Another MAC Haul (and NARS)

Hey my preciouses!!

It's time for another MAC Haul!! I went to MAC today with the intension of building my makeup kit, specifically to check out concealers and foundations so that I can start doing some serious freelance work. If you need to get your makeup done for an event and you live in the Montreal and surrounding area, please contact me! My email is on my Contact Page, or you can just leave me a comment here, or find me on my facebook page. Makeup has always been a passion of mine and I want to share my knowledge with others and make them feel beautiful about themselves by enhancing their natural attributes with makeup.

So I went to MAC and they didn't have the concealer palettes I wanted :(  I wanted to try the Light one first, on myself, to see if I liked it before I picked up all 4. I also have a good idea, based off Dusty O Hunter's MAC foundation palette. I'm thinking of buying a minimum of 6 and possible up to 12 different shades of MAC Full Coverage Foundation, which is a cream, and buying a MAC Pro Palette with a 12 well insert. Full Coverage is a cream foundation, so it's excellent for putting into a palette. I will also buy a White shade so I can mix the in-between shades that I do not buy. Now, I know something like this is ambitious and ridiculously expensive. Obviously I won't be able to buy all these in one day. But every month, I can buy one foundation and within a year or less I will have my foundation palette. To get the foundation in the well nicely, you'll have to scrape out the cream and put it in either a small metal pot, or a microwave safe dish, whichever method you like. With the foundation in the small pot, heat it over the stove. You don't want to "cook" or burn the foundation, you want it to be just melted. Then you will pour it into one well. For the microwave safe dish, put some foundation in it and then put it in the microwave. Make sure to constantly check on it so you do not burn it. When it has all been melted, pour it into one well. You now have your own custom made MAC foundation palette.

Honestly, maybe I should just buy the Bobbi Brown BBU Palette. If you haven't seen it in my most recent Shopping List post, it is a double palette with foundations on one side and concealer and correctors on the other. It's about 250$US. Which is a lot cheaper than making my own foundation palette with 12 foundations. We haven't even factored in the 100$ that it costs for the 4 MAC Concealer palettes!!

I'd love to know where you guys get your foundation and concealer palettes. I'd like to get something from a reputable brand. I like putting a lot of money into one good product instead of wasting more over time buying shitty products that don't work half as good.

So onto the actual Haul portion of this post....


Another MAC Haul (and NARS)

MAC Lipsticks

Sheen Supreme Lipstick in Royal Azalea

This is a lovely blue based pink. It is creamy, but not too creamy like some other Sheen Supreme Lipsticks. I love the color and the texture of this one.

Cremesheen Lipstick in Pink Pearl Pop

This is a nice yellow based pink lipstick. It looks almost as if there could be peach undertones as well. It's different than the usual round of pink lipsticks I have, which is why I chose this one. I had swatched it on my hand and I fell in love with it.

Retro Matte Lipstick in Ruby Woo

For a long while now I've been needing to buy that classic ultimate red lipstick. I think every girl should have a red lipstick in her stash. I prefer a matte lipstick because you have 2 options to wear it. You can wear it matte as it comes, or you can put a clear gloss on top to make it glossy. I really love the color of this lipstick. It's a blue-based red. If you're going to rock a red lipstick, you need a red liner, keep on reading to see which one I bought.

MAC Lip Pencils

Hip n Happy

I've been on the hunt for a while to find a light pink lip liner and I've finally found one! It's a great blue-based pink lip liner and it goes great with MAC lipsticks such as: Snob, Pink Nouveau, Mineralize Rich in Dreaminess, just to name a few. It's the only light pink lip liner that MAC carries. The rest are extremely darker shades compared to this.

Cherry

If you're going for a red lip, this is the perfect lip liner to pair it up with. It's a wonderful blue-based red but with a hint of pink, hence its name. This looks absolutely gorgeous with Ruby Woo lipstick. The pair will be featured in an upcoming tutorial and it is to die for.

