MAC Monday: MAC Greenluxe Veluxe Pearlfusion Eyeshadow Palette

The MAC Greenluxe Veluxe Pearlfusion Eyeshadow Palette is a little compact containing 5 eyeshadows. Greenluxe is the green palette amongst the 6 MAC Veluxe Pearlfusion Palettes that came out last summer.

The individual shades don't seem to have names, but they range from shimmery champagne shadows to greyish-khaki greens through to browny dark greens. Don't be afraid of it being green, even if you don't normally wear green eyeshadow this could be for you. The greens are warm yellowy brown tones and certainly not blue, cool pastel greens (in case the idea of green eye shadow conjures up an image of 80s horror!).

MAC Greenluxe Veluxe Pearlfusion Eyeshadow Palette swatches in artifical light

MAC Greenluxe Veluxe Pearlfusion Eyeshadow Palette swatches in natural light

Sephora haul: Eyeshadow palettes and Rouge Infusion Lip Stain

Sephora haul!

Last weekend I was in France! Aside from a lovely weekend with my husband and our friends in Lyon and the chance to see London Grammar play live... it meant I could go to Sephora!

I often read about Sephora from other bloggers, but we don't have one in the UK (Why not?!). When I returned from France last weekend I discovered that Sephora have actually started delivering to the UK!!! This is fantastic news, postage isn't cheap and there are conflicting reports about import tax/duty being charged. But more importantly it gives us the opportunity to access new brands as well as Sephora own-brand products (which I like!).

When I looked online I immediately gravitated towards the NARS section as they had the elusive Narsissist Palette in stock..... but alas they don't deliver this to the UK. Obviously some things they can't ship such as nail polish due to postal restrictions but the NARS thing I don't understand. Oh well, I can't afford it anyway...

MAC Monday: Club eyeshadow

MAC Club eyeshadow

I just had to choose MAC Club eyeshadow for the 10th installment of my MAC Monday series! Whenever someone asks for MAC eyeshadow recommendations this is always one of my first suggestions - a great addition to help fill up your pro-palette and something quite unusual to boot!

I actually have MAC Club as a single shadow rather than a pro-palette shade (I explained these in more detail in my MAC Cranberry eyeshadow post HERE). This is only because I bought it in duty free on my way to Rome last summer and they only had the singles. It is more convenient to have the pro-palette shades, but hey the singles do look much better in photos!

MAC Club Eyeshadow swatch

MAC Monday: Soft Brown Eyeshadow

MAC Soft Brown Eyeshadow

My MAC Monday choice this week is one of those products that doesn't look like much on its own. But its one that I find myself using all the time and it is now one of my staples. When I first started putting together my MAC Eyeshadow Palette I was searching for core eyeshadow recommendations. One that came up repeatedly was MAC's Soft Brown Eyeshadow.

I do love neutral colours for my eyes but I find cool tones such as greys and taupes quite hard to wear on their own. I naturally have dark circles under my eyes and darker eyeshadows and grey tones can just make me look tired, or even worse like I've walked into a door. In order to make these colours work for me I needed a warmer shadow to blend them with.

Having Googled suggestions for a warm brown shadow it was MAC's Soft Brown Eyeshadow that seemed to fit the bill. It is a matte shadow in a peachy warm brown which can be worn alone or used in the crease or as a transition colour to add warmth to a look. I read a fantastic post by Eyeshadow Addicts Anonymous (HERE) specifically about the best MAC Eyeshadow transition colours and Soft Brown was one.

Off I trotted to my nearest MAC counter - only to discover that MAC Soft Brown was now discontinued in the UK!!! Worse still they couldn't offer up a decent dupe for it either. The trip wasn't a complete failure as I did actually come away with a beautiful warm shimmery eyeshadow called Arena. Arena is a satin finish eyeshadow that looks gold in the pan. It is a beautiful warm shadow that is subtle enough for daytime and you can add depth to the crease or corners with a slightly darker shade such as MAC Soba. If you want to see all the shadows together the fantastic Temptalia has a great post, swatching the different MAC brown eyeshadows HERE.

MAC Soft Brown compared with other neutral eyeshadows

But there was no avoiding my need for a matte shadow in a warm brown colour. I went through my Urban Decay Naked Palette and the Basics Palette but there wasn't anything comparable - everything was too cool toned or too dark. In the photo above I have swatched Soft Brown with Arena, Naked from the Urban Decay Naked Palette and Naked 2 from the Urban Decay Naked Basics Palette. Arena was the only shadow which had the right peachy gold tone to lift my complexion, but I needed a matte shadow to use as a transition colour.

MAC Soft Brown eyeshadow is still available in the US but I couldn't find a US store that delivered to the UK. But then didn't want to pay astronomical postage either!

As I mentioned in my MAC Monday post about Cranberry eyeshadow (HERE) I prefer to buy MAC Eyeshadows in the Pro Palette format to slot into my existing palette. I had a look at Ebay and there certainly were some sellers offering Soft Brown in this format, but I really wary of buying a fake. Having read Accidental Beauty's enlightening post about avoiding MAC fakes on Ebay (HERE) I was feeling quite cautious, so her later post on MAC Ebay sellers to trust (HERE) was a godsend.

From the recommendations on her list I ended up buying Soft Brown from Rock the Catwalk for the equivalent of around £12 with free delivery from the US. This was a few months ago and I don't know if the store is still operating as the website just has a holding page at the moment. My eyeshadow arrived quite quickly and I have been loving it ever since!

Just as I had hoped - if I choose a grey or darker shadow to use on the lid, I can blend it with Soft Brown in the crease. This really warms up the look and makes it more wearable for me. Soft Brown can look quite bright and scarey in the pan but it really is quite subtle on the lid. I am yet to find a dupe from other brands widely available in the UK - so I only wish I had bought 2!

Have you tried MAC Soft Brown? Do you know any dupes or similar shades that I could try? Otherwise I can only hope that MAC bring this back to their permanent collection...

You can find MAC Pro Pan Eyeshadows HERE (including Arena). The Urban Decay Naked Palette HERE and the Urban Decay Naked Basics Palette HERE.

Check out my previous #MACMonday posts:

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: 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