MAC Viva Glam Gaga

MAC recently came out with 2 new Viva Glam lipsticks, Viva Glam Cyndi for Cyndi Lauper and Viva Glam Gaga for Lady Gaga. All the proceeds from the sales of this lipstick goes to the MAC AIDS Fund which supports the fight against HIV/AIDS.

I've only picked up Viva Glam Gaga so far, but will probably go back for Viva Glam Cyndi at some point.


I like that their signatures are printed on the box, as well as on the lipstick packaging.



You can see the signature on the tube.



Swatched on my skin.


Here it is on my lips. It's more wearable than I thought it would be. Applied heavily, it's a bit pale for my skintone, but it can be easily worn a bit more on the sheer side as well. Just make sure your lips are well moisturized when you're wearing this, I found that it can accentuate any dryness.

Did you pick up either of the new Viva Glam lipsticks? What do you think of them?

China Glaze Re-Fresh Mint

I'm a big fan of mint green nail polishes. Mint Candy Apple was my first Essie polish and that colour has me hooked on them. When I saw that China Glaze was coming out with a mint in their Up & Away collection, I knew I had to have it.


China Glaze Re-Fresh Mint
Re-Fresh Mint is a bit on the thick side, but does apply quite easily. I used 2 coats here.

I also did a comparison of the couple of similar colours I have in my collection.


Essie Mint Candy Apple, China Glaze Re-Fresh Mint, China Glaze For Audrey


China Glaze For Audrey, Essie Mint Candy Apple, China Glaze Re-Fresh Mint
Please excuse the messy application, seems like the macro setting on my camera captures the little mistakes that aren't so noticable to my eyes! :)

As you can see, Re-Fresh Mint is a nice clean mint green, where Mint Candy Apple has a bit of a blue undertone. For Audrey really isn't that similar on the nail. I used 2 coats of each here.

Essie Van D'Go from the Art of Spring Collection

Hey everyone, I hope you're having a great weekend! I had a bit of a tiring week so I decided to stay in tonight and just relax. Part of my relaxing included working on swatches and here's one of the polishes I did:


Essie Van D'Go

Essie Van D'Go from the Art of Spring Collection. This applied a bit streaky. Here I've applied 2 coats, but I guess maybe I should have applied a 3rd to even it out completely. I do really like this colour though, a nice peachy pink that totally reminds me of Spring.

Toronto Beauty Blogger Meetup

I was lucky enough to be one of the attendees of the Toronto Beauty Blogger Meetup (TBBM) held Sunday, February 21st. FacesByFarah worked very hard in organizing this and deserves a million thanks for putting together such a great event! Almost 20 beauty bloggers and I think 8 company reps were in attendance of the brunch which was held at Milestones.

Here's a list of the attendees:
Faces by Farah
Rock That Look
Makeup Junkie
Spiced Beauty
Nancy Power
Lipstick Rules
Beauty by Naz
Davida Gregor
MakeMeOver Services
Lelo the Artist
WaterColourSky
Mariana
If I was a Rich Girl
Makeup by Delia
Dare 2 B Yourself
Love Lipstick & Lime

As well as reps from the following companies:
CARGO Cosmetics
Cover FX
Balmshell Cosmetics
Face Atelier
Vasanti Cosmetics
Annabelle/Marcelle
DaLish Cosmetics


It was so nice meeting so many wonderful ladies! I only wish that there would have been more time to get a chance to talk to everyone!

There were tons of prizes given away as well, I was the winner of a great Cargo gift basket. All the bloggers also got great swag bags and I am still amazed at the amount of goodies that were in them!


I can't wait to play around with it all!

Brunch lasted a few hours, and then a bunch of us headed over to the MAC pro store. I was pretty well behaved and came away with only the new 130 brush. I'm excited to try it out.

Thanks so much to all the companies that were generous enough to sponsor the event as well as Farah for putting it all together!

