MAC Holiday Kits: Going naked this Xmas...

You might call me boring but I'm a sucker for neutrals. I'm not sure if it's because I'm just a chicken when it comes to wearing hot fuschia lipstick to work, or because I'm always trying to justify my purchases ("But it's neutral so I'll wear it all the time.."). Anyway, so although I'd originally planned to pick up the MAC Holiday kits in Sorceress and Smoke & Mirrors, I ended up with the latter plus the Heavenly Dish neutral lip kit.

The Smoke & Mirrors kit is the best smokey palette I've seen from MAC in several years. However it's not really a smokey palette as such, more of an everyday neutral kit. The colours are sheer, & if you're after sparkle or glitter you won't find it here. (Nor any horrible Lustre finishes - thank you MAC!). You can pretty much do anything from a barely-there look, to a soft everyday grey or warm brown eye, to a full-on smokey look with this. Some might find it boring, yes. Personally I think really decent neutral palettes are surprisingly hard to come by, so this one is a gem.

I've taken some pics with a handful of other MAC colours for comparison. The shades in this palette are all unique to the palette as far as I'm aware, & none of my other colours were exact dupes. The closest dupes would be Clue (from the Originals Collection) for the mid-tone grey, and perhaps Brun for the matte brown shade. All in all, I think it's a great buy for anyone.

The lip kit was an impulse buy, I didn't even try it on in store! It really is a very natura,nude look. The darkest colour is slightly darker than my lips. The midtone colour reminds me of a slightly peachier version of MAC Angel lipstick. The gloss goes on completely sheer, it's not pigmented at all. I can see why some people wouldn't bother with this kit as the colours are on the sheer side & don't exactly scream.. well, anything really. But I think it's quite cute and practical - I love that you can use the darker shade on the lips, then apply the lighter pink in the centre for a volume effect. A little gloss on top and it's perfect.

I'm on the fence about the packaging of these - it certainly feels classier than previous years but the mirrors are much smaller. They also don't angle back as far, which was a definite bonus with the old style of palette. The eye palette is very small - even though it has the same amount of product, it looks tiny compared to last year's warm palette!

Overall, I'm very pleased with this year's purchases though. I love MAC Holiday... can't wait until my next trip just so I can take these babies along!

Home-made brush cleaner recipe

OK so I know a lot of people have their own recipes for making brush cleanser, but I've been testing this simple recipe out for 5-6 months now and it's serving me well so I thought I'd share. I pretty much use this every day to sanitise & clean my brushes - I can clean them all quickly and they're ready to use again in a few minutes.

It's literally just 1 part spray-on leave-in conditioner, to approximately 7 parts isopropyl alcohol. The isopropyl alcohol is the basic ingredient in most brush cleansers, as it klls germs and dries in minutes. Unfortunately it can also be somewhat drying to natural fibres, hence the addition of the leave-in conditioner - it keeps the brush bristles nice and soft. You don't want to go too overboard on the conditioner in your formula though, otherwise you get residue in the brush and they take too long to dry.

Isopropyl alcohol is dirt cheap & can be bought in pharmacies (I used to get odd looks at the chemist in New Zealand, as I'd buy 4-5 bottles at a time! I swear they thought I was making drugs...) or from Maplin in the UK.

For the leave-in conditioner I'm using a cheapie one from Boots. Choose one that has a consistency like water, since a creamy consistency won't mix well with the alcohol.

Mix and pour into a spray bottle. To use, spray the brushes with the solution & wipe clean with a tissue. This is meant to be a spot cleaner only, so you should still deep clean your brushes regularly in water.

Happy cleaning!

MAC Holiday... Are my eyes bigger than my stomach?

Further on the topic of neglected makeup, now comes the time of year when I start making my wishlist of MAC holiday items. For me, the holiday collections combine all my favourite things in makeup (that's MAC, palettes, and miniatures!). Normally, I end up buying 2 palettes and a set of mini lipglasses every year. But in making my wishlist this year, I've felt a little guilty realising how infrequently I actually use my old Xmas palettes & glosses (even though I'm sure I was really excited about buying them at the time!). I think I've used last year's Red She Said - Warm palette maybe 3-4 times?

Am I becoming too spoiled? Maybe I just love the anticipation of waiting for a new collection, more than I ever fell in love with the actual products. Maybe I just consume my cosmetics the way I consume my food - I always think I'm hungrier than I really am.

2009 MAC XMAS Wishlist
- Sorceress eyeshadow palette
- Smoke & Mirrors eyeshadow palette
- Superdupernatural Mineralize Blush
- Sexy Shenanigans Mini Lip/Lustreglass set

MAC Pickle.. with Relish. Ewww.

