MAC Makeup Swatches

These are just a few of the products I have from MAC. I took most of these photos outside in Natural Sunlight. For reference I am an NW25 in MAC Studio Fix Fluid Foundation, however, I'm a little more tan at the moment that I normally am. MAC Face & Body Foundation in C5 blends invisibly into my skin on my arms at the moment.


MAC Cosmetics Cremesheen Glass
I much prefer the MAC Cremesheen Lipglass formula to the MAC Tinted Lipglass. I find it is much more opaque and long lasting.

From left to right - Meteoric - Astral - Richer, Lusher - Partial to Pink - Double Dare. 

The last two shades are Pro Longwear Lipglasses in Full Speed Ahead and Infinitely Likeable. I really like these when you want a bright, completely opaque lip colour.

My favourite shades here are Meteoric and Richer, Lusher.

 MAC Tinted Lipglasses
Very pigmented, with a lovely smell of vanilla. Quite sticky though.

From left to right - Russian Red - Viva Glam V - Lust - Pink Lemonade - Nymphette - Underage. The last shade is a plush glass in Fulfilled. My absolute favourite shade here is pink lemonade.

Close up of Tinted Lipglass shades.

MAC Sheen Supreme Lipsticks

Probably my very favourite daytime formulas. Quite sheer but still lovely pigmentation. Very moisturising but I have found that it doesn't last very long and does need reapplying. 

From left to right - Blossom Culture - Ultra Darling - Fashion City - Gotta Dash - Full Speed

Full Speed is actually not as red in life but more pink.

Here are the Sheen Supreme Lipsticks indoors. Top to Bottom -  Blossom Culture - Ultra Darling - Fashion City - Gotta Dash - Full Speed

 MAC Lipsticks

I LOVE MAC Lipsticks! I cannot stop collecting them! I mainly go for warm shades of coral, pink, peach and orange as I feel corals are universally flattering. Softer shades for fair skin tones and brighter shades for darker skin tones. MAC Lipsticks have different "finishes" which means the formulas are different and so they feel/look different when applied.

Matte Shades from left to right - Russian Red - Ruby Woo - Lady Danger

The Matte shades are quite dry and hard to apply smoothly without enhancing the creases in the lips. They also tend to drag a bit, but with a little of bit of MAC Prep + Prime for lips or moisturising balm applied before this can be avoided. I also always use lipliner with brighter shades as it will stop the colour bleeding.

Lustre Shades from left to right - Freckletone - Patisserie - Plumful - See Sheer - Cut A Caper - Lovelorn

Amplified Shades from left to right - Chatterbox - Morange - Vegas Volt - Impassioned - Cosmo

 This is my favourite lipstick finish by MAC, i really love the strong pigmentation in these lipsticks and they seem to last for hours.

Cremesheen Shades from left to right - Shy Girl - Hang Up - Ravishing

The first two shades here are Frost in Ramblin' Rose and Sandy B. The second two shades are Satin finishes and are in Media and Snob.

Mineralize Skin Finish

Another of my favourite MAC products are the mineralise skin finishes because they are so multi-use and beautiful! Baked mineral beauty powders that come in a natural finish or shades with shimmer. I have a few of the Mineralize Skin Finish Powders in natural shades for use as foundation/countouring/mattifiying/highlighting.
However, I only swatched the shimmery shades that I have which look great in the pan and have gazillions of glitter in them. Apply sparingly for a more subtle daytime look. They can be used as blush, highlighter, eyeshadow or on the body with a large powder brush for that extra glow.

From left to right - Soft & Gentle - Star Wonder - Light Year

MAC Mineralize Blush

From left to right - Dainty - Gleeful - Solar Ray - Supernova

Cream Colour Base and Cremeblend Blushes
I really prefer creams to powders in the daytime when trying to create a fresh, natural look. I think they look a lot more like an inner glow than makeup that is sitting on the skin, however, i do feel they require a bit more work than powders.

The first shade is a cream colour base in Pearl. It's one of my favourite products to use at the moment. When applied down the centre of the nose, on top of the cheeks and on the brow bone it gives a beautiful glow without the obviousness of some powder highlights.

After that the four swatches are So Sweet, So Easy and Lady Blush. The first second swatch of each shade is the colour when blended out. 

 MAC Powder Blush
Apologies for the blurriness of the first photo - the sun was so bright outside I had difficulty seeing the photo playback.

From left to right - Frankly Scarlett - Mocha - Style - Salsa Rose (pro)

My favourite colour here is Style but it hardly shows on my NW25 skin.

MAC Sheertone Powder Blush

Sunbasque - Gingerly - Peaches - Pinch O' Peach

I usually apply a natural colour blush such a Peaches all over the cheeks and then a small amount of Pinch O' Peach on the apples of the cheeks for a pop of colour.

That's all I have time to post today. Plenty more to come.

MAC Swatches

Here I am going to do a series of posts featuring swatches of some of my MAC Makeup. I find online swatches really helpful when choosing what to buy. I have a lot of MAC eyeshadows but I'm not going to swatch those until I've got them organised and am happy with the palettes.