Essie Pop Art Pink

Essie Pop Art Pink

Pop Art Pink is from Essie's spring collection. It's a pretty sheer colour, I used 3 coats to get it to look like this. I tend to like my polishes on the opaque side, with no visible nail lines. I don't mind having to do 3 coats though, and it is nice that it can be worn a bit more sheer if that's how you like it.

I can't believe it's only recently that I bought my first Essie polish. I've got 6 colours now. Do you have any Essie favorites?

MAC Spring Colour Forecast Colour 3 & Colour 4 Quads

I bought both the quads from the MAC Spring Colour Forecast Collection.


Colour 3 quad
Mink Pink, Bruised Plum, Jungle Moon, Black Tulip (clockwise from top left)


Mink Pink, Bruised Plum, Black Tulip, Jungle Moon

I really like purple eye shadows, though I don't have that many. I was excited to get Mink Pink in this quad as well, it's a colour that I'd been wanting for a while that MAC had discontinued. I like that there is a mixture of different eye shadow finishes, I like to mix it up when I do my eyes.


Colour 4 quad
Manila Paper, Flip, Creole Beauty, Aztec Brick (clockwise from top left)


Manila Paper, Flip, Aztec Brick, Creole Beauty

I'm all about neutrals. They're easy, they're great for work. The shadow I like the most from this quad is Creole Beauty, it's such a gorgeous rich brown colour!

These both come with the new quad packaging. I must say, I'm not really a fan. They are a lot bulkier and hold fingerprints like crazy. I have barely touched my quads except to get these swatches and pictures, but already you can see my fingerprints all over them. They are a lot thicker than the older quads as well. I suppose one advantage is that they seem like they may be more durable. If you're into depotting your quads though, I'm not sure how to go about doing that with these, if it's even possible.

I'm still happy with these though and can't wait to play with them some more. Did you pick up either of these?

China Glaze Heli-yum

Here's another gorgeous polish from the China Glaze Up & Away collection.


China Glaze Heli-yum
I am in love with this colour. It's so vibrant. Application was great too, this is 2 coats.

I hope you're all enjoying your Saturday!

Essie Art of Spring Collection

The Essie Art of Spring Collection came out recently and I picked up 3 colours from it.


Pop Art Pink, Lilacism, Van D'Go

Swatches to come soon!

MAC Spring Colour Forecast Lipglasses and Lipstick Pictures and Swatches

I picked up 3 lipsticks from the MAC Spring Colour Forecast Collection.


Beigeland, Radicchio, Laugh a Lot


Beigeland, Radicchio, Laugh a Lot

Beigeland - I wasn't sure I'd like this colour since it's a frost, but after swatching it in the store, I decided I'd give it a try. When applied to lips, the frost isn't overwhelming, it's just a nice a nice light pink beige, as MAC describes on their website.

Radicchio - A pretty mauve colour.

Laugh a Lot - I think this will be a popular shade from this collection. It's just a tad darker than a "my lips but better" colour for me. An easy go to colour that I'm sure will be in regular rotation when I want a natural lip, which is quite often.


Purple Rage, Hush, Hush Rose, Cha Cha, Almondine


Purple Rage, Hush, Hush Rose, Cha Cha, Almondine

Purple Rage - I haven't heard as much hype about this colour as much as I have about certain others, but I don't know why - it's absolutely gorgeous! An amazing dark berry shade that can be easily built up, or worn a bit on the sheer side for a less dramatic look. Love this!

Hush, Hush Rose - A medium pinkish rose colour. I like that this is a bit darker than most of the pink lipglasses that I tend to see often. Very flattering on.

Cha Cha - This is a sheer pink with light pink shimmer.

Almondine - I was given this lipglass by mistake, I had wanted to get Gold Dust. I think I will go back for that tomorrow. Almondine is white and frosty. I'm not a huge fan of it. It may be a nice colour for layering over darker shades of lipstick to lighten it up, but I don't think it's very wearable on its own.

