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!

June Favorites

1. MAC shadow quad palette: (starting from top left) Haux, Patina, Shale, and Satin Taupe.

These are my favorite MAC shadows (for the moment, at least). Each shadow is wonderfully suited for my eye color, which is a greenish-greyish-blue. I love MAC shadows because the quality is great, and the color range is phenomenal. And because my skin is really tanned at the moment (thanks, Israel!), this color quad makes a fantastic smokey eye!

I also absolutely love the convenient packaging of MAC quads. I am a major packaging whore, so MAC sucks me in with their mix-n-match palettes. I have three of these palettes and use them all the time, but lately I've been all over this one in particular.

2. L'Oreal Lavender Smokes eyeshadow quad:

(Swatches in different lighting)

I used this quad everyday in Israel. I feel in love with it. Hardcore. The shadows are highly pigmented, which isn't always a guarantee when you're considering drugstore makeup.

The blackish-purple shadow reminds me a lot of MAC's Beauty Marked, right down to the red and maroon sparkles and burgundy undertone (for some reason I couldn't photograph these qualities, but in person, there is some serious red to this shadow). It works great as an eyeliner.

The lavender shadow is fairly matte and when I talked about this quad in an earlier post, I mentioned that  the texture reminds me a bit of suede. My earlier opinion still stands. It's just a really pretty, soft color.

The champagne and gold shadows are major glitter bombs. Beware of crazy fall out. The disco drag queen in me love, love, LOVES this! Just make sure you've got a really good brush to wipe away the fall out when you're done.

3. Maybelline Define-A-Line eyeliner in Rich Raisin (the green stick in the above picture):

In short, this is a terrible eyeliner (too creamy and doesn't last), but it's a great cream base for shadows. It has a built in "smudger" which helps in spreading and blending the product across the lid. I obviously wouldn't use this as a base for lighter shadows, but for darker colors, this really helps make it last longer and wear well throughout the day/night.

I really like layering MAC's Shale or Quarry over this in particular.

4. Rimmel Moisture Renew Lipgloss in Rose Cocoon:

(MLBB: Layered over Revlon's Pink in the Afternoon lipstick)

This is a delicate dark rose pink lipgloss that really works well on pale or tanned skin. Unlike a lot of drugstore brand lipglosses, you get a lot of color when applying this. It's moisturizing (hence the name) and very light-feeling. There isn't a goopy, sticky feeling with this gloss.

I've only read negative reviews of the Rimmel Moisture Renew glosses so I was pleasantly surprised to find this one so workable. Maybe I chose the only one that had any color payoff? I haven't personally tried any of the other colors in the line, but this one also works so well for my skintones (both pale and tan) that I don't really feel the need to experiment with a plum or brown shade.

5. Bare Minerals Original Foundation in Light:

The perfect summer foundation, as far as I'm concerned. Light feeling but it gives a full coverage (which I currently need; my war with cystic acne is in full throttle at the moment). It blends really well with any number of blushes and bronzers and when I set it with the mineral veil from the same line, my skin looks nearly naked and relatively clear.

6. E.L.F. Studio Powder Brush:

Another Israel staple. I've been using this for powder, blusher, and bronzer like it's going out of business. The bristles are super soft and really do a great job of applying the products. I didn't expect this thing to last very long, given that it was only $3, but its held up great. Even if it were to break, I'd run right out and grab another because I like it so much.

Do you have any product you're currently using like crazy? Tell me about them! :)