Lips: MAC's Lipstick in "Leading Lady Red" (LE) [MAC x Charlotte Olympia 2016]

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I thought that, with regards to my beauty reviews, I'd reel myself back in starting with the most recent MAC collection and working my way backwards, throwing in reviews of permanent products and other brands in between. That brings us to the MAC x Charlotte Olympia collaboration that released online March 17, 2016 - almost two weeks ago.

Charlotte Olympia is a shoe designer with a love for the 1940s Hollywood beauty scene, resulting in a collection of classic reds, soft whites and browns, and packaging that is a vanity accessory as much as it is, well, packaging. As per usual I never knew who this person was until news of this collection surfaced, but I thought I'd include a brief description of who she is for curiosity's sake.

Personally, as much as the 1940s happens to be my favorite look in this popular video here and in the Bésame line of lipsticks, I'm not a big fan of red. I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but I thought I'd mention it again. I do own some red lipsticks, but most fall into the 'pinky-red' or 'berry-red' categories, which I consider the exceptions. The Olympia lipsticks, on the other hand, are all neutral-to-warm toned lipsticks.

After a bit of a debate as to whether or not I should purchase anything from this collection, I finally settled on the limited edition lipstick "Leading Lady Red," what seemed to be the most cool-toned red of the bunch, picking it up more for the packaging than the color itself and hoping that everything would work out in the end.

Lips: MAC's Lipstick in "Evening Rendezvous" (LE) [MAC Magic of the Night 2015]

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;_; I know! I'm sorry. A special sorry to Maxi and all my other Maaya-followers. My review for Follow Me Up is coming I swear!! Amongst others...

Life has been ridiculously chaotic for me since mid-July. So much has changed - SO much - but I don't think I'm ready to disclose those changes here. All I can say is that I'm sorry for dropping off the face of the Earth for all of these months.

In character with the fact that a shit-ton of time has passed, we're already moving fast into the holiday season. As far as makeup is concerned, nothing much has changed for me, thankfully (or not). I still love MAC - hence this review - I still love trying new products, lipstick is still my happiness, and I'm still a bit of a collector. I see these kinds of reviews as the best way to pull myself back into my blog, so bear with me.

MAC's big holiday collection this year was released in different parts - Magic of the Night, Enchanted Eve, and Irresistibly Charming - with different individual products, sets, and teal/blue/purple reflective packaging. More color than last year's Heirloom Mix, but still in line with MAC's focus of sets versus new, limited edition colors.

...And I just tried to find 'my post' for the Heirloom Mix collection just to discover that I took pictures of the lipsticks I bought BUT NEVER WROTE THE REVIEWS. For fuck's sake.

Anyway...I didn't look much into this collection, as I'm not really big on sets, but in the end I did pick up one set - the red lip bag - and the only new, limited edition lipstick, which I'm reviewing in this post, "Evening Rendezvous." I've been wearing this color quite a bit lately so I thought I'd start here with my second attempt at blogging regularly.

Lips: MAC's Lipstick in "Romantic Breakdown" (LE) [MAC x Bao Bao Wan 2015] + Comparisons

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Yes! The last review for this collection and I have 40 minutes to write it, if I want to get in just over six hours of sleep!!!

"Romantic Breakdown" is the last of the four limited edition lipsticks in the MAC x Bao Bao Wan collection, and it is the only lipstick in the lustre finish. I used to really enjoy the lustre finish by MAC - you can see my review of "Hug Me" here, the first lustre I ever reviewed. A lot has changed since then, though, as I discovered the amplified finish and MAC made their matte finish more comfortable on the lips. The lustre finish - and the cremesheen finish, while we're on the subject - have taken a backseat since then.

Don't misunderstand me, though. Lustres still have their place, and that place becomes evident with colors like "Romantic Breakdown."

Lips: MAC's Lipstick in "Forbidden Sunrise" (LE) [MAC x Bao Bao Wan 2015)

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I figured, why not just finish with the matte lipsticks? "Forbidden Sunrise" is the third and last of the matte lipsticks from MAC's Bao Bao Wan collection, the lustre being left to review.

I'm sure I've mentioned before that I don't like orange lipstick, as flattering as it is on me, but something about "Forbidden Sunrise" really caught my interest when information and swatches became available on the color. It seemed to be a brighter, lighter orange without being pastel, and I couldn't help but think how radiating it would be in the sunlight...in the summer...when everything is brighter and lighter and not so damn depressingly gray.