MAC Illustrated Rebecca Moses Face Palette in Plum

Of all the current MAC Illustrated sets, this one called out to me the most. Though it's called plum, I see it more as a neutral palette. The brown one they had was just way too brown. The eyeshadows were brown, the blush was brown, and so were the lipsticks. With the plum palette, we see a little bit of variety. There are a few permanent colors in this, such as Yogurt eyeshadow. I'll talk about all the shades more in depth when I do a tutorial using this.

NARS

Fairy's Kiss Eyeshadow Palette

Every time NARS comes out with a palette, I want it. His palettes are absolutely gorgeous. This is my first NARS palette and I'm really excited to use it. I really liked this one for its practicality. You can either go with a very light, day-time look, or you can darken it up for a smokey night-time look. There is so much you can do with this palette and I loved the colors. A NARS palette hasn't screamed out to me quite as much as this one has, so I knew it was meant to be. There is one NARS palette that I've always wanted that I still want, even though it came out a few years ago. That's the Danmari blush palette. If you don't know what it is, google and tell me you don't love it. I can't wait to use my Fairy's Kiss palette and that too will be in an upcoming tutorial.

Thanks for reading and I hope you liked me sharing my MAC and NARS haul with you! I hope you enjoyed the post as well as my foundation palette ideas.

What kind of foundation palette (either bought or made) do you have in your makeup kit? 

What do you think of the lipstick colors I bought? What do you think of the lip pencils? Do you know of any brands that make lighter pink lip pencils?

And lastly, what do you think of the MAC Illustrated palette and the NARS Fairy's Kiss palette? Which MAC palette do you prefer out of the two and which NARS palette do you prefer out of the two, and why?

Again, hope you liked reading about the haul, and I will do makeup looks very soon using the products shown here and I will talk about the colors a bit more once I've had a chance to use them!

I'm not sure what my next post will be, it's either a purple sparkly smokey look or it's a fall look. Both are coming up anyway.

Steph xo.

Shopping Haul #4 - MAC PRO and Illamasqua

Hey glamarama girls

As I mentioned in my most recent post, I went to the MAC PRO Store and I had a freaking blast. I usually don't go to the Pro store because there isn't really much else to see in the area. I usually go to the boutique downtown because there's a bunch of stores that I like. But I really wanted to check out the Pro stuff, so I went. We're lucky we have a Pro store in my city. In Canada, we only have 3 Pro stores. They're in Vancouver, Toronto, and good old Montreal. And there aren't that many Pro stores in the world to begin with.

After all the MAC stuff is the Illamasqua stuff. Yay makeup!

MAC PRO Haul

I really wanted to pick up some Pro eyeshadows because they are really unique. They don't resemble anything that is in the permanent collection. They really are their own color. I saw a lot of shades that interested me. The MUA was really nice and he made me a swatch card of the shades I didn't buy. That way I'll know for next time which ones I want. I got 6 eyeshadows in all. The only non-Pro one I got was Brun. My neutral palette was missing one eyeshadow and I didn't have anything quite as dark as this so I felt it was necessary. All the rest are Pro colors. In the greens I got Kelly and Bottle Green. Kelly is such a beautiful color. It's matte and bold and omg love. Bottle Green is also matte and it's a darker green. I honestly can't wait to do a look with Kelly. The rest of my shadows are purples. I got Cobalt, Indian Ink, and Naval. Cobalt is a bright purple/blue and it looks beautiful. Indian Ink is a darker purple and reminds me of a permanent shade but I can't remember the name. Naval is a dark navy/purple color. Most, if not all, are matte shades. I really wanted to get colors that weren't similar to anything I already had in my palette and I totally succeeded in my mission. You really have to see the colors to understand how beautiful and unique they are.

The only other thing I got was a new double palette and one insert for 15 eyeshadows. I only got one insert because I'm not sure what I want to do with the other side. I'm not sure if I'll get even more eyeshadows or if I'll do blushes. Time will tell.

I also got some other Pro shadows swatched onto a paper so I can figure out what I'd like to purchase later. I'll show those too so you can see how pretty the shades are.

