Okay, so it’s definitely not just me. Sephora really has been picking up a lot of new lines recently! This week, I noticed Koh Gen Do (previously just at Barney’s and online, if I’m not mistaken) and something called 21 Drops, a fragrance line of essential oils.
Aside from those, there are a bunch of other new product launches that caught my eye around the web – BB cream (by Clinique!), tons of neutrals, six gorgeous red lipsticks…
To celebrate (ahem) the start of Fall term, I thought I’d finally post some photos I took… in June of 2010. I know, I know; I’m awful, and my levels of procrastination know no bounds.
There’s a lot of confusion when it comes to MAC shade numbers and MAC shade names, but hopefully, this’ll help clarify things for you before you purchase your MAC concealer or foundation at MAC Cosmetics, Sephora, or Nordstrom.
PLEASE NOTE: if you are viewing these images in a browser that doesn’t colour-manage (ahem, Chrome), the colour values will be off!
L-R: MAC Studio Finish Concealer SPF 15 in C15, NC15, and NW15
Perhaps the trickiest thing about MAC’s shade system is that you have to know your undertones. Most of the time, you only have two choices. I’m going to start off by saying that, though MAC does a lot of shades, not everyone will be able to find a perfect match. It’s rather unfortunate, but, well, that’s just the way it works! You may have to blend to find your perfect shade.
NC stands for “neutral-cool,” and corresponds to yellow, golden, or olive.
NW stands for “neutral-warm,” and corresponds to pink or rose.
N, C, and W stand for “neutral,” “cool,” and “warm,” respectively. So, a N shade has more of a yellow/pink balance, a C shade is more yellow than a NC shade, and a W shade is more pink than a NW shade.
What’s important to remember is that MAC refers to pink as “warm” and yellow as “cool.” This is the opposite from most brands, whose yellow shades are warm and whose pink shades are cool. Keep that in mind and it should be smooth sailing!
To help explain this a little better, I swatched three “15” Studio Fix Concealers: C15, NC15, and NW15. As you can see, the C shade is the most yellow, and the NW shade is the most pink – even though I, personally, would say that the NW is a cold pink!
Swatches: MAC Studio Finish Concealer SPF 15 in C15, NC15, and NW15
Thankfully, MAC’s number system is (much) easier to understand than their lettering system! Basically, the larger the number is, the darker the shade will be. And that’s all you need to know :)
To show off the shade values, I swatched four consecutive Mac Studio Finish NW concealers, in 15, 20, 25, and 30.
R-L: MAC Studio Finish Concealer SPF 15 in-NW15, NW20, NW25, NW30
Swatches: MAC Studio Finish Concealer SPF 15 in-NW15, NW20, NW25, NW30
The thing about being online is that, well, you have the world at your fingertips. If you’re still having trouble figuring out your shade, make sure you check out a resource like the Temptalia Foundation Matrix.
If possible, try to find a skin twin, too – a blogger or fellow beauty junkie who wears the same shade as you. Or, optimally, someone who wears the same shade and has the same skin type.
Try a new MAC concealer from Sephora or the MAC boutique inside of a Nordstrom today. Or, check out my favourite silicone-free foundation reviews, like my review for the weightless Guerlain L’Essentiel Foundation.
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Okay, so I realize that I haven’t been posting much recently, and I’m not sure how things are going to go when Fall term starts.
But it’s okay! Because today, I’m going to make it up to you with taupe swatches! And who doesn’t love a good taupe?
I wasn’t really sure how I’d define “taupe” for this post, but I ended up trying not to go browner than MAC’s Satin Taupe or more grey than Marcelle’s Suede, but still trying to encapsulate many of the brown and gray variations within the colour family. It’s a tricky colour to swatch, if you ask me, because everyone’s interpretation is so different – one makeup junkie’s taupe may be another’s brown, or gold, or bronze, or grey.