New Hell City problems.

Anyway, while "Burmese Kiss" fell into the 'favorite color of lipstick' category, and "Lavender Jade" fell into the 'unique color of lipstick' category, "Forbidden Sunrise" ended up being my favorite from this collection. Yes, an orange lipstick was my favorite.

First browns, now this! Just wait - I promise you by the end of July it will get even worse.

Lips: MAC's Lipstick in "Lavender Jade" (LE) [MAC x Bao Bao Wan 2015] + A Comparison

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Next, I've decided to review "Lavender Jade."

Purple used to be my favorite color. I guess I'm glad it isn't anymore, because there is just something about limited edition purples from MAC that make them highly coveted - these lavenders especially.

"Lavender Jade" is the reason I classify the Bao Bao Wan release as one of the most chaotic, frustrating releases I've ever experienced from MAC. This particular color was gone in an instant at nearly every retailer. By chance I happened to read that a Nordstrom in California was taking preorders over the phone and I thought I'd try my luck. Somehow it all worked out and I ended up with my tube of "Lavender Jade."

One of the big questions surrounding this color that I also felt compelled to ask was how closely it compared to the only other MAC lavender that I own, "Dodgy Girl" from the Osbourne collection last year. For some "Lavender Jade" seemed more of a true lavender, while for others it was simply "Dodgy Girl" in different packaging. In the end I decided I would purchase the color and figure out for myself what the outcome would be. In the worst case scenario, I would end up with a backup to "Dodgy Girl," which is the only of its color that I own from MAC.

Lips: MAC's Lipstick in "Burmese Kiss" (LE) [MAC x Bao Bao Wan 2015] + Comparisons

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More often than not I find myself deciding what I should be doing, or arguing over whether I should be doing something or not when I have a list of other things to do. Right now, I should be packing for my flight on Wednesday, but truth be told I've been doing nothing. So I'm going to try now. I'm going to try to write as many of the reviews for this collection  as I can tonight.

I want to get this collection out of the way and move on to the next, which is already just as irrelevant but eh, it's either do it or don't. I don't want to fall into the latter anymore.

I have all four of the limited edition lipsticks from MAC's collaboration with Bao Bao Wan, and I decided to start with my review on "Burmese Kiss," which was the color I wanted the most.

MAC's Bao Bao Wan Sneak Peek

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It feels like forever since I last wrote about a MAC collection. Trust me - they've been coming out and I've still been purchasing things here and there from them - I just haven't been on top of my reviews. To be honest, this Sneak Peek post really feels like a waste of time, because the products I purchased from MAC's Bao Bao Wan collection - the collection's lipsticks - are mostly sold out, both online and at MAC counters.

MAC has this obsession with making limited edition products extremely limited, and I have to say the company's collaboration with jewelry designer Bao Bao Wan was perhaps the most limited collection I've personally experienced to date. First the online release was pushed back, then it magically launched online for retailers that were supposedly not receiving the collection, then people were able to order products before they officially launched at one of said online retailers, then MAC released the collection one day earlier than officially announced on its own site...people were placing phone [pre]orders at counters, counters were sold out before the doors opened, shipments were never received...have I traumatized you yet?

It was insane. The true center of all this chaos was one particular lipstick, "Lavender Jade," which I somehow managed to purchase [over the phone from a store across the country]. It shouldn't come as much of a surprise, then, that I don't have the lipstick yet to share with you. I wouldn't even be surprised if it never made it here, LOL.

Anyway, what I do have to share quickly with you today are the collection's other three limited edition lipsticks: "Forbidden Sunrise," "Burmese Kiss," and "Romantic Breakdown." Let's sit back and enjoy those, then, right?

Lips: MAC's Lipstick in "Damn Glamorous" (LE) [The Matte Lip 2014] + A Comparison

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Oh my God - HOW DO YOU WRITE REVIEWS AGAIN?

Maybe just kidding. (What does that even mean?)

Once upon a time, MAC released a collection called The Matte Lip, that came with seven new and limited edition lipsticks, of which I purchased three, two that are reviewed here and here, before purchasing a fourth that I'm reviewing today (before the third of the first three). Did I lose you yet?