There were a few things that I forgot about that I really wanted to see. There's an eyeshadow called Vellum that's supposed to be a really beautiful white kinda color that reflects. Everyone goes bananas over this shade. I wouldn't have minded seeing more colors. They were phasing out one of the yellow shadows (I forget which one) which sucks because it was a really nice color. There's also a powder blush called Azalea that's Pro that looks beautiful online but I forgot to check out. I also swatched a lipsticked called Pink Pearl Pop and it's a really nice pink color. I have a swatch of it at the bottom. I'm going to have to try it on next time I'm at MAC. And finally, the Chromagraphic Pencils were pretty awesome. They came in a range of fun bright and bold colors. They went on the skin really well. I'm getting really into Pearlglide Liners since I bought Black Swan and I really like some of the color ones they have.

Okay so I'll stop rambling on and I'll show you the frikkin shadows already :P  Just have to say that it was hard to find good lighting to take these pics. I kept feeling like the light was distorting the true colors. And please let me know if you want me to swatch these!!!


All eyeshadows were 14.50$CAD for a pro palette refill, meaning they come like that, only in the pan.

MAC PRO Eyeshadows in:
Cobalt
Naval
Indian Ink

MAC PRO Eyeshadows in:
Kelly
Bottle Green

MAC Eyeshadow in:
Brun

These are my 2 Double Palettes. Right now I have 3 eyeshadow inserts in total and I'm not sure what I'm doing with the side I have left. If I feel like there aren't any more eyeshadows I want or need I might do a blush palette. I also have a quad in addition to this, which I call my Smokey Quad because it has all my shadows I use for a black smokey eye. If you want to know the names of the eyeshadows I have, please let me know. If you want a favorites list or a recommendation for a beginner palette and other stuff like that, do let me know!!

The MUA at the Pro store was really nice and he swatched the rest of the Pro Eyeshadows that I found. Unfortunately, they didn't have all of them and we couldn't find more. Sad face because I really wanted to see Vellum. Out of these I would like to eventually get Aqua, Biogreen and maybe Groundbrown. I would definitely like to see all the other Pro colors that I didn't get to see!

This is the lipstick that I thought was quite nice. I'm going to try it on next time I'm at MAC. Wasn't in the mood to try stuff on today. You can't really see the gloss behind the tape, the tape kind of makes it look matte. The name of this lipstick is Pink Pearl Pop if you're wondering and I believe it is not a Pro shade, meaning you can get it at a counter or stand alone store.

So I hope you enjoyed seeing the Pro Eyeshadows I got at MAC PRO. I had a lot of fun swatching all of them and swatching colors that were similar just to see how they look or relate to one another. I encourage you all to go to a Pro store and to ask the MUA to show you specifically Pro Only products so that way you can see everything and you won't miss anything either. Don't be shy!

And I'm curious to know what your favorite MAC PRO Eyeshadow is. So please let me know. And I also want to see your makeup looks using Pro colors. All the colors don't have to be pro, just one at the very least. I also want to know if you wanted me to say which shades I have in my palettes, or what my favorites are, or whatever else. If you want that, let me know.

Illamasqua Haul

And now it's Illamasqua time!! I mentioned previously that we have just just gotten an Illamasqua counter at the downtown The Bay store. They don't have an actual counter yet, because of construction it's not ready, so they have a tiny section right now. I can't wait for their grand opening on August 8 to see their full product line. I came back with my mom to buy a few things. I swatched quite a few things and their products seem to be consistently good quality with amazing pigmentation. I couldn't tell you for sure, because I don't own very much. I bought a blush, a lipstick, and a lipgloss. And it's funny because they're all the same color. Well not the same same, but close enough. I really have a think for pinks. Their packaging is really cute. The products come in shiny black cardboard boxes and most products have a cut-out so you can see the color of the product. The products themselves are in black containers, and I'll describe each product individually.

