Temptalia

MAC Art Supplies Collection: Overall Review & Round-up

Christine — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 23:10:18 +0000

Lipstain Markers: A Classic, Full of Flare, Modern Mocha, Point of View,
Purposefully Red, Runway Ripened, Stylesetter, Sunset, Tomorrow’s Coral

MAC Art Supplies Collection: Overall Review & Round-up

OVERALL, Art Supplies is either totally up your alley or something you can easily skip. It’s not really a must-have collection, but it offers some nice pieces and some not-so-fabulous pieces.

The Pearlglide Eyeliners were my favorite part of the launch. They’re all fabulously pigmented and the shade range is excellent. There are a few similar-to shades, but if you’ve missed out on previous Pearlglide launches, they’re nice to pick up. The formula on them is awesome: soft, smooth, and intense color pay off. On me, they wear all day without budging, smudging, or fading. (Note: as far as I have heard, these are not waterline safe.)

No matter how hard I try to (or want to!) love the Lipstain Markers, I just can’t! Shade-wise, I really loved the color of Full of Flare, Purposefully Red, and Stylesetter. These went on very intensely and evenly. If you don’t mind wearing your stain with lip balm or a gloss on top (or just plan to use it as a lipstick base), then those are some shades to consider.

The Lipstain Markers are much, much more wearable when paired with other products–whether you use a balm, gloss, or lipstick on top, the additional product helps keep your lips from dehydrating with just the stain on them. It also helps to keep the stain on and from rubbing off. Purposefully Red is particularly nice for those who love the look of red lips but not the maintenance–the stain itself seems superior to the other shades, too, and a little balm or gloss will make it work.

I think the Greasepaint Sticks are a fun concept, but the ultra dark color range is almost overdone. When I use darker bases, I find that many will “eat” any color you put on top, so I just don’t see the need to own eight different dark bases. They are all smooth and pigmented, so you can’t go wrong with any of the shades. Slick Black is a great solid black eyeliner or base, but if you already own several, you may find it redundant.

Temptalia’s Recommendations

Must-haves: Below Ground & Zinc Zone Greasepaint Sticks; Purposefully Red Lipstain Marker; Black Line, Designer Purple, & Undercurrent Pearlglide Eye Liners

Nice-to-haves: Greengrease & Dirty Greasepaint Sticks; Full of Flare & Stylesetter Lipstain Markers; Almost Noir, Petrol Blue, & Undercurrent Pearlglide Eye Liners

Skip: Modern Mocha Lipstain Marker

Skip if you have…

Greasepaint Sticks: Charred Mauve if you have V, Uniformly Blue if you have B, Slick Black if you have Blacktrack (Fluidline)

Pearlglide Eyeliners: Almost Noir if you have Miss Fortune (LE); Petrol Blue if you have Fly-by-blu (LE)

Photos, Reviews, & Swatches

What are your must-haves? What are you skipping?

Check out some photo-fun I had with Art Supplies…

Pearlglide Eyeliners: Black Line, Undercurrent, Industrial,
Petrol Blue, Almost Noir, Designer Purple

Pearlglide Eyeliners: Designer Purple, Almost Noir,
Petrol Blue, Industrial, Undercurrent, Black Line

Pearlglide Eyeliners: Black Line, Undercurrent, Industrial,
Petrol Blue, Almost Noir, Designer Purple

Lipstain Markers: A Classic, Full of Flare, Modern Mocha, Point of View,
Purposefully Red, Runway Ripened, Stylesetter, Sunset, Tomorrow’s Coral

Lipstain Markers: A Classic, Full of Flare, Modern Mocha, Point of View,
Purposefully Red, Runway Ripened, Stylesetter

Lipstain Markers: Modern Mocha, Point of View, Purposefully Red, Runway Ripened,
Stylesetter, Sunset, Tomorrow’s Coral

Lipstain Markers: A Classic, Full of Flare, Modern Mocha, Point of View,
Purposefully Red, Runway Ripened, Stylesetter, Sunset, Tomorrow’s Coral

MAC Art Supplies Collection: Lipstain Markers Review, Photos, Swatches

Christine — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 15:20:08 +0000

Lipstain Markers: A Classic, Full of Flare, Modern Mocha, Point of View,
Purposefully Red, Runway Ripened, Stylesetter, Sunset, Tomorrow’s Coral

MAC Art Supplies Collection: Pro Longwear Lipstain Markers Review, Photos, Swatches

There are nine new and limited edition shades of Pro Longwear Lipstain Marker ($16.00) in MAC’s Art Supplies Collection. I really, really wanted to love these–I have been wanting a good lip stain forever–a superb formula in various shades, not just one great shade (e.g. Benetint). I was most excited for the Lipstain Markers when I first read about Art Supplies, but they just didn’t work well for me.

