Sunday, November 23, 2014

Me and My MAC :-)

I might be one of the few beauty bloggers who never developed a special bond with "MAC". It is an iconic brand with a huge array of products in a even broader range of shades; it is actually difficult NOT to love it!


In India, MAC especially is one of the coveted cosmetics brand that is a little easier to access than some other brands. My enthusiasm for makeup started after I came to USA.  For me, I had access to many other wonderful brands, and MAC actually did not hold any exclusive attraction. But I love exploring different products and I have been very happy and SATISFIED with the small amount of products I have tried from them. Let's get down to business.


Legendary Red Lipstick "Ruby Woo": MAC is famous for their lipsticks. And very rightly so! So many finishes and shades to choose from! Although I personally have not explored a LOT, I am pretty sure you are going to find something that you will fall in love with.

Ruby Woo is an iconic red color. Everybody should have one red lipstick in their vanity. And this is my PERFECT red. I have special love for bright bold colors and red definitely tops the list. Ruby Woo is a blue-based true red, I feel it has a warm undertone. Regardless, it looks absolutely gorgeous on Olive/Medium/Tan skin tones. The finish is retro-matte; hence VERY drying!! I need to moisturize my lips heavily before wearing this. The Staying Power is phenomenal. JUST phenomenal; which makes me LOVE my Ruby Woo even more. Here is a picture after wearing it for 5-hr that included a full course Indian dinner.

The price for this is $16 for 3g/0.1 oz.

Paint Pot "Layin' Low": Everybody loves MAC's "Painterly" Paint Pot, but when I swatched it in the store, it appeared "too" light on my skin tone. So I got Layin' Low. Its absolutely matte and a complete match for my skin-color.



MAC Paint Pots are eyeshadow base. It works as eye primer and because it has a little bit of color, it does a real-good job in hiding any vein-y issues on your eyelid. Texture wise it may appear a bit stiff but when you start applying you can feel that it has just the right amount of creaminess to glide on in a quick swipe. This stuff works like magic, I use it almost everyday. This increases the staying power of nearly every brand eyeshadow that I have up to 8-9 hrs. I also use a very very thin layer of Urban Decay Primer Potion underneath Layin' Low for special occasion; just to get extra wear time. I have been using it for 5-6 months now, and I can see the edge of the pot getting a bit dry. It is a huge pot and I think it may dry before I can use it up. That's the only downside that I could think of.

The price for this is $21 for 5g/0.17 oz.

Fix+: This is another one of MAC's VERY popular products. It is basically a water solution with vitamins, mineral, green tea, chamomile etc. It is supposed to add radiance, be used as a makeup finishing spray (but not as a setting spray)! The smell is so refreshing it immediately makes me feel invigorate; I also do feel it helps in prolonging the wear time of my makeup. I have seen people saying that it is extremely easy to prepare it at home; I am not sure if I would love try it. I have been loving Fix+ and I will definitely repurchase once this bottle is over.

You can buy a travel size of 1 Fl oz for $10 and 3.4 Fl Oz for $22.

Eyeshadow "Carbon": This is my first and only eye shadow from MAC. Not bad, but it does not get me excited enough to check out other shades. Solely based on my experience with "Carbon", I think there are better eye shadows in the market at a better price point. It's a matte black shade, but when I compare it to other blacks that I have, I feel a huge lack of pigmentation. So, this has been the least impressive product in the bunch. But I find it extremely useful when I need to use black with some other eye shadows to create some depth in my crease. It is not too harsh, so no worries about being heavy-handed in application.

The compact version for this costs $16 for 1.5 g/0.05 oz of product and refill pan is $10 for the same amount of product.


Overall, I am very happy and "in love" (apart from "Carbon") with these products. I also love that MAC seems to offer free shipping within USA,  :) While I am currently on a strict "no buy" mode, I am still open to trying out the absolute must haves from MAC. What are your suggestions? Please share the products that I should  absolutely try? :-)

Love,
~Arrru