I’ve settled on swatching my taupiest taupes, which isn’t to say that there aren’t more! Perhaps I’ll do some of my favourite browns someday, and someone will call one of them (or many of them) taupe, but, well: that’s a problem for another day. In the meantime, we’ll just let sleeping dogs lie, shall we?
From right to left, we have 1. GOSH Chocolate (from their discontinued Golden/Chocolate duo), 2. MAC Satin Taupe, 3. a self-blended russet-taupe, 4. Lancome Platinum, 5. the top shade from Marcelle’s Dimensional Mauve quad (LE last winter), 6. Marcelle Suede, 7. MAC Mauvement, 8. Ulta Mystique, and 9. Senna Taupe Glow (pictured here).
1. GOSH Chocolate is the darkest eyeshadow I have that I’d still call a taupe, not quite brown (at least, to me) because of its coolness. 2. MAC Satin Taupe is a medium-dark taupe – I love working with the formula, but I often find it looks too muddy when blended out. The self-pressed, self-blended 3. russet-taupe is just on the outer edge of taupe; some days, I’ll think it is, but others, I feel like it’s perhaps too copper.
(Okay, so I’ll admit that I often just forget that I went back, re-crushed, and re-blended that shade to be a little warmer. It used to be taupier, honest!)
4. Lancome Platinum is a lighter taupe with a really fine frost finish, and it’s on the warm side. The shade from 5. Marcelle Dimensional Mauve is just the opposite; really quite grey and very much my kind of taupe. 6. Marcelle Suede is a really sheer taupe (too sheer for my liking), but it’s a really pretty heather grey sort of shade.
7. MAC Mauvement (pigment) is super-sheer, mainly just shimmer, and layers really nicely as, well, a mauve-y sort of shade. 8. Ulta Mystique is a gorgeous cool (grey) taupe, darker than you’d expect from the pan. 9. Senna Taupe Glow is similar to Mystique; I’d think of it as Satin Taupe‘s cool-toned counterpart.
Aside from Mauvement, all of these shadows are (more or less) frost finishes.
Of these, I probably get the most wear out of the GOSH and Ulta shadows. It’s a bit surprising, because the GOSH duo really didn’t stun me at first, and the Ulta my most recent taupe acquisition – but colour-wise, they’re both just lovely; not too red or too warm.
If I’m in a hurry, I’ll wear Clinique Bit O’ Honey all over the lid with a bit of taupe buffed into the outer third with a 217. It’s ridiculously easy, looks a lot more polished than just a bare lid, and gives a really natural effect. Plus, you just can’t beat an eye look that takes less than two minutes!
I’m sorry, Dior, but: what?!
I’ll admit, it reminds me of the temporary tattoos from my childhood – keyword being childhood. I mean, there’s the whole Violent Lips thing (which Sephora’s carrying, too, and which I still think look absolutely ridiculous), and then this, and it’s just –
I mean, who thought this was a good idea?! This is very clearly not a good idea!
But the Stella It-Dress collection (to run off on a completely unrelated tangent) – now that’s a good idea. The three bottles look absolutely gorgeous, and I’ll admit, it does redeem my faith in the industry, no matter how ridiculous that sounds. You don’t have to shock everyone to get them to look at you, and the subtle-but-lovely packaging (which feature the same floral, feminine, familiar Stella) definitely has my attention.
Top: Bronzing Pressed Powder in Tropical Bronze, Bronze Celebration
Bottom: Pressed Bronzing Powder in Tan, Multi-Colour Bronzing Pressed Powder in Natural Bronze
I have a couple different bronzing powders on hand to share with you today, and I think I want to get it all done at once and kind of gloss over them – but feel free to ask for more detail if you need!
I’m not much of a bronzer girl, but I’m quite fond of Marcelle and Annabelle bronzing products. If I do wear bronzer, there’s a 95% chance that it’s going to be either FaceFront Third Kiss (because it’s ‘cone-free), Annabelle Zebra, or one of these. I find that Marcelle balances out their tones really well – never too much red or too much yellow – so the result is really natural and healthy-looking.
