♥s..

Ah Boxing Day. I never thought I'd be out shopping on this day. Normally, I'm still in bed or doing a whole lot of nada, but I had to answer the siren call of a new MAC collection release: Cham-Pale. It's not a huuuge collection in comparison to the previous releases (FF, VV, TT, all huge). I still feel like I got a lot though! So I just whipped up a super fast haul post. I don't think I will do swatches as a million other blogs have done them already. I hope you understand. :)

MAC Kohl Power Eye Pencil in Feline and Eye Kohl in I Get No Kick.

I loved how dark Feline swatched on my hand. Super pigmented. I'm trying not to get my hopes up about its staying power because almost nothing stays put on my eyes (especially eye pencils), but eh, we'll see! I Get No Kick was really pretty swatched. I'm going to try it out on my waterline for eye brightening.

MAC Special Reserve Highlighting Powder in Chez Chez Lame and Rose Ole.

I'm probably crazy getting both of these.. but I couldn't help it. First of all, I love the "crinkling" in the powder. I'm a sucker for details like that. Secondly, they both swatched so nicely I couldn't decide on just one. I read that Rose Ole is similar to By Candlelight, which I have and will see if I can dig out later to make a proper comparison.

MAC Caviar Dreams Eyeshadow Quad.

This was my first MAC eyeshadow quad purchase. :D I read a lot of reviews of this quad saying that it was not worth it because the colors are mostly repromotes and are too light. I don't have any of these colors, and I mainly bought the quad for Caviar Dreams, which I love!

MAC Paint Pots in Chilled On Ice and Vintage Selection.

I only got two of the Paint Pots. I originally had my eye on Dangerous Cuvee, but it didn't really cooperate with me when I tried to swatch it in store. It didn't feel very smooth. In comparison, Chilled On Ice and Vintage Selection both felt much smoother and creamier. I was completely enamored with Vintage Selection, of course, but I couldn't leave without Chilled On Ice too.

MAC Nail Lacquer in Soiree.

I was very disappointed with Very Important Platinum. The color is so right up my alley, but I hated the consistency so I didn't buy it. Soiree was really gorgeous in person and applied really nicely.

All righty. That's it for my Cham-Pale haul. Trust me to go out on a sale day to buy makeup things at full-price lol. I barely looked at Stylishly Yours. I did a quick swipe on the pale pink beauty powder, but I didn't get it. Maybe I should have taken a better look at the Fluidline in the collection.. ah well. There is next weekend. :3

I hope your Christmas was full of happy times with happy people!

Happy Holidays, everyone! Hope you haven't forgotten me yet lol. I wish I had more time to devote to my blog, but my current living situation makes it really difficult. So hopefully it will change soon (like.. next year or something would be GREAT!), and I'll be able to blog a lot more (if I don't get sucked back into WoW that is.. :3). ^^V For now, here is a quick post on my Tartan Tale haul (this was done in multiple trips over the course of several weeks).


I was really excited about Tartan Tale when I saw KarlaSugar's swatches, but when I got to a counter I kind of lost interest in a few things I thought I'd like. Maybe that's just me trying to convince myself to not buy things lol. I like the packaging of this collection much more than that of Venomous Villains.

6 Dashing Lassie and Pearlglide Eyeliners. Sorry, I took a picture of the actual tips of the eyepencils, but it came out super blurry. It's not too important anyway. The swatch is there!

Lately, I've been really into neutrals. I can't help but buy every taupe I can get my grubby paws on, which is why I couldn't ignore Dashing Lassies. Dashing Lassies eye shadow palette was the first item in the collection that I had my eye on because of Magical Mist. I also thought I would get the Beauties Play It Cool palette just because of Magical Moore, but.. I like Magical Mist more and I figured that I liked the other shades in Dashing Lassies more than the others in Beauties Play it Cool. It wouldn't be worth it to pay $35 just for that tiny square of Magical Moore, would it? .. Well, I've done crazier things lol.

The Pearlglide eyeliners are so awesome! Sadly, they do smudge on me, but then again everything usually does! Lord It Up was my favorite one out of the bunch. I wanted Undercurrent too, but it was sold out at the store I was at. It's probably too late to try to get it now, but if I could, I'd get that and Petrol Blue. I wish these eyeliners were permanent and available in every color imaginable because they are SO SMOOTH. Seriously. No tugging at all; they are so creamy. It's just a shame that they are not usable on the waterline due to the glitter particles.

A Triumphant Blush Face Kit

I passed on the pink cheek set because I already had Oh So Fair and Dame. In retrospect, I could have gotten it since I like both of them, but I'm usually not the sort of person to buy backups of stuff even if I really like it. So I got the peachy cheek set instead since I had none of those colors. I tried to take so many pictures of this, but Melba came out looking pink in each one. This is probably the best one for the other two. Out of the three blushes, I like Peachtwist the most. I haven't quite wrapped my head around how to use Smooth Harmony yet. Speaking of blushes, Fuz spoke very highly of Highland Honey, which is a blush single in this collection. I wanted it at first, but I thought it was a bit too similar to Utterly Game (from Fabulous Felines). So I figured I could skip Highland Honey.

