My Current Favourites - Part 1 : Make Up

As it's been a long time since I last blogged frequently, I thought I'd put together a couple of posts about the products I currently use the most. I'm starting off with make up and will also show you some of my nail related favourites.

First up is Chantecaille White Tiger powder which is just possibly the most luxurious face powder you can find. In the picture below it looks a little sad as the gorgeous picture's almost completely disappeared, but you can see a picture of how it used to look here (need to scroll down a little). I love this powder, it's really nice, well, I guess it had better be anyway since it cost £88! It appears to have been discontinued now, which is a shame, but luckily I have a few back ups of it.

While still on the subject of face powder, my favourite brush to apply it with has been the Guerlain Meteorites brush. This particular one is an older, limited edition one, but they're pretty much all the same except for their colour.

See what else I've been loving lately after the jump!

Mac Tropical Taboo Mineralize Collection for Summer 2013 Promo Pictures!

Finally we have promo pictures of the upcoming Mac Tropical Taboo collection. I was loving it before I saw the pictures, but I'm loving it even more so!

Due to be released in July in the US (and I'm guessing August in the UK), here are the collection details:

Mineralize Lipsticks

• Lady at Play – Mid-tone cool tangerine
• Divine Choice – Mid-tone cool pink cream
• Midnight Mambo – Intense violet
• Luxe Naturale – Light beige cream
• Glamour Era – Mid-tone warm brown frost

Cremesheen Glass

• Calypso Beat –Pale neutral pink
• Fever Isle – Bright red coral
• Japanese Spring – Pale mid-tone pink
• Narcissus – Mid-tone eggplant

Lip Pencil

• Hip ‘n’ Happy – Mid-tone blue pink
• Have to Have It – Soft warm beige
• Heroine – Bright purple
• Ablaze – Bright apricot

Mineralize Skinfinish

• Adored – Coral with light beige pearlized pigments
• Rio – Bronze with bright pink pearlized pigments
• Lust – Pale pink with cranberry pearlized pigments
• Soft ‘n Gentle (permanent) – Gilded peach bronze
• Gold Deposit (permanent) – Soft reflective golden bronze

Mineralize Blush

• Sweet Samba –Dark pink with tan pearlized pigments
• Exotic Ember – Orange with bronze pearlized pigments
• Simmer – Burnt rose with peach/gold pearlized pigments

Mineralize Eyeshadow

• Dare to Bare – Light cream with gold pearlized pigments
• Carribean – Rose with pink and red pearlized pigments
• Cha-Cha-Cha – Deep blue green with green pearlized pigments
• Time to Tango – Lavendar with silver pearlized pigments
• Bossa Blue – Royal blue with brown pearlized pigments
• Tropica – Silver blue with purple pearlize pigments

Kohl Power Eye Pencil

• Feline – Rich Black
• Orpheus – Intense black with gold pearlized pigments

Brush

• 187 Brush – Duo fibre face brush
• 159 Brush – Duo fibre face brush
• 287 Brush – Duo fibre eyeshadow brush

In Extreme Dimension Lash

• Black

See lots more promo and individual product pictures after the jump!

Want It! Mac Tropical Taboo Mineralize Collection for Summer 2013

I was so excited to find out about Mac's upcoming mineralize collection, I had to share the news with you straight away! I love mineralize products and this collection has a lot of new goodies for me to look forward to.I'm mostly interested in the mineralize skinfinishes, blushes and eyeshadows, but there are also some mineralize lipsticks, cremesheen glasses, lip pencils and other goodies included in this collection.

Not actual promo picture

Due to be released in July in the US (and I'm guessing August in the UK), here are the collection details:

Mineralize Lipsticks

• Lady at Play – Mid-tone cool tangerine
• Divine Choice – Mid-tone cool pink cream
• Midnight Mambo –Intense violet
• Luxe Naturale – Light beige cream
• Glamour Era – Mid-tone warm brown frost

Cremesheen Glass

• Calypso Beat –Pale neutral pink
• Fever Isle – Bright red coral
• Japanese Spring - Pale mid-tone pink
• Narcissus – Mid-tone eggplant

Lip Pencil

• Hip ‘n’ Happy – Mid-tone blue pink
• Have to Have It – Soft warm beige
• Heroine – Bright purple
• Ablaze – Bright apricot

