The MAC Vera collection is perfect for flowery spring looks and includes two pretty pearlmatte face powders, Sunday Afternoon, and Flower Fantasy.

Below is a photo of my Sunday Afternoon powder.

Here is a swatch of MAC Vera Sunday Afternoon. This is done sweeping across the entire pan to pick up all of the colors:

Disclosure: This post is based  on an item given to me by a representative of MAC. For more, see the disclosure page.

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The Daphne Guinness for MAC Collection has some rather pretty shades in it.  I received some of the items in the collection for review and below are my Daphne Guinness for MAC swatches.

MAC Daphne Guinness Swatches

First up is the pigment in Nebula (on the left) and the Daphne Guinness eye shadow quad. The pigment shade didn’t wow me, but I do like the shades in the quad, especially the mauve shade.

Next are two ombre blushes and a beauty powder. On the left is the ombre Vintage Grape Blush, which has really nice pigment to it. In the middle is a rather luminous (more so than the photo shows) beauty powder in Too Chic, and on the right is the ombre blush in Azalea  Blossom.

Also in the collection are new Pro Longwear Lipcremes. I love these, and they really do wear wonderfully. Below are swatches of the shades Approaching Storm, Seasoned Plum, and Warp Speed.

To go with the lipcremes are also some Cremesheen glass, which I also love. Below are swatches of the shades Narcissus and Richly Revered.

The Daphne Guinness for MAC Collection is available beginning December 26, 2011.

Disclosure: This post was based on products provided to me by a representative of MAC. For more, please see our disclosure page.

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Items from the MAC fall 2011 collection, MAC Me Over, arrived! So, here are MAC Me Over swatches from the items that I received. I must say that I have been anticipating this collection. It is full of just the types of shades that I like and tend to personally wear—pretty neutrals and soft plums, browns, and greens. I want quite a few items from it, so I foresee some serious shopping ahead for me. If I buy anything else from the MAC Me Over collection I’ll definitely swatch them.

The MAC Me Over Collection is split into three groups: Icelandic Cool, MAC Basics, and New Black.  First up, from Icelandic Cool are swatches from the Lady Grey Eye Shadow Quad  with the shades All Races, Tender Smoke, Lady Gray, and Hazy Day.

MAC Lady Gray Eye Shadow Quad Swatch

Next, are MAC fall collection swatches from the MAC Basics set. From left to right below are Outre, Moleskin, Satin Taupe (I particularly love this shade!) and Mythical.

MAC Basics Eye Shadow

Also in the Icelandic Cool collection are a set of shadesticks. From right to left are swatches of Cakeshop, Tundra, Heirloom, and Street Cool.

MAC Fall Collection Shadesticks

From New Black are the following fluid line swatches: Dark Envy, Dark Diversion, and MAC Avenue:

MAC Fluidline Swatches

Finally, here are MAC fall collection swatches of cheek and face color from MAC Basics:  On the left is the very pretty Seaside Cream Color Base and on the right is Stunner powder blush.

MAC Me Over Cream Color Base and Blush

I also did MAC fall lip product swatches of these and four lipsticks:

MAC Me Over Lipglasses

I have the MAC Me Over Lip Swatches up on Girl Gloss.

MAC Me Over is listed as being on counter on August 25, 2011. Often collections show up a bit early though on the MAC website. You can also get MAC at Nordstrom.

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

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Lorac Croc Palette Review

The Lorac Croc Palette is one of those cult classic items that has been around in some for or another forever and that always gets rave reviews. The Lorac Croc reviews are generally good for a reason too—this palette simply rocks! It has wonderful neutral shades with good pigment that can be worn by many different people. The pallet itself is compact and attractive, making it easy to carry and use.  Once I took some Lorac Croc Palette swatches, I knew that I would be using this makeup kit a ton. Why it took me so long to buy one, I will never know!

One note about the blush in this set–it is pretty highly pigmented. I think it will work for most skin tones, but if you are especially fair like I am, you might need a very light touch with it. I have been mixing it with a super light pink that I like a lot, but that I sometimes wish were just a tad darker (benefit dandelion for those who are curious), and I found that the two mix rather nicely. I simply coat the brush in the lighter shade first and then add a bit from the Croc Palette. But I have also worn the blush alone and just blended it well.

Lorac Croc Palette Swatches

Below are Croc Palette swatches.  The blush is on the far left side.

I do seriously love this makeup set! It is perfect for both summer and fall. I’m betting it will make my best of the year list this year.

Buy the Croc Pallette online at Sephoroa.

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Update: You can see product swatches from the collection here: MAC Fall 2011 Swatches

The MAC Me Over collection for fall 2011 is based on MAC cosmetics’s online makeover contest. Below are images from the upcoming collection and a video about the people selected and their new looks.

