Before we do anything can we talk about those ADORABLE little bug things I found on Picmonkey? They were too cute to be left out.

Hey guys, the whole world and his dog knows about MAC eyeshadows, right? 99% of bloggers seem to own palettes and I've seen various posts detailing the colours they've chosen and various swatches etc, but I've not seen one telling you a) how to do it and b) whether or not it's worth it. Don't worry though, I'm here to answer those burning questions- or maybe not so much burning as simmering? This isn't a post preaching the greatness that is MAC eyeshadow, it's just about the building process.

There are various sizes for the palettes, so you'll have to look and see what would suit your needs best. I just have the single sided, 15 pan one. This is quite a splurge as the empty palette will set you back about £16.50 and each refill costs £10, but I have to say I'm so glad I started building my own. I always found with pre-made eyeshadow palettes there were colours I loved and used up so quickly and then others I never touched, so in theory money was wasted. The perk of building your own palette is that you can only include colours you would use. Also, there is no pressure to buy all the refills at once, I've built this over several months and some people take years to fill theirs.

I've written the name of each shade I have in case any take your fancy- you can clearly see which ones I favour (it's currently Brulé with Charcoal Brown in the crease). While building this I tried to include muted colours I would use regularly and that would complement each other for various looks- although the odd statement like Antiqued snuck its way in. Any time I've asked someone for help in a MAC store they've been great so if you're nervous, just ask! I found myself having 30 minute discussions about eyeshadows and it always helps to have a professional opinion on colours that would suit your skin tone, and I'd usually ask which colours they felt they couldn't live without in their palettes to get inspiration.

Although it's expensive to build, this palette has made all my other eyeshadows become redundant. It's not so much a splurge as an investment, as I said you can build it up over time and tailor it to you. It might be OTT to say, I probably couldn't live without this now! How about you? Do you have a MAC Palette? Do you want one?

Favourite Things || Sleek Face Form Palette

The Sleek Face Form Palette is something I have been itching to get my hands on for the longest time. For whatever reason (my money is backing the idea that I had angered the beauty gods) it was like gold dust in my town, everywhere was always sold out. Even when I ventured further afield, they'd magically be sold out too, I truly believed I was cursed- overly dramatic? I don't think so. Thankfully, there was a glorious day when I strolled past this little beauty tucked away, all on its lonesome, in Superdrug so I hot footed it to the till in case another Sleek drought hit Colchester. 

  

Sleek Face Form Palette in 'Light'

Anyway, enough setting the scene, let's talk about why this is one of my favourite things. For just £9.99 you get a bronzer, a highlighter and a blush (NB:in the darker shades there are two bronzers and a highlight). The bronzer is the most perfect contouring shade, it's completely matte and several shades darker than my skin tone so I can create the illusion of cheekbones. All three powders have great pigmentation and are perfect for blending. And they last forever- both in the pan and on the skin. I always like having palettes in my collection because they make life so much easier when travelling- why pack three products when you can just take one? That coupled with the ginormous mirror means this ticks all the boxes.

The bronzer is probably my most loved powder in the palette, since buying it I've used it everyday without fail. While the highlight is pretty, I've recently fallen in love with MAC's Soft and Gentle Mineralize Skinfinish so that's taken a backseat for now. And the blush is great, but for me it's a bit of a statement so I prefer to use it for a night time look rather than a summer one.

How do you feel about the Sleek Palettes? Love them or loathe them? Let me know! 

Mac Mineralize || Review

MAC Mineralize Moisture Foundation- £27.00

 So, long time no speak...again. Revision and finals are
kinda getting on top of me so this and my attempt at a YouTube channel have been severely neglected- just bear with me until the 31st of May then I will have nothing but time to devote to blogging!
Anyway, let's get to the point of this post, I recently ran out of foundation and fancied trying something new. Very predictably, I fell into my nearest MAC store and asked their advice. Since summer is just around the corner (fingers crossed!) I wanted to go for something a bit more dewy than I normally would, and the lovely lady working the counter directed me straight to the Mineralize range where I ended up buying the foundation, powder and concealer.

We'll start with the foundation. I always love MAC packaging so there's no complaints there, the actual product is a bit of a different matter. As you can see from the pictures at the start of this post, it's definitely dewy so I got what I asked for but I find it might be a bit too dewy. I'm concerned that I look more sweaty than glowy, if I'm honest. As for lasting, today I have just been moseying around and it's faired well, especially for something that's not full coverage (it's more medium, if you were wondering), and even when I worked an 8 hour shift yesterday it held up fairly well without any need for setting spray. That being said, it doesn't feel like it's really worked into my skin, if you know what I mean; it's not heavy at all, but I am very aware that I'm wearing foundation. Would I buy it again? I'm not sure, like I said it's a lot more dewy than I'm used to so perhaps it's that that's holding me back. I'm going to persevere with it for a few more weeks and then see how I feel. If you do want to look like there's a lightbulb inside your skull though, this may well be the foundation for you!

MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural- £22.00

Now for the powder, I got this in the shade Light Plus so it doesn't add any colour for me, it just sets everything in place. Their Mineralize Skinfinish Natural powders are all low coverage so should be suited to all skin types. I have been loyal to Rimmel's Stay Matte for as long as I can remember, but recently I've found it goes a bit to cakey and clings to dry patches, so this may have replaced it as my go to powder! settles really nicely on the skin, without caking up around the nose or showing everyone my dry patches. As far as I can tell, it neither adds nor takes away from the glow of the foundation underneath so presumably it'll be great over a range of foundations. Despite being significantly more expensive than Rimmel, I can see myself repurchasing this.

MAC Mineralize Concealer- £16.50

Finally, the concealer. I always need a nice, creamy concealer to cover the ever-present bags under my eyes and I figured that I may as well get the full set. This is probably my least favourite product, firstly it seems to make all my eye makeup smudge a lot more, a problem I never usually have. It feels almost slippery when you put it on so, despite providing full coverage of bags at first, it slides all over the place throughout the day and leaves you with minimal coverage (although that could just be my eyeliner leaking down my face!) Setting it with powder didn't help it to stay either. Honestly, I'm fairly disappointed meaning I won't buy this again. I'm in the market for a new concealer if anyone knows of any good'uns.



And that's about it for this post, what foundation, powder and concealer are you using at the minute? Would you recommend? Let me know in the comments!