My Custom MAC Palette | Shades, Swatches, & Review

March 14, 2017 in Makeup

My sister and I have fallen into a sort of tradition over the past few years - we buy each other's birthday presents a month early, get too excited about it, and give them to each other a month early. A couple weeks ago she gave me my gift, a custom MAC Palette with my perfect everyday shades.

I love that MAC now offers different inserts for their custom palettes - my sister was able to fit six eyeshadows and two blushes in my palette, making it the perfect collection to bring anywhere. The shades she included are:

Shroom, soft beige with shimmer
Naked Lunch, minimal pink with shimmer
Quarry, soft muted plum-brown
Wedge, soft muted beige taupe
Cork, muted golden brown
Charcoal Brown, muted taupe brown
Blushbaby, beige-pink
Harmony, muted rose-beige brown

This is such a good selection of the kind of soft shades that I wear on an everyday basis. She said she specifically included Charcoal Brown to use in my brows and Harmony to use as a contour shade. I've been bringing it to work with me with just a blush brush, a trusty MAC 217 eyeshadow brush, and an angled brush for my eyebrows, and I've got most of my makeup sorted.

Using this palette has made me fall in love with MAC all over again - their powder products truly are some of the best in terms of blendability and pigmentation. The consistency of the shadows and blushes does differ a bit from formula to formula - the shimmer shades are super buttery, while the mattes are a little stiffer to the touch, but they all perform equally well. My favorite eyeshadows to use have been Naked Lunch on the lid, Quarry in the crease, and a bit of Wedge smudged into my lower lash line. The standout shade of the bunch for me so far has been Blushbaby. It's been on my list to try for such a long time, being such a beautiful neutral pink, and it's definitely lived up to the hype I had built in my mind. It's a Sheertone formula, so it builds up beautifully on the skin and leaves a healthy, glowy flush. I had never tried MAC's blushes before, and I think I'm hooked now.

I've thanked my sister so many times already, because she really does know me well and chose such perfect shades for me. If you have a makeup-lover in your life and you know their taste, a custom MAC palette would sure make a beautiful gift.

What shades would you put in your MAC palette?

Loving Lately

March 10, 2017 in Makeup, Skincare

We're only ten days into March, and it's already been a very good month beauty-wise. I've been having such a good time trying out some new products, and it was about time to round up a few standouts so far.

Glossier Cloud Paint,* 'Puff' & 'Dusk' | (review | 20% off) If you didn't predict me mentioning these, then you must be new here (welcome!). I fall hard for pretty much every Glossier product, and these new beautiful blushes are no different. They're a gel-cream formula that blends so effortlessly into the skin and leaves the best natural-looking flush. I was sent all four shades, but so far my favorites have been Puff, the cool pink, and Dusk, the brown-y nude. Check out my review to see swatches and my rep page to get 20% off your first order!

Dr. Jart+ Ceramidin Cream | I've been hoarding sample tubes of this stuff for over a year now, and once I finished them up I decided I needed the full size ASAP. It's such a lovely, nourishing cream that works well for me morning or night. It leaves my skin feeling super hydrated and soothed, and I especially like pairing it with the Ceramidin Liquid (used as my serum step). It works well with pretty much all of my other skincare products, so it's really versatile and I've been using it often no matter what other products I've picked out.

CosRX Honey Ceramide Full Moisture Cream | I've been on a kick of trying new moisturizers lately. I'm still head over heels for the Glossier Priming Moisturizer Rich, but I just couldn't resist trying a couple new ones. I saw this mentioned on Into The Gloss recently, and the woman featured had such beautiful skin that I immediately added this to my cart. This cream has a more gel-like texture than the Dr. Jart+, but it leaves my skin super dewy and plump. It's beautiful and it's already worked its way up to holy grail status I think. You may not like it if you don't like feeling your skincare products on your skin, though (with my dry skin, it's one of my favorite feelings in the world). I've tried a few products from CosRX now and they've all been great, so let me know if you'd like to see a little brand focus post or something.

