MAC Monday: MAC Please Me matte lipstick

I was raving about MAC Kinda Sexy Lipstick recently (which I reviewed HERE) when one of my lovely readers asked whether I had ever tried MAC Please Me Lipstick? Both of these are from MAC's matte range. I love Kinda Sexy so much that I have been keen to try some other matte colours. I was convinced and immediately went online and ordered it!

MAC Monday: Fanfare Lipstick

For this week's MAC Monday it just had to be my most recent MAC discovery: MAC Fanfare Lipstick!

I recently posted about trying to find the beautiful warm pink lipstick I saw on a TV advert (HERE). Well as it happens I have found it! I can thank Kate at Ghostparties for this one as she recently posted about MAC Fanfare and I just had to have it!

MAC Fanfare is a Cremesheen so it is a moisturising and creamy formula but with a good colour payoff. The colour is opaque rather than sheer. I have mentioned before that I struggle with blue toned pinks, but this is a warm yellowy pink and really suits my complexion.

MAC Fanfare Lipstick

Like all MAC Lipsticks there is a lovely vanilla scent and the lipstick is packaged in black plastic bullet-shaped packaging. The wear time isn't bad - a few hours depending on whether you are eating or drinking. Obviously I would love a better wear time because I am lazy at reapplying, but unless you have a drier formula then it is hard to find. (The MAC Huggable Lipcolours aren't bad though as they are a gel type formula which really does seem to 'cling' to your lips, although the colour is less opaque: see my reviews HERE and HERE).

Having just started my new job I know that MAC Fanfare is going to be a perfect daytime office-appropriate shade. I may have to persevere with re-application though to keep it looking good all day.

MAC Pink Lipsticks: Fanfare, Hue, Patisserie & Viva Glam V

Pink lipstick is a new area of exploration for me. For a long time I wrote them off as something I couldn't wear, for fear of looking like a dotty old lady. But I really am starting to embrace them now. Swatched against my other more natural pink toned MAC lipsticks you can see the warm colour of Fanfare.

Dupe? L-R: Rimmel Let's Get Naked & MAC Fanfare Lipstick

Rummaging further into my lipstick stash the closest colour that I have is a Rimmel Moisture Renew Lipstick in Let's Get Naked. The colours are close but not complete dupes. The Rimmel lipstick is an even more moisturising formula than MAC's Cremesheen - and the staying power is still really good!

MAC Fanfare is £15 HERE and if the pennies are tight then Rimmel's Moisture Renew Lipstick in Let's Get Naked is a similar shade and just £6.49 HERE.

Want more MAC inspiration? Then look at my previous #MACMonday posts:

MAC Huggable Lipcolour in Out For Passion HERE
MAC Soft Brown Eyeshadow HERE
MAC Pro Longwear Paint Pot in Let's Skate HERE
MAC Cranberry Eyeshadow HERE
MAC Huggable Lip Colours in Fresh and Frisky HERE
MAC Brick-O-La Lipstick HERE
MAC Divine Night Fluidline in Deliciously Rich HERE

Don't forget, if you want to join in MAC Monday send or tweet me your links (#MACMonday) and I will link to them here!

MAC Monday: Let's Skate Pro Longwear Paint Pot

It's MAC Monday! For this cold January day I have chosen a wintery offering from MAC - the Let's Skate Pro Longwear Paint Pot.

The MAC Paint Pots are creamy eyeshadows that apply as a cream but dry to a shadow. You can apply them with a finger but also blend them with other shadows using a brush. Let's Skate is a perfect icy shade of a pale pink with a gold shimmer running through it.

I bought this last winter and it was the first Paint Pot that I ever bought. Originally I was going to get one of the neutral shades such as Bare Study or Painterly - which are popular to use as an eyeshadow base. But as soon as I saw Let's Skate it was just too pretty to resist!

Originally part of the Glitter and Ice winter limited edition collection, it is now part of the permanent line. It swatches as a pale colour but on the eye it is a really beautiful shadow. It really comes to life when it catches the light - just take a look under some halogen lights to see what I mean!

MAC Pro Longwear Paint Pot Let's Skate swatches

You can wear Let's Skate alone or under a different shadow to add some sparkle. But when you apply it - work fast! I found that this tends to dry and set quite quickly. So if you want to blend it then you have to do it quickly.

MAC Pro Longwear Paint Pot in Let's Skate

I was a bit worried that the paint pot would crease and crepe on the eye although I was assured that it wouldn't. However, I do find it more prone to that than the Maybelline Color Tattoo 24hr cream shadows that I have, but I think its because it is a slightly drier formula. I always make sure I put on some Urban Decay Primer Potion to minimise this. The wear time is excellent and it lasts all day plus there is no fall out from the glitter either.  

I've owned Let's Skate for a year now and it is still going strong. Given it is a cream formula I store mine upside down as I heard this is the best way to stop it drying out.

Let's skate looks great on its own with a slick of gel eyeliner and mascara. For a more dramatic look you can use MAC Satin Taupe eyeshadow in the crease as the purple tones complement the pink tones of Let's Skate really well.