Mineralize Skinfinish

• Adored – Coral with light beige pearlized pigments
• Rio – Bronze with bright pink pearlized pigments
• Lust – Pale pink with cranberry pearlized pigments
• Soft ‘n Gentle (permanent) – Gilded peach bronze
• Gold Deposit (permanent) – Soft reflective golden bronze

Mineralize Blush

• Sweet Samba –Dark pink with tan pearlized pigments
• Exotic Ember – Orange with bronze pearlized pigments
• Simmer- Burnt rose with peach/gold pearlized pigments

Mineralize Eyeshadow

• Dare to Bare – Light cream with gold pearlized pigments
• Carribean –Rose with pink and red pearlized pigments
• Cha-Cha-Cha – Deep blue green with green pearlized pigments
• Time to Tango- Lavendar with silver pearlized pigments
• Bossa Blue – Royal blue with brown pearlized pigments
• Tropica - Silver blue with purple pearlize pigments

Kohl Power Eye Pencil

• Feline – Rich Black
• Orpheus – Intense black with gold pearlized pigments

Brush

• 187 Brush – Duo fibre face brush
• 159 Brush - Duo fibre face brush
• 287 Brush - Duo fibre eyeshadow brush

In Extreme Dimension Lash

• Black

Credit goes to Maneater Makeup

Mac Amber Glow Mineralize Blush Review and Swatches

Another item I managed to pick up from Mac's latest collection, Apres Chic is Amber Glow mineralize blush. This is in fact the only cheek product I got (other than Stereo Rose which I haven't picked up from House of Fraser yet) from the collection because I already own Gentle and didn't like the look of Alpine Bronze (it was too brown for my liking).

Amber Glow is described by Mac as "warm peach". It is a very light peachy colour with very fine subtle shimmer. On me it hardly shows up as a blush and I'm quite pale (Guerlain foundation shade 02) in the winter, so this is definitely more of a highlighter, unless you are very pale or pack it on. I did two layers and it still hardly gave me any colour. It's very pretty though and it's not a colour I own, or certainly don't recall owning. It's very finely milled and smooth, goes on and blends out really nicely. It doesn't look ashy at all, so it would probably work okay on darker, warmer skintones. I don't think this is a must have product, but it's nice and gives a really lovely natural looking sheen.

Mac mineralize blushes cost £19 and you get 3.2 g product. Amber Glow and Alpine Bronze are limited edition colours and seem to be selling fast, Amber Glow is showing as sold out on the Debenhams and House of Fraser websites but is still in stock on the Mac website.

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

Mac Apres Chic Collection Mineralize Eyeshadows Review and Swatches

It's taken me ages to finally get my hands on the new Mac mineralize eyeshadows. The collection actually launched 2 weeks ago on the Mac website and counters, but I was waiting for Debenhams or House of Fraser to put the collection up, so I can collect some loyalty points. Eventually I managed to order from Debenhams, only to receive an e-mail the following day that some of the items couldn't be fulfilled because they were out of stock, even though 2 of them WERE still in stock up until a couple of days ago and Stereo Rose MSF was definitely in stock at the time of order and in fact some Specktra friends who ordered after I did got theirs. On top of it all my order only arrived on Tuesday, 6 days after I placed it, and of course I missed the postman, so had to pick it up yesterday. I managed to buy the two missing items in Selfridges last week and I have now ordered Stereo Rose from House of Fraser, just need to go and pick it up. I'm seriously not happy with Debenhams, but I will stop ranting about them now, because there are more interesting things to talk about, like the new Mac mineralize eyeshadows!

There are 5 new limited edition shades in the Apres Chic collection: Ice, Fireside, Frost At Midnight, Winter Pursuit and Silver Birch. They are all a mix of 2 shades, Ice is described by Mac as "light peach base with white veining", Fireside is "deep plum with grey veining", Frost At Midnight is "deep blue/grey base with purple veining", Winter Pursuit is "copper base with grey veining" and Silver Birch is "grey base with peach veining". My Fireside is almost a duo rather than a mix, it has a plum half and a brown with green duochrome. The eyeshadows are all shimmery, with Fireside being the least, and Ice being the most shimmery, in fact that one is properly glittery. The glitter is very fine though and I didn't experience fallout from it, so it's not necessarily a bad thing. I found Frost At Midnight to be the hardest, least pigmented of the bunch, I don't know if mine's a dud or they're all like that, but it doesn't have a very good colour payoff and it feels rather hard, not as buttery as some of the other shades. I haven't tried them wet yet, only swatched and used them dry, but of course mineralize eyeshadows can be used wet for a more intense, smooth colour.

