The Shop MAC-Cook MAC Collection is full of fun spring shades. For soft shades, look to the Vera collection, while for shades that shout, look to Shop MAC and Cook MAC. Shop MAC includes three new eye shadow quads which I have photos and swatches of below.

First up is the Shop MAC Call Me Bubbles Palette.

From  right to left are Call Me Bubbles swatches of the shades Call Me Bubbles, Fresh Daily, Full of Flavour, and Brash

Next is the MAC Shop and Drop Palette.

From left to right are Shop MAC swatches of the Shop and Drop shades Fresh Daily, Hypnotizing, Power Boosted, and Shop and Drop.

Finally, there is the Colour Added quad.

Below are MAC Colour Added swatches with the shades Laundry Daze, Colour Added, Pre-Packaged, and Self-Serve.

The pigment in the quads is pretty good. I have had a few times with recent collections where I thought the pigment was not as strong as it should be for MAC, but these tend to live up to the quality I would expect, and some of the colors are pretty interesting as well.

Disclosure: This review is based on items provided to me by MAC. For for, please refer to our disclosure page.

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The MAC Vera Collection for spring 2012 is one of my favorite spring collections. It is full of soft and pretty shades with a spring floral theme that tends to fit my own personal style. The collection also has three sets of crushed metallic pigments and I do love the MAC pigments.

I got two sets of the MAC Vera Pigments to swatch. The first, and my favorite, is the Aloha set, which will also work very nicely in summer when gold and bronze shades always become popular.  I decided to include photos of the pigment covers here too, since they give a nice sense of the shades.

Here are MAC Vera Aloha Pigment swatches of the shades Aloha, Shifting Sands, Campfire, and Lantern Light.

Next is the Strawberry Patch Pigment set.

Below are MAC Vera Strawberry Patch Pigment Swatches of the shades Strawberry Patch, Moon Rose, Rose Light, and Star Crystal.

Although listed as a frost, the Strawberry Patch shade was not milled as finely,and was a bit more like a glitter. I love the shade though!

Disclosure: This review and swatches is based on items given to me by a representative of MAC cosmetics. For more, please refer to the disclosure page.

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The Nars Spring Collection has a number of pretty items it, but my attention was quickly drawn to two: (1) The Lhasa Eye Shadow, which is a pretty silver grey that is akin to a deep taupe. Being a taupe fan, I wanted to try it,, and (2) The Mexican Rose Velvet Gloss Lip Pencil. I love Nar’s Velvet Pencils and the shade on this one looked gorgeous in photos.

Today I have a swatch of the Lhasa shadow. I’ll put a swatch of the lip pencil up on Girl Gloss.  The first thing I noticed with this shadow was the high pigment. Seriously, one swipe and there is all the pigment that you need. If you really want more though, it is buildable and can be applied with a sponge or wet for deeper looks. The swatch below is just a  swipe back and forth once with a Q-tip, and that is pretty impressive given that, even with brands known for good pigment, I usually need to do more than that to get a good swatch for photos.

Here is Nars Lhasa with a little bit of distance:

And here is a swatch close up and held up to window light a bit more.

This is seriously a pretty color. If you like taupe, lavenders, or grays, you will want to check this one out!

As a final aside, when I was done with this, I wiped it off with the new Nars Makeup Removing Water, which is one heck of a good product. I’ll have a full review of it sometime in the next week or so.

The collection is available now at NarsCosmetics.com

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

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Smashbox has a set of very nice palettes customized for different eye colors and, if you are looking for the best shades for your blue, brown, or hazel eyes (green appears to be missing, although the Hazel eye set would work very well for green eyes), they offer a nice selection. But, before you get too hung up on the best eye shadow for blue eyes, brown eyes, etc., keep in mind that rules as far as that go are not set in stone. I am a big proponent of women wearing what they like, and taking suggestions of the best shades for eye color or skin tone as just that-suggestions. You are certainly free to wear something different. Indeed, among the Smashbox Photo Op palettes, I rather like the one for brown eyes best, and I have blue eyes.

Anyway, here they are and all really do have some nice shades in them.

Smashbox Photo Op Eye Enhancing Palette for Brown Eyes.

Smashbox Photo Op Eye Enhancing Palette for Blue Eyes.

Smashbox Photo Op Eye Enhancing Palette for Hazel Eyes.

These palettes are all exclusive to Sephora.