Update @ 4/1: Reviews, photos, & swatches for ALL shades now available. Enjoy!

Pro Longwear Lipstain Marker ($16.00)

Full of Flare is a brightened coral with a tinge of orange-red in it. Probably one of the loveliest shades of the five I’ve tried so far!
Runway Ripened is a raspberry-ish red, but it’s still fairly red. It gives good coverage and applies evenly.
Modern Mocha is slightly reddened coffee brown. It’s not the most flattering color on my skin tone, but I could see some deeper skin tones using it for a natural lip tint.
Point of View is a darker and redder version of Modern Mocha. It’s a rasberry-ish brown.
Purposefully Red is a vibrant cherry red. I think this and Full of Flare are the best bang-for-your-buck colors of the nine. If you love red but hate reapplying, bleeding, etc., Purposefully Red might be worth trying.
Sunset is a darkened, slightly reddish, coral. This would look nice on both cool tones and deeper skin tones, because it’s not an overtly warm coral, which isn’t always easy to find.
Tomorrow’s Coral is a rich red with only a smidgen of coral in it. It’s definitely redder than I anticipated–I don’t think I’d have even picked up on any coral tones to it if it wasn’t for the name!
Stylesetter is a brightened pink with blue undertones. Reminded me a bit of Impassioned, perhaps, but more blue-based.
A Classic is a muted red–significantly lighter/less bold in comparison to Tomorrow’s Coral.

The good: The color applies quite evenly from the marker tip. I didn’t experience problems getting the color to apply evenly onto my lips. The stain will also last for hours if you don’t eat or drink (sounds like lipstick/gloss, eh?) and doesn’t come off on skin (or someone else’s lips…). You can layer a lip balm on top to keep it from looking so dry without disturbing the color itself as well. I also didn’t find that the lip stain would bleed on my lips, which is always a good thing!

You can wear the lip stain as a way to add more color or deepen color of your lipglosses and lipsticks. They seem to work and look best when layered underneath something, rather than worn alone, which is kind of how I like to wear my lip stains–just a shift in natural lip color that looks exactly natural, no heavy gloss, no sheen, no shimmer, no weight. To use it as a layering product, it acts a lot like a lip pencil or lip liner.

The bad: If you have dry, cracked, peeling, or otherwise imperfect lips, these are going to be a pain in the behind to use. I don’t consider myself to have any lip issues, and I even made sure to exfoliate promptly before applying these, but they are brutal on my lips. They’re incredibly unforgiving and will accentuate any dryness on your lips. If you wear a lip stain, make sure to exfoliate lips and moisturize well beforehand so that lips are hydrated before applying the stain on top. You may want to layer clear lip balm or a gloss on top to keep lips from drying out during the day as well.

Like other stains, the color will also have a tendency to deposit more in lip lines, but the effect of this isn’t noticeable until after two or three hours of wear when the stain starts to fade a bit. I’m not sure if perhaps my lips are more sensitive than others, but I found the marker tip to be more abrasive than I’d expect in a lip product. It really does feel like a regular marker on the lips–it’s not like sandpaper, but it’s not like a sponge-tip lipgloss wand either. It made my lips tingle and feel a bit irritated for about twenty minutes after application.

I also found that these stains wore off significantly when drinking or eating. I actually brushed my teeth wearing one of these, and it was almost completely gone. It’s surprisingly easy to remove, but that’s not exactly why you’d opt for a stain, is it? I did several wear tests since receiving these on Friday morning, and I did wear tests with two of the three shades I currently have. I wore Tomorrow’s Coral while sleeping (approximately eight hours total), which allowed me to wear it without eating/drinking. I didn’t wake up with perfectly stained lips, but there was still a good amount of color left–too bad my lips looked like raisins left out in the sun to further dry out! I also wore Stylesetter for another eight-hour test, but during the day, to see how it would survive eating/drinking–it didn’t. I’d say about 80% of it disappeared by the time I had finished lunch.

They smell like vanilla, but they have kind of an odd taste. It’s not gross or chemical-y, but there’s something about it that’s a little unpleasant (but not wholly so). The packaging is cute and sleek, but they look 95% like CoverGirl’s Outlast Lipstains, which I thought was interesting.