Mac mineralize eyeshadows cost £16.50 and you get 2.2 g product for your money. Although these shades are limited edition, they are still all available.

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

Laura Geller Blush n Brighten in Bora Bora Review and Swatches

I was going to have this review up last night, but I had such a hectic day, I was pooped by 8 pm, sorry. Nowadays I try to do at least one post a day, but some days it's just not possible with 3 children and housework, shopping, other commitments.

Anyway, here we have another lovely blush form Laura Geller, a light peachy pink colour with subtle shimmer called Bora Bora. Once again, it's a baked formula which I really like, it's very similar to the Mac mineralize blushes. This one doesn't have any veining, only some suble light gold shimmer. Very soft, but not too powdery, pretty pigmented and despite it being quite a light colour, it still shows up very well on my skin. It gives a nice natural flush and the shimmer isn't too noticable, so it's a very wearable shade for lighter skin tones.

This one is a slightly smaller size from the usual Laura Geller blush size which is normally 9 g, but I guess that's probably way more blush than you would need in one colour anyway. This one is a 6.5 g size, which is about average. The blush comes in the usual black compact with half a mirror in the lid (the other half is clear plastic, so you can see the colour). I believe this was part of the Glow-n-Behold collection, but I bought it separately from eBay. I paid around £11 including postage which is not too bad, although I have actually seen it for quite a bit less too. 

See more pictures including swatches and a look I did with this blush after the jump!

My Mac Heavenly Creature Haul Part 3 - Eyeshadows

Here's the final part of my Mac Heavenly Creature haul, this time it's the mineralize eyeshadows. You may know that I'm a massive fan of them and own almost every one Mac has released. (I didn't get two of the Chen Man ones that were exact dupes of some colours that were released earlier, but that's all.) I did a post on my Mac mineralize eyeshadow stash a while ago, but of course I have even more now. And of course I had to buy all 9 eyeshadows in the Heavenly Creature collection too.

I have to add that I have not used them all yet, but I have swatched them and they all seem very nice. Some are more shimmery than others (Invincible Light in particular is rather shimmery and frosty), but some are more satiny than anything. The colour payoff is very good, they are all really nicely pigmented. The ones I wore stayed on without creasing and fading for 10+ hours and there was only very mininmal fallout and that was only during application which is not a big deal for me at all.

The beauty of these mineralized eyeshadows is that you get 3 different colours swirled into one pot and they can create multidimensional colours, and also of course you can use them separately if you get large enough patches. Some of mine have really nice large patches, especially my Water with the big yellow patch in the middle and I've been able to use the separate colours in my Neo Nebula and Bright Moon as well. Of course the swirls also mean they are really pretty and nice to look at.

These Mac mineralize eyeshadows cost £16.50 and you get 2 g which is a bit smaller than some other mineralize eyeshadows (normally 2.2 g), but still rather large and they will last you absolutely forever.

See lots more pictures including swatches and a look I did, after the jump!

My Mac Heavenly Creature Haul Part 2 - Blushes

Here's part 2 of my Mac Heavenly Creature haul, this time it's the mineralize blushes. Don't worry this won't be such a long post as the skinfinishes' was, there are only 4 I've purchased (although I am thinking about going back for a back up for Solar Ray).

The collection includes 4 mineralize blushes, all of them come with a swirl pattern and contain 2 different colours. Some are again more shimmery than others, some just give you a nice sheen. None of them are metallic looking on the skin and all of them are wonderfully pigmented. I have included a picture at the bottom of the post of me wearing Supernova, the bright pink one, and boy it is very bright and extremely easy to overdo. Also Stratus is a very dark shade and need a very light hand if you are on the paler side.

My current favourite is Solar Ray, which is the lightest colour, it's a lovely peachy-pink with gold swirls. The gold is quite shimmery, but the overall effect is rather lovely. Ring Of Saturn is a mix of peachy pink and terracotta and it's another beautiful shade. That one isn't shimmery at all, it just had a lovely sheen. All of the blushes are very smooth and very pigmented.

Mac Mineralize Blushes cost £19 and you get 3.2 g which is once again slightly less than the usual 3.5 g weight. Have you picked up any of these shades? Which one is your favourite?