Fun fact: The Matte Lip marks the third collection from MAC from which I purchased four lipsticks. The other two are A Fantasy of Flowers and Playland.

Second fun fact: The four lipsticks I purchased each from the three collections were all the same finish, per collection. The four from A Fantasy of Flowers are all lustre, the four from Playland are all amplified, and the four from The Matte Lip are all matte.  

Third and final fun fact: Playland is, without a doubt, the winner of all three collections ("Toying Around" should have been backed-up twice, at least, instead of not at all), but The Matte Lip is, also without a doubt, the runner-up thanks to "Damn Glamorous."

If I never got to the third fact, the "fun fact" tangent I started would be 100% unrelated rather than 66%. Numbers.  

Lips: MAC's Lipstick in "Pander Me" (LE) [The Matte Lip 2014]

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Hi everyone. Sorry for the delay - remember when I said I had a sinus infection a couple of weeks ago? Well, for the past week my mom has had fever on and off, and she was finally diagnosed with bronchitis after seeing two doctors. Isn't fall in New York the greatest thing?

Anyway, if you saw my sneak peek post regarding MAC's The Matte Lip collection, then you know that I purchased three of the seven limited edition lipsticks that launched with it, amongst other products. Today, I'm here to share my first of three reviews related to this collection: my thoughts on the lipstick "Pander Me."

In my sneak peek post, I mentioned how "Pander Me" wasn't actually my own pick when I placed my order for part of the collection two weeks ago. It appealed to me at first, and then it didn't, and then it did again and didn't again, et cetera. Even now I can say that if my mom hadn't picked this lipstick, I still wouldn't have had second thoughts about it based on continuously emerging reviews and swatches across the web. Yet here it is with me, and here I am with you to say what my thoughts about this color all amount to.

Let's get right to it, then.

Lips: MAC's Lipstick in "Lingering Kiss" (LE) [A Novel Romance 2014] + Comparison

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Hi everyone. I guess you could say I've had quite a rocky start to my new job, based on my last post. Then, this past Saturday, I caught the infamous sinus infection that I've managed to avoid for almost 2 years. I'm on a roll. I feel like my "strongest" week was two weeks ago...which was my very first week, when I was at the start of training.

This post - ugh, this poor post is so overdue. I'm sorry.

Today, finally, I'm reviewing the third and last lipstick of the three I picked up from MAC's A Novel Romance collection, "Lingering Kiss." I don't even know if this color is still available. It may be, but I'm honestly not sure.

Without wasting more time, let's move on to the review.

Lips: MAC's Lipstick in "Good Kisser" (LE) [A Novel Romance 2014] + Comparison

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Hi everyone. Happy Labor Day for those of you in the states, whether you're off or not (and if you are, then I hope you're enjoying your free day). I feel weird writing this review because if you read my last review from MAC's A Novel Romance collection, then you know I said I was passing on "Good Kisser" since I own "Red Balloon," a supposed dupe for it. I was also waiting for "Lingering Kiss" to arrive in the mail, which it has.

Well, I brought my tube of "Red Balloon" to a MAC counter where I knew "Good Kisser" was still in stock just over a week ago. I won't say how they compare - you'll see for yourself near the end of this review - but I did decide to pick up "Good Kisser," and I'm ready to review it for you today.

Lips: MAC's Sheen Supreme Lipstick in "Phosphorescent" (LE) [Moody Blooms 2014]

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Hi hi. Today I'll be reviewing the last of the three products I picked up from MAC's Moody Blooms collection, another Sheen Supreme lipstick in the color "Phosphorescent."

"Phosphorescent" was my first Sheen Supreme lipstick, though I previously reviewed "Moody Bloom" - the other of these lipsticks that I picked up from Moody Blooms - here. Inevitably, I reference "Phosphorescent" multiple times throughout that review, so if you've read that review already then you kind of already have an idea of my thoughts regarding this particular shade. This post will, of course, go into greater detail with "Phosphorescent" specifically, with the usual rundown of pictures.

So yeah - let's take a look at the infamous "Phosphorescent"!

Lips: MAC's Sheen Supreme Lipstick in "Moody Bloom" (LE) [Moody Blooms 2014]

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Hi everyone! In my last MAC post about the Moody Blooms 2014 collection, which I posted right before this one (here's a link anyway), I made an error and stated that I picked up two products only from this collection. I was thinking about my visit to the store when my boyfriend was here, during which I picked up "Artistic License" and "Phosphorescent." I totally forgot that I ordered another lipstick, "Moody Bloom," online. So why not review that one next?