Se also our previous posts on the best makeup for your eye color:

Best Makeup for Blue Eyes

Best Makeup for Green Eyes

Best Makeup for Brown Eyes

Best Makeup for Hazel Eyes

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Here we are again at the end of the year, which means it is time for the best of the year posts! Below are Beauty and Fashion Tech’s best beauty product for 2011. The list includes the best makeup, best skin care, hair care, and best beauty gadgets that we tried this year. The items are in no particular order, although I tried to keep absolute favorites near the top. There are also a few items at the end of the list that I tried in 2011, but have not written the review of the item yet.

Best Beauty Products of 2011

(1) Ott Lite Makeup Mirror: This is a great makeup mirror that provides natural light in a highly adjustable and attractive package. Forget the cheap drugstore lighted mirrors an get the real deal with this one! I adore mine. Learn more in our initial review here: OttLite Makeup Mirror Review .

(2) Lancome Bi-Facil: When your dog eats a hot pink lipstick on the carpet, you will be glad if you have have some of this around. Oh, and it removes makeup from your eyes and face very well too! For more and for the story of the lipstick eating corgi, look here: Lancome Bi-Facil Review

(3) Skinsonic: The Skinsonic is a sonic skin cleansing system, similar to the popular Clarisonic, but much cheaper. Sonic cleansing is great for overall skin care and exfoliation. You can read more in our at home microdermabrasion guide.

(4) Iswas Handbag organizer: This is the best purse organizer on the market and it comes in several nice shades. Read our report: Iswas Handbag Report

(5) Sedu Revolution 4000i: Sedu makes great products, and the Revolution 4000i dryer is no exception. Learn more about the top hair dryers here: Best Hair Dryers

(6) Verseo eGlide: The Verseo eGlide is an interesting permanent hair removal device that uses a galvanic current instead of a lasers, which makes it great for those with darker skin or who want to remove facial hair, since a laser is not safe for either of those. I personally prefer my Tria Laser, but the eGlide did work for me to remove some facial hair. For more on the eGlide, see our Verseo eGlide review or our laser hair removal at home guide.

(7) Tokidoki Soda Shop Palette: This limited edition item is getting hard to find, but if you look at Sephora, there are multiple Tokidoki palettes and all are packed full of really well pigmented makeup. Learn more here:  Tokidoki Soda Shop Swatches and Review

(8) Hot Tools Pink Titanium Curling Iron: Hot tools makes a number of great curling irons. To learn more see our report: Best Curling Irons

(9) MAC Me Over Fall Collection: MAC’s fall collection was particularly impressive this year. See more here:  MAC Me Over Swatches

(10) MAC Bloggers Obsessions: the MAC Blogger’s Obsessions colelction was really fun because fellow beauty bloggers designed it! You can see photos here:  MAC Bloggers Obsessions Photos

(11) Sedu Pro Ionic Ceramic Tourmaline Flat Iron: I love Sedu irons and this one it right up there at the top.  Learn about the top Flat Irons here: The Best Flat Irons

(12) Laura Mercier Luxe Colour Palette:  Laura Mercier has been putting out a number of neat palettes lately and this set is particularly nice.

(13) Brazilian Peel: This 30% glycolic peel works wonders for dull and acne prone skin. I used it weekly for four weeks with excellent results!

(14) Stila Dream in Color Palette: The best makeup palette of the holiday season. Get a large number of Stila shades in a single pretty palette!

Interested in the best products from past years? Look here:

Best Beauty Products of 2010

Best of 2009

Best of 2008

Best of 2007

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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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Looking for the best holiday makeup palettes, either for yourself or as a gift? Here are our favorites that are out this season. Most of these are limited edition, so if you want something, get it now, before it is gone. Anything on this list would be a perfect gift as well.

If you are reading this in the feed, click on through to the site to see the items.

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Urban Decay released their second palette in their Naked collection today: Urban Decay Naked 2. The palette offers a nice array of taupe and neutral shades, but is a bit heavy on the frosted glitter type shades for my tastes. I tend to prefer matte. Regardless, it is an attractive set of eye shadows, and urban decay always provides top notch quality and pigmentation. If you like these types of shades, you really can’t go wrong with this set.

A few bloggers already have swatches of the palette. I think the best Urban Decay Naked 2 swatches and photos can be found here on the Xsparkage blog, which also has swatches comparing Urban Decay Naked with Urban Decay Naked 2. Take a look there for some great photos!

I might wait for this to show up in-store to play with it. If I end up with my own swatches, I’ll add them in here later and/or make a new post.

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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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