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

My Mac Heavenly Creature Haul Part 1 - Skinfinishes

Finally, the long awaited Mac collection, Heavenly Creature has launched in the UK and I have a lot of goodies to show you. I was very excited about all the mineralize products and ended up purchasing all of them, so I will do this haul post in 3 parts. Apart from the mineralize make up, I also bought a couple of tubes of Volcanic Ash Exfoliator which I won't be reviewing just now, but will hopefully get around to doing so sometime soon. So many products, so little time...

First off, here are the Mineralize Skinfinishes (or MSFs) I bought. There were 4 of them launched in this collection: Light Year, Star Wonder, Center Of The Universe and Earthshine. As I wanted to make sure I ended up with the ones I really wanted, as well as ordering from Debenhams as soon as the collection launched, I also picked up one of each MSF with patterns I really wanted. So all in all I ended up with 8 of them. I was actually very lucky in that the MSFs Debenhams sent me are also very much the colours/swirls I was after, but slightly different from the ones I picked up.

In the picture above the MSFs I picked out myself are in the top row and the ones I ordered from Debenhams are in the bottom row. I particularly wanted a Star Wonder with lots of purple and an Earthshine with very little burgundy. Out of the four Light Year is definitely my favourite, even though I thought it would be Star Wonder. I find Light Year less metallic looking on the skin and it's such a gorgeous peachy pink colour. Eartshine is slightly too dark for me to use as a blush (it looks dirty on my cheeks), but I will find a way of using it for sure. I have not worn Center Of The Universe yet, but it's a nice orange/coral blush and will no doubt work well for my skintone.

The MSFs are all very smooth, not gritty or glittery at all. Yes, there's some shimmer, some finer than other, and some of them, in perticular Star Wonder and Earthshine are quite metallic. I've found Light Year the smoothest and less shimmery. It of course depends on the exact pattern and combination of shades within each MSFs. 

Mac Mineralize Skinfinishes cost £21.50 and you get 7 grams which is actually quite a bit less than the usual weight of MSFs, they are normally 9 or 10 g, not sure why the difference. Have you picked up anything from this collection? Have you got a favourite? Let me know in the comments!

See LOTS more pictures including swatches after the jump!

Mac Heavenly Creature Mineralize Collection July 2012 Promo Pictures and Details

Finally! The Mac mineralize collection I've been waiting for is almost here and now I have the full details and promo pictures to share with you. As a massive mineralize fan, I will be buying every mineralize product from the collection. I am also considering buying a few more of the Volcanic Ash Exfoliators as I really like them, but I still have a good few back ups from two years ago, so we'll see.

I love this promo picture with the products looking like planets, don't you? Will you be getting anything from this collection?

Find out all the details about the collection and see loads more promo pictures after the jump!

FOTD: Shimmering Mint + My New Chanel Amour Glossimer

I blogged about the Maybelline Color Tattoo eyeshadow in Edgy Emerald a few days ago and now it's time to show you the look I did with it which actually got a few compliments. Amazingly too neither of the mineralize eyeshadows had any fallout, the Maybelline shadow held onto them perfectly and there was no creasing at all whatsoever.

I used the following products to create this look:

Eyes:

Maybelline Color Tattoo 24hr Eyeshadow in Edgy Emerald all over lid
Mac mineralize eyeshadow in Shimmermint all over the lid
Mac mineralize eyeshadow in Smutty Green in the outer corner and crease
Mac mineralize eyeshadow in Snow Season on browbone to highlight
Gosh Velvet Touch Waterproof Eyeliner in Cool Mint on lower lashline
Mac Haute & Naughty mascara in Black (I think)
Mac Brow Set in Show Off

Face:

Guerlain Parure Aqua foundation in 02 Beige Clair
Mac Prep + Prime Transparent Finishing Powder
Mac Northern Light mineralize skinfinish on cheeks

Lips:

Chanel Glossimer in 166 Amour

See more pictures after the jump!

Want It: Mac Heavenly Creature Mineralize Collection For Summer 2012

As you know, I love my mineralized make up, so of course I am once again excited about Mac's annual summer mineralize collection. I haven't got any pictures to show you yet, but hopefully I will soon. In the meantime, here are the collection details courtesy of Specktra.

