On February 3rd, our university course was invited to attend a 'Fantasy' demo at MAC Liverpool, and the opportunity to shop with an elevated 35% discount (!!!). The demo was inspired by James Molloy's instagram post, where he used eyeshadows in lime and lemon tones to create a spring- inspired look. It was a really exciting opportunity to ask questions, get to know products and their versatility, and shop until we dropped. I mostly bought new additions for my kit- foundations and skincare was a must, as these can be the priciest necessities. I did have a big list of items I wanted to buy, and was praying that some stuff would be out of stock so my total price was reduced! To see a more in-depth review of the final look created, products, and techniques, read Skin Deep Beautiful's blog post.
I bought a Fluidline in
Rich Ground, and a paint pot in
Groundwork- I love to wear the MAC gel liners through my brows too, and though I'm more of a Dipdown kind of girl day-to-day, I do like to switch it up every now and then- Waveline is another fav
ourite of mine for brows. Rich Ground works surprisingly well as a brow product- natural and sheer, and the metallic sheen to it isn't as detracting in the brows as I initially thought it would be. I also bought Blacktrack, but everybody knows what black gel liner looks like. The paint pots are another wonderfully versatile product- I know that Painterly makes a great concealer, and as I'm so pale I can actually get away with using it to contour and define my face. Groundwork blends really well with Painterly and gives a really delicate neutral smokey eye.
The lipsticks I chose are
Half n' Half (Amplified),
Morange (Amplified), and
Smoked Purple (Matte). I own Myth and Taupe, and I always felt that they were too light and dark, respectively. Half n' Half proved to be a wonderful mix of the two, and though I don't normally go for lipsticks that are anything other than matte finishes, I am sort of changing my mind. I would have loved to pick up some other eyeshadow pans, but I am collecting them by colour from MAC as I already have a few other palettes from Morphe and Technic that have a fair variety of colours in. Clockwise from top right, I bought Fig. 1, Creme de Violet, Stars n' Rockets, and Nocturnelle. I love the different finishes to them- Fig. 1 is such a beautifully matte shade, and I can see myself doing a really grungy purple smokey eye with these colours.
To finish off my blush palette (I already own Peaches, Melba, and Blushbaby), I bought Peony Petal, Dame, and Ambering Rose (l-r). Dame is such a versatile pink- a lovely balance between Peony Petal and Melba- that I know I will get a lot of use out of it. Peony Petal is one I couldn't resist, though- a true Barbie blush.
In the way of skincare and prep, I bought Prep and Prime Skin, Fix+, Strobe Cream, and Eye Makeup Remover (l-r). You really can't go wrong with basic skincare, and my favourite is Strobe Cream- it really lightens and brightens the skin, and makes the complexion look beautiful.
The lashes I bought for myself are 35's, 44's, and 48's (l-r). I've owned two sets of 44's to date, and they are my all- time favourite lash. I wanted to try something new, though, and experiment with shape and fullness. The 35's surprised me, as I didn't think the volume in the centre of the lash would be as flattering as it is. I haven't tried the 48 lash out yet, but it looks a lot like the Eylure lashes I am so used to wearing.
I invested in a few new brushes too. I love duo fibre brushes for complexion work (I own five now), and so the 130 was non-negotiable for my list. They give such a smooth, flawlessly air-whipped finish with liquid foundation, and I like them more than my 168 brush. The 217 is a brush everybody is familiar with, and I had to buy a second one it's that good. It blends easily and seamlessly, works with powders and creams, and I just cannot fault the brush in any way. My Royal & Langnickel spoolie recently fell apart, so I picked up a 204 whilst I was in store- another must- have. The 214 is a densely- packed brush, to deposit high amounts of pigment with little effort on the eye lid.
Matchmaster foundations, for me, are a key product. I can't carry around every foundation, for every tone and undertone, so these are a fabulous product for my kit. Full coverage with little effort, they adapt to the skin's natural undertone- so I don't need to worry about the complexion looking too yellow/pink/neutral, as the payoff is unique to your own skin. I bought 3.0, 7.0, and 9.0 as I can mix them together to create the shades in between, and can mix 3.0 with my Illamasqua Skin Base in SB1 to create anything lighter.
These are miscellaneous products I picked up whilst in the store, odd bits that I desperately needed- Naked Liner is good for cleaning up lines, marking where you want to take black liner, or lining lips before using a lipstick such as Myth. The concealer palette is another one I desperately needed- the kit I bought at the beginning of university had one, but it came in Medium which turned out to be practically useless as it is too orange/yellow/pink and not light enough to conceal seamlessly. I'm looking forward to experimenting with the mixing medium- it does say on the outer packaging that it is for use as eyeliner, so I will find out how to use it and how well it works! Finally, I bought the loose pigment in Vanilla, as it seems to be a product either everybody owns or everybody wants to own. Hopefully I'll be able to post some looks soon using these products, but as my camera equipment is seriously lacking, it may be a little while.
Apologies for how late this post is, and the huge gap between posts. I've been trying to organise my time and keep on top of everything, but it obviously is easier said than done. Hopefully I can turn over a new leaf, and blog more frequently as my skills improve and as I have more to blog about!
