MAC Haul

MAC is one of my favourite makeup brands. Although I don’t always have the money to buy something from MAC, I have a huge appreciation for their products. The pigments in their eyeshadows are strong and long lasting, their foundations give brillant coverage and their lashes are amazing.

Imagine my surprise when hubby came home from his business trip with these little beauties.

Mac Studio Fix Powder Plus Foundation

The first product I ever bought from MAC was their Studio Fix Powder Plus Foundation in NC25,at the time I wanted a new powder foundation and decided to treat myself to one that I had heard so much about.

Three years later, I still buy this on a regular basis, it’s one of my splurge beauty products. What I like about it is how long it lasts and you can build the coverage. I also like how you can apply with a brush, sponge or powder puff.

What hubby got me next was something I have been wanting to try since I first heard about it. How he remembered I wanted it is beyond me Maybe he does pay attention when I’m talking about Makeup. The MAC Prep + Prime Beauty Balm has an SPF 35 and is said to retexturise the skin while also being a primer.

MAC Prep + Prime Beauty Balm SPF35

This is perfect for me as I needed a new primer and wanted something with a high SPF 35 so this definitely kills two bird with the one stone.

The beauty balm is a sheer beige shade and creamy but not overly creamy in texture.

On applying to my face, my skin tone looked a lot more balanced. And I feel it helped my NYC Skin Matching Foundation last longer. It can be worn alone, but for me, its a bit too pale to stand alone. This doesn’t bother me though as I am more interested in the staying power and SPF.

The total cost for hubby was £34, now that was in an airport so off I went to look on MAC’s UK Website and the total for these two would be £41.50.

xxx What MAC products do you swear by? xxx

Avoiding Fake Cosmetics

I’ve been meaning to write this for quite sometime,but after a trip into Henry Street today where there were a couple of stands (and a few rude sales people) selling cheap MAC, I decided sit down and write this is a bid to share how bad these really are.

Over the last few years,there has been an increase in the availability of fake cosmetics in Ireland (MAC and Benefit to name a few). These comsetics are purchased cheaply from Asia and lure people with the cheap prices. But you are getting more than you bargained for when getting that lust have product at an insanely low price.

You can never be sure what exactly has gone into these fakes, alot of the ingredients are extremely harmful and can give you a pretty nasty allergic reaction or worse. ( I recently read that some can cause burning to the skin)

So, how do you avoid and spot a fake?

• Common sense will take you a long way. If a deal seems too good to be true, it probably is!
• Never buy MAC,Bobbi Brown etc on any website (including Ebay) other than the official websites or department stores.
• Look for typos on the packaging. This is a dead giveaway as a professional brand will always have proper spelling on their packaging.
• Eyeshadow palette’s that have triangle eyeshadows are fake.
• Eyeshadow that is imprinted with MAC’s logo are fake.
• Real MAC lipsticks and lipglasses should have a distinct vanilla smell to them.
• Nars never writes their name on their products.
• Genuine Bobbi Brown palettes always have proper B.B. brushes with their logo! Fake palettes have these plain black, cheap sponge applicators.
• Authentic B.Brown palettes always have proper names on the box such as surf & sand, pink raspberry & mauve face. The fake palettes DON’T have these names just some madeup title such as 12 colours eyeshadow palette or Eyeshadows Palette 12colour shimmer 02!
• Real MAC eyeshadow shouldn’t have a fragrance.  Fakes might smell like cinnamon or another fragrance.

There are loads more tips if you would like to email me and I can share them with you.. The reason I don’t want to share all of them on here is that the manufacturers of these fake products spend hours on the web looking at blog posts to see how they can make their product look more authentic

xxx