Lipstick

 

Pleasureseeker - Creamy peach (Glaze) (repromote)

Cut a Caper - Mid-tone peachy pink (Lustre) (repromote)

Venus - Sheer yellow pink with pearlized pigments (Lustre)

Fire Sign - Red-pink (Lustre)

Cusp of Dawn - Beige pink (Lustre)

Cremesheen Glass

Celestial Kiss - Pale cool peach

Strictly Plutonic - Mid-tone pink brown

Meteoric - Mid-tone vibrant coral

Astral - Bright yellow pink

Galaxy Rose - Mid-tone violet pink

Mineralize Skinfinish

Earthshine - Tarnished bronze with gold pearlized pigments and pink reflects

Light Year - Peachy pink with gold shimmer

Star Wonder - Plumy pink with multi-dimensional pearlized pigments

Center of the Universe - Coral with gold shimmer

Mineralize Blush

Solar Ray - Peach and gold melange

Ring of Saturn - Terracotta and gold melange

Stratus - Amethyst and golden brown melange

Supernova - Magenta and burnt gold melange

 

187 Brush - Duo fibre face brush

188 Brush - Small duo fibre face brush

Mineralize Eye Shadow - all frost finish

Aurora - Peach, green, and brown melange

Magnetic Attraction - Orange, pink and gold melange

Neo Nebula - Cream, warm amethyst and warm pink melange

Universal Appeal - Gold, bronze and violet melange

Invincible Light - Icy white, lavender and warm gold melange

Earthly - Beige, peach and cool brown melange

Water - Yellow, lime green and blue melange

Bright Moon - Grey, silver and icy green melange

Sky - Green gold, turquoise and cobalt melange

False Lashes 

False Black - Black (Repromote)

286 Brush - Duo fibre tapered blending brush (repromote)

Skincare

Mineralize Volcanic Ash Exfoliator

-foaming, exfoliating scrub made with natural volcanic ash and sugar crystals (repromote)

Mineralize Charged Water Cleanser

-a make up removing "water" that can literally wipe off most types of makeup without scrubbing or massaging. Formulated with M.A.C's exclusive Charged Water technology (repromote)

Mineralize Charged Water Moisture Gel

-An ultra light gel cream that gives intensive hydration and moisture but leaves the skin feeling soft and supple. Infused with M.A.C's exclusive Charged Water technology (repromote)

Mineralize Charged Water Moisture Eye Cream

-A luxuriousand rich eye cream that improves and moisturizes the skin around the eye while reducing the look of dark circles and puffiness. Infused with M.A.C's exclusive Charged Water technology (repromote)

My Mac Haul Part 1 - Chenman, Shop Mac, Viva Glam, Too Supreme

This month Mac has released an unbelievable number of collection - to be precise: 9! Except for one (Zoom Waterfast Lash Mascara), all other collections contain lots of products: lipsticks, lipglasses, eyeshadows, eyeliners, lipliners, the lot. So many things to choose from! So it won't come as a surprise that I actually had to divide my haul post into 3 parts! Mostly 3 parts because I still have a few things on the way (couple of them you could only order directly from Mac), but also because there's just so much stuff. 

In this first part I'm going to show you my purchases from the Chenman, Shop Mac, Viva Glam and Too Supreme collection. I mostly got lip products, but I also picked up a mineralize eyeshadow duo. I'm really into bright lipsticks at the moment, and 3 of the lipsticks I bought are actually very similar and very bright. I wasn't too sure if I wanted to get Pink Union mineralize eyeshadow duo because it reminded me of the Odd Couple duo, but the melange side of it is actuall quite different in that it's more lilac than copper, and it's ever so pretty!

I haven't actually worn all of these products, the only one I've worn is the Sheen Supreme lipglass. I have to say, I am very impressed with it, I really like the texture (smooth and comfortable to wear) and the colour (I got Imperial Red and have ordered Mango Sheen since then). It's in a new style clickable pen packaging which is also pretty nice and convenient. The only problem is you get quite a bit less product (about half of the regular lipglass). I did swatch everything though, so be sure to read all the way to the end.

Also let me know if you got anything from these collections?

See lots of pictures including swatches after the jump!

New Permanent Mac Mineralize "Style Black" Eyeshadows Review and Swatches

Following on from my earlier post on the new Mac permanent* mineralize eyeshadow duos, here's a look at the new permanent* mineralize eyeshadow singles. (They're only permanent for 6 months, so really still limited edition, but less than other collections if that makes sense.) These but one are repromotes, first came out with the Style Black collection in 2009 (?) and that's when I purchased mine. Only Smutty Green is new, therefore please keep in mind that my older shadows might be a different texture, maybe even slighter different colours than the new ones.