Redundancy is one of those things I’ve been thinking a lot about recently, and Group Marcelle kinda has a strange tendency to hit it right out of the ballpark. Like with the blacks of Annabelle’s Black Box collection, all four of these bronzers are really different – you couldn’t swap out any one for any other, even though there are a lot of them.
Swatched L-R: Natural Bronze, Tan, Tropical Bronze, Bronze Celebration
If you want an all-over powder to bronze up your skintone, I think you could go with anything but Bronze Celebration. The other three are all matte, and which one you choose would really just rely on your skintone and personal preference. I’d recommend Tropical Bronze if you’re fair to light with more of a yellow undertone (it’s my current favourite of the bunch), Natural Bronze if you’re looking for a neutral-warm bronzer, and Tan if you like a bronzer with a little more red in it – think MAC Bronze, minus the annoying shimmer.
If you want a really glowy bronze, then Bronze Celebration is your obvious choice. It packs a ton of finely-milled (and oh-so-soft) shimmer, so make sure to tap off the excess product and really buff it in – but the results have the potential to be absolutely breathtaking. Unlike the others, I wouldn’t use this one to contour, and I wouldn’t use it all-over: just on the high points of the face, lightly, like a highlighter.
L-R: Natural Bronze, Tan, Tropical Bronze, Bronze Celebration
The super-soft Bronze Celebration! My pan completely crumbled in the mail (it’s actually supposed to look like this), which is a pretty sure sign that the product’s softer than the others. Similar shimmery strip cheek products, like Bobbi’s Shimmer Bricks, have a well-known track record of shattering easily – so try not to drop it on the floor if you can, ya hear? :P
… you’d think they could manage to design different bottles every now and again, yeah?
But oh no! They’re all the saaaame. They’re all the SAME! D:
From L-R: Marc Jacobs Lola & flanker, designed by Jacobs and Coty Prestige artistic director Deborah Aruta, followed by the BCBG and Beiber copycats. And, okay, so I actually like the BCBGMAXAZRIA bottle the most, but it’s essentially just riffing on the same concept!
Okay, so I’ll own up to it: it’s already the end of summer, and I’m just now getting around to sharing my favourite products of the season with you.
But despair not! Like with our skincare summary, I’ve only included permanent-line items, so you can find them all year ’round ;)
For the cheeks, I’m loving Etude House Fresh Cherry Blusher Duo (specifically, the right hand side) and Hard Candy Blush Crush in Honeymoon.The Etude House is a product that I have quite a few problems with (like that icky, synthetic cherry scent), but I love cream products, and I really love the shade – it’s the perfect coral; just enough peach and just enough pink.
And, of course, I rave about Honeymoon all the time – as a matter of fact, a lot of you mentioned as a “like” or a “love” in our recent poll! It’s a gorgeous highlighter (I wear it along the top of my cheekbone, and then “swoop” it along my orbital bone and under my brow), and gives a really easy fresh, dewy glow.
Swatched L-R: Etude House Fresh Cherry Duo, Hard Candy Honeymoon, Clinique Super Strawberry, Marcelle Rio Rose.
My lip favourites tend to stay the same throughout the year, but I do tend a bit more toward sheer, bright colours in the summer. This year, I’m all over Clinique Chubby Sticks (mine is in Super Strawberry, which is just ridiculously perfect) and Marcelle Vita-Lip Glosses (last year, I was really into Angelica; this year, I’ve found an affinity for Rio Rose).
Swatched L-R: Clinique Super Strawberry, Marcelle Rio Rose, Ellis Faas Light 303, Boots No. 7 Radiant Glow (shade II).
For my two “eye” choices, I’ll admit I cheated a little – one of them could, technically, be a base product. But whatever; a favourite’s a favourite! :P
I’m still really loving Ellis Faas Light E303, that bronzy beaut from Ellis’ Summer Set, and Boots No. 7 Radiant Glow – which I’ve had for ages, and still absolutely adore. I call it my real-life dodge brush, because when I layer it overtop either my timeBalm or Glamoflauge, it creates the perfect undereye area. It’s one of the few base products I have with silicones, but the results are sometimes worth the risk of a breakout!