Rhamnousia over at Desi Girl Does Makeup posted recently about Vintage makeup - you know, those cosmetics one has hiding away in drawers either forgotten & ignored, sometimes lovingly rediscovered, othertimes invoking an inner cringe of "What the hell was I thinking??!!" when they eventually make their way back into daylight. Anyway it made me think about what my oldest cosmetic items are - actually there's not too many, since before my recent move to the UK there was an enormous clean-out of my traincase - however there is one most ancient item which I hate, yet can't seem to bring myself to chuck.

It's called MAC Pickle, and it's a limited-edition eyeshadow from MAC which was released in circa 2000. It came in a quad which has long since been used up (I think it may have been called "Chromezone"), but this one colour has hung around in my makeup kit. As you can see, it's literally pickly, gherkin green. It's an odd formulation, it has a kind of sheer finish with lots of microglitter (similar to the equally craptastic MAC Honesty from the current line). Not subtle at all, but rather chunky glitter. I did actually wear this at one point, this being one of my first forays into "extreme" colour, until some kind soul thankfully told me it made me look ill. Since then it's just lived in my MAC 15-pan palette of brighter colours (i.e. the ones I avoid!). Somehow it adds a nice vibrancy to the palette, so even though I never use it, it serves the decorative purpose of ensuring there is a lot of green in my palette.

So, to MAC Pickle, who has stood the test of time as my most-avoided cosmetic item... here's to you.

P.S. Sorry about the dodgy pics, I can't seem to get good shots on hubby's camera!

Mini Urban Decay Eyeliners... soooo cute!

Anyone who knows anything about me, knows that I love anything travel-sized! So I nearly jumped for joy in Boots when I saw the Urban Decay 24/7 Eyeliner Super Stash - 9 mini sized 24/7 eyeliner pencils. This seems to be something they release every year, so this is the 2009 edition.

You get five existing shades: Zero (black), Graffiti (bright green), Ransom (cool purple), Rockstar (violet), Stash (olive), as well as four new limited-edition shades: Corrupt (chocolate brown), Binge (peacock-indigo), Eldorado (gold), Oil Slick (black with glitter.

I've swatched some of my favourites from this set - from left to right: Ransom, Rockstar, Corrupt, Binge and Eldorado. They're beautifully smooth and have a lovely soft metallic finish. They also last on my lower lashline better than any other pencil I've tried (thought not quite a well as a gel or liquid liner).

Be warned - these babies are tiny - so don't expect to get a lot of each colour. However, as a newcomer to Urban Decay I'm really pleased as I get to try out so many colours for so little.

Sneaky peek inside my handbag

I was asked to photograph what's inside my handbag as part of a work-related project so I thought I'd share :-) (Yes I have a fun job!). Luckily it just had a clean-out recently, so it actually looks respectable for a change and not like I just went on a shoplifting spree at MAC!

I've definitely become more well-organised when it comes to packing my bag now that I'm travelling a lot more. I'm really a wuss when I don't have all my essentials to hand. And of course I always have my on-the-go makeup kit - today it contains:

- MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Medium Dark
- MAC blush in Peaches
- MAC lipglass in Prrr
- MAC lipstick in A Rose Romance
- MAC Lip Conditioner
- Urban Decay 24/7 mini eyeliner in Zero (black)
- Clean & Clear Oil Blotting sheets
- ELF concealer pencil
- Chanel bronzer in Terre Ambre
- MAC mini #129 blush brush

Somehow I quite like looking at what's inside other peoples' bags... feel free to share what's in yours!

My gorgeous INGLOT palette, and more...

It was my birthday recently and I had my heart set on getting an Inglot Freedom System Palette. What I love about these palettes is the enormous range of shapes and sizes these come in. It was sooooo much fun choosing my palette & colours! I ended up with one of Inglot's magnetised palettes. The palette concept itself is pretty awesome - each layer is magnetised so you can add as many layers as you like of eyeshadows, blush or powder. You end up with as many colours & products as you want, all in one palette. I ended up getting 2 layers of eyeshadows, though I'm keen to get a blush layer too. Amazingly the magnets that hold it all together are quite strong!

I love the soft, silky texture of these eyeshadows (think MAC Veluxe Pearl - though if you like bright, intense pigment you might be disappointed with some shades). They do have a lot of bright colours, but I ended up choosing soft warm/neutral colours only as that's all I ever seem to wear. (Yes, I'm boring I know...!) For £70, this palette really is a steal compared to Bobbi Brown or MAC, without a huge difference in quality.

I also picked up a few other Inglot goodies:

• Under Makeup Base: A dead ringer for Smashbox PhotoFinish foundation primer. Absolute bargain for £12
• AMC Cream Blush: The most long-lasting cream blush I've tried, this wears almost like a stain with a nice sheer finish
• Bronzer palette: Love that it graduates to a highlighter shade, but wish this was a little more pigmented. Not too shimmery though, yay.

So thanks Inglot for a wonderful birthday present, I love you :-)