And here they are (top to bottom, left to right): Smutty Green, Blue Flame, Cinderfella, Young Punk and Gilt By Association. They are all black based with different colour shimmer/pearl. When applied dry, there isn't a huge difference between then because you manily see the sheer black colour, but when applied wet, the colours really come through and these eyeshadows really come to life. I have swatched them both dry and wet for you, so be sure to have a look as they are gorgeous when used wet.

When used dry, there's definitely some fall out from these eyeshadows, but if you use them wet or on a very sticky base, the fall out is minimal. I know mineralize eyeshadows aren't for everyone, but I have to say that these are something different. I think at the very least worth checking out in person if you can. 

These mineralize eyeshadow duos cost £16.50 each and they are slightly larger than regular Mac eyeshadows at 2.2g each.

See more pictures including lots of swatches after the jump!

New Permanent Mac Mineralize Eyeshadow Duos Review and Swatches

Mac has changed the permanent* line of mineralize eyeshadows and being a mineralize eyeshadow nut as I am, of course I had to go and buy them all. (They're only permanent for 6 months, so really still limited edition, but less than other collections if that makes sense.) To be precise, I only bought 4 of the 5 eyeshadow duos because one (Love Connection) of them is a repromote and I'd already owned it. So please keep that in mind, since the formula of the new eyeshadow could be different to the one I already had. I also have the 5 mineralize eyeshadow singles (Style Black repromotes) that I will be showing you soon.

And here they are (top to bottom, left to right): Water & Ice, Love Connection, Fresh & Mint, Joy & Laughter and Sweet & Sour. They all have a side with one solid colour and the other one with a marble effect mix of 3-4 colours. Water & Ice is sterling silver on one side with a melange of creamy peach with blue and silver veining on the other. Love Connection is warm gold on one side with a melange of pale beige with gold and blue veining on the other. Fresh & Mint is icy green on one side with a melange of white with silver and green/blue veining on the other. Joy & Laughter is icy pink on one side with a melange of dirty pink with hot pink and charcoal grey veining on the other. (I did think this was a lot like Pink Split in the pictures, but in person it's more purple.) Sweet & Sour is yellow gold on one side with a melange of dirty gold with green and deep blue veining on the other.

I haven't worn this on my eyes (except for Love Connection a long time ago), but out of the 5 Sweet & Sour seemed to have the worst fallout. The marbled side especially was quite chunky. They are all pretty sheer if applied dry, but as the colour can be amplified by using them wet. I have swatched them both ways, so you can see what they all look like.

These mineralize eyeshadow duos cost £16.50 each and they are slightly larger than regular Mac eyeshadows at 2.2g each.

See more pictures including lots of swatches after the jump!

Mac Naturally Mineralize Eyeshadow and Blush Swatches

As promised, here are the swatches of the Mac Naturally mineralize goodies I picked up last week. I swatched In The Sun twice, once swirled all the shades together and once I sawtched the yellow and the rusty brown separately as there are quite big chunks of the different colours in mine, so it would be possible to use the shades separately. I swatched the blushes twice too, once lightly with a brush and once heavily.

Carry on reading to see all the swatches after the jump!

My Mac Naturally Collection Haul

I have so many things I want to share with you, but not a lot of time, so over the next few days I'll be doing some rather quick posts about some of the lovely make up I've bought from the newly released spring collections.

Today I would like to share with you the lovely Mac mineralize goodies I picked up this week. Mac Naturally launched online last Tuesday/Thursday (depending on the retailer) and I believe this Monday at counters. I ordered most of my stuff from Debenhams because I wanted to make use of their 10% beauty offer, but they couldn't send me one of the eyeshadows, so I picked that up on Thursday from House of Fraser. And here they all are:

I bought Early Morning and Summer Breeze mineralize blushes, and all 5 mineralize eyeshadows: Cloudy Afternoon, Summer Haze, Daylight, In the Sun and Twilight Falls. I also got the 286 eyeshadow brush (not pictured). I didn't pick up any mineralize skinfinishes, because I own them already from when they first came out, and I thought Fresh Honey mineralize blush was too orange for me. I also didn't get any lipsticks or lipglasses because I'm not a big fan of nude lips, besides I already have plenty enough nude lipsticks and lipglosses anyway.

