Shopping in the United States is amazing. Most of the shops in the UK haven't appealed to me recently, I know it's fashion and I should change with it but call me a creature of habit. I like what I like. I very much like the classic 'chilled out' style in the US, Hollister (I know we have that here, but its costly!), American Eagle, Tillys, etc. Needless to say, my suitcase was full to the brim and I did go over my allowance, I was very lucky at the airport though as the attendant just said to me 'A girls got to shop!' and did not charge me for my bag being overweight which was nice!
My main focus however was makeup. Some of the brands out there are so much cheaper than here in the UK, Mac of course being the center of attention. So a little haul was needed. Little being.....well a lie.
All the mac products I bought on my trip.
I'll first start with the MAC. I adore mac. I love their products, they're of really good quality and I think they are appropriately priced on most products. However, with them costing about 1/3 less in the states, who can turn down that bargain? My favourite product that they so are their lipsticks. They have such a huge range in a variety of colours and finishes. If I could, I'd have them all, just in case. That is not possible, so I have to choose. I stand there looking at all the possibilities and am baffled. I did eventually make my mind up and grabbed these bad boys.
MAC Lipsticks - $15 approx £10 RRP in UK £15 (approx £5 saving)
Now I know what you're thinking, a bit of a mix. That's what I wanted though! I already have a few neutral/pink lipsticks from Mac which I wear everyday and I wanted to go for some more bolder colours!
DARK SIDE. Dark lipsticks at the moment are in, so thought I'd give it a go myself! Like I said earlier, I'm a creature of habit so this is a little out of my comfort zone but I'll try anything once! I really liked the amplified finish on the colour dark side which is why I went for this one and I liked the purple undertones to it. Some of the other shades would not have suited my skin tone because, as you can probably tell from the foundation, I am very pale! My foundation colour in Max Factor is called Ivory. That pale. So I found that some of the darker reds made me look somewhat ill. This one seemed to work.
BRAVE RED. A classic look. When I was little and would think of lipstick, instant thought is a red one. Every girl needs to own at least one bright red lipstick for those nights out where you just want to look fantastic and from my experience, guys love the look of a bright red lippy. With my pale skin tone, this really compliments me (if I do say so myself!) I chose this one as I love the cremesheen formula of mac lipsticks, I think it's probably my favourite, as it gives that slightly glossy look and a slightly sheer too. Bright red lipsticks as beautiful as they are, if they're too thick and you have a mishap (I.e the classic tooth stain, or a smudge) can look horrendous! The cremesheen formula tends to avoid all those horror stories and I am sometimes clumsy! So win win!
CHATTERBOX. To be honest with you, this one just called to me. It's pink and I'm a girl, what can I say really? It's beautiful!
Swatches. Left to right. Chatterbox (Cremesheen), Brave red (Amplified) and Dark side (Amplified).
MAC Studio Fix Fluid in NW10 - $27 approx £17 RRP in UK £21.50 (approx £4.50 saving)
MAC Mineralize Skin Finish Natural (Shades Light and Medium Plus) - $30 approx £19 RRP in UK £22 (approx £3 saving)
Now onto the other products from mac. I've always wanted a mac foundation, but where I live there is no mac store. However since my return, John Lewis have now opened a mac section, yay! I wanted to get matches up to the right shade because, I don't know if you've ever had a look on their website or even in a store. There is a huge range! So I took the opportunity to go in and have a consultation with one of the artists in their.
FOUNDATION. NW10 is my shade. Told you I was whiter than white! I like the studio fix fluid because it's a medium-full coverage and is more matte compared to some of the others. I wanted to stick to a liquid foundation for now as it's what I'm used to working with. I will later venture into the world of powders and cremes but I'm not quite there yet!
POWDER. I always have and always will use a setting powder. I prefer the matte look personally, so a powder is the perfect way to finish this off and get my desired finish as well as keeping my foundation on my face for the majority of the day. I've used this powder before, so this was just a top up really, but this is by far my favourite powder I've used so far. Another one I want to try is by Dior, that one will be going on the Christmas list!
BRONZER. Now the bronzer she picked out for me isn't technically a bronzer. It's a setting powder, the problem I have is because of my skin tone a lot of the actual bronzers are either too dark for me, or I look like I've just come out of a fight with a pixie because I'm just covered in glitter. So the best route for me was to get a darker skin toned finishing powder which is fine with me. A matte finish which is what I like as well.
Now for all my new beautiful products, I needed some new beautiful brushes. I wanted to get the 187 stipple brush as I've had my eye on it for a long time! Instead though, mac have just released a range called Stroke of Midnight which had these sets so I decided to purchase one of these instead and the 187 is another item on the Christmas list this year now.
MAC Stroke of Midnight Brush Kit (Essentials) - $49.50 approx £31 RRP in UK £42 (approx saving £11)
Now you'll need to excuse me, because I've only used two of brushes so far, so cannot pass judgement on the others at this moment. I'll be sure to post another time once I have.
168 ANGLED POWDER BRUSH. I really like the angle on this as for contouring it makes it really easy with my bronzer and as for my setting powder makes it a lot easier to get those awkward areas like the sides of my nose and helps distribute the product evenly.
193 ANGLED FOUNDATION BRUSH. Similar to the powder brush, the slight angle helps you to get to those awkward areas and distributes fairly. I'm still getting used to this one though as I'm used to using a stipple brush. I think however, I am most likely to be using the 187 instead once I get it instead of this one if I'm honest but it is a good brush none the less, just I personally prefer the more airbrushed look you get from the likes of the 187.
You also get this cute little bag to put the brushes in. I like it, however it's too small for me to use as my everyday makeup bag, so I imagine in a couple weeks once the novelty has worn off it will end up in the drawer.
As this post is quite long, I'll do a separate post for the products I bought from other brands as not to bore you too much in one go. All in all, I'm very happy with all the purchases I made with mac. Just wish I had a bit more cash to grab some more bits like the 187 and a couple more lipsticks.
Au revoir for now!
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