MAC Marilyn Monroe Collection

Rumour on the online grapevine is that MAC are to release a Marilyn Monroe Collection of over 30 limited edition pieces! MAC are in partnership with Authentic Brands Group. With Marilyn's look so iconic and timelessly beautiful, I will definitely be queuing in line to get my hands on some of the pieces. Theres no pictures been released yet, but i did find a few blogs/fashion/beauty sites that listed the products. http://www.specktra.net/t/180132/mac-marilyn-monroe-collection-fall-2012 The Collection should be released in October 2012.

The above picture is a look I did inspired by Marilyn a little while back. I actually used one of Kevyn Aucoin's books. I think it was from Making Faces and the look was called "The Bombshell". His books really are amazing, and I think it's brilliant how little product he uses to create so many different "faces". Here, I am wearing all products by MAC. For Marilyn, I think MACs number 7 lashes and russian red lipstick are great. MSF in medium and a light dusting of blush in salsa rose. 

I think the Marilyn Collection by MAC is going to be great. I think a lot of the pieces are going to be brilliant to use for the Makeup I do for the show, as I think circus makeup really should be glamourous, hollywood, las vegas showgirl - with dramatic eyes and bright lips!

Cwmbran

What is that?
What?
That great big ball of light thats shining up in the sky?
Can it be? Can it really be?
THE SUN?!

Yes, people of south wales, the sun really is shining! And I have two days off to enjoy the beautiful weather! I'm currently in Cwmbran, and on Sunday night Keelan and I went to watch the new Batman movie. Seriously, I think it's the best film I've seen so far this year. It was very long, but very good and had a brilliant twist at the end.

I got a big haul of MAC makeup last week so today I'm going to try to get some swatches up. I'll probably stick to blush and lip glasses as I'm ordering a bit more makeup later on and want to get my eyeshadows organised and add a few more lipsticks before I swatch those. I was working hard last week so didn't have chance to do it. I should have the rest of my new stuff by mid week so will probably do the lipstick and e/s swatches on Thursday.

At the moment I am really loving the Heavenly Creatures Collection. All the shades are so amazing!

I also ordered a few items that were still available from the Hey! Sailor Collection. With some naval inspiration I did a bit of sea worthy nail art to match. I used a red polish as a base then used colours from the Rio nail art kits to decorate.

Ahoy there!

Also, another quick nail art picture, and a great idea if you fancy getting crafty - A few weeks ago whilst I was in Cardiff, I went to the River Island summer sale and got loads of great bargains. I bought a lot of embellished tops and skirts. I removed the little plastic bags that have spare beads/sequins in and used them to decorate my nails.

I used a Chanel peachy colour polish and a Models Own orangey/red colour and then used the sequins and a few gems I already had to decorate. 

RAAWRRR nails!

We just arrived in the South Wales town of Merthyr Tydfil last night. We have two days off, so this morning, after I finished my two hours in the Booking Office, I headed into the Town Centre. After getting a little bit lost and driving around for twenty minutes I eventually found the car park and walked into the main high street. Its not such a big town centre. There are lots of small shops and a small market. I've been wanting some nail art pens for a while now and went to Argos where i purchased two Rio Proffesional Nail Art Kits. One in Pastel and the other in Neon. They were £25.49 each and you get 8 colours in each. Each bottle has a double ended application with a fine line brush and a detailing pen tip. You also get a full bodied nail brush, glitter and a pack of nail rhinestone jewels.

I couldn't wait to get these colours home and try them out! I had a quick google of "tropical nail art" to find some summer themed inspiration and found this design at sharihearts blog. Have a look at it to get a step by step tutorial!

Heres a photo of my attempt at the design.

Using two shades from the neon collection and one from the pastels I applied the base colours to my nail, then after it dried I created the black tiger stripes using the fine line brush in the black polish. Then I applied the clear top coat to protect them. 

I keep my nails short as I suffer from eczema and this helps to reduce scratching but nice bright nails keep me feeling like a girly girl!

Here are all 16 colours from the two collections.

Roll Up! Roll Up!

Ok, so here its goes for my first post!

I'm Candice, and I'm 20. I travel up and down the UK with a Circus. I was born in Warrington, Cheshire and lived there most of my life until I moved to North Wales. A few years ago, I upped sticks from small town life and joined the Circus to work and live! I share a home with my amazing boyfriend, Keelan.

My interests are reading, films, jewellery, fashion, tattoos, nail art, eating but not cooking, dancing, circus arts and musical theatre!

Doing makeup is a really big passion of mine. I mainly use MAC Cosmetics for all the looks I do. Working in the Circus has really given me the opportunity to be creative with some really dramatic looks.

I suppose I mainly want to share with you my thoughts on the places that I visit and the places to eat and shop there, but posts on my interests will definitely become part and parcel. I will be posting a lot about makeup, with swatches of lots of products. I think its great when buying online to really research the products and online swatches/reviews are so helpful!

Thats all for now I think.

Cheers to the beginning!

Candice

This is Me at New Year, with Keelan, my boyfriend.

Here is a photo of the big top part way through being built up.

This is an amazing picture of Keelan's dad, Richard, when he was just a boy. Washing the elephants. There is no longer any animals in this circus, but its a lovely picture.