I’ll have MAC Me Over swatches and photos  when I get some of the products. The collection includes makeup and brushes centered around three different fall looks.

Black Trend

Icelandic Cool

MAC Me Over Basics

Below is the video about the Mac Me Over collection. I’m loving the photos from it, so I am excited to do a review and some swatches of some of the products when they area available! I’ll post an update link here when that happens.

The MAC Me Over collection will be available beginning August 25, 2011.

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MAC Semi-Precious Swatches: Eye Shadow, Mineralize Blush, and Mineralize Skinfinish

The MAC Semi-Precious collection offers twelve very well pigmented mineralize eye shadows,  three blushes, and four Mineralize Skinfinish luminizers/blushes/bronzers. In the past when MAC has done mineralized eye shadow I found that some of the shades ended up a bit muddy at times, but this collection  generally didn’t have that problem among the eight shades that I swatched, with the exception of one dark green shade, Dark Indulgence (which I think still looks OK, but the green doesn’t show at all) .

MAC Semi-Precious Eye Shadow Swatches

Below are Semi-Precious Eye Shadow swatches of eight of the twelve shades. From left to right with notes in parenthesis: Unsurpasssable (this is more luminous than the picture shows and is a gorgeous light turquoise/teal), Quartz Fusion (lots of glitter in this one that doesn’t show as well in photos), Dark Indulgence, Blue Sheen (particularly well pigmented), Rare Find (my personal favorite), Faux Gold (more luminous than the photo really depicts), Jade’s fortune (another really pretty and interesting sea green shade), and Mineral Mode (this was more pinkish than I thought it would be).

MAC Semi-Precious Blush Swatches and Mineralize SkinFinish Swatches

Neither of the blush shades that I tried thrilled me, but that is only because they wouldn’t personally work well for me, they actually are rather pretty shades. I also noted that they have pretty decent pigment to them. I also tried three of the skinfinish shades. Here are  swatches of the blushes and skinfinish. From left to right: Pearl SkinFinish (probably the best shade for my rather pale skin), Rose Quartz SkinFinish (has a very pretty pink to it), Goldstone SkinFinish, Pressed Amber blush, and Warmth of Coral Blush

The collection also includes brushes, mascara, face and body lotion, mineralize charged water, mineralize satin finish foundation, and  new lip shades. I swatched the lipsticks and cremsheen lipglasses over on Girl Gloss. You can see them here: MAC Semi-Precious Lip Swatches.

This  collection is available July 7, though August 21, 2011. Sometimes the collections show up for sale a few days early.

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

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Today as part of our back to basics series, we have a guest writer covering how to apply blush. If you enjoy this, you might also like our previous makeup tip posts on How to Apply Eye Shadow and How to Apply Foundation.

The technique for properly applying blush, fully highlighting or creating the illusion of high cheek bones without drawing too much attention to the color itself, has become one of the most coveted pieces of beauty advice in recent years. The trend has moved away from the one-size-fits-all method of applying a quick flush of posy pink, while contouring has taken center stage. Learning how to apply blush, however, doesn’t have to be intimidating. Just a bit of planning and finesse, along with a little practice, will bring your technique up to par in no time.

Step 1: Prepare the Surface. After cleansing with a product designed for your skin type, dry thoroughly by gently patting the skin with a clean cloth instead of wiping it in order to retain natural moisture. Next apply a toner and moisturizer to smooth the skin and shrink pores to ensure that blush applies evenly. If you’re short on time you might consider using a 3-in-1 product for this step, like Arcona’s Cranberry Toner.

Step 2: Select Between Powder or Cream. Dry skin usually does best with cream, while other skin types can generally handle powder quite well. However, there are powders available now that are non-irritating for those with acne or dry skin problems. For a powder that is all-natural but also has a creamy texture, try Bare Escentuals Bare Minerals blush.

Bare Escentuals Blush

Step 3: Choose Your Color. Blush colors can be categorized by their appropriateness for skin tone, making the selection process much simpler. In general, fair skin tones look best with shades of pink, medium tones with peach or brown, and dark tones with reds and berries. However, that still leaves quite a range of options for each category, so be willing to experiment until you find a few that work best for you. Also, remember that your best colors will likely change with the seasons, so update your shade as your complexion warms with the weather.

Step 4: Select the Proper Tools. If you have chosen a cream blush, try never to apply with the fingertips if possible. Rubbing cream in with the fingers can lead to blemishes and can be rough on delicate facial skin, so use a disposable sponge applicator instead. For powders, use a contoured brush designed specifically for blush rather than a powder brush to get a more natural angled effect. You might try Urban Decay’s Good Kharma Blush Brush.  Or, see our previous article on the Best Makeup Brushes.