The MAC Pro Longwear Paint Pot in Let's Skate (and other shades) is £15 HERE.

Have you tried Let's Skate or any of the other MAC Paint Pots? Can you recommend any other shades?

Check out my previous #MACMonday posts:

MAC Cranberry Eyeshadow HERE
MAC Huggable Lip Colours in Fresh and Frisky HERE
MAC Brick-O-La Lipstick HERE
MAC Divine Night Fluidline in Deliciously Rich HERE

Don't forget, if you want to join in MAC Monday send or tweet me your links (#MACMonday) and I will link to them here! 

Emily over at Emily Loves has joined #MACMonday this week with her post about MAC Extra Dimension Blush in the shade At Dusk HERE

MAC Monday: Cranberry Eyeshadow

It's #MAC Monday time again!

It seems that this week My Beautopia has been unintentionally dedicated to pink. Normally its not the first make up shade I reach for. But I think the rose gold and pink tones of my new Urban Decay Naked Palette 3 (see my photos HERE) have sent me experimenting in more of a pink direction. This week I have experimented with cool toned pink blusher (HERE), lusted after a warm light pink lipstick (HERE) and bagged a fantastic lip and nail diego dalla palma sale bargain - in pale pink of course (HERE)!

MAC Cranberry Eyeshadow

So for MAC Monday this week there really could only be one theme - Pink!! I mentioned in my Naked Palette 3 post that I had only one criticism and that was it lacked a shade like MAC's Cranberry eyeshadow.  I had been thinking about picking up Cranberry for a while and last week just decided to take the plunge. Having rummaged through my hefty shadow collection looking for something similar (and failing) in the end I decided just to pick up the original.

I would never normally choose a shade like this as I am usually trying to eradicate all hints of red and pink from my complexion. My natural pink tones clash with pink or red toned colours I try to wear. I often use Smashbox's green toned Colour Correcting Primer (HERE) to neutralise my skin tone. That said, I feel that if I manage to neutralise my complexion then I can start to introduce colours I would normally avoid. This is where MAC's Cranberry eyeshadow comes in.

Cranberry has a frost finish and is a warm pinky red with coppery tones. It is a really versatile shade that you can use all over the lid with a dark crease and outer corner - making it a touch of colour in a bold smokey eye. Or for a more everyday look you can use it as a crease colour with a neutral lid to subtly give some depth. I have blue eyes and it really brings out their colour if you do this. It is really pigmented but you can go as bold or as subtle as you like. But you will need your trusty blending brush to hand for the best results!

MAC Pro Palette Eyeshadow System

I love MAC eyeshadows, the pigmentation is good, they apply and blend well and they really last all day. I tend to buy them in the Pro Palette format, so they come in the cardboard sleeve. If you aren't familiar with these - the round pan then sits into one of the MAC Pro Palettes via a magnet. I have a 15 shade palette which is now full, so I also bought a 4 shade palette just to put a couple of eyeshadows in if I was travelling. I calculated that the total value of a full 15 pan palette was £165-ish, so unless you need to transport all of those shades with you, a smaller palette is a safer idea. You can of course buy each shade in an individual pot for a couple of pounds more.

To wear MAC Cranberry but avoid looking like I have pink eye or have been sobbing, I like to use it as a crease colour. To create the look in the pictures below I used MAC Orb - a pale matte pinky-nude all over the lid and socket. To warm up the lid I used Toasted from Urban Decay's first Naked Palette. Toasted is a pinky toned brown shimmer, but you could use other similar colours such as MAC's Sable.

Urban Decay's Toasted Eyeshadow swatch and the trusty MAC 217 Blending Brush

MAC's Cranberry eyeshadow used as a subtle crease colour

Then I applied MAC Cranberry to the crease and used the MAC 217 Blending Brush to blend it in and soften the edges. I used a MAC 210 Precise Eyeliner Brush to apply a thin line of brown gel eyeliner and then to finish it off - black mascara on the top lashes only. Voila! A lovely every day look.

I really love MAC Cranberry used like this and finished off with pink blusher and dusty pink lipstick it is a great pink themed look. Who would've thought that this former pink-phobic would be converted!

Have you tried MAC Cranberry? I'd love to see your pictures and tutorials - so do send your links over.

If you want to try it for yourself MAC Cranberry and other shades are available as Pro-Palette eyeshadows for £10 HERE or as individual eyeshadows for £12.50 HERE. 

The Pro-Palette is £6.50 for 4 shadows HERE or for 2 shadows HERE.

The MAC 217 Blending Brush is £18 HERE. MAC 210 Precise Eyeliner Brush is £16.50 HERE.

Don't forget it you are doing a MAC post on a Monday, join #MACMonday - send me your link and I will link to it from here! Last week's post about MAC's Huggable Lipcolours (HERE) was the most read post of the week so I know you all love a good MAC-fest!

In which case take a look a other recent MAC Monday posts:

MAC Brick-O-La Lipstick HERE
MAC Divine Night Fluidline in Deliciously Rich HERE
MAC Huggable Lip Colours in Fresh and Frisky HERE