MAC Flamingo lipstick, new blog layout + GIVEAWAY!

I've been on the hunt for the perfect pink lipstick for months now and I think I finally found it! I've always loved the idea of having a nice pink lipstick that I can fall back on but I've never actually been able to find the right shade of pink. Almost all pink lipsticks look awful on me but when I saw MAC's Flamingo on someone else, I thought that I might have found the pink lipstick.

MAC's Flamingo

MAC's Flamingo

MAC's Flamingo lipstick is a limited edition lipstick that was most recently released as part of the All About Orange range. I was able to grab one during a restock of the collection but it's since sold out on both the Australian and US MAC websites.

Flamingo is a lustre lipstick and it's glossy on my lips. It's not quite sheer but it's definitely not a full opaque lipstick. It's kind of like a muted (MAC) Chatterbox lipstick or a fun and outgoing version of (MAC) Creme Cup. It's definitely an everyday lipstick that doesn't wash me out and gives a bit of colour to my lips.

Indoors facing sunlight

Indoors facing sunlight

Face of the day:

Laura Mercier Silk Crème Foundation in Bamboo Beige

Make Up For Ever Full Cover Concealer in shade 7

MAC Studio Finish Concealer in NC20

NARS Laguna Bronzer

Maybelline Mega Plush Mascara

MAC Eyebrow Pencil in Lingering

MAC lipstick in Flamingo

Photo taken indoors near a window/sunlight

Photo taken indoors in natural lighting

Now, I unintentionally ended up with 3 of these lipsticks so I've decided to give one away to one of my followers as a celebration for my new blog layout! If you haven't noticed, I changed my blog layout and I'm over the moon with how it looks now :) I worked with the amazing Sharnee from Suck My Lolly. I know that it can be really hard to find someone to design blog layouts so although I paid her for her work, I made sure that she put a little credit section for herself on my sidebar so go check her out if you're looking for someone to do a little magic on your blog :)

Onto the giveaway:

This giveaway will be done through Rafflecopter so make sure that you enter through the Rafflecopter form. The giveaway will end in 3 weeks!

It's an international giveaway but you must be following me via Google Friend Connect (GFC). The lipstick will be shipped out to the winner within 2 weeks after the giveaway finishes and please make sure that you have your parents permission to give me your address (to ship the lipstick to) if you're under the age of 18 (if you're the winner).

Good Luck!

What's your favourite pink lipstick?

a Rafflecopter giveaway

US Haul! Sephora, MAC and TheBalm

2 weeks ago, I went a little crazy whilst online shopping and I ended up with DHL delivering 5 boxes to me today... Whilst I've done a lot of damage to my wallet, I'm over the moon and absolutely love everything :) I don't think I'll be doing this type of haul again in the near future as I've utterly exhausted my makeup budget...

I have to apologise in advance for the photos (as usual). It took me about an hour to get through all the packages and I was really exhausted at the end. I know they're of terrible quality BUT this isn't a review on anything so it doesn't really matter that much. (hopefully!).

DHL delivered 5 boxes to me :)

Box 1: TheBalm

TheBalm held a sale on April 1st to launch their new website. Everything was 50% off and I managed to place an order at 4am in the morning (the site was obviously really slow). They couldn't keep up with the online traffic so the "official 50% off sale" didn't actually go ahead until the next week but luckily for me, TheBalm honoured all orders that made it through before they closed the website to fix it.

TheBalm order

I picked up 8 things in total but 4 of them are for other people/swaps. I got myself the new Instain blush in Swiss Dot which is a peach colour, Frat Boy blush, Nude 'tude eyeshadow palette and a lipstick in Ima Goodkisser which is a coral colour. This would have cost me US$96 but I paid US$48. I don't believe Instain has been release in Australia yet but the other 3 items together would have cost AUS$97.85 from David Jones.

Box 2: MAC

Yep.. I know it's a terrible photo!

I sold the majority of my MAC makeup a few months ago as I found that I never used it but I decided to give it another go as I've fallen in love with the brow pencil in Lingering (bottom of the picture). I wanted a backup of the brow pencil as you can't tell how much is left in it (it winds up but not down) so I made a small order.

I also picked up the brow gel in clear, blot powder in Medium and 3 lipsticks (Lustering, Please Me and   Chatterbox). This cost me US$101. It would have cost me AUS$202 to get it from David Jones or Myer.

