I have a large amount of MAC products.  I fully admit to my addiction, and I enjoy it to the fullest.  Makeup is not just a hobby, but it is actually a job (you know, the blog, is now a semi-career that I’m carving out for myself) that I love and enjoy.  Needless to say, to function as an addict, I no doubt need to have an insane-crazy-OMG! kind of amount of makeup.  I’ve loved MAC since February 2005, just before Madame B launched.  I bought every single shadow from that launch, which was twice as many shadows as I had originally (Amber Lights, Bronze, Goldmine).

The beginning of my love affair with MAC began with the multitude of beautiful, pigmented products; both eyeshadows and pigments had stolen my heart.  I had never been into makeup prior to MAC; I didn’t even know what blending was when I started crushing on the brand!  I was eighteen, and makeup appealed to me on an entirely new level.  MAC does something no other brand had done to me:  it caught me, and it caught me good.

There is something about the folks over at marketing that just know how to draw you into the store and give you something that keeps you coming back.  I find so many are quick to fall for the brand once they’ve stopped in or bought a few products.  I personally feel that a lot of it is their price point, which falls above drugstore, but still below the majority of high end brands (like NARS and Urban Decay).  You can get the wonderful experience of talking to artists and playing with products before you purchase them, which you can’t get at most drugstores, but the prices aren’t outrageous (obviously, in comparison).  But anyway, they had me hook, line, and sinker from the get-go.

This post is ultimately photographs of my eyeshadow collection, which I keep in 15-pan palettes.  I do have a few pre-made quads as well as my staple smoky eye quad (containing Carbon, Casablanca, Ricepaper, and Vex) that are not photographed.  I recently depotted 34 eyeshadows (and I need to do some blushes, too), so I had to rearrange my palettes and thought now would be a great time to take photos!

Here are a few answers to questions I’m sure plenty of you have:

• How long?  I’ve been buying since February 2005–that’s over three years of “collecting” so-to-speak.  I didn’t get this much overnight!
• Do you buy everything?  No, no, no.  If I did, I would have four or five times as much, not to mention I would be homeless!  Over the years, I have swapped away shadows and products, so this has been very much an evolving collection.  I never buy for the sake of buying; I buy what I like, and at this point, I do try to avoid getting 10,000 dupes of the same color (aka Deep Truth and its many, many variations).
• Is this the biggest collection?  NO!  There are dozens of people who have posted photos of what they own, and what I own pales in comparison.  I have a decent amount, but many have much, much more.
• Why palettes?  When I do a look, I like to open up a palette with a color family in mind, e.g. green, and then I can look at all the greens and pick what I think will work the best.  I find this makes what I own much more accessible, in comparison to keeping shadows in their pots.  I also find that this presents a much easier storage solution that takes up less room than individual shadows.
• How can you travel then?  I have about four or five empty quads that I have available to take with me.  I usually go on short trips, so one or two quads is plenty.  In the event of a longer one, I might take all of my quads, or I might take a full 15-pan palette or two (picking and choosing select colors, of course). 
• Don’t you feel this is a waste of money/overboard?  No, not in the least.  This is my take on it:  makeup is my hobby of choice.  Most people have at least one hobby, if not several, and they pour their money into it.  Some like stamps, others are into crafts.  Not all hobbies cost the same, and some even are more like investments.  Makeup makes me happy, and I don’t buy more than I can afford.  It’s only a problem when it interferes with you living a normal, healthy, and happy life–like when you get into disastrous debt as a result. 

You can see close-ups of the seven palettes (updated with names!)…

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A reader recently asked me to do a post of what I keep my shower caddy, and I’ve been meaning to do a post like that for awhile now, so what better incentive?

To be honest, I’m currently operating using all available tub-rim space possible, rather than a shower caddy. Partially because we nixed our previous one when we moved to the new apartment, and partially because I can’t stomach $20 for a new one (and thus have been waiting to snag one at a discount store, but haven’t gotten around to it yet). But even so, I’ve never been able to cram all my shower goodies into a single caddy.

So below you will find all of the buddies I currently keep in my shower.  If there’s a link, that means I’ve done a full review on the product in the past, and you can read it by clicking the link!

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Hey all! You’ll notice in the previous two posts, there are still photos of both my MAC and non-MAC stashes. I also uploaded two videos to coincide with the still photos, too. I’ve been hit with a nice bout of allergies today, so my voice may sound a bit gritty (well, grittier than usual).

Video footage of my MAC beauty stash…

Video footage of my non-MAC beauty stash…

I meant to take these photos ages ago, because I finally organized everything back in March, but alas, time is precious and I wasn’t able to find a chunk of time until this afternoon! This post contains photos and brief descriptions of my MAC Cosmetics products.

Check out all of the photos… Continue reading »

I meant to take these photos ages ago, because I finally organized everything back in March, but alas, time is precious and I wasn’t able to find a chunk of time until this afternoon!  This post contains photos and brief descriptions of my non-MAC beauty products. 

Just an aside–I just sifted through and donated 52 pounds of beauty products to friends, family, and my local battered women’s shelter (none of which is pictured here).  I definitely urge you to give to your local shelters whenever you have new or unused personal care products!

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Confessions of a Beauty Addict:  When your collection looms before you, growing by leaps and bounds, and you have no self-control to stop it from exploding, that is when you know you are a beauty addict.  I spent tonight going through boxes of products I hadn’t yet organized to come up with a better system than a bunch of cardboard boxes scattered about my living room!  I didn’t include a few things, like my MAC eyeshadow/blush palettes and regular, everyday products since they’re totally strewn all over my bathroom countertop, but there’s only so much one girl can organize in one night!

We all know I use a TV stand/dining cabinet as my main makeup storage, so some of this is old, but I did have to find homes for a whole lotta stuff… which means plenty of new things to see.

Share your photos of your collection!  Send images to us, or simply link to them in the comments.

Check out my storage solution to the madness… Continue reading »

What would your perfect mascara do?  Would it give you a curl to die for?  Lashes so long they reached your brows? 

This is my collection as it stands September 1st, 2007. Obviously with SO many huge collections coming out, it’s likely to grow quite a bit in the next few months, lol!

Just as an “FYI” type introduction to my collection, please realize that I have been a huge MAC Cosmetics fan since late 2004, so it isn’t as if I acquired everything in a matter of a few days. I’ve also purged my collection from time to time, which is why there is an awful lot of limited edition/discontinued products versus products from the permanent line. I’m so busy learning and using newer products that I simply end up without much time for most of the permanent products!

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High quality stock photography of various MAC makeup items. Click on small image to view larger image (1-3mb). These are not for commercial use, only personal use. Copyright belongs to Temptalia.com, as well as all rights and ownership.
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My collection post as it stands today… mind you, I sold a bunch of my makeup a month or two ago, so this is probably 3/4 or 2/3 of what I had before. It’s not a huge collection compared to some, but it’s a good sized one for me. :)

Just a warning, it’s very, very picture heavy!

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