Urban Decay Good Karma Brush

Step 5: Apply Blush. In Step 4 we discussed getting an angled effect from your blush, which simply means that the face appears slimmer, younger, and more defined due to the visual effect of highlighting the upper cheekbones instead of the fuller section near the nose. Fortunately, a contoured brush does much of this work for you. For creams, an angled sponge does the same. However, in either case the application is important as well. Color should be stronger near the cheekbones, a bit less pronounced beneath, and should continue toward the hairline without reaching it, stopping just outside the eyes. Apply a single layer of blush at a time, adding and blending slowly until the desired color intensity is reached.

While more advanced techniques for applying blush are available, these steps outline the basic foundation to creating a modern look.

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The Mac Surf Baby collection has a summer bronze theme that will work well if you are a bronzer fan. I’m not really loving the eye shadows in this collection except for the teal blue, but it does have two really nice sets of metallic pigments. I also love the lipsticks and balms (which really are tube glosses with spf) in the collection. I have swatches of those up on Girl Gloss here: MAC Surf Baby Lip Swatches.

Below are MAC surf baby swatches. First up are the powder point eye pencil in Gilded White, which is a rather nice soft pencil, and eye shadows in Surf USA, Saffron, and Sun Blonde. I question whether Saffron and sun Blonde would look very good on anyone other than those with rather warm skin tones to begin with. I do love the teal though! It seems like MAC puts out a new teal every summer that just vary from each other slightly. The pigment is quite good on all of the shades.

Next up are swatches of the surf baby crushed metallic pigments. These come in two different four pigment sets. I really like both of them. The Summer Stash set includes shades of Light White Pearl, Light Pink Champagne,  Brown Bronze with gold pearl, and Light Violet with silver pearl.

The pigment set of Surf the Ocean contains shades of Frosty Platinum, Light Yellow Green (I don’t personally see the yellow in this, which is fine by me), Dirty Graphite with silver pearl, and Gold Bronze. The light green is gorgeous and I don’t think the swatch really does it justice.

Also in the MAC Surf Baby collection are three bronzer sticks. These are not sheer by any means! Nor are any of them very light. Even the lightest shade is not going to work for me. They could be rather neat for contouring on darker skin though. Below are swatches of the MAC skinsheen bronzer sticks in the shades Tan-Tint (the lightest shade in the collection) and Billionaire Bronze.

Finally, here is a swatch of the Surf Baby Cheek Powder, which is an interesting shade that I think you need the right skin tone for. It is pretty, but I think it looks a bit garish on my cool toned skin. Also included is a swatch of Gold Go Lightly Bronzing Powder.

MAC lists the surf baby collection as available beginning May 26, 2011. Their collections often pop up a bit early though.

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

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The MAC Fashion Flower Collection contains a number of brightly colored shadows inspired by spring floral blossoms. For lip product swatches, head on over to my post on Girl Gloss: MAC Fashion Flower Lipstick Swatches.

In the eye shadows, I particularly like the lighter shades in the fashion flower collection, which includes a beautiful matte light aqua blue and a luminous lime green that really shines.  Matte coral pink and gray shades are also interesting, as is a frosty white/yellow shade, that appears mostly white. The disappointment for me was a hunter green shade that looks luminous and beautiful in the pot, but appears black and not so luminous on the skin.

Below are Fashion Flower eye shadow swatches. Since the sun hasn’t come out here in a week, these are taken in indoor light with a flash. But I think that the swatch is very true to color. From left to right: Fresh Daisy, Aqua , Lucky Green, Free to Be,  Groundcover, and  Bows & Curtseys.

Also included in the collection are two beauty powders. Both are very light and sheer. I was packing on the color when I did the powder swatches, but it still is rather hard to see. Below are the swatches of the beauty powders form the MAC Fashion Flower collection. From left to right: Alpha girl and Light Sunshine.

The M.A.C. Fashion Flower Collection is listed as being on counter on May 5, 2011. Often new MAC Cosmetics collections show up online slightly before their listed dates.

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

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I love the MAC Cosmetics Quite Cute Collection! Not only am I sucker for all things cute, put I love girly pastels, and the Quite Cute collection is full of them! I particularly like the eye quad which I have swatched below. First is outside in the sun (see the goosebumps? It was coooold!)

The indoor swatch shows a bit better:

Here are swatches of two of the MAC Quite Cute blush shades as well. Miss Behave and Giggly. I really like both of these.

Finally, here is a MAC Quite Cute Collection photo:

The collection will be available beginning approximately April 7. You can also see swatches of the lip products on Girl Gloss: MAC Quite Cute Lip Swatches.

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

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