M.A.C Must Haves!

I was thinking of doing a MAC Starter Kit post recently but when I looked at my (pretty small) makeup collection, I realised that there aren't that many things I love from M.A.C. Don't get me wrong, I do love M.A.C. , but I just don't like some of their products. So, I decided to do a post on my M.A.C. must haves instead.

These are my M.A.C. must haves! I will ALWAYS repurchase these products when I run out.

I think Mineralized Skin Finish (MSF) products are amazing! I've been using the MSF Natural (powder on the right) ever since I started using makeup 2 years ago & I've tried other powders but nothing comes close. I really like that the MSF Natural doesn't make me look COMPLETELY matte or cakey. I'm an NC25-30 and the shade Medium is slightly too light for me. The product does oxidise a little after a while, so I usually leave the house the house with it matching my skin tone though. Medium Plus is too dark, I use it to shade/contour sometimes.

The other MSF pictured is Soft and Gentle, which I think is great because it suits every skin tone, you can use it to highlight and it looks very natural and I even use it as a lid color if I'm going for a simple/natural makeup look. I love products that can be used in more than one way! The thing about MSFs is that, if you use them as highlighters & eyeshadow, they last FOREVER because they come in such big pots.

The last product would be a Paint Pot. I love love love paint pots, which is evident in my other post here! My recommendation would be Rubenesque, simply because it will match ANY skin tone, and it's such a lovely champagne color! You can use it as an eyeshadow base or wear it on it's own. 

I definitely can't wait to try out more M.A.C. products. There's something about the sleek black packaging of almost all their products that appeals to me. I really like how they sit in my makeup drawers all neat and matchy matchy!

Mint & Gold ♥

I saw a post on The Beauty Department on Robin's Egg Nails and I thought they were GORGEOUS. I decided that I had to recreate that manicure soon.

If you click through the link to look at that TBD post, you'll see that my manicure generally doesn't really look like that one. I do still really like my version though! They actually look better when they're not THAT up close.

 I used Sally Hansen's Mint Sorbet and China Glaze's Solar Flare. I've done a review on Mint Sorbet on my old Tumblr (here) and it's great-- 2 coats for complete opacity. I used one coat of Solar Flare for this mani because it's meant to be a glitter top coat, not a polish on it's own, Topped that off with 2 coats of Seche Vite Dry Fast, and tadahhhhh!

Polish Overview Part Two: Pinks & Corals

Part two has taken me a week to post, I'm a terrible blogger! Its so hard to find the time to take pictures, and I think I really need a new (better) camera that takes nicer indoor, low light pictures.

Anyway, here's part 2 which is dedicated to pink & corals! Wanted to make a special post for my coral polishes because they're my current fave, but it would have been way too short. 

Pinks

First row: OPI's Panda-monium Pink (which looks purple under some lights, strange), Sally Hansen's So Much Fawn, OPI's Dusk Over Cairo, OPI's Strawberry Margarita & butter LONDON's Snog

Second row: China Glaze's Wicked Style, Make An Entrance, Fuschia Fanatic & Seduce Me

I actually forgot to include Deborah Lippmann's Shape Of My Heart, which is a pale pink. I've post a couple of pictures of it on this blog before, you might want to take a look if you're interested (:

 Corals

First row: Essence's On Your Gracile Tiptoe, Revlon's Mad About Mangoes & China Glaze's Flip Flop Fantasy

Second row: China Glaze's Make Some Noise, OPI's Lunch At The Delhi & Deborah Lippmann's Daytripper

I lovelovelove my coral polishes right now, they're soooo pretty & perfect for the season now! I think the next post should come some time in the middle of this week, hopefully I get some good pictures taken! Part 3 is probably going to be yellows/blues/greens. I only have 1 yellow polish and a couple of green ones, so I'll be posting mints in that part too!

China Glaze's Manhunt & I'm Not Lion

I got a couple of polishes from China Glaze's On Safari collection the other day! I meant to get the entire collection when I first saw it a couple of months ago, but the colors don't appeal to me anymore. I still think they're gorgeous, but they're not colors I'm into right now. 

I had to get Manhunt because it's my favorite color from the collection, and I'm Not Lion because lions are THE BEST animal in the world.

I'm sorry about the TERRIBLE paint job on my pointer finger. I forgot to wipe the brush on the corner of the bottle and it glooped (such a professional term LOL) around my cuticles :/ I usually wait for my nails to dry, then take a shower so all the excess polish peels off. Didn't do that for this one, obviously.

Manhunt is a dark blue which I thought would be a dupe for China Glaze's First Mate but it isn't really. Manhunt is noticeably brighter. It's opaque in two coats and not streaky at all. Great formula! I'm Not Lion is a glitter polish with flecks of silver, gold and holographic glitter. I put on 3 coats, but that was just to be safe. 2 coats would probably be sufficient! 

I really love doing two accent nails :D

Nail Polish Overview Part 1: Reds & Nudes

A friend who reads this blog suggested that I do an overview of the nail polishes I own. And I thought it was a pretty good idea because 'nail polish collection' post of sorts has been requested on my Tumblr quite a few times, but I didn't know how to go about doing it. Anyway, we decided I could probably group them according to color. So here's part 1!

Reds

First row: Sally Hansen's CSM in Right Said Red, OPI's Big Apple Red, Essie's Very Cranberry

Second row: OPI's Quarter Of A Cent-cherry, Deborah Lippmann's Supermodel

You can find reviews for these polishes (except DL's Supermodel, it's new in my collection) on my old Tumblr (here).

Nudes

First row: China Glaze's Innocent, OPI's Bubble Bath, OPI's Tickle My France-y

Second row: OPI's Barefoot In Barcelona, China Glaze's Dress Me Up, Sally Hansen CSM in So Much Fawn.

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It's such a hassle to take pictures, because I don't have a good camera & I prefer natural sunlight. I don't really have the time to take pictures on weekdays, especially since I only get home at night. Part 2 will probably be pinks/oranges/corals!

New In: Dresses!

I said in a previous post that I don't like the words "shopping haul" & I didn't know what to name posts like these. Lucky for me, Kirsten (check out her blog!), suggested a really good title!

I only ever wear dresses these days, because the weather is insanely hot where I live, so the fewer layers I wear, the better. I thought these dresses were really pretty and summery!

The one on the left is from Rare, a British brand. It has only one shoulder, like a toga, and a fishtail hem. I was really excited when I found this because I've wanted a fishtail dress/skirt since forever. AND, it's more of an evening dress, which I don't have many of!

The one on the right is a striped skater dress from Blonde & Blonde. It's really casual, and I'll probably wear it a lot. The only "downside" to this dress is that the material is VERY thick, but I guess this means that it's well made?

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I'm going to try to spend my weekend cleaning out my closet & my nail polish racks. Now that I've put it out into the universe, I have to do it right?! Anyway I might be doing a nail polish overview on this blog if I get the time to take pictures.

Sally Hansen's Lacey Lilac

When I first saw Lacey Lilac, I thought it'd be a dupe for Essie's Nice is Nice, but it isn't really. It's a lot more... saturated(?) and purple, while Nice is Nice is a true pastel color.

As you can see from the picture, I did a pretty bad job at applying this polish. The formula was okay, slightlyyyyy thick and needed 2 coats for complete opacity. The brush, on the other hand, was SO hard to work with! It was uneven, clumpy and didn't fan out well. It was really hard to paint the polish on evenly.

I have tried a couple other polishes from this line, and I've never had problems with them AT ALL. I think I got a wonky bottle. I do love the color of the polish though!