A reader requested that I swatch By Candlelight Mineralize Skinfinish and Warm Soul Mineralize Blush side by side to see how similar the shades are. Before I start I should say that the only 2 Mineralize Skinfinishes that are permanent at MAC at the moment are Soft & Gentle and Gold Deposit. The one I’m swatching here, By Candlelight, was a limited edition release from the 2009 Warm & Cozy collection. Warm Soul is permanent.

Color Comparison

Warm Soul is a very warm rose color with gold shimmer, while By Candlelight is a gold with shimmer that flashes gold and pink. If you dislike any shimmer on your cheeks, neither of these will probably appeal to you, but Warm Soul doesn’t actually flash glitter in the way that you might expect, so it’s worth trying at least. The specks of shimmer are much more subtle, especially compared to By Candlelight. Warm Soul is more pigmented than By Candlelight in addition to being a bit deeper in color. (It’s not uncommon for Mineralize Skinfinishes to be less pigmented since they are usually used as more of a highlight.) Warm Soul is perfect for light to medium skintones, and warm- or cool-undertones.

Read the rest of this entry…

Totally. obsessed.

I follow WAH Nails of London on Tumblr (and Twitter), and I absolutely love getting inspiration from the pictures they post. Even though I am decent with freehand design, I usually feel that their designs are too advanced for me, or I don’t have the right colors or tools to complete similar looks (ie, Minx, gel nails, etc.). But I realized today that I had collected 3 snapshots of aztec manicures for inspiration, and knew I could do my own.

First, the inspiration pictures:

Now, the tools I used:

Revlon eyeliner brush (used with acetone for clean-up)
Thin paintbrush from craft store (used to paint designs)
White Nail Art Striper
Black Nail Art Striper
CoverGirl Boundless Color Fuchsia Girl 525 (I’m not sure if this bottle is really old or if the formula was bad, but I don’t recommend this polish.)
OPI Paint My Moji-Toes Red
China Glaze Lemon Fizz
MAC Peppermint Patti
Sally Hansen Double Duty Strengthening Top & Base Coat

I started off with this base:

(L->R: OPI Paint My Moji-Toes Red, CG Fuchsia Girl, China Glaze Lemon Fizz)

And then added designs freehand!

I am so, so, so happy with the design, but I have one small dilemma.. my right hand has ZERO polish on it right now. I’m not sure if my hand is steady enough to attempt ambidexterity. I’ll figure that out tomorrow.. :P Hope you enjoyed!

I had an interview at a potential school last month, and needless to say I was aiming to impress. I decided to go for a polished look: light on the eyes and cheeks with VERY bright lips. In the pictures the lip color looks more red/pink than it was in real life.. it’s actually much more purple/blue toned.

USED
MAC Prep + Prime Skin
MAC Studio Fix Fluid
MAC Showstopper Eyeshadow (brows)
MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural
MAC Trace Gold blush
MAC Mineralize Skinfinish New Vegas
MAC Bare Study Paint Pot
MAC Goldmine Eyeshadow
MAC Going Bananas Eyeshadow
MAC Soft Brown Eyeshadow
MAC Blanc Type Eyeshadow
MAC Blacktrack Fluidline
Estée Lauder Lash Primer Plus
MAC Opulash Mascara
MAC Vino Lipliner
MAC Gladiola Lipstick (from Dame Edna)

So, I hate feet. They’re generally just not very pretty, and I totally understand why people have an aversion to seeing pedicure pictures. But for my last professional pedicure (back in May), I had the nail tech use Essie Pink Parka… and it’s amazing, so I had to share! It was unbelievably bright, it actually surprised me every time it caught my eye how neon it was. The pink was what I call a Barbie pink–a hot, true, bright pink.

I don’t claim to have the cutest feet in the world, but I do take care of them and this was right after a pedicure, so hopefully you won’t be too grossed out if you decide to check out my pedicure! Read the rest of this entry…

I gave myself a little preemptive manicure this evening and I thought I’d share the swatches of MAC’s new nail lacquers from the Spring Colour Forecast collection. I like both colors well enough, though I think Galore Pink is my favorite. It is a true blue pink lacquer in a cream formula. It’s a bit on the sheer side, which can actually be very pretty if you don’t mind seeing nail beneath the color, and pictured below are my results after three generous coats of Galore Pink.

Malibu Peach is described on the MAC website as a bright creamy tangerine, and it is that to a point, but I think the really beautiful thing about the color is the soft peach it retains even while being relatively bright. I think this aspect is what keeps it from being neon. It’s nice, though I would have loved to see MAC do some neon color polishes. Anyway, Malibu Peach applies more opaquely than Galore Pink despite the fact that they’re both creams. This inconsistency is pretty typical of MAC nail lacquers. The swatches below show my results after two generous coats of Malibu Peach.

Please excuse the wonky nail on the middle finger with Malibu Peach. Stupid gas pumps…grr. Also, I dislike photographing my right hand due to my pen-holding bump.. but I”m keeping it real! So no shame.

I have posted a Valentine’s Day tutorial on YouTube at the request of a friend.

USED:
Prep + Prime Skin
Studio Fix
Warm Soul Mineralize Blush
By Candlelight Mineralize Skinfinish
Grand Duo Mineralize Blush
Showstopper Eyeshadow (eyebrows)
Fresco Rose Paint Pot
Sunset B. Eyeshadow
Young Punk Mineralize Eyeshadow
Jest Eyeshadow
Macroviolet Fluidline
Lash Stiletto Voluptuous Mascara
Cultureclash Lipglass