MAC Haul 02/03/09 - My first!

Please bear with my ladies. I’m writing this at work, so no pictures yet. But I DID take a ton of photos yesterday which will be posted as soon as I get them on my computer and get Photobucket working properly. I’ll also try to go and back-update all the entries that are missing images =] They should be all uploaded tonight!

So, first things first. I did a bit of a MAC haul yesterday. I actually went to Meadowhall (the local mall’s name) in search of some gym clothes. I got sidetracked by MAC, which is just as well because I couldn’t find any gym clothes afterward anyway. So I spent my gym-clothes fund on a webcam. Which means, Inconscpicuous Beauty may be coming to a YouTube near you!

Maybe =]

Anyway, what did I get? Reviews of each product will come separately when I get a chance to use everything.

First, I really needed some powder foundation. My skin isn’t used to wearing liquid every day, and this may be why my Studio Sculpt has made me break out. Not major breaking out, a little under the nose, on the chin area, and one or two near my left eyebrow. Still, not pretty. So I wanted to give it a bit of a break and get some Powder that I can use on a rotational basis depending on my needs and how my skin is faring. Besides which, it will be able to double as a setting powder until I get some Blotting Powder or something. I haven’t used it yet, so no opinions aside from it sure *looks* smooth, haha.

Studio Fix Powder Plus foundation. Shade: NC15.

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Review-link coming soon.

THEN of course, I also got a different liquid foundation. I’ve heard Studio Sculpt makes people break out anyway, so it might be the foundation that’s doing it. In any case, I bought some Studio Fix Fluid foundation, which I’ve used twice so far, and so far so good.

Studio Fix SPF 15 Foundation. Shade: NC15.

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Review-link coming soon.

I went with the intent of buying the above foundations and also two or three powder eyeshadows that I can use to create a natural-neutral look. So, I asked the sales assistant to suggest some shades for me, and out of the tons she showed me together, I picked Sable and Folie. At first, I was dubious about these colours as Sable seemed too dark for a base, and Folie seemed too similar to Sable to be useable for a contour colour. But, I tried them yesterday and today and I love them together. The look is slightly darker than I was going for, but I still love it. Looks great with a dusting of white eyeshadow blended under the brow, and a tiny bit of white shadow applied around the inner corner. I might do a tutorial at some point, but I’m not sure yet because in all likelihood, I’m going to suck at tutorials. But there you go.

I’m not going to review these separately, but I’ll do a review on MAC’s powder eyeshadow pots at somepoint.

Powder Eyeshadow Pot. Shade: Folie, Sable.

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Then, I needed brushes. All weekend I’d spent at home agonizing over which three brushes I would allow myself to buy. I didn’t want to overdo it, and we all know that MAC brushes are amazing, but relatively expensive. So in the end I narrowed it down to the 217 eyeshadow brush, the 109 contouring brush, to be used with my liquid foundations, and the 134 face brush, for applying powder.

I did manage to get the 217 – and I will tell you now this is a great all-purpose “starter brush”. If you want to get some MAC eyeshadow brushes but can’t afford to go out and buy six at once or anything, start with the 217. You can use one side to apply your base color, the other side to apply your highlight color – or a second color for blending – and use the tip to define and contour the crease and outer corner. Awesome brush, totally recommended. Just be careful, white-bristled brushes are more prone to staining, especially if you’re using it to pack on colour and not just to blend out the edges.

However, the counter that I went to didn’t stock the 134 – the sales assistant said they only stock them at their stand-alone stores, of which there are zero in Sheffield – and they didn’t have the 109 in stock either. This made me sad, but it’s okay, I just bought two other brushes to compensate.

I got the 187 and 188 large and small (respectively) duo-fibre stippling brushes. The large one I use to apply foundation all over, and the small one can be used to blend places that the larger brush might miss – for example, down the sides of the nose. I love them so far, but I still really want the 109 to buff on my foundation.

187 Duo Fibre Brush

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188 Small Duo Fibre Face Brush

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217 Blending Brush

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When I got home I put some clear nail polish top coat over the numbers to preserve them. Because I’m OCD like that.

On a side note, I also have four more brushes coming in the mail. I got four for just over £20 from ebay, so they’ll probably be fake – I got a fake 190 last week and am sending it back for a refund. If they are not fake, I’ll post them up. If they are, those babies are going back!

I also picked up a bottle of their brush cleanser, which is a must. Up to now I’ve been using some old Clinique facial cleansing gel to clean my brushes, because it’s for the wrong skin type and I can’t use it to wash my face. But it can’t be good for the brushes so I’ve got the proper stuff now.

Brush Cleanser

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As I was checking out, I saw the tinted lip conditioner and grabbed some of that, too. I’d been admiring it on the website and forgot about it until I saw it right in front of me, and just had to! I wore it today and it’s super moisturizing, even though it only lasted about an hour before it got wiped off on my orthodontist’s latex gloves. Fail.

Tinted Lip Conditioner SPF 15. Shade: Petting Pink.

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Trust me, this picture doesn’t do it justice, the real colour is pink-er than it looks here.

And finally I got a pump for my liquid foundation. It seems like such a little thing but I have to mention it because it is awesome! I was so amused and excited when I discovered the little “lid” that comes with it. I love it, it’s so effing cute.

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Love!

Unfortunately, I totally forgot that I wanted Eye Kohl in Fascinating (white), even though I saw it, swatched it, and then started asking the sales assistant for things. Sigh. Oh well, white eyeshadow will have to do until I can get one.

That’s all for now, but more will be coming soon. The much-ancitipated, super-coveted Hello Kitty collection is released here in the UK on Thrusday March 5th – set your alarms ladies! I’ll be placing an order the minute the collection is on their website, so I can get the must-haves before they sell out. More haulage to come.

And then I *really* need to behave until payday.