NARS Soft Matte Complete Concealer, 'Chantilly' & 'Vanilla' | I am in LOVE with this new concealer. I resisted for a while because of the word "matte" in the name, but once my sister vouched for how beautiful of a product it was I couldn't resist (she's my ultimate enabler). I first picked up the shade Vanilla because that's my shade in the Radiant Creamy Concealer, but I think the Soft Matte Concealers might run a tad darker than those. I get my perfect match by mixing in a bit of Chantilly. I think this is the first time I've bought two shades of something to mix rather than just returning the color that didn't match - a true sign of how much I love this concealer. It has such a lovely creamy texture that melts into the skin and blends so easily. My skin is always on the dry side, but this never cakes up on me. I especially love it under the eyes because this baby does not crease. I've been using it on my eyelids as well to hide redness, and I've found it makes a great eyeshadow primer when set with powder (that tip came from my sister!).

Bite Beauty Lip Pencil, '010' | I just mentioned this in my New In Lip Products post earlier this week, but this one has been such a standout. I picked out my three shades without seeing any swatches first, and I'm most pleased with this one (especially after seeing it on Into the Gloss - I know, it's the second time I've mentioned them in this post). It's the most perfect shade for subtly enhancing my lips without looking obvious or bold, and it works well under a variety of other lip products. My favorite thing to pair it with so far, if I'm not just wearing it on its own, is the NARS Lip Gloss in Chelsea Girls (which is the pair I'm wearing in this selfie).

What have you been loving lately?

Turn Around, Bright Eyes

March 09, 2017 in Makeup, Skincare

Is "Total Eclipse of the Heart" stuck in your head yet?

I've constantly been on the quest to find the perfect products to make me look more awake - I think my eyes just constantly look sleepy because they're usually puffy (is it possible to have allergies all year round?) and I've got some strong dark circles. I mean, I could definitely do with more sleep, but I've found a roundup of products that have really been helping.

Using a separate product to depuff the eye area has been a godsend. I know a lot of eye creams claim to do it, but the Milk Makeup Cooling Water has really been doing the trick. It actually feels cold, so it feels so nice around the eye area. It contains sea water to soothe the skin and caffeine to depuff and firm - I've really been noticing a difference, and my eyes feel a lot less irritated right away. Next I go in with an eye cream because I really do need the extra hydration to keep my concealer from caking up. Lately I've been loving The Body Shop Oils of Life Intensely Revitalizing Eye Cream-Gel.* I love that it's a gel-cream because it's intensely hydrating without feeling heavy - it goes perfectly underneath makeup. When you look inside the jar, it almost looks like there's some shimmer in there. It doesn't translate to the skin, but it does help to add some light to shadowy undereyes. This also helps to depuff further after using the Milk Cooling Water.

I also need a good concealer to cover up dark circles. My ultimate favorite for undereyes is still the Onomie Bright Concealing Elixir.* You just need the tiniest amount, and it somehow covers everything up without even looking like makeup. It's truly something. And it has skincare ingredients to take care of your undereyes while covering dark circles. I've also been getting back into using the Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Eraser Concealer - this was my favorite forever ago, and I've recently been falling back in love with it. It's super lightweight and soft, and it gives a decent amount of coverage as well. My newest undereye love has been the NARS Soft Matte Complete Concealer. This stuff is amazing - it's so creamy and blendable, and it gives great coverage without looking overdone (sense a theme here?). I have the shades Chantilly and Vanilla because I'm pretty much right between the two. I like using slightly more of Vanilla under my eyes though because it has a pink tone - it cancels out the darkness nicely.

The last thing I love to do to bring some light to the eyes is add an inner corner highlight, even if I'm not wearing any other eyeshadow. I recently fell for the Make Up For Ever Star Lit Powder in Ivory (13) (I do apologize that this shade is sold out right now, but I think Jaclyn Hill mentioned it recently) - it's a little finicky to use since it's loose and in a jar, but a little goes a very long way. I usually shake it upside down while it's closed, dip my pinky finger into the shadow that's stuck to the lid, and tap it on the inner corners of my eyes. It gives such a brilliant sheen that really makes me look awake and peppy. This has an interesting formula, too - the only way I can describe it is "sticky," but I only mean that as in it really adheres to the eyes without any kind of primer or glue, and it has virtually no fallout. Usually when I highlight my inner corners I have shimmer dropping down into my eye bags after a couple hours, but the Star Lit Powder stays exactly in place all day. I'm tempted to pick up one of the duochrome shades next.

What products do you reach for to brighten up your eyes?

*Some products mentioned have been sent to me for consideration, but all opinions are my own. Please see my disclaimer for more information.