MAC Inspired Makeup

I have had a longstanding love affair with MAC.  It was the first high end brand of makeup that I bought so it holds a special place is my heart.  Yesterday I had a little time to sit down and play around with my makeup.  I have been wanting to explore using MAC pigments so yesterday was the day.  I used the MAC paint pot in the color Bare Study to prime my eye, then I used the NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Cottage Cheese on my lid and inner corner to help the pigment stick and give my inner corner a little light.  I then applied the MAC  pigment in Naked on my lid.  After that I took the MAC pigment in Melon and applied that on top of the Naked color with the exception of the inner corner.  I then went in and cut my crease with the color Shale.  For a little dimension I applied the color Club into my crease.  I used the color Smut on my outer corners and applied in a "V" shape.  As a final touch I took the color Vapour and used it to highlight my brown bone.

A close up picture without using a flash

A close up using a flash-I love how the light bounces off and shows the shimmer

What I used

Three shadows L-R from top to bottom: MAC Pigment Melon, Mac Pigment Naked, Espresso for Eyebrows

NYX Jumbo Pencil in Cottage Chees

MAC Quad L-R - Club, Shale, Smut, Vapour

Hair inspired by a Birchbox Tweet!

I follow Birchbox on twitter and a couple of days ago they tweeted a picture of a braid they did on a girl.  I was instandly inspired and immediately tried to re-create it.  It's actually pretty simple to do-I parted both sides of my hair in "pigtails" then I begain a french braid about halfway down my head on one side finishing the braid about halfway to the end of my hair and fastened with a rubber band.  I did the same on the other side and fastened.  Then I grabbed both braids and pulled the elastics off the ends and parted my hair to do a normal braid all the way down.  It was fast and I thought it provided a unique look.  Check it out, hope you like it!

The final look!

Smashbox is a smashing success - First Impressions

I couldn't wait to try out my new Smashbox products that I purchased from the Smashbox event.  I was in search of an everyday palette that was a little different from my others.  The trio I chose was the "Head Shot" trio.  This trio was unique relative to my makeup collection as it was a warm neutral trio, the dark brown has a lot of warm to it.  I was concerned a little about the peachy color making my eyes look tired accentuating redness in my eyes (as I always seem to be-I have two kids!).  As well, I tried out the gel liner.  I must preface this by saying that I am currently exploring gel liners-I have a few others that are in my queue to try, I have been a huge liquid liner fan.  I love the bold line that a liquid liner makes.

So here's what I used:

• Trio in the color Head Shot
• Gel liner in Dark Brown
• Limitless eyeliner in Black
• Smashbox Bionic Eyeliner in Black
• Blush Rush in the color Passion

One of the first things I noticed was that the shadows were a tiny bit powdery-not a huge problem, just requires a little clean up afterwards.  The pigmentation was excellent and the shadow itself was very blendadable.  I primed my eye with a MAC paint pot and by the end of the day I did not have any creasing whatsoever.  I have extremely oily skin so if I am not wearing good eyeshadow/liner it will crease on me and my liners will smudge.  The blush I chose was a pinky color-I normally go for bronzers so I wanted to choose something that was a little more unique to what I currently own.

The gel liner did go on quite smoothly and I was able to create a bold line to my satisfaction.  The eyeliner was nothing short of amazing.  It stayed on all day and night without budging at all.  The eyeliner did remind me a little of MUFE Aqua Eyes.  At the event the Smashbox person I talked to swore that the gel liner would not budge and they were correct.  Day 2, I wore the same stuff and even took a nap with my face pressed against the pillow and I woke up with my face looking perfect.  I have to say that I am quite happy.  Smashbox was a smashing success!

 Products I purchased (L-R) Jet Set Waterproof Gel Liner, Blush Rush in Passion, and Eye Shadow Trio in Head Shot

Swatches (L-R) Trio of Eyeshadow colors, Brown Gel Liner, Black Limitless Eyliner, Passion Color Blush

Close up of the natural look I created

Full Face look

Introduction and first post - Smashbox Event!

This blog is well overdue.  I think this will be a wondeful forum to share my hauls, reviews and observations in general.  I am a beauty product junkie since I was a small child.  Strap in for the ride because I think this will be fun.

Let me do a post about my recent adventure.

I had the wonderful opportunity to attend the Smashbox and Birchbox event in LA last night! The evening included wonderful cocktails and hors d'oeuvres and to top it off they had a candy bar!

As well, they had a good selection of makeup to swatch and purchase and a team of Smashbox marketing associates to answer any of your questions. The night also included a makeover by fabulous Smashbox Makeup artists and you had the option of getting your picture professionally taken and a CD copy of the photo for yourself.

I have to say that the studio was nothing short of amazing and Birchbox pulled together a wonderful goodie bag with deluxe size samples for everyone to take home.

Thank you Smashbox and Birchbox for pulling together a wonderful event!

A picture of the studio in Culver City

Fabulous gel liners that I am excited to try

Lots of makeup to swatch!

Showing some love for Birchbox and Smashbox!

The goody bag from the event

My purchases - I haven't tried many Smashbox products, so this will be interesting!

Stay tuned for a review of some of the Smashbox products I received as samples as well as my purchases! Thanks for visiting! xoxo Jen