"Moody Bloom" is one of six limited edition Sheen Supreme lipsticks that released with Moody Blooms. Sheen Supreme lipsticks are a different line of lipsticks from MAC's regular "lipstick" category, and the second different line of lipsticks I've tried from MAC (the other being the Huggables, which I've yet to review). I'll go into what MAC's claims are for the Sheen Supreme line but, for now, I thought I'd mention that I originally planned on skipping all of these lipsticks because I heard many people describe the Sheen Supreme formula as being greasy/messy, which I don't find very appealing.

To be realistic, I only originally purchased "Phosphorescent" for that reason. Ordering "Moody Bloom" online, then, says what I thought after all about the Sheen Supreme formula.

Lips: MAC's Lipstick in "Pure Heroine" (LE) [MAC x Lorde 2014]

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Hi everyone. Today is the second to last day before my vacation starts, and while I'm excited, a plethora of things also makes me feel uneasy and stressed. I've been working a lot of hours and that plus my daily exercising has led to daily headaches, so I've been totally out of it. This post could have been written weeks ago, as the product I'm reviewing made it to my doorstep the first Friday of June. By the way, happy June everyone, and happy summer soon, too. We're in the year's gem month, which is already more than halfway over. (I'm biased; it's my birthday month.)

I saw Temptalia's review of this product in my Facebook feed before I even knew what collection it was from. I don't know or care about Lorde. The color, however, instantly caught my attention. I feel proud (and poor) to say that I love trying out all kinds of colors: purples, oranges, mattes, frosts, pastels, deep/rich tones, cool tones, warm tones - oh,  you get the point. I love being able to mold my appearance so that I can trick people into thinking I'm a certain kind of person, with a certain kind of style. I don't want anyone to know who I am - or maybe a human ditto* is exactly who I am.

*Pokemon reference. 

In any case, it turns out that "Pure Heroine" is one of the two items making up the tiny MAC x Lorde 2014 collection, which is apparently only available on MAC's website and in a very, very select few stores - I believe one or two of the three (is it three?) are located here in the disgusting city of New York. In saying that, I feel partially guilty for claiming my own from the online stock that people everywhere else have to fight through. Not that there was much fighting for this one. In fact, it's still in-stock on MAC's website at the time of this post.

So, let me refrain from making this introduction any longer and let's get to the review already.

Lips: MAC's Lipstick in "Dodgy Girl" (LE) [Sharon and Kelly Osbourne 2014]

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Hi! Tonight is turning out to be exceptionally creepy, and this week is the week that MAC's Sharon and Kelly Osbourne 2014 collection will be launching on more online sites, as well as in stores, so what better time than now to review one of the collection's limited edition lipsticks, "Dodgy Girl"!

I don't actually care about Sharon or Kelly Osbourne, or anything Osbourne-related for that matter. And as for the standard MAC lipstick, I'm indifferent towards the matte formula. Then there's the fact that many of the collection's lip products were either sheer and boring, or light and borderline paste-y. The Patentpolishes were more than I was willing to spend, and I wanted to pick up a lipstick, but I didn't know which one.

Okay, okay - let's step back a moment. MAC's Sharon and Kelly Osbourne 2014 collection is split into two halves: Sharon's collaborated products, and Kelly's collaborated products. Both had pretty face and eye products of which I skipped everything. As for lip products, Sharon had four limited edition colors in the newer Patentpolish formula while Kelly had four limited edition colors in the standard lipstick formula - three mattes and one satin. The satin, and the most wearable color of the bunch, was "Kelly Yum Yum," which I had no interest in because I not only own "Candy Yum Yum" but I own its much more comfortable, glossy counterpart, "Happy-Go-Lucky."

So what I did was settle on the most unique color of the bunch - a matte named "Dodgy Girl" - knowing very well it could possibly clash with my skin tone and/or take added effort to apply. Thank goodness neither happened! =D

Lips: MAC's Lipstick in "True Love's Kiss" (LE) [Maleficent 2014]

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Hello! I actually started another post on Wednesday that should've gone up by now, but I never got to finishing it and then this past Friday happened. I ended up with "True Love's Kiss," the limited edition lipstick from MAC's Maleficent 2014 collection.