My picks: None at this time. Based on lack of long-wearing power, I don’t think any of these shades are must-haves. I’ll be buying the other six shades to photograph and swatch so you can see what they look like when it launches in-store, so perhaps one of those shades will wow me enough to recommend it!

See photos & swatches!

Lipstain Markers: A Classic, Full of Flare, Modern Mocha, Point of View,
Purposefully Red, Runway Ripened, Stylesetter, Sunset, Tomorrow’s Coral

Lipstain Markers: A Classic, Full of Flare, Modern Mocha, Point of View,
Purposefully Red, Runway Ripened, Stylesetter

Lipstain Markers: Modern Mocha, Point of View, Purposefully Red, Runway Ripened,
Stylesetter, Sunset, Tomorrow’s Coral

Lipstain Markers: A Classic, Full of Flare, Modern Mocha, Point of View,
Purposefully Red, Runway Ripened, Stylesetter, Sunset, Tomorrow’s Coral

Lipstain Markers: A Classic, Full of Flare, Modern Mocha, Point of View,
Purposefully Red, Runway Ripened, Stylesetter, Sunset, Tomorrow’s Coral

Lipstain Markers: A Classic, Full of Flare, Modern Mocha, Point of View

Lipstain Markers: Modern Mocha, Point of View, Purposefully Red, Runway Ripened

Lipstain Markers: Runway Ripened, Stylesetter, Sunset, Tomorrow’s Coral

MAC Tomorrow’s Coral Lipstain Marker

Wear test: 8 hours (no eating/drinking–I just went to bed, ha!) with Tomorrow’s Coral

Keep lips from looking dry with some lip balm (applied over color after 8 hours)

MAC Stylesetter Lipstain Marker

MAC A Classic Lipstain Marker

MAC Full of Flare Lipstain Marker

MAC Runway Ripened Lipstain Marker

MAC Modern Mocha Lipstain Marker

MAC Point of View Lipstain Marker

MAC Purposefully Red Lipstain Marker

MAC Sunset Lipstain Marker

MAC Art Supplies Collection: Pearlglide Eye Liners Review, Photos, Swatches

Christine — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 15:06:43 +0000

Pearlglide Eyeliners: Black Line, Undercurrent, Industrial,
Petrol Blue, Almost Noir, Designer Purple

MAC Art Supplies Collection: Pearlglide Intense Eye Liners Review, Photos, Swatches

MAC Art Supplies Collection launches in-stores on April 1st (late April for international locations) and online March 30th. The collection includes eight new and limited edition shades of Greasepaint Sticks ($17.50), six new and limited edition shades of Pearlglide Intense Eye Liners ($14.50), and nine new and limited edition shades of Pro Longwear Lipstain Marker ($16.00).

Pearlglide Eye Liner ($14.50)

Almost Noir is a darkened burgundy purple with a slight red tone to it and gold and burgundy sparkle.
Designer Purple is a bright pop of violet with deeper violet and iridescent purple shimmer. Very pretty–most vibrant of the six!
Petrol Blue is a brightened navy blue with blue and light blue sparkle. I would say it is similar to Fly-by-Blu (but I don’t own it to do a swatch comparison, sorry!), perhaps a little brighter.
Black Line is a dark black base with a mix of gold and green-gold shimmer. It’s almost like Old Gold Pigment and a black eyeliner had a baby. I’m ALL over this one!
Undercurrent is a bluish-teal base with teal shimmer and sheen. So pretty and lovely… but I’m a sucker for teal, so really, are you surprised? ‘Cause I’m not!
Industrial is a high-shimmered silvered blue. It’s almost like a sky blue but with flecks of silver lining (I couldn’t resist) throughout.

The good: Smooth, soft eyeliner with rich, intense shades that glide on easily and don’t smudge or budge. They’re similar in smoothness/softness as Urban Decay 24/7 Eye Liners, Milani Liquif’Eye Liners, and L’Oreal HIP Chrome Eyeliners.

The bad: They’re limited edition and made of awesome, so it kind of sucks, but I’ve also never run out of an eyeliner, so I’m not (personally, at least) concerned about running out of these either. I have no other complaints about Pearlglide Eyeliners. Oh, wait — the line could use more shades? Sure, that’s “bad.” MAC continuously puts out Pearlglide liners and even new shades periodically, so they should just make these permanent already! (Much like Feline Kohl Power might as well be permanent… so much for my five backups!)

My picks: All? Black Line is the most unique of the three I’ve tried so far!

See photos & swatches!