The lipstick I got is called Plunge and it's a blue toned light pink. It's matte. I think just about all of Illamasqua's lipsticks are matte shades. I've heard they're a bit drying, but let's be honest, ALL matte shades are drying. It's a beautiful color and it looks even better on the skin. It's very vibrant and stands out. Illamasqua is known for their rich colors and they're all about doing night time colors, so they have crazy lipstick colors like black, purple, etc. If you want a glossy lip, just add lipgloss like I did. The lipstick case is a sleep black box bullet. All their cases are boxes but with rounded in sides. The lipstick has slightly rounded in sides and one side has their name in white. The shade name is written at the bottom. When you open it it's your standard twist up lipstick.

The lipgloss I got is a Sheer Lipgloss in Electrify. It's similar to Plunge but it's a bit warmer. The "sheer" label scared me a bit at first but after I tried it I saw that it wasn't super sheer, which I was scared it would be. It has a color when it goes on. It isn't like NARS Turkish Delight which is an extremely pale pink color that looks really natural and light. Electrify has a nice pink color to it when it's applied. It has a brush applicator. The packaging is almost exactly the same as a NARS Lipgloss. It has a clear tube so you can see the color of the gloss and the top is black and says Illamasqua on one side. The name of the shade and the type (sheer or intense) is written on the side, so you can actually read it.

The last product I bought was a Powder Blush in Nymph. Again, this is a pale pink color that kind of reminds me of NARS Desire blush. I always look at that blush when I go shopping. Whether they're actually alike is a whole different story. The blush is so pigmented, oh em gee!!! You barely have to swipe your finger across and you get so much color. It goes on nicely as well. This is a matte shade if you were wondering and the pan is square. It doesn't contain as much as I thought it would, it comes in with only 4.5g / 0.15oz. The packaging is nice, it's in a black box and the edges are curved in. There's a plastic square in the middle, again edges curved in, so it shows you the blush color without you having to open it. That's a good idea. To open it you just lift the edge and it snaps shut. The shade is written in the back.

I really can't wait to use my new products. They will definitely be featured in an upcoming makeup look. My mom also bought the same thing as me though not in the same shades. Meaning she also bought a lipstick, a lipgloss, and a blush. She's more of a dark dusty pink and mauvey person. Peaches also look nice on her. We don't have the same tastes at all.

She bought a lipstick in Test, which looks like a dark rosey with brown color. It looked nice on her. It isn't a color she usually goes for (headstrong mauve woman right here) but it really looked good. It's also a matte shade. She wanted a glossy finish so she looked at lipglosses that could potentially pair up with it and the nicest one was a Sheer Lipgloss in Intimacy. Again, it's a dusty rose with brown. Out of all the lipglosses, this one looked the best with the lipstick and it was very nice on its own. I really like how it looked on her. She also got a Powder Blush, this one is called Naked Rose. It's a slightly lighter color than the lipstick and lipgloss. It's a dusty rose and there's no brown in this. She tried it on at the store and I really liked how it looked. It's hard for her to find a good blush color and she really liked this.

So here are the pictures of the stuff that we both bought. The pinks are mine obviously and the darker roses are hers. The prices weren't too bad either.

Illamasqua Lipstick in Plunge - 24$CAD

Illamasqua Sheer Lipgloss in Electrify - 22$CAD

Illamasqua Powder Blush in Nymph - 26$CAD

Illamasqua Powder Blush in Nymph - 26$CAD

Illamasqua Lipstick in Test - 24$CAD

Illamasqua Sheer Lipgloss in Intimacy - 22$CAD

Illamasqua Powder Blush in Naked Rose - 26$CAD

Illamasqua Powder Blush in Naked Rose - 26$CAD

I hope you enjoyed reading about the Illamasqua stuff that we bought. If you're not familiar with their products, I really do urge you to check them out. Their products are high quality and have lots of pigmentation. They also offer very unique colors. Just because they show themselves as a night time brand doesn't mean that they don't have anything appropriate for day wear. Like come on, look at what I just bought. They have a lot of nice intense lip colors, eyeshadow palettes, blush and bronzer duo, etc. If you already shop there, tell me what your favorite product is and what your favorite shades of lipstick, lipgloss, and blush are. Thanks for reading! And if you want swatches of anything, let me know!

