Make Up Galore: June 2011

0 Make Up Forever eyeshadows

Bought 6 of their eyeshadows in pan form from the MUFE counter in HK, and as some of these didn't have no on the pan below (and I've long since threw away the boxes in which the e/s pan came in) so, to be honest, I don't know the numbers of these eyeshadows except for the deep royal purple one which is the very famous #92 purple eyeshadow. Or anyone here wanna help me by guessing the numbers of the MUFE e/s in these pics??? :P

Generally in short, their eye shadows have pretty good color pay off and texture with the exception of the more glittery color (Anyway most glittery colors have less color payoff across all brands anyway....). My favourite out of this lot of e/s that i have is the deep royal purple in #92. It's wham bham straight in your face a deep royal purple. What you see in the pan is what you get. Very good color payoff. But it does stain the eyelids a little...so be warned...

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0 MAC eyeshadow brushes

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#217 Blending brush:

Pros:

1. Generally good for blending eye shadows on the eyelid area

2. Able to deposit a soft wash of color on the eye for a day make up look

Cons:

1. A bit too fluffy to blend colors out specifically on the socket area.

2. May @ times spread colors out over too much a wide area especially if over blended

#226 Tapered blending brush:

Darn it. This is a LE brush from Blonde Brunette Redhead. I didn't realize it how good it is, until recently I used it for the first time (YES! I kept this brush for almost 2yrs..and only recently started using it!!!) and it's hella good brush. It's pointed like the #219 brush, just that it's much softer than the #219. Would definitely buy more if MAC ever repromote this again

Pros:

1. The perfect brush for blending colors on the socket area

2. Good for applying color on the inner and outer V of the eye

Click for enlarged pic. #224 and #222

#224 Tapered blending brush

Pros:

1. Can be used for blending eyeshadows on the crease area

2. Can also be used for application of concealers

3. Can also be used for highlighting specific areas of the face such as the nose bridge and the under eye area without depositing too much product

Cons:

1. Rarely use this, as I prefer to use either the #226, #217 or #275 for blending

#222 Tapered blending brush

Very similar in shape to the #224 tapered blendineg brush, just that it's slightly thinner and longer in shape and of course, white in color. If you have the #224, you can probably skip this unless u are a collector of MAC brushes

Click for enlarged pic. #252 and #242 brush

#252 Shader brush

Pros

1. Good for applying eyeshadows over a large area

2. Good for applying cream products

Cons:

1. Not a very versatile brush, Can live without this

#242 Shader brush

Pros:

1. Good for applying pigments, Pigments adhere to this brush better than the #239

2. Deposits eye shadow colors more intense than the #239

3. Good for applying cream products such as paint pots and concealers

Cons:

1. NIL for me. This is one of my favourite eye brushes from MAC

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#239 Shader brush

Pros:

1. Good for application of eye shadows

2. Can also be used for blending out eye shadows slightly due to the firm but soft natural bristles. Delivers a softer look on the eyes than the #242 though

Cons:

1. Not recommended to use with pigments as it's not firm enough to make the pigments adhere to the brush without falling over the face

#213 Fluff brush

hmmm...Not too impressed by this brush. I would say that this brush is more for applying a soft wash of color on the eyes, If u are expecting your eyeshadow to appear intense with this brush, you will be disappointed. I would say this is more for blending or applying soft colors on the eye. If you want more color payoff from your eye shadow, still better to use either the #239 or #242

I still have not reviewed #219, #214 and #275 brushes..I will do so @ at a later time...In the mean time it's good nite folks =)

0 Make Up Forever Aqua cream eyeshadows

Bought a couple of their aqua cream eyeshadows and am loving the color pay off and lasting power of these cream eyeshadows. Alas, If only MAC had some of the brighter colors which MUFE has in their aquacreams in paintpots.

