Made Up in Boston

"A man's face is his autobiography. A woman's face is her work of fiction." -Oscar Wilde

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Things I'm Currently Loving & Reworking My MAC Pro Palette!

I didn't get around to posting my July favorites, but I did want to give a few props to some products I'm loving at the moment.

Nivea Touch of Smoothness Moisturizing Body Wash: This stuff is body wash gold. My skin has been feeling a little sun-beaten for the past few weeks and I wanted a body wash that had a lotion consistency. This stuff really hydrates my skin and leaves it feeling silky. It also smells like tea roses; it's a softly romantic smell that reminds me of late summer gardens.

Victoria's Secret Very Sexy For Her: This perfume is one of my favorites for late summer because its spicy and bold. It's a floral Oriental scent that features scents of pepper, white orchid, and musk (among others). I like wearing this on date nights (the husband likes when I wear this, too ;) ) because the smell makes me feel sexy and a just little bit dangerous. Sadly my little bottle is almost empty. It looks like a new bottle is going on my Christmas list this year!

Stila In The Light Palette: I can't rave enough about this palette. So many gorgeous and useable colors in one place. I've been reaching for this almost everyday since I bought it. I especially love combining Sunset and Gilded Gold for a really bold bronze-burgundy smokey eye.

L'Oreal Color Riche Lipstick in Gilded Gold: In general I'm much more a lipgloss kind of girl, but this soft nude with rose and gold undertones really wakes up a simple face. It's not so overpowering that I feel like my lips are jutting out of my face when I wear it, but I do feel a bit more polished with just a quick slick of this and a winged eye.

Essence of Beauty Smokey Wide Dual-Ended Brush: I saw this brush in one of Lollipop26's tutorials (BTW, be sure to check out her new blog. Materialistic love!) and debated purchasing it for so long. It just looks really wide and frightening for those of us with hooded eyes and little visible eyelid. Eventually I bit the bullet and picked it up and it's been love ever since. It's really easy to use, fantastic at blending shadows, and the smaller brush is really great for lining and smudging. Highly recommended if you're in the market for a new brush :)

Big, bold beaded jewelry:
Admittedly I'm a bit of a snot when it comes to jewelry. I usually like fine jewelry (read: expensive), but lately I've been wearing a lot of cheap earrings. Maybe it's just my way of embracing the summer season but honestly, the bigger, cheaper,  and tackier the earrings, the more I love them!

Project 10 Pan Update: So far two bottles have been emptied and trashed. I finished off my John Frieda Root Awakening shampoo and used up the last of a Neutrogena face wash/mask. Next up is the previously mentioned Victoria's Secret Beauty Rush lipgloss. That thing's got a shelf life of about a week before it finally meets its end.

I've also been trying to wheedle down the contents of my makeup bag. Sometime ago I switched my MAC shadows from the 15-Pan Pro Palette to the smaller 4-Pan palettes. I thought I'd enjoy the smaller containers and it would make it easier on me to have smaller palettes instead of one big one. I finally got annoyed by having to switch between palettes when doing my makeup and I decided to transfer them all back to the 15-pan palette. The pan, however, underwent a little tweaking.

I know the palettes can be manipulated to hold more than 15 shadows, and so I decided to pop the tray out of the container to allow for more room. If this is something you're also interested in doing, the super-easy how-to steps are below!

1. Lift the tray so that you can see the clips that hold it to the palette body.
2. Using a butter knife, slide along the edges of the tray, gently twisting the butter knife to "pop" the clips out of place. This is really easy to do so don't worry about breaking the tabs or palette body.
3. Lift the tray out and set aside (not sure if the tray component will count for MAC's "Back To MAC" program, but it doesn't hurt to ask, right?)
4. The magnetic bottom will hold the shadow pans, and voila! Now you have more room for shadows. Rumor is you can fit about 22 MAC shadow pans if you go this route. (Even better: MAC shadow pans are only $11, as opposed to the $14.50 you pay for the shadow compact!)

What are your current favorites? Leave some recommendations in the comments so I can check out the products you're loving!

2 comments:

  1. Hi there! Current favourites would have to be Stila's lipstick called Wendy, and a few others. I'm about to post a video up :)

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  2. Welcome! Thanks for stopping by :)

    I'm not familiar with Wendy, but I remember loving Natalie years ago. It reminded me of Clinique's Black Honey.

    I'll be sure to come by and check out your video!

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