When I saw what this collection would consist of - and the fact that its only lipstick, "True Love's Kiss," would be a shade of red - I completely ignored it. It released the first week of May, I think - I can't even remember right now. The point is, it's been out for a while, and you can probably still find it in stores because...well...those that don't have reds don't wear them, and those that do have reds likely have a shade of red close enough to "True Love's Kiss" already.

I own four red lipsticks, two of which are samples and two of which I purchased on my own (both of those are from Revlon - one of which was one of my first reviews here). Then I have the orange-reds, pink-reds, and purple-reds, that are much easier reds to wear because they're mixed with those other colors. But red-red, I have no problem turning away from. That is why I totally ignored this collection all of May.

But this past Friday, my mom and I went to see the new movie, Maleficent, that this collection was inspired by, and the movie was awesome in my opinion. In fact, I would watch it again right now if I could. Then there was the fact that Angelina Jolie's red lipstick was gorgeous in the movie. I thought it would be pretty neat to own a lipstick that not only was in the shade of the movie's main character's lipstick, but was from a collection inspired by the movie as well. So yesterday my mom and I went to a Macy's that still had "True Love's Kiss" in stock and each got our own.

I wanted to get this post up as soon as possible, since we're in June already.

Lips: MAC's Lipstick in "Goddess of the Sea" (LE) [Alluring Aquatic 2014] + Comparisons

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Review #2! The second lipstick I picked up from MAC's summer 2014 collection, Alluring Aquatic, is "Goddess of the Sea," a limited edition cremesheen. I was most excited for this lipstick, because I know and love the cremesheen formula and don't own many purple lipsticks.

I have to say, taking pictures for this review was a pain today, because the damn sun kept dipping in and out of the clouds. For a while I thought all the pictures I took would be of awful quality due to the darkness in my room. Hopefully you won't find them too disappointing, haha.

Moving along.

Lips: MAC's Lipstick in "Pet Me, Please" (Frost) (LE/Repromote) [Alluring Aquatic 2014] + Comparisons

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Hi again! Yesterday, I posted a sneak peak of the products I purchased from MAC's summer 2014 collection, Alluring Aquatic, and I mentioned that I would get the reviews up for the lipsticks as soon as possible. Well, today is the day! I'll be starting with the lipstick that I tried out first, "Pet Me, Please."

"Pet Me, Please" was released once before with MAC's 2010 Fabulous Felines collection. I was not even using makeup at the time, so I can't comment on that collection or the performance of the original "Pet Me, Please." I simply want to point out that this color is not brand new, though it is limited edition once again.

"Pet Me, Please" is the second lipstick I purchased from MAC in the frost finish, and I was reluctant to purchase it originally because of that. I haven't reviewed my first frost-finish lipstick but, in a nutshell, it can feel quite drying on my lips, which sucks since I'm not a fan of layering lipsticks. I was afraid "Pet Me, Please" would follow suit.

Thankfully I was in for a pleasant surprise!

MAC's Alluring Aquatic Sneak Peek

Hello! MAC released their summer 2014 collection - Alluring Aquatic - online this past Thursday, and I managed to get the three products I wanted with overnight shipping. So I got my order in the mail yesterday and wanted to post pictures of everything as soon as possible, since much of the collection sold out on the MAC website within an hour or so of going live (typical).

Unlike my previous 'sneak peak' post, which was done for Playland, this one won't discuss comparisons or first impressions. I won't be doing a master post for this collection, either, since I only got three products, of which two are very different lipsticks. There will only be this post with swatches, and then the detailed reviews for each product which will follow shortly after.

My final shopping list included the following: "Pet Me, Please" and "Goddess of the Sea" lipsticks, and "Aphrodite's Shell" Extra Dimension bronzing powder.

FOTD: April 26, 2014

Hi! When I went to IMATS two weeks ago, one of the products I was waiting for months to buy at the show's discounted price was Stila's In the Light palette. I was so excited to finally use it today, and I'm really happy with how everything turned out so I thought I'd share it with you here!

This isn't really a review post, though my opinions on the products I used will be peeking through here and there. I mainly wanted to show a look my mediocre makeup skills could come up with using this palette, and how it pairs with other products (both new and old). =)