Anyone else have major Valentine’s Day vibes?
Although I’ve never spent a Valentine’s Day with a loved one (yet!), it’s still one of my favourite holidays. What’s not to love about hearts, pink, and pretty much all-around cute things (Umm have you been to Indigo yet?). So naturally, when I laid my eyes on MAC’s new spring collection, Flamingo Park, which launches February 4 (March for international locations), I was all full-fledged hearts and glitter, and everything Valentine’s Day appropriate.
This collection includes eyeshadows, pigments, nail lacquers, lipsticks, lip pencils, Cremesheen lip glosses, powdered blush, liners (Technakohl Liner), mascara (Haute & Naughty Lash), and beauty powders. So basically, quite the collection.
Perhaps what’s most striking about the whole thing is that a lot of the colours are – you guessed it – pink! I received five items from the 40-plus collection; two of the lipsticks, one of the Cremesheen glosses, a blush and the beauty powder.
There are nine lipsticks eight with one online-exclusive shade) in this release, some of them already available in the permanent collection (Saint Germain, Please Me, Silly… I’m looking at all of you). I haven’t seen all the shades, however, from what I can gather from the press materials, they are all shades of pink or coral. The ones I received are Long Legged & Fabulous, a soft baby pink in a cremesheen and pearl finish, as well as Be Silly, a hot fuchsia pink in a matte formula. Since probably every MAC lipstick I own and gravitate towards are these types of shades, I was over the moon to try them out. Unfortunately there is no special packaging with this collection, but that’s okay (does anyone else feel guilty Back to MAC-ing those?).
At first glance, Be Silly looks very similar to other MAC shades that I have from other collections, but once I applied it, it’s more bright pink on than a deep fuchsia, which it kind of looks like in the tube. This one is a matte, so it is long lasting, but not as drying as I’m usually used to with MAC matte (wow, trying saying that out loud) formulations, but I think it might be because I’m so used to liquid lipsticks that dry out your lips that this one doesn’t really bother me. Long Legged and Fabulous is a really nice baby pink that isn’t too bright, so it’s definitely more wearable than say, Saint Germain, which is almost like a white pink (it’s not for the faint of heart, this one was my clubbing lipstick when I was like 21). The cremesheen formula makes it very comfortable to wear, however, keep it on hand as you’ll have to apply this guy more often because it’s a lighter colour and a softer finish.
For the glosses, MAC has included five Cremesheens in this collection. I received the colour Playful Petal, an electric magenta shade with shimmer in it. I’m not a big gloss girl in general, and especially when it comes to MAC’s Lipglasses, since they are so sticky (so happy they didn’t include those in this collection), but I was pleasantly surprised with this guy. I layered this over top of Be Silly since the colours were similar and I wanted to see what the lipstick looked like jazzed up since it’s a matte. They were actually quite the combo and I found these very comfortable to wear (not sticky at all). The colour did fade a bit throughout the day, so I just kept applying the gloss and I still got that nice fuchsia colour. I think by itself if it’s layered over a nude lipstick it would give you a really pretty lighter pink.
As for the face products, there are seven blushes in this collection (six you can buy in store and the seventh as an online exclusive). Again, all the colours tend to lean towards reds, pinks and corals. I received the colour Oh My, which is a reddish mid-tone coral in a satin finish. I’m going to start by saying that if you have a pale complexion like me, this blush may not be for you. Even the lightest of hands (I literally dip my brush into it quickly) will give you more colour than what you’re used to. This blush is bright; it’s so pigmented that I don’t think I’ll ever run out of it. It does go on quite harsh, so I have to go back in with my foundation brush to basically tone it down. This would be more appropriate for darker skin tones. I don’t really recommend it for someone pale like me.
The last item I got from the collection was the Beauty Powder in Sunny Surprise, a soft peach. I’ve always been confused by this product. Is it a powder? A blush? Well from what I can gather, it’s a makeup finisher. I used it as a setting powder, which I was hesitant to do since it’s peach, but it doesn’t really apply like that once on. It does give you a little bit of colour, but nothing like how it looks in the package. Some people use it as a highlight, but I liked it as a setting powder, similar to how I would use one of the Hourglass Ambient Powders.
Overall, I really the items I got to try from this collection. Although there are lots of items that are available year-round in the permanent collection, there’s lots of stuff in here that’s worth picking up. Plus, who can resist pink lipstick?
Are you excited for MAC’s Flamingo Park collection?
Please note, I was sent these products from PR. All opinions are my own.
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I think it’s safe to say that the hottest trend in lips right now is liquid lip colour.
Pretty much every brand has come out with their own version of this product; a liquid lipstick that dries matte and lasts for hours on end. I already have quite a few in my collection (Kat Von D, L’Oreal Paris, Maybelline – which launches in the coming weeks, Revlon…), basically, if a brand hasn’t come out with it yet, they are on it.
One of the newest brands to launch this product is powerhouse MAC Cosmetics. They’ve had liquid lip colours in the past, but this is the first matte liquid lip colour collection I’ve heard of (although I’m not a MAC fanatic, so I might be wrong!). The Retro Matte Liquid Lipcolour are robustly saturated shades, which includes everything from a fire-engine red (so Hollywood 1920’s glamour!) to a vivid fuchsia, a deep plum, to (obviously) nudes. Available in 20 different shades, these are now part of the permanent collection.