Why I still have dark circles in the summer (especially when I’m neither taking classes nor working), I have no idea. We’ll blame genetics and general bad luck, yeah?
Swatched L-R, direct sunlight: Etude House Fresh Cherry Duo, Hard Candy Honeymoon, Clinique Super Strawberry, Marcelle Rio Rose, Ellis Faas 303, Boots No. 7 Radiant Glow (shade II).
P.S. Two favourites this post is missing are Clinique’s Lid Smoothies and Clarins’ Graphites quad, but it’s only because I’m easily distracted and lazy. These photos were taken at the beginning of summer, before either were launched or on my desk ;) I’m still loving them, though!
colour
Fall is coming; fall is coming! Alert the presses!
Somehow, I always forget that autumn… exists. Every single year. I dread summer, and then I adore it, and then I dread it again as soon as the mercury hits twenty-five, and then I adore it until, one day, I realize that fall is on its way.
And then I’m torn. Because as much as I hate the summer heat, I love the lazy days and the constant sunlight. I love being able to take photos (almost) whenever the feeling grips me. I love the late nights and the almost non-existant mornings and the smells; the way the air smells in the summer.
But damn – I don’t think anything will ever be able to eclipse my love for Fall/Winter collections.
skin, base, and fragrance
The similarities between the two quads below are really getting to me! I mean, they’re not actually all that similar, but for whatever reason, my brain’s just gotten stuck in a rut around them.
The first one is Guerlain’s Écrin 4 Couleurs palette in Les Noirs (and what gorgeous blacks they are), and the second is my beloved Clarins Graphites.
And then we’ve got a but of a curious thing; paper lashes. I’m sure you’ve heard about them by now, but I never really expected them to go mass, you know?
Sephora is now carrying six equally weird charming styles of PAPERSELF lashes, online and at their NYC Meatpacking District store (which opens mid-September). They’re quite a costly lash, at $17, (and I somehow doubt you’ll get the same wear out of these as you would out of a regular false lash fringe), but I suppose it’s the novelty!
& finally, I’ll leave you with a quick pic of Ultraflesh’s Ninja Star Compact, which I think is a little bit insane and a little bit hilarious:
all images are (c) their click-through.
Every weekend (or every other weekend, or every third weekend if it’s a particularly slow month), theNotice features the recent product launches that have caught my eye. But… I don’t know what it was about this week. Maybe it’s just that I haven’t done it in a while?
Anyhow, this weekend, we’re splitting things up a bit. Today, we’ll be featuring the MAC Me Over! collection widget, plus the new lines that have launched at Sephora, and tomorrow, we’ll feature the normal “New x/x/x” widget, with products from all over the board. Oh, and lots of blathering on about random things. Keep an eye out for that blathering.
That’s right, Ellis Faas! I definitely didn’t see this one coming, but it looks like Sephora’s picked them up at long last. Which is, well – pretty darn exciting.
You can read all of our Ellis Faas reviews by clicking on that link, but just in general, here are my three favourite Ellis products at the moment: Light E303, Creamy Eyes E104, and Milky Lips L201, aka Ellis Red. (See L201 on the cheeks, here).
Along with Ellis, Sephora’s bringing over two more brands from across the pond: Soap & Glory, which disappeared from Target shelves a while back but will be reappearing stateside shortly (Canucks will recognize it from Shopper’s stores, and I’m under the impression that it’s staying there), and nails inc, which is basically the hottest brand in nails at the moment (or so I’ve been told by rather unsavoury characters kidding!)
I’m not really sure why, but I wasn’t really excited for this one – MAC’s fall collections are simply too large, if you ask me. I just sort of get overwhelmed and then flail everywhere and, finally, give up trying to follow them entirely.
Hope your weekends are off to a lovely start, my dears! Talk to you tomorrow x