I apologise for the lack of swatches, but I just haven't had time to do them. I will try my best to swatch them in the next few days, but sadly as these are all limited edition products, that might not be too helpful for you. I do have a photo of me wearing Subtle Breeze mineralize blush at the bottom of this post though, so be sure to scroll all the way down.

See more pictures after the jump!

2011's Favorite Products: Part 2 - Face

To continue from yesterday's favourites post I have the face products I loved the most this year to show you. Like I said in yesterday's post, it's hard to compose these lists because current favourites can easily make it in there even if you were using something  else for 11 months. Despite me not wanting to include products that have only recently made it into my most used and well loved products, I have gone against it and included a couple of products that are very new to me but have become firm favourites. Read on to find out what they are.

First up is my favourite face primer, Guerlain Meteorites Perles Light-Diffusing Perfecting Primer. It smells amazing and gives a smooth base, it's not slimy and slippery like some silicone based one, love it. I have reviewed it, so click on the link above.

Keep reading to find out which other face products I loved this year!

My Mac Glitter and Ice Collection Haul

Every year Mac ropes me in with their mineralize eyeshadows, so of course once again I have given into the temptation and purchased half their holiday collection. Do you want to see what I got? Here it is!

Packaged in shiny silver outer boxes (which are fingerprint magnets) and white plastic compacts and tubes.I think it's pretty nice, certainly makes a change from the usual Mac packaging. I ended up buying all the mineralize eyeshadows, both beauty powders, three lipsticks, two dazzleglasses and all 3 paint pots. I have close-ups of everything below, plus swatches of the eyeshadows, so keep reading.

Just want to mention, Winterized mineralize eyeshadow was super hard to find as it's been showing as sold out/out of stock on every website and none of the counters I tried had received it (same thing happened with Rare Exotic mattene last month actually), but I managed to order it from Mac mail order directly. It's very pretty, so I'm glad I tracked it down.

I also bought a few sets from Ice Parade and Dazzlephere! collections, but I didn't include them in here. I bought all 3 crush metal pigment sets, the mineralize brush set and also Rocking Iced Delights Nail & Lip Bag which contains Kanga Rouge lipstick that is absolutely beautiful. I also picked up Hot Gossip lipstick which is included in one of the exclusive face kits and Trax eyeshadow which is included in the Sultry Snowglobe eyeshadow palette, both of them are permanent. Phew! I'm all Mac-ed out.

Did you pick up anything from Mac's holiday offerings? Let me know in the comments!

See more pictures and swatches of the mineralize eyeshadows after the jump!

Lightscapade, Lightscapade, What Has Happened To You?

When I first heard about Lightscapade MSF being repromoted, I was very excited, because as you know, I love my MSFs and my highlighters and Lightscapade is one of my prettiest MSFs. It was first released in 2006 with the Danse collection and I was lucky enough to buy it a couple of years ago for not too crazy money. My old Lightscapade is a mix of pink, blue, yellow, orange and cream, the colours are quite vivid, but still give a very subtle colour making it one of the prettiest highlighters I own. So I was very excited to purchase some back ups when Mac's Fall Collection came out last week.

Unfortunately, it seems that this time around Mac didn't manage to produce the same powder. I ordered 2 from Debenhams online and then went to my local counter to see if I can pick out one with more colourful veining, but as you can see from the picture above, I didn't really succeed. The powder on the top is the one I hand picked and possibly has the most colour, but still is mainly beige and the veining is very pale. I literally looked through several Lightscapades at the counter and they all looked like the ones above. Quite disappointed really.

You can see in the picture below how much more colourful my old Lightscapade is (the one in the top right corner in case you haven't guessed). Fortunately I still have plenty of left of my old Lightscapade and despite the new ones looking quite disappointing, they swatch quite similarly, so the overall highlighting effect isn't that different. I've included a swatch picture at the bottom of the post, so make sure you scroll down all the way.

All in all, I am pretty disappointed not to have been able to buy another pretty colourful Lightscapade, but at least I have managed to pick up some which was already quite a big achievement considering how quickly it had sold out online. All in all, it's still a lovely highlighter and I hope everyone who wanted it managed to pick up one (or two).

See lots more pictures including a swatch picture after the jump!