Box 3: Sephora

Sephora pack 1

I got 2 things in this order that I really wanted for awhile but never picked them up due to their prices. However, I couldn't resist when Sephora had a 15% off everything sale so I got the Laura Mercier Silk Creme Foundation (US$43) and the Stila Convertible Colour in Petunia (US$25). The makeup bag was on sale for $3 (reduced from $12) so I picked it up to use as a makeup brush bag. However, it's actually pretty small so I'll have to find another use for it.

The Laura Mercier Silk Creme Foundation is actually also a little too light for me. I read a lot of reviews that said that Bamboo Beige was the best match for NC30 but I think it might actually be closer to NC25. I'll have to save this for winter :)

Box 4: Sephora

Make Up For Ever Concealers

I made this order as I was helping Sarah from More Than Adored get the Lorac Pro Palette and I needed to bump the order up with a few items to get the free US shipping.

I absolutely love my Make Up For Ever Full Cover Concealer in shade 8 but it's starting to get a little too dark for me so I picked it up in number 7. I also got the Make Up For Ever Lift Concealer in Neutral Beige 3 as my under eye concealer. They were both bought during 15% off sale too.

Box 5: Sephora

Sephora Box 3

Unfortunately I purchased these about a week before the 15% off sale. I picked up the Make Up For Ever Full Cover Concealer in shade 8 (I love this stuff!), Dior BB cream and an Urban Decay Primer that I love. I also qualified for the VIB program so I got the welcome kit :)

I definitely won't be shopping like this again for a really long time. Let me know if you want any reviews on any of this stuff :)

Haul from Macy's and Sephora!

Mishelle from Mishelle's Sleepy Time reminded me today that I'd forgotten to do my haul post! I posted a sneak peek of it recently and she was dying to see what was in it :P (probably a bit like how I'm always dying to see new posts from her! She's an amazing blogger!)

Anyway, here's the photos of what I got in November. I always tell myself that I'm on a shopping ban but I can never resist Sephora... I actually have a shopping cart full of stuff right now but I've had to buy a few birthday presents recently and.... my wallet is going to go find itself a new owner if I don't stop shopping!

There aren't too many photo's as I wasn't sure if I was going to keep it all so I didn't want to open all the packaging. I'll post links to the products though. I'm also starting to sell some of my stuff. Check out my blog sale :)

Package 1

Package 2

Both my packages arrived on the same day at my boyfriends house. That's his green cutting mat in the background that he uses for his architecture classes at uni. It's pretty ugly but it's going to be in all my photos. I didn't realise until the end... sorry about that!

First up is the box containing my Macy's haul. I picked up a few MAC things and something from Philosophy.

Philosophy and MAC haul

1. Philosophy clear days ahead trial kit $38- This kit has $67 of value and is a 30 day trial kit. I have pimples ALL THE TIME. It never goes away and it's so frustrating when I've tried so many things but nothing works! I mainly get them on my forehead but sometimes one or two will pop up on my cheeks or in that spot right under the middle of my bottom lip so that I look like I have a piercing or that spot between my upper lip and nose.... it's SO ANNOYING. I used this the other night and I'll post a thorough review soon but I'm not a fan of 3 of the 4 things in this kit. I think I only like the cleanser.

2. MAC Prep + Prime Transparent Finishing Powder (pressed) $24 - I've actually decided to keep this. It's basically what the name says it is... a pressed finishing powder. I haven't started using this yet. The box it came in was so pretty! It was a sparkly purple box :)

Sparkly packaging

3. MAC lipsticks. I didn't open these as I wasn't sure which one I was going to keep. I picked up Creme cup, Bare Again, Fanfare and See Sheer. I may be giving one away in a Christmas giveaway... When I have more time, I'll post up swatches of my MAC lipsticks. I've picked up 8 over the last 2 months... They're so cheap in the US compared to here in Aus! ($15 vs $36).

I try to avoid ordering from Macy's as much as possible as I think of them as a "budget department store" for some reason. I'm sure that they aren't but whenever I get packages from them, it never seems like they've packaged it very well and the products tend to look a bit beaten up.

But I was too tempted by their gift with purchase which was a huge bag of samples!

Macy's sample bag

There were more than 25 perfume, skincare and makeup samples!

Sephora Haul

The second package contained only 2 things. It's so rare for me to only order 2 things from one store but I couldn't really find anything else that I wanted at the time.