The Swinging Violets Mineralized Kit

Okay, for some reason when I got to this point, I started taking photos out of sequence and combined individual items with items in the kit like a stupid. My apologies if the rest of this post is confusing.

When I saw Karla Sugar's swatches for the Nordstrom exclusive Mineralized set, I totally drooled. The Earthly Riches Mineralized Eyeshadow Duo is a must have! I love both colors! I've been meaning to try out MAC Paint Pots as well, so the one in the kit (Bare Study) came at a good time. I have to say that while I like the color of Bare Study, the texture was not what I was expecting. It felt a little too.. dry and tacky. Will have to experiment a little more with it. The Icescape Lip Glass is a little shimmery, but the color is cute. I haven't tried out the mascara yet, but I probably won't as any non-waterproof mascara is asking for trouble (will melt into panda eyes in no time no matter how gorgeous the application..). I'm considering picking up the other kits too..

I planned on skipping the eyeshadow singles, but it was hard to drag myself away from Glamora Castle. I know other bloggers complained about the pigmentation of these singles. While I see where they're coming from, I thought Glamora Castle was fine in that regard. While I was at it, I also picked up A Wish Come True. It's not an eyeshadow color I normally go for because I'm always afraid I'll make myself look like I've got pink eye, but I figured if anything I could wear it sheered it out as a blush.

Out of all the lippies, I loved Faerie Glen the most. It's a nice beige pink that looks natural on my lips. It pulls a little more beige than pink on me, but it's a really nice color. I always apply any lipstick sheerly though. It just looks kind of weird on me if I do a full opaque lip. Cut a Caper was a little scary looking in the tube, but is actually sheer so it wears very easily on the lips.


Phew. So after all that's said and done, I still wound up with a lot of stuff lol. MAC has been really impressing me lately. Or maybe since I'm a beauty blogger now (I know, I barely post enough to have that honor) that I'm more in tune with MAC collections. Who knows?! If you haven't picked up any Tartan Tale yet, but want to, you might still be able to at any MAC counter. Whenever I stroll by, it looks like a lot is still available. The only items you might have trouble getting are the Pearlglide Eyeliners and maybe the Highland Honey blush. I can't wait to see Cham-Pale tomorrow (my wallet is already weeping in the corner)!

Happy Holidays! Thank you for stopping by. Stay safe and be happy. ^^

Oohh.. shiny..

I really meant to post my Black Friday haul.. really I did. This overcast killed it (also started raining too). So to hold you over for now, here is a mini-review post. I took the pictures during a crazy photo-shoot session where I had actual sunlight!!.. Doesn't that sound so sad coming from someone who lives in southern California?? Sunshine my ass! >:O Sigh~

I'm sure you've seen these palettes many times already. They're definitely not new any more, but they are so pretty looking. The packaging design is gorgeous! I need to expand my vocabulary because I use "gorgeous" and "pretty" too much lol. Well, you can see for yourself. Really uniquely designed casing.

Case detail is so pretty! There is a space for the tiny brush that's included. I can't speak for the quality/usefulness of that brush since I've never used it.

Fully opened case. As you can see, there's a mirror under the cover.

Rue de Sevres and Rue de Passy. Two of five total palettes which are named after Guerlain's boutiques in Paris.

In case you didn't know already, each palette will set you back $84. It's a pretty steep price to pay. So if you're really interested in these still, you should know what you're getting into. These shadows are not super pigmented. For the money, I was expecting nothing short of amazing, but I was rather disappointed. Now, I know you're rolling your eyes at me, "But STUPID, you bought it anyway! You took PHOTOS! EVIDENCE!" Yes, I bought it. In fact, I couldn't help myself and got two of these palettes. One reason why I still plunked down my money is because the packaging is so unique and beautiful. The other is because to make these shadows magically appear all you need is an eyeshadow base, which is basically a requirement for me anyway due to my overly oily lids. The SA at the Guerlain counter swatched these for me using the Guerlain eyeshadow base. They were so pretty swatched that I couldn't say no. I hear that the quality of these palettes don't hold a candle to Guerlain's usual quads, but I can't attest to that since these are my first Guerlain shadows. I think for this price range, they could be a bit smoother and more pigmented. Overall they're okay shadows, and you get six shades to play with for a wide range of looks.

First photo is Rue de Sevres swatched without base. Second photo is the same palette swatched over UDPP. Sorry about the quality of the photos, but you can easily tell that the shadows are much better with a base.

Rue de Passy swatched over UDPP.

I'm pretty sure most Guerlain counters in department stores have these still. Sephora carries these online only. I don't think I will be purchasing any more in this series of palettes. There is going to be a new palette coming out for spring 2011 I think, featuring a popping hot pink as the accent color. Pretty, but not for me. I'm eyeing the other things instead! Hoping my makeup ban will be over then.. >> haha.