Pearlglide Eyeliners: Black Line, Undercurrent, Industrial,
Petrol Blue, Almost Noir, Designer Purple

Pearlglide Eyeliners: Designer Purple, Almost Noir,
Petrol Blue, Industrial, Undercurrent, Black Line

Pearlglide Eyeliners: Black Line, Undercurrent, Industrial,
Petrol Blue, Almost Noir, Designer Purple

Pearlglide Eyeliners: Industrial, Undercurrent, Black Line

Pearlglide Eyeliners: Almost Noir, Petrol Blue

Pearlglide Eyeliners: Black Line, Undercurrent, Industrial

Pearlglide Eyeliners: Petrol Blue, Almost Noir, Designer Purple

MAC Art Supplies Collection: Greasepaint Sticks Review, Photos, Swatches

Christine — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 15:00:44 +0000

Greasepaint Sticks: Zinc Zone, Uniformly Blue, Slick Black, Greengrease,
Dirty, Charred Mauve, Brown Now, Below Ground

MAC Art Supplies Collection: Greasepaint Sticks Review, Photos, Swatches

Today, I’m going to review the new Greasepaint Sticks and (in a separate post) three of the six Pearlglide Intense Eye Liners. I’m going to mull over the Lipstain Markers until tomorrow, but I’ll give you my review of the three (of nine) shades I tried so far–so stay tuned!

Greasepaint Sticks ($17.50)

Below Ground is a soft bronzed chocolate brown with lighter bronze flecks. It reminded me of a lighter, less frosty version of Bronze eyeshadow. I liked this one a lot, because I felt like it was light enough to be used in lighter looks as well as darker looks.
Brown, Now is a burgundy-brown. I don’t know why it’s called Brown, Now, to be honest, because it’s pretty burgundy to me.
Charred Mauve is a cool-toned blue-based purple with soft blue-violet flecks/sheen. It is similar to V, but it’s not the same–it’s a darker, grayer version–but the two are close enough that you don’t need both.
Dirty is a taupe brown with multi-colored shimmer. Kind of cool how it has all different colors of shimmer in it.
Greengrease is a forest green over a blackened base. It has flecks of gold, blue, and green shimmer. I found this one to be the least pigmented of the eight, though you can layer to get a more opaque look.
Slick Black is a matte, all-black shade. It’s rich and dark. It’s not like the original Greasepaint Stick from Style Black, because the original Greasepaint Stick is a black base with flecks of blue and violet shimmer. It reminded me a lot of Blacktrack fluidline, though.
Uniformly Blue is a medium-dark navy blue over a blackened blue-gray base with flecks of blue shimmer/sheen. Compared to B, it is a darker version; Uniformly Blue has a blackened base that the blue shade sits over. It’s close enough, though, that unless you’re a huge fan of Greasepaint Sticks, you only need one of the two.
Zinc Zone is a gunmetal silver over a lightly blackened base with silver and black shimmer/sheen. This is a fun shade, and I think it would make a nice base for a very dramatic, near-black smoky eye.

The good: I loved the variety of the shades offered in the collection. There are eight to choose from, so you aren’t stuck with just one or two like in the past. On me, I find they wear quite well–no real budging, smudging, or transferring throughout the day. They’re very smooth, soft, and easy to apply without tugging on the eyelid too much.

They’ve also improved the scent/smell of the Greasepaint Sticks this time–which is huge. My previous Greasepaint Sticks have a funky scent that’s unpleasant, but I didn’t notice any scent on these (whereas the scent on the original shades is still overwhelming!). These might have the faintest scent if you’re particularly gifted in the smelling department, but I didn’t detect anything with my sniffer.

The bad: Even though a nice dark base can be useful, I don’t necessarily need eight different variations on the theme. I’ve always found that most darker bases eat color rather than enhance it, so you’re always left with some sort of darkened smoky eye. Personally, I find that they’re a bit too thick to use as eyeliner without having to do some clean-up after application with a cotton swab.

My picks: Below Ground, Brown Now, Greengrease, Zinc Zone

Skip if you have…: Charred Mauve if you have V, Uniformly Blue if you have B, Slick Black if you have Blacktrack (Fluidline)

How to Use Greasepaint Sticks

As an all-over eyeshadow base — think of them as darker versions of shadesticks
As a smudged out eyeliner — make sure to sharpen them (sharpener is found on the opposite end) so you don’t get too thick of a line
As a defined crease — draw it into the crease and then smudge with a brush and/or eyeshadow

See more photos & swatches!