I hope you enjoyed reading about my MAC PRO and Illamasqua hauls! I'll be using these products in upcoming looks so don't miss out and keep in touch!

My next post is going to be a makeup look using both my new MAC PRO products and my new Illamasqua products so keep checking back! It has a bright color theme, almost neon, it looks amazingly hot.

If you want to "Like" my page on Facebook and keep up with all my updates and news, you can "Like" the gigantic box right below, or get on facebook and find Steph Stud Makeup. If you're on twitter you can follow me, @stephstudenny and if you want to request anything there use the hashtag #stephstudrequests so I can find it easily. Thanks for all the support and I'll see you soon with a makeup look using my new Pro shades!!!

Steph xo.

Makeup Haul #2

Hello makeup freaks!!

I'm so so so so so excited right now you can't even understand. My mom bought me something that had been on my makeup shopping list and it was really unexpected. She was out downtown and decided to buy this for me!!! And I'm so excited to use it!! She also got me a couple other items as well. I also went shopping a few days ago and bought a few things. A lot of what I bought is just extras so that when I run out of this stuff (which is soon) I'll have a backup ready in hand. The only new thing I bought is a lipstick. So I have enough stuff now to do a post. I don't generally like doing posts for fewer than 5-10 products because I feel like it's tacky. You want to have a lot of stuff to talk about to make reading this worth it. So less of me blabbing and lets see the goods!

My Mini Makeup Haul #2

1. Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Whiskey

This eyeliner is a nice matte medium brown color. It goes on like a dream and stays in place all day. I originally got this in the double-ended eyeliner in Zero/Whiskey. I have a ton of black eyeliners and I use mainly Too Faced's, so I got the fullsize of Whiskey because I need a good matte brown eyeliner, especially now that I'm doing more natural makeup looks for work.

2. MAC Studio Finish Concealer in NW20

 

This concealer is amazing at covering blemishes. I don't know what else to say other than it really is amazing.

3. Too Faced Perfect Eyes Eyeliner in Perfect Black

This is my holy grail eyeliner. It is such an intense matte black colour and it will stay on all day and all night. It goes on smooth and really rich on the first stroke, so you do not have to keep drawing over the same spot. Just once and it's on really dark. I love love love this eyeliner. You don't understand how much I love it.

4. Too Faced Glamour Gloss in Barely Legal

This has become my new favourite and holy grail lipgloss. It also has a lip plumper in it. NARS Sweet Dreams has always been my go to lipgloss, but this one is slowly taking its place. Sorry NARS.

and the new product,

5. Too Faced La Creme Lipstick in Naked Dolly

At first glance I thought this was a weird color, but I needed a lipstick that was nude to go with my nude/natural makeup looks. I tried this on one afternoon at Sephora and I was deeply impressed. It has a pink undertone in it so it obviously goes really well with my skintone. I'm wearing this lipstick in my most recent makeup look post, using the Urban Decay Naked Palette.





Now it's time for the goodies that mommy bought me!! Leaving the best for last.

1. MAC Eyeshadow in Club

I've always wanted to try out Club, it's a weird green colour that looks like it could be cool for a smokey look or for a green smokey look. I've always been intrigued by this color, and now is my chance to test it out and create a look with it.

2. MAC Cremeblend Blush in So Sweet So Easy

I discovered how much I love this blush a couple days ago when I used it for the 60's Mod Makeup Look. My mom had gotten a sample a long while back and given it to me because she didn't like it. I, on the other hand, really really like it. I've been searching for a pink blush with a blue undertone to go along with all the pink MAC lipsticks with blue undertones that my mom keeps buying me. I couldn't wear them ever because I didn't have a blush to go with them. They totally clashed with Bella Bamba and Orgasm. Sweet Pea was way too much of an intense hot pink to go be able to go with what I have. So the answer to my problems is So Sweet So Easy.

