The Miss Piggy for MAC Collection includes false eyelashes, a black penultimate eye liner, and a pink eye shadow.  Here is the always lovely Miss Piggy herself modeling the collection. The pink shadow really does look fabulous on her, as it should, since Miss Piggy designed it herself with assistance of the wonderful people at MAC !

Below are swatches of the Miss Piggy for MAC eye shadow and liner. The eye shadow is appropriately named Miss Piggy Pink. This was taken indoors with flash.

The Collection is scheduled for release on November 14, only on the MAC cosmetics website.

Disclosure: This review was based on products provided to me by MAC Cosmetics. For more, please read our disclosure page.

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The MAC Glitter and Ice Holiday Collection includes a number of rather pretty mineralize eye shadows and paint pots, along with the usual fare of Dazzleglass, lipstick, eyeliners, and so on. The Glitter and Ice Collection is on counters now, so you can already get these items.

The packaging for the collection is rather nice with white pots for the shadows and white tubes for the lipsticks. I do really like the new shadows in the group and prefer them over the 6 shadow palettes that MAC put out this year.

MAC Glitter and Ice Collection Swatches

Below are MAC Glitter and Ice swatches of a few items in the collection. I’m not sure how I got the one eyeliner so squiggly! Definitely not the steadiest of hands today! From left to right are Technikol liners in Seasonally Spicy and Practice Makes Perfect; Mineralize Eye Shadow in Snow Season, Shimmermint, and Frozen Blue and a Paint Pot in Morning Frost. I particularly love the paint pot shade. This was taken indoors with flash, but I think it is pretty true to color.

The MAC Technikohl liners are quite good for creating thin and super smudge proof lines. The liner is one of the hardest products to remove, and I think you could go swimming for hours with it and not have it wear off. It does still remove just fine though with a good dual eye makeup remover. If you want to know my favorite, read my Lancome Bi-Facil review for how it removed lipstick from carpet after my dog got a hold of one. It happened to be MAC lipstick too!

I’ll be putting some Glitter and Ice lipstick and Dazzleglass swatches up on Girl Gloss as well.

Shop For MAC at Nordstrom

Disclosure: This post is based on products that I received from a representative of the company. For more, please see the 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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Avoid Makeup Melt With These Top Summer Makeup Tips

From melting and dripping to sticky messes, the summer months can really take a toll on your makeup. As the temperatures rise and summer creeps in, it is important to remember some important summer makeup tips to keep you looking your best, even in the heat. Different makeup products perform differently in the heat, so it pays to know how your makeup will deal with the summer months. By following some simple and easy summer makeup tips, you can still look your best, even in the heat.

Summer Makeup Tip 1: Less is More

One of the easiest things that you can do to avoid melty messes in the heat is to go easy on your makeup. Think about how much time you will be spending outdoors and consider the amount of makeup you usually apply. Apply less makeup for each hour spent outside in the heat. You may want to use a tinted moisturizer instead of your usual foundation. LORAC protecTINT comes in 4 different shades and includes SPF 30 sunscreen. This is not to say that you can’t use foundation, but a small amount of powder foundation can be placed where you don’t feel like using the moisturizer. You may also want to consider a light primer to go on after the moisturizer. A light primer is a perfect summer makeup product in that it helps to keep your makeup in place all day, even in the heat. You can use a primer for eye shadow, as well as blush. Photo Finish Foundation Primer SPF 15 with Dermaxyl Complex is a great way to get the benefits of primer and sunscreen.

Summer Makeup Tip 2: Use Bronzer

In order to keep your eyes bright, you may want to consider applying some powder bronzer to your cheek bones, forehead, nose, and your chin. Apply lightly with a loose brush, so as not to have a dense pattern on your face. Make sure to lightly dust your neck and ears in order to have a uniform look.  For a great waterproof, matte bronzer, check out Tarte’s Waterproof Matte Bronzer. It has been getting rave reviews!

Summer Beauty Tip 3: Consider Eyelash Extensions and Waterproof Eye Liner

When it comes to mascara, a great alternative is to have eyelash extensions applied. Done properly, eyelash extensions can last for weeks and you can swim and sweat all day with no worries of gunky messes.