I'm happy with what I've picked up so far. I am going to go back and have another look at the collection tomorrow, as well as look at the new Viva Glam lipsticks!

What do you think of the lipsticks and lipglasses from this collection? Did you get any, or are you planning to?

MAC Spring Colour Forecast Eye Shadow Pictures and Swatches

I picked up some of the eye shadows from the MAC Spring Colour Forecast collection. I only set out to buy 4 of them at the time, but they made an error and also included Nanogold with my purchases instead of one of the lipsticks I wanted to get. I decided to just keep Nanogold, it really is a pretty colour.


(clockwise from the top left)
Hot Hot Hot, Perky, Very Violet, Straw Harvest, Nanogold


Hot Hot Hot
I really like this colour, it isn't like any that I have ever seen from MAC. Love the name of it too!



Perky
I don't have a lot of pinks in my collection, so I think this makes a nice addition.


Very Violet
I seem to be all about purples lately! I figure it's way to brighten things up. I've been in a bit of make up rut, always using neutrals.


Straw Harvest
I love this colour! I'm a big fan of golds. It's different enough from Goldmine, a little less yellow, with a touch of orange to it. It'll make a nice lid colour, perhaps with Hot Hot Hot in the crease!


Nanogold
I didn't originally plan to get this shadow. I'm not really a big fan of lustres. Luckily, this one has a bit more colour payoff than some other lustres. Pretty versatile, would make a nice lid colour or a nice highlight.


Nanogold, Straw Harvest (no flash)


Hot Hot Hot, Perky, Very Violet (no flash)


Nanogold, Straw Harvest, Hot Hot Hot, Perky, Very Violet (with flash)

I am totally loving these shadows. Nice and bright and makes me wish for actual Spring weather to get here! I may go back and take another peek at the shadows when this collection is officially released on Thursday. I am considering getting Lala, I don't have any bright pinks in my collection and I think it would go nice with some of these other colours. We'll see!

Are you planning on getting any of the eye shadows from this collection?

MAC Spring Colour Forecast Blush Ombres Pictures and Swatches

I am in absolute LOVE with the new Blush Ombres from the MAC Spring Colour Forecast collection.


Azalea Blossom Blush Ombre


Vintage Grape Blush Ombre


Springshine Blush Ombre


Ripe Peach Blush Ombre

They're all completely gorgeous. Incredibly smooth, along the lines of a beauty powder blush. So pigmented too, they apply like a dream! They're bigger than regular MAC blushes - the same size as the Beauty Powders.

Here are some swatches:


Vintage Grape, Azalea Blossom, Springshine, Ripe Peach (no flash)


Vintage Grape, Azalea Blossom, Springshine, Ripe Peach (with flash)

I'm glad to have purchased all these beauties. What do you think of them? Will you be getting any of the blush ombres?

MAC Spring Colour Forecast haul

I was lucky enough to get an invite to the MAC Spring Colour Forecast unveiling event last night. I've received invites to events before, but had never attended so I wasn't sure what to expect.

After checking in, we were given a sheet of all the items from the collection where we could mark off which items we wanted to purchase. It was a little hard to move around the store because it was really crowded. And hot! There were brightly dressed men walking around offering everyone cocktails and canapes, though I didn't take any of either. I made my way around to each display and figured out what I wanted. It was hard to narrow it down, I liked almost everything! I had a bunch of sets of empties that I was able to redeem for a few products, so that helped.

Here's what I ended up getting:




There was a bit of a mix up with what I marked off and what I was given, but I didn't notice until I left the store. I was given Nanogold eye shadow instead of one of the lipsticks I wanted, and I ended up with Almondine lipglass instead of the Gold Dust that I wanted. Whoops.

I'll be posting more detailed pictures of everything, and some swatches and thoughts about what I got in the coming days.

NOTD: China Glaze Grape Pop

This is such a great colour. A true purple creme. It applied like a dream in 2 coats.


China Glaze Grape Pop

What's on your nails today?