February 10, 2014

A ‘Not So Mini’ MAC Haul

First, let’s get one thing straight. The following purchases were picked up on two different shopping trips where I was feeling particularly spendy and soft for MAC. One trip was supervised by Lily, who’s not that good at supervising. I’ve learnt that the best way to avoid her disapproving stares when I go in to major haul mode is to act like I’m not buying anything, then pounce at the till just before we leave the shop. Works like a charm. On the second occasion I was unsupervised – free rein, my favourite – at the MAC Duty Free counter at Edinburgh Airport where there was 20% off. Oh I hauled goooood…

On my first visit I was feeling eyeshadows. The empty slots in my 15-Pan Palette were staring back at me longingly asking to be filled and with Lily, a.k.a) the Queen of MAC eyeshadows, by my side, they were an inevitable purchase. The first two I reached for were ones that I’ve previously owned and had somehow found new home with friends and family when I was having an extreme streamlining phase. You know the clear-outs you do and end up with a bout of giveawayers regret? Yeah those. So Woodwinked and Antiqued were added to the basket for that reason. I also ended up reaching for Omega. A lot of people use this as a brow shade for the fact that it’s got a tinge of a cool-toned grey to it, noted. The matte formula also lends itself as a ‘natural shadow’ all over the lid wash and a good blender outer. The final addition came due to a gentle shove from Lily, who is always going on about Club. Everytime we visit a counter together I get one step closer to walking out with it and finally….I did. It’s a duo-chrome green brown that Lily promises me is the perfect evening ‘shove on and blend-out two-in-one shade’; though since purchase I haven’t found myself out and about in the evenings (10pm is my bedtime) so I’ll have to report back on that one.

Then I stepped foot in the MAC at Edinburgh airport and stocking up on makeup is what Duty Free is all about, right? With the savings giving me a spring in my spending step I picked up three lip products – none of which I’d ever heard of before – but all cried out to me when I conducted my usual swatching marathon. The Lipstick in Peach Blossom is one of my favourite purchases of all; a slightly lighter and pinker version of Shy Girl. Expect to see this cropping up a lot round these parts. Then I went for an orangey red lip busting duo of the Pro Longwear Lipcreme in Good to Go and Pro Longwear Lip Pencil in What a Blast and dayum are these two hard wearing or what? These lasted trough the consumption of a sugar coated doughnut. Impressed. Finally I picked up the Extra Dimension Eye Shadow in Amorous Alloy, a shade that Laura had me lusting after. And yep, she’s right. The red-toned rust makes for the perfect under eye smudge for pale eyed gals.