Waterproof makeup has also made great strides in recent years. Gone are the days of flaky, crumbling messes.

If you are applying eyeliner, you may want to try Make Up Forever Aqua Eyes eyeliners (also see our previous review: Make Up Forever Aqua Eyes Swatches). This award winning line of eyeliners keeps you from turning into a raccoon, in the water or out. Whether you are performing a water ballet or just hanging out at the park, Make Up Forever Aqua Eyes eyeliners are a great choice to keep you looking beautiful all day. Make Up Forever Aqua Eyes eyeliners are completely waterproof, they glide on easily, and come in 25 shades.

Summer Beauty Tip 4: Avoid Heavy Lipstick

Instead of using lipstick, consider using a lipliner topped with some gloss. Find a shade that matches your natural lip color the closest, then apply and use a sheer gloss on top. This will keep your lips looking fresh all day while avoiding the sticky mess that can happen with heavy lipsticks in the Summer.

Summer Makeup Tip 5: Beat the Heat with Blotting Papers and Hydration

For your skin, carry around some blotting papers. From oily skin to light sweat, blotting papers can be a life saver in keeping your skin glowing without being shiny. Remember to keep yourself hydrated in order to keep your skin from drying and getting oily. Hydration will also help keep your makeup fresh and glowing. Also, when packing your makeup, keep in mind that even if your makeup bag won’t be in direct sunlight, the heat can still melt it. Consider using a an insulated carrying case to avoid sticky messes.

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Want your green eyes to turn heads green with envy? It’s all in the make up. Not your DNA make up, but your new collection of make up for green eyes.  Choosing a palette that brings out your own unique green is all about choosing the right eyeshadow shades, mascara, and eyeliner to make your eyes stand out all day and night.

Let’s start with choosing the right shades of eyeshadow. There are many options available. If you prefer a more natural look, bareMinerals Peach Eyecolor Eye Shadow by Bare Escentuals has 7 shades of peach to choose from. This collection can be found on Beauty.com and all are great for long lasting wear. When evening comes you can add drama to your green eyes with lighter to medium shades of purple. Sephora offers a shadow from the DuWop collection called DuWop Eyecatcher Shadows Green Eye Intensifier (above). Half of the shadow is eggplant and the other is a green and gold shimmer mix.

Next, you’ll need the perfect mascara color. Black is great if you have black hair. Try DiorShow Mascara in rich black ,With lighter hair colors it’s best to stick with a brown shade such as lash luscious brown mascara by Blinc  Kiss Me. If you love pushing the color palette try benefit BadGal Plum Mascara. All are available through Sephora.com.

Finish off the look with eyeliner. Lighter eyeliner colors compliment green eyes. Brown is your best bet for daily wear. Clinique Quickliner for Eyes offers various shades from Chocolate to shy brown. . Smaller eyes can be enlarged by using a golden or white eyeliner.  Too Faced Gold Digger is great for a glamorous golden hue and Dr. Hauschka Skin Care Eyeliner Duo includes two eye opening colors in one pencil. One side is Anthracite gray for the outer edges of the eye and white for the inner eyelids. Used together these help create a bigger, brighter eye. All can be found at Sephora.com

Green eyes allow for versatility in colors. Anything from natural, earthy tones to purples and green mixes will bring out a brighter spark of green that will leave everyone else green with envy. Mix and match the everyday hues with some bolder choices to design your own perfect collection of make up for green eyes.

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Make up is essential for perfecting any look. Choosing eye shadow colors, mascara and eyeliner that complement the color of the eye is crucial. Brown eyes are very versatile, so make up for brown eyes range in many different colors and schemes. Light colors will make the eyes stand out, as well as metallic colors. Deep natural colors will accentuate the eyes. It is always important to experiment with different color combinations. Brown eyes come in many shades and tones. Trying out a variety of colors, mattes and metallic shadows will allow one to decide which combination they enjoy best.

Selecting make up for brown eyes can be difficult at first. It is important to note the hue of the iris. Some browns may lean toward a golden color, while others have a deep red tint. Sephora offers an eye shadow palette that will work with any shade of brown: The Kat Von D True Romance Eyeshadow Palette – Ludwig (above). These natural colors are perfect for any occasion. The metallic bronze and gold shadows will help golden hued brown eyes stand out while the matte brown and metallic green will bring out red tones.

