on the tips of the lashes! Very nice effect! I wish I can get a really close up image of my eyes so you can see the effect!
Finally I got the Peach Water Gloss which smells amazing and tastes just as good! I used it this morning and I love how well it applies. It’s a bit sheer but the formula is nice and watery which makes it feel very light on the lips and not tacky or sticky on the lips!
I got some cool freebies as well which were a cellular phone charm that houses an Etude gloss and a mini toner/lotion set.
All and all I’m thrilled to bits with the collection and it cost me under $85 USD for the entire lot of goodies I got. Inexpensive cosmetics that actually work well totally make the Muse’s day!
This morning as I mentioned I used almost all the collection to create a beautiful peachy pink look that’s both fresh, fun, and girly! I love how the peach contrasts so beautifully with the pink in my FOTD! I’d normally never pair up peaches and pinks but this came out so well that I’ll be doing so from now on!
My attempt to dupe the Etude look as seen on the video!
What I Used:
Eyes Etude House Cute and Sexy Eye Quad KATE Gel Mascara Etude House Tear Drop Lash
Face Etude House Pore Erasing Peach Base Etude House Peach Skin Pact Etude House Peach Beam Blusher Etude House Peach Cheek Blusher
Lips Etude House Peach Water Gloss
The Peach Makeup Collection from Etude House is most definately Muse Approved!
Click here to learn more about Etude House and other brilliant Korean Brands!
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