1. Beautyblender Duo Set $39.95: I picked up a 2 pack of the beautyblenders. They're basically pink egg shaped makeup applicators. I thought that they were a bit of a gimmick at first but I'd been watching youtube tutorials and lots of people seemed to love their beautyblenders. It came with a cleanser for them as well.

2. Urban Decay Super-Saturated High Gloss Lip Colour pencil in lovechild $19: I bought this to push me over the $50 limit for free shipping. The pencil is super creamy and pigmented and a dream to apply. I'd love this more if my lips weren't so pigmented as it doesn't come up on my lips as pale pink. I've been dying to get the perfect baby pink lipstick/pencil.

And that's it! I have a David Jones haul to post as well but I probably won't do that until Christmas is over as it features some stuff that I got for Kris Kringles/Secret Santa's.

What do you want for Christmas this year? I'm dying to get an acrylic makeup box. I wish the people at the makeupboxshop.com could hear me! :P

Image Source: Link

MAC Marilyn Monroe

When this collection was released a few weeks ago, I really wanted to buy the Love Goddess lipstick.
However, the lipstick retails for AUS$38 which I thought was excessive when it was priced at US$16.50 and CDN$20 (although they also have to pay taxes on top). The majority of the collection sold out within hours when it was released online on the US MAC website. Similarly, when Nordstrom, Bloomingdales and Macy's released the collection a few days later, they also sold out really fast.

Luckily, a friend in Canada was able to get me the Love Goddess lipstick and the Legendary blush. She took it with her to California (had a holiday there) and shipped it to me from there. It arrived in 8 days and cost less than $5 in shipping! (She used USPS First Class International Shipping).

Packaging

Lipstick and Blush

Lipstick and Blush

Back of Packaging

The lipstick is very pigmented and reminds me of my Elizabeth Arden Cranberry Cream Lipstick (review here: http://shoppingqueenjen.blogspot.com.au/2012/09/cranberry-cream-lipstick.html).

In natural lighting

In shaded lighting

With Flash

I find that the Elizabeth Arden lipstick is creamier, although this comes a close second. It's described my MAC as a "midtone pink red".

The blush is very sheer so I didn't do a swatch of it as it wouldn't show up in photos. It's not very pigmented and gives my cheeks just a hint of colour. The container is also very flimsy and it creaks every time I open it. I'm not too impressed by it but I was drawn to it as it's limited edition and I didn't want to regret missing out on it.

I really regret missing out on the MAC Watch Me Simmer lipstick that was released earlier this year. I found it on eBay but I'm not sure if I trust the sellers :P Does anyone know of any reputable MAC resellers?

MAC Brow Finisher Review

This is a quick review on the MAC Brow Finisher in Clear. I ordered this from the US using a parcel forwarder so I ended up paying only $15 rather than the $31 here in Australia.

Mac Brow Finisher - Clear

The brow finisher packaging is similar to that of a wind up eyeliner and contains 0.5 grams of product in the black plastic wind up tube.

Clear wax

It's a hard wax that sets your eyebrows so that they don't move out of place. I don't have a swatch for you as it's a clear product so it won't show up. You can't tell that you've put clear wax on your eyebrows unless you touch them and they'll feel waxy but look completely natural.

I have doubts that it'll last very long as there's so little product but I love it and will repurchase when I run out.

Does anyone know if I can Back 2 Mac this?

September Wish list

My September wish list is a bunch of stuff I've been going crazy over for a little while now. I've been obsessing over palettes since I saw the NARS foreplay and NARS Joie de Vivre palettes.

Unfortunately the Joie de Vivre palette is sold out :( There's one on eBay for about twice the RRP which is absurd but it was a limited edition so won't come back in stock again. If anyone is selling their Joie de Vivre palette, let me know!

Also, don't forget to enter my giveaway. If there are more than 100 entries by the end, I'll do another one (and it'll be bigger!).

Giveaway link: http://shoppingqueenjen.blogspot.com.au/2012/09/giveaway.html

September wish list:

NARS Joie de Vivre Palette: Sold out!! :(

MAC 6 Pan Blush Palette (customised): I'm a sucker for anything pink.
It costs $118 in the US but over double that here!

DuWop Reverse Lip Liner: A clear lip liner so you don't
have to buy numerous ones to match your lipsticks.

Makeup storage box: Why are these so expensive?!

Sleek i-Divine Au Naturel Palette: A nude eyeshadow
palette for only $10 :)