Pros of MAC aqua cream eyeshadows:

1. Waterproof .... Very water proof (tried tested and proven) and and smudge proof

2. Highly pigmented

3. Multi Purpose - can be used as eyeshadows or blush depending on the color

4. Can be used alone on eyes or as base for other powder eye shadows

Cons

1. Dry up quite easily (Pls screw the caps of the eye shadows very tight if not they will dry up)

2. Only use a thin layer of it, otherwise it might turn cakey. Less is more

Would I repurchase again? Yes, cause they have a very wide variety of colorful cream shadows which MAC unfortunately does not carry in their paintpots.

Pics of the 7 aqua cream eyeshadows that I currently own

Click for enlarged pic. From left to right: #21, #20

Click for enlarged pic. Left to right: #21, #20

Click for enlarged pic. From left to right:#19, #13

Click for enlarged pic. Left to right: #19, #13

Click for enlarged pic. From left to right: #5, #11, #22

0 MAC Surf Baby collection

Didn't really bought much from this collection as usually I'm not a bronzer / summer kinda person. The only items I bought were Sun blonde e/s, Surf USA e/s, the cheek powder (yes, by now all of u would know that I'm totally a blush person) and the Surf the ocean crushed metal pigments (the silver - gold stack).

The star product which attracted me the most was the turqoise e/s in Surf USA. Being a turqoise e/s addict, I had to swatch this on my hand when I saw it. It looked beautiful in the pan and swatched beautifully. It has a wonderful color pay off and excellent texture. For ladies who love colors and turqoise especially, it's a must have. It isn't similar to any other MAC turqoise / teal e/s that I own.

Click for enlarged pic. Left to right: Surf USA, Parrot, Big T, Pompous Blue

Click for enlarged pic. Left to right: Surf Baby, Parrot, Big T, Pompous blue

As for Sun blonde e/s, it's kinda a mustard Yellow. It's not Yellow Yellow as Bright Sunshine (a PRO color) or chrome yellow is, but still a pretty wearable color. It's kinda similar to gorgeous gold but minus the green undertone that gorgeous gold has. It also has a pretty decent texture and color payoff.

Click for enlarged pic. From left to right: Sun blonde, Gorgeous gold, Going bananas, Bright sunshine, Chrome yellow

I understand from some posts in Specktra that some ladies have difficulty in making the crushed metallic pigments to work for them. The crushed metallic pigments have thicker consistency than the normal pigments and yes, they need to be crushed before using (hence the name Crushed). They swatched wonderfully on the hand, but when applied, isn't as pigmented, BUT, the color can be built up. I find that instead of using a cream base, a powder e/s base is better to help the crushed pigments to adhere to the skin as I find that the crushed metallic pigments has a bit of a creamy texture to it. Less is more, slowly build the color instead of loadin it all at once on the eye, other wise u might experience lots of fall out. So far, I've tried the silver and the gold on my eyes and I'm loving both. The silver kinda reminds me of Pro pigment in platinum and I have nothing similar to the gold. It looks somewhat of a tarnished gold. Definitely not as yellow as golden lemon pigment. I find the crushed metallic pigment personally to be quite a good buy than the normal full size bottle of pigments as u get a lot of product and only a little is needed for application. I can see this lasting forever for me. Here's Surf the ocean crushed metal pigments which i bought.

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Last but not least of all, the My paradise cheek powder. This was the first one to be sold out at our local MAC counters - most probably due to its beautiful hibiscus imprint of it. Even though i've 100 odd blushers from MAC, I don't have any thing that's similar to it. It's kinda of a orangy coral with more orange rather than pink undertones which most of my other coral blushers have. It's definitely not similar to Goddess blush (also a LE) which is much more orangy than this. To be honest, I bought this mostly for collecting purpose and I probably won't be using this. I don't wanna ruin the Hibiscus imprint :P

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Swatch of Hibiscus blush to be coming up soon....

0 Close up shots taken using my new camera

I just bought myself a new camera cause the one was was well...gettin really old. Even though it's still a good old trusty camera, but i really wanted one that takes close up pics good...even without flash... anyway here are some close up shots of my make up which i took using my new camera..and all are taken without flash (for my old cam, i had to take pics using flash in order to get sharper pics ...)