Black, dark brown and navy blue mascaras complement brown eyes. When going for a natural look, dark brown is the best choice. The brown will help define the eyes in a natural way. Black and navy mascara are supplementary to adventurous styles of eye shadow. When black is applied with lighter toned eye shadow, the eyes will stand out. It is important to experiment with mascara colors; it may take several combinations to find the perfect match. Again, Sephora.com provides the ultimate mascara selection.  Lancome HYPNÔSE – Custom Volume Mascara is available in all three shades mentioned above. They are titled “Black”, “Brown” and “Deep Black”. The “Deep Black” shade is similar to navy. This mascara product offers volume without clumping or a “bulky” look.

Choosing eye liner depends on the intended style of make up. Brown eyes with dark, natural tones of eye shadow will work well with a brown or taupe eye liner. For a bold look, black eye liner can be used. Black will make the eyes “pop”, especially when paired with light metallic colors. Sephora.com sells Lancome LE CRAYON KHÔL – Smoky EyeLiner, the “Black Coffee” and “Black Ebony” pencils will work perfectly with brown eyes. These specific pencils are soft, allowing smudging for a blended look.

Overall, brown eyes are great to work with. Finding make up for brown eyes is easy, and after a few experimental runs, any brown-eyed person will have their perfect look.

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The new MAC Wonder Woman collection arrived at my house and I immediately went to work to swatch the full collection. The Wonder Woman collection is full of big and bold products, including supersized lip glass.   There are also some great eye shadow sets, tinted mascaras, and big bronzers. This post includes the eye products. To see the face products, check here: MAC Wonder Woman Blush Swatches. I also have all of the lip product up on Girl Gloss here: MAC Wonder Woman Lipglass Swatches.

The collection launches nationwide February 10, 2011.

First up are the MAC Wonder Woman eye shadow swatches.

MAC Wonder Woman eye quad swatches, Valiant:

MAC Wonder Woman eye quad swatches, Lady Justice:

MAC Wonder Woman eye quad swatches, Defiance:

The collection also has two pigments and two glitters. Here are swatches.

MAC wonder woman swatches: Marine Ultra Pigment and Bright Fuchsia Pigment:

Reflects Pearl Glitter and Reflects Bronze Glitter:

Finally, there is a penultimate eye liner in black and four MAC Opulash shades. If you like tinted mascara, these should excite you, since Opulash is a pretty good mascara in general.

MAC Wonder Woman Opulash swatches:

MAC Penultimate eye liner swatch:

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

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Your eyes are one of the very first things a person notices about you. If your eyes are blue, you are fortunate to be able to pull off a vast array of amazing color choices when it comes to eye make up. Choosing the best colors for eye make up for blue eyes can help you achieve the best eye make up look. Brown shades will accentuate blue eyes. Consider using brown mascara! Before you rush out to purchase eye makeup, two important factors should come into consideration before committing to a look: Your hair color and skin tone.

Consider your hair color and skin tone. If you have dark hair and a warm skin tone, you can pull off bolder colors, such as deeper shades of blue, rust, and purple, and also look great in metallic shadows. The limited edition Smashbox Eye Wish Palette ($243 Value) Eye Wish Palette (above) is a perfect choice for blue-eyed beauties with darker skin and hair and includes fabulous color choices such as Eggplant, Warm Brown, and Deep Teal Dark brown or black mascara and a light layer of a dark brown or black eye liner will complete the look.

Choosing make up for blue eyes and fair skin and hair is not difficult, as women with these features can also pull off just about any color. The trick, however, is to look for softer versions of the eye shadow, liners, and mascaras you want to wear. For women with fair skin and hair coloring, softer blues, lavenders, and grays play up the beautiful blue eye color without overpowering them. An excellent choice of eye shadow would be the Smashbox In Bloom Eye Shadow Palette & Brush (above), which includes soft shades of grey, orchid, and moss that will draw attention to the eyes without giving you the appearance of being washed out. Softer colored mascara, such as Dior DiorShow Iconic Mascara in Chestnut is a better color choice than traditional black mascara. You will also want to avoid dark black eye liner and opt for a brown or smokey gray, such as the Stila Kajal Eye Liner in Tiger’s Eye or Smokey Quartz. This will prevent your eyes from looking “over done”.

