September 2010 -

Sep 29, 2010

MAC Venomous Villains Nail Polish Swatches

September 29, 2010 By Carleenp 5 Comments

MAC Cosmetics’ Venomous Villains Collection includes three unique nail polish shades with multi-changing pearl hues. All three are found in the Maleficent group of the Venomous Villains Disney Collection. I hate to say it since I am usually a big fan of MAC nail polish, but I’m not real keen on these. The lacquers go on very sheer and don’t really seem to look right until three coats are applied. I suppose that is mainly due to the multi-changing pearl effect. That effect is interesting, but I can’t say that I personally care for it all that much. But of course others may love this sort of look.

Below are swatches of the three MAC nail polish shades:

My favorite of the three is the shade Formidable, which is described as a teal green with pink multi-changing pearl, but it really looks mostly purple. It was the only one of the three that covered OK in two coats and I liked it mainly because it is an attractive shade that looks more normal.

Next is Bad Fairy, which is described as red with red pearl, but it looks more copper in color. This one probably needed more than two coats to look right I also generally liked this shade, but I don’t want to have to apply three coats.

Last is Mean and Green. I’m not really a fan of this shade at all. The changing hue looks a bit off to me and the shade took three coats to even come close to looking right. Heck, it still looks pretty sheer in the picture with three coats on. Now, I know that some folks like sheer polish, and that is fine, but this one really doesn’t look good sheer in my opinion. One note though, the changing color effect does show better in real life than it does in photos, so the polish looks slightly better in reality than as reflected in the swatch photo.

The MAC Venomous Villains Collection, featuring four Disney characters will be available beginning September 30, 2010 and will run through October. To see my previous swatches and photos of the makeup collection look here: MAC Venomous Villains Swatches.

Disclosure: This review is based on products provided to me by a representative of the company. For more, please see the disclosure page.

Filed Under: Nail Products Tagged With: Collections, M.A.C., Nail Polish

Sep 28, 2010

The Best Hair Tools and Appliances

September 28, 2010 By Carleenp Leave a Comment

Having the best hair tools can make your look. Having the worst hair dryers and irons can break it. So, check out this article syndicated from Total Beauty to see what readers think are the best of the best when it comes to the best hair dryers, curling irons, and flat irons. The article also covers a couple of brushes and combs.

I noted that they highly recommend a T3 hair dryer and a Sedu flat iron, both of which I agree with. I particularly love my Sedu Revolution iron (link is to previous review).

The Best Tools for the Best Hair

Make your hair look like a hairstylist by did it by picking up these tools

This is a TotalBeauty.com hair care article

Pro stylists are very particular about which blow dryers, brushes, flat irons, etc. they use. Check out this roundup of the hairstyling tools they recommend, so that you can get your best hair — ever.

See tools

Filed Under: Hair Care Tagged With: Hair Appliances, Hair Care, Hair Dryer

Sep 23, 2010

MAC Venomous Villains Swatches (Full Collection)

September 23, 2010 By Carleenp 3 Comments

MAC Cosmetics’ limited edition Venomous Villains Disney collection is quite a colorful eyeful. Of course, so are the four Disney villains that the collection is based on. Below are swatches of all of the items of consequence from the full collection. The only items omitted are staples, such as basic eyeliners, finishing powder, mascara, and greasepaint sticks. There are swatches of all of the MAC Venomous Villains eye shadow, lipstick, lipglass, beauty powder, and powder blush. All swatches are taken in indoor light. To see the nail polish swatches look here: MAC Venomous Villains Nail Polish Swatches.

First up are the Cruella DeVil swatches. I particularly like the lip products in this collection.


Powder Blush: Darkly, My Dear	Beauty Powder: Her Own Devices


Eye Shadow: Carbon, Sweet Joy, and De-Vil	Lipstick: Heartless, Innocence Beware!, Lipglass: Wicked Ways, Devilishly Stylish

Evil Queen includes some pretty violet eye shadows and another round of great lip shades. Toxic Tale and Strange Potion are particular favorites of mine.


Eye Shadow: Vainglorious, Vile Violet, Her Alter Image	Lipstick: Toxic Tale, Sinister Lipglass: Hot House, Strange Potion

MAC Evil Queen Beauty Powder Swatch Blush Swatch

Beauty Powder: Oh So Fair, and Powder Blush: Bite of an Apple

Dr. Facilier has my favorite items from the Venomous Villains collection. As you can see from the swatch, the lip Gelee is extra luminous and the pigments are gorgeous.


Lip Gelee: Resort Life	Pigment: Melon, Push the Edge, Brash and Bold

Maleficent provides even more wonderful lip shades and two mineralize eye shadow duos. The duos disappointed me a bit. They look beautiful in the package, but rather muddy on the skin. The green in She Who Dares is rather nice though and really looks much better than in the picture. I think these would look nicer in daylight, but they really are not daylight colors.