Greasepaint Sticks: Zinc Zone, Uniformly Blue, Slick Black, Greengrease,
Dirty, Charred Mauve, Brown Now, Below Ground

Greasepaint Sticks: Zinc Zone, Uniformly Blue, Slick Black, Greengrease

Greasepaint Sticks: Dirty, Charred Mauve, Brown Now, Below Ground

Greasepaint Sticks: Below Ground, Brown Now, Charred Mauve

Greasepaint Sticks: Dirty, Greengrease, Slick Black

Greasepaint Sticks: Slick Black, Uniformly Blue, Zinc Zone

Style Black Greasepaint Stick vs. Slick Black

B vs. Uniformly Blue

V vs. Charred Mauve

Look: Going Green with Greengrease

Christine — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 10:19:59 +0000

Look: Going Green with Greengrease

You know I had to dig into the new MAC products… at least to get going… for a look! Happy Monday!

P.S. — Santal looks a little pinker on me today than it does usually, because I still had a bit of a CoverGirl lip stain lingering when I put it on!

P.P.S. — Can you believe I actually forgot to apply a highlighter? FOR SHAME!

You will need the following…

Eyes: MAC Soft Ochre Paint Pot (neutral beige base), MAC Greengrease Greasepaint Stick (forest green), MAC Bright Sunshine Eyeshadow (PRO) (sunshine yellow), MAC Lucky Green Eyeshadow (yellowed green), MAC Bio Green Eyeshadow (PRO) (grass green), MAC Bottle Green Eyeshadow (PRO) (forest green), MAC Black Line Pearlglide Eyeliner (black with gold shimmer), MAC Plushlash Mascara (black)
Face: Korres Tinted Moisturizer (Honey)
Cheeks: Benefit Sugarbomb Blush (peachy-pink)
Lips: Chanel Santal Rouge Allure Laque (peachy-coral)
Brushes: 226 (fluffy crease brush), 219 (pointed crease brush), 249 (flat, firm brush), 239 (fluffy shadow brush), 116 (dense blush brush)
Substitutes: N/A

For eyes, start by applying Soft Ochre paint pot as your eyeshadow base all over the eye area with the 249. Apply Greengrease greasepaint stick on the outer half of the lid, blending out with the 217. Using the 239, apply Bright Sunshine eyeshadow on the inner third of the eyelid. Next, apply Lucky Green eyeshadow on the middle third of the eyelid and lightly blend with the inner corner. Darken the outer third of the lid with Bio Green eyeshadow with the 239, gently brushing it into the lower crease. Lightly blend Atmosphere eyeshadow, with the 239, on the outer corner and lid. Add depth to the crease by applying Bottle Green eyeshadow with the 226 into the outer crease. Lightly tap and brush Bright Sunshine eyeshadow directly above the crease to soften. To finish the eyeshadow look, sweep Femme-fi eyeshadow as a highlighter on the brow bone. Bring everything together by applying Black Line eyeliner on the lower lash line and Lucky Green eyeshadow lightly patted below the lower lash line with the 219 brush. Finish by sweeping lashes with Plushlash mascara.

For cheeks, apply Sugarbomb blush to the apples of the cheeks and sweep upwards towards the temple with the 116.

For lips, apply Santal Rouge Allure Laque for a complementing lip.

Check out more photos!

MAC Art Supplies Collection — Sneak Peek

Christine — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 18:45:27 +0000

Zinc Zone, Uniformly Blue, Slick Black, Greengrease, Dirty, Charred Mauve, Brown Now, Below Ground

MAC Art Supplies Collection — Sneak Peek

Some Art Supplies’ samples just arrived this morning, and I’ll do a review and write-up of these later this afternoon, but I wanted to get you guys some photos and swatches ASAP! It’s not everything, mind you — there are a total of six Pearlglide shades and nine Lipstain Marker shades being released with the full collection.

See more photos & swatches!

Zinc Zone, Uniformly Blue, Slick Black, Greengrease, Dirty, Charred Mauve, Brown Now, Below Ground

MAC Greasepaint Sticks: Below Ground, Brown Now, Charred Mauve

Greasepaint Sticks: Dirty, Greengrease, Slick Black

Greasepaint Sticks: Slick Black, Uniformly Blue, Zinc Zone

MAC Pearlglide Eyeliners: Undercurrent, Industrial, Blackline

MAC Pearlglide Eyeliners: Black Line, Industrial, Undercurrent

A Classic, Stylesetter, Tomorrow’s Coral

Tomorrow’s Coral, Stylesetter, A Classic