Make up tip: The way in which you apply eye makeup can also make or break your look. Start with a neutral shadow color and cover the entire lid, starting from the brow and working down. Next, take a darker complimenting eye shadow color and cover the lid from the crease of your eye down. Sweep a lighter color (a champagne or soft ivory color works best) over your eyelid from the crease up to the brow and blend these colors together evenly. Blending your main shadow color with more neutral colors in the same color family will allow the main shadow color to show your eyes off best. Avoid layering eye shadow colors that are in the same color family. For example, don’t use three different shades of blue at the same time. Also, avoid bright blue mascaras and eyeliners. While they may be fun to wear, it is not look that particularly compliments any eye color. Navy, however, will make the eye whites appear brighter. Making the right choices in color for make up for blue eyes will result in eyes that command attention and make you feel more confident about the way you look.

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I’m a sucker for unique packaging, especially if it looks like it will simplify my makeup application. So, I couldn’t resist grabbing a new CoverGirl Smoky Shadow Blast and a matching CoverGirl Liquiline Blast Eyeliner to try and reveiw.

CoverGirl Smoky Shadow Blast is a thick two ended shadow pencil and, looking at other reviews, people seem to either love it or hate it. One end has a highlighting shade and the other has a darker lid shade that is tapered so that it can also be applied as a liner. The pictures below show it from two angles. Use the point to line and the flat to apply as a shadow. The consistency of the shadow is that of a cream to powder, with it being much more on the cream side, especially when it first goes on. The pigment is rather good for a drugstore eye shadow and it wears rather well, although I did not get a full day out of it. The highlighter shade has a nice luminosity to it. Overall, it is good for a nice basic smoked eye look, or wear the highlighting shade with a thicker sweep of the liner for a simple pin-up girl glam type of look.

One important tip though:  Like most cream eye shadows, this one will crease and not wear well if you don’t set it with something. So add a bit of translucent powder or a light matching powder eye shadow over it for better and longer wear. Using a primer with cream types of shadows is also highly recommended. I suspect that some of the negative reviews I have seen of this product have been in part because the product was applied without these steps,which is usually necessary for success with most cream type eye products. MAC paint pots are a huge exception to that rule though—I love those! (link is to previous review).

The Liquiline Blast is a very nice companion product. This soft eyeliner is comparable to my favorite Make Up For ever Aqua Eyes liners (link is to previous review), but is much more affordable. However, unlike aqua eyes, with their multitude of shades, Liquiline only has six choices. The liner also has a nice smudging tip. When I made my purchase, both products were displayed with how to cards that you could also grab. The card is useful, so take a look at one if you see it in the store.

Below are swatches of CoverGirl Liquiline Blast in Brown Blaze (on the left), and CoverGirl Shadow Blast in Bronze Fire, with the darker shade put on using both the tip and the flat. These were taken in indoor light.

I got my products at ULTA Beauty. You can also find them in most drugstores and big box stores. Or, you can comparison shop for CoverGirl Cosmetics.

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the MAC Cosmetics Art Supplies collection has a nice choice of limited edition MAC Greasepaint Sticks and MAC Pearlglide Intense Eyeliners.

MAC Greasepaint Sticks are intensely colored eye crayons that are great for bold, dramatic looks. They also are quite water resistant, I think you could probably go swimming with these one and not ruin your makeup.  In the swatches below, they are the three thick items and are shown in the shades Green Grease, Charred Mauve (my favorite), and Brown Now.

MAC Pearlglide Liners are very much akin to my absolute favorite Makeup For Ever Aqua Eyes Liners (link is to previous review). These liner are highly pigmented, luminous, and generally waterproof. They glide on effortlessly, making application a breeze. No tugging with these! In the swatches below are the shades Designer Purple and Almost Noir.

For a huge variety and swatches of 16 shade of a similar eyeliners, hit the previous link for the Makeup For Ever eyeliners. Those are equally nice.

Note: This review is based on products given to me by the company and uses affiliate links. For more, please see my Disclosure Page.

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