3. Too Faced loves Sephora 15 Year Anniversary Palette

I know right?!?!? This palette has been on my dream list for the longest time. I yearned for it so I could try out different eye looks that I normally wouldn't have tried. I also never tried Chocolate Soleil or Sun Bunny so this is the perfect palette to try them out. You get a really generous amount of both bronzers and a blush along with the same amount of eyeshadows that they normally put in their eye palettes. The palette also comes with a lookbook including 15 different looks for you to try at home. That's a lot of suggestions on what to do with your palette. I also really appreciate it because it gives me ideas  and suggestions that I wouldn't have thought of doing otherwise. If I wasn't wearing makeup right now, I would be playing with this palette.



So that is my makeup haul for this month. I bought a lot of stuff that I was running low on plus a new lipstick. My mom bought me Club because she knew that I have this fascination with it, along with the blush I've recently fallen in love with because it goes with my pink MAC lipsticks with blue undertones. She also bought me the Too Faced loves Sephora palette and I literally freaked out. So excited and grateful!! If only you saw all the stuff she had bought me for my birthday. You'd all be so jealous, But I'm not here to brag about it which is why I never posted it this year. Might do one next year now that you've gotten to know me a bit better.

So, tell me, what one item on my list would you buy? Which would you not buy and why? Were you excited for the Too Faced loves Sephora palette? Do you have it or want it? Have you tried MAC's Club? What other shadows would you wear it with? Do you like Too Faced's lipsticks and lipglosses? What is your favorite shade? What do you think of MAC's only cream blush in pink?

Thank you so much for reading, down below is a list of some stuff that I'm working on that should be up this week

Steph xo.


Coming Up Really Soon:
Top5 Makeup Products in the Face Category (It'll be done by tomorrow evening/night)

Top5 Makeup Products in the Face & Lips Categories

Empties & Extras: I've got 6-7 empties now. I'll be working on that after I finish the Top5 series

Makeup Basics Page: any day now and it will be ready

More Reviews: I've been lacking in the review department so I'll get on that. If you want me to review something, just let me know.

Most Wanted: summer 2013 products, etc

Makeup Haul #1 - Stila Products

Hello my lovelies!!

Today I'm going to show you my Stila Makeup Haul. This is my first haul posting and I consider this haul to be pretty modest. My mom bought the makeup off a site (not the Stila site) for my birthday last month and it finally just came now. I'm not sure how much the individual items cost but the grand total was 80$ before duty and taxes. So the makeup I bought was at a discount and I bought a lot of the older stuff that I hadn't had the chance to try yet. I haven't been able to try out any products yet except for a lipstick because UPS only came late in the evening and I had already left for school and done my makeup today. In my next post I'm wearing one of the lipsticks so check it out. It should be up tonight for sure. That post is going to be focused on how to look presentable at work even though you're crazy sick and you just want to be home in bed. Because that's totally how I felt today!!! Well enough of my ramblings, you guys just want to see the makeup, right??

Here's the haul:


Stila Long Wear Liquid Lip Color

in Petal and Muse

Stila Long Wear Lip Color

in Coquette and Exhilarating

Stila Jingle All the Way Eye & Cheek Palette

Stila Valentine's Day Blush (not sure on the exact name for this one)

Stila Positively Pink Set

Lipgloss is Splendor, the same gloss is also in the Stila Christmas 2012 Lipgloss Set

Stila Snow Angel Color Palette

comes with a Stila Stay All Day Waterproof Volumizing Mascara

And that's the haul! So tell me, which product do you like the most or dislike the most out of the ones I bought? Did you buy the Snowflake Palette last Christmas season? Did you like it? Is the Jingle All The Way palette your new favorite smokey eye palette? I look forward to reading your thoughts so leave a comment!

I can't wait to use these products!!

Keep checking for my next post, which is all about keeping it simple when you're sick and not really into wearing heavy makeup.

And don't forget to subscribe by hovering your mouse on the right side bar and clicking on subscribe. Then fill in your email address and click subscribe, or you can get rss feed instead.

Thank you so much for reading,

Steph xo.