Each shade (US$20/C$24) applies as a liquid and then dries as a satin matte. A little definitely goes a long way with these, as opaque colour is achieved in basically one application. I received three of the colours from the impressive 20-colour range, Back in Vogue, a peachy nude; Tailored to Tease, a bright fuchsia; and, Oh, Lady, a deep wine.
Overall I’m very impressed with the formulation and shade range in this line. I don’t think it necessarily stands out from the crowd as the options to pick up a matte liquid lip colour now are endless with the amount of brands releasing this formulation of product. I do have to say that the colours go on phenomenal, especially the deeper ones, like Oh, Lady. Typically with dark shades and this kind of formula, I find that they tend to get a bit patchy, but this one went on nice and smooth. Since they are matte though, I do find them to be a bit uncomfortable over time, but if you want to add some moisture to those dry lips, you can lightly apply a balm over top. They also tend to wear a bit after eating, but overall they don’t really budge that much.
As for the applicator, these have a pointed tip which goes wide, making it super easy to line your lips if you don’t have any lipliners handy (I didn’t). Since these kinds of lipsticks can be hard to apply in even the best of times (especially the dark shades; I always make a mess), this applicator definitely is a selling point. The angled tip really lets you define the lip area before you fill in the lips. Also, you may notice these lids of these guys, they are the same as the regular line MAC lipsticks (love this little touch!).
If you are into liquid matte lip colours, I would definitely look into getting a few of these. Keep in mind that they will dry out your lips, but on the plus side, they deliver amazing colour pigmentation and long wear (just make sure you moisturize before and after application!). MAC has definitely added a serious contender to the matte liquid lip colour game.
MAC Retro Matte Liquid Lipcolour launched earlier this month and is available at MAC stores, counters, and online (some colours are already sold out!).
Will you be picking up any shades from this collection? What are your thoughts on liquid lip colour?
Please note, I was sent these products from PR. All opinions are my own.
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There’s no doubt about it, the power of bloggers is huge.
There’s a reason that so many brands are pouring their advertising funds into other non-traditional forms of media. Why spend hundreds of thousands on a print ad, when they can just reach out to bloggers, who will simply do a review of a product, or even just snap a photo of it and post it to Instagram?
And it’s not just advertising that’s been affected. Five words: Jaclyn Hill, Becca, Champagne Pop. In the first 20 minutes it was available on sephora.com, the Becca Cosmetics Champagne Pop highlighter sold a record-breaking 25,000 units. All because of a single YouTuber.
Clearly Sephora got the message with that milestone, because starting this month they have released the #ColorCurators collection for their Formula X nail polish line. This first-of-its-kind collection features 10 bloggers, one a month, who will release three polishes for the Formula X line, each inspired by their own passions, lifestyle, and personal expression.
I received the first three months (the additional months haven’t been released yet, and I don’t know what they are doing for the other two months of the year), and Sephora definitely did not hold back. All three of these bloggers are powerhouses who regularly collaborate with brands on their own collections. January is Aimee Song of Song of Style, February is YouTube phenomenon Patrick Starr, and March is lifestyle blogger and author Emily Schuman of Cupcakes and Cashmere.
Although the press send was impressive (it was basically a pizza box with a rotating wheel, each “slice” was a different nail polish), even more exciting were the colours. Usually when a nail polish collection is released, there’s always those few colours which I don’t gravitate towards, but all of these are fabulous.
January’s releases from Aimee Song are pastel neutrals that should be in anyone’s collection. Nude For You, is as Aimee Song says, the perfect nude for any skin tone. Girl’s Best Friend is a gorgeous pastel baby pink that is suitable for everyday, and Mintfluencer (that name!) is a perfect mint colour. Usually with mints, I find they run either too blue or too green, but this one she really nailed on the head.
February was the month I got the most excited about as it’s three pink shades. But these aren’t boring pinks (like Patrick Starr would every do anything boring..), Yazz was the showstopper for me, a gorgeous magenta that pops, but Lucky Starr was also amazing (glittery, but not too glittery), and so was She Better Werk, which is a pink that has peachy undertones. You need all three of these for sure. Plus, I loved how they all fit into the Valentine’s Day theme.
March is courtesy of Emily Schuman of Cupcakes and Cashmere, which I thought was the more plain of the colours in the collection. Haute Sauce, a tomato red, was the most “meh” colour in the bottle, but actually applied quite nice once on. This one is the only one I would skip from the collection, but if you’re into those kinds of reds, then I would explore picking it up because the formulation is quite nice.
Peach Tea is a nice peach shade, which would look amazing on tanned hands, and Latte Run is a taupe-coloured nude colour that is a perfect everyday colour.
I absolutely love this collection, and Sephora hit it on the head when they came up with this idea. After the whole Jaclyn Hill Champagne Pop phenomenon, they no doubt saw the true power of bloggers. Not only do these products have the backing of the bloggers behind them, but they are also amazing shades. I would honestly pick up each and every one of them, you won’t be disappointed. I believe these are only available for the months that they are released for, so head to Sephora soon so you can get all the January colours!
Will you be buying any of the Formula X #ColorCurators polishes?
Please note, products sent by PR. All opinions are my own.
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