My Birthday Haul!!

Sorry for the lack of posts. This past weekend was my birthday so I have been pretty busy all month leading up to it. I have managed to haul some amazing products for my birthday. All of them were either gifts or swaps but regardless they are all in one collective haul. Below is a brief overview shot.

From left to right-Urban Decay BOS Vol. 2, TARTE Femme Fatale Eyeshadow Palette, Heatherette Smooth Harmony, MAC Brunette MSF, MAC Golden Bronzer, MAC Femme Fi Eyeshadow, Dior Bronze Sun Couture Palette, MAC Hello Kitty Tippy Blush, Bobbi Brown Nectar Shimmer Brick, Chanel Soleil Tan De Chanel Bronze Powder Sable D'OR #6, MAC Hello Kitty Big Bow, and Eve Pearl Purple Eyeshadow Palette.

I am just going to highlight some of my favorite items from this group. I have tried MAC MSF's over and over again and they just do not show up on me. I still want to get that shimmer look though so, I decided to try Bobbi Brown's Nectar Shimmerbrick. Finally, a glow that shows:) I love this item. I think some of the other shimmerbricks don't show up as well because of their lack of color but this is like taking the color of NARS Orgasm blush and putting it together with a MAC MSF.

The TARTE Femme Fatal Eyeshadow Palette I am especially excited about! This palette came out about 2 years ago before I was really into make-up. I have searched high and low for this product and have not been able to find it anywhere. I am talking eBay, beauty stores in other countries, you name it I have looked there. I was in Sephora the other day looking at the TARTE cheek stains.and one of the sales associates was pulling out stock from the drawer below and low and below there was not 1 but 4 (!!) Femme Fatale Palettes. Of course they were not for sale but, I begged and pleaded with the sales person to let me purchase it. She said she would have to check with the manager because Sephora has a strict policy against letting customers purchase testers. (mind you this was technically a tester but had never been opened) Thankfully the manager on duty was someone I have become friendly with over time since I go into his store so often. It was like waiting to see if I had passed a big test to see if he was going to give it to me. I gave him "but it's my birthday tomorrow pretty please" line and it actually worked! He sold it to me and totally made my day!! Below are pictures and you will see why I was so ecstatic. The colors are just amazing! This is one of the only palettes that I have found where you can truly use it from day to night. They have a nice mix of neutrals and strong smokey eye night colors as well.

I have also managed to swap for the coveted Urban Decay Book of Shadows Vol. 2 I haven't had a chance to test this out yet but I am sure it is not going to disappoint.

Next up are the MAC products I managed to haul. I am pretty excited to try them out as well. I just love all the LE packaging. Especially the Heatherette collection. From left to right: Smooth Harmony, Brunette MSF, and Golden Bronzer.

From left to right: MAC Hello Kitty Tippy Blush and MAC Hello Kitty Big Bow Lipstick.

And the last item that I am pretty excited to try is my Christian Dior Sun Couture Palette. I haven't had a chance to use yet but it just looks beautiful. I looove bronzers. That is my weakness and I think this palette caters to it:)

The first picture is with out the flash and the second picture is with the flash. I left the plastic protective cover on by accident. Opps:)

Those are my favorites from my birthday haul. I hope you enjoyed them and let me know what your favorite make up birthday present ever was. Until next time...XOXO MissMakeUpFairy

MUA Swaps

I confess, I am a MUA junkie. For all of you that don't know what MUA stands for it www.makeupalley.com A website where fellow make up junkies like myself go to swap make-up. Now some may say "ewww that is gross, you swap used make up." And yes, you can however, I tend to only swap for new make up. I think this a great way of getting rid of all those impulse or "mistake" purchases. This way you can really get something you want. I have to admit...I have gotten some pretty cool items. Items that would probably be far to expensive for me to purchase in the first place. But what is one man's trash is another man's treasure!! (in our case women..lol) I thought I would post some pictures of some of the cool items that I swapped for.

The first item is this amazing Chanel Romance Palette. I swapped this for a Marc Jacobs perfume that I don't think I have used in a year and has been just sitting on my dresser.

As you can see there is a small fingernail nick. No biggie for a palette that normally costs $85 in stores. Good swap right!

The next swap I got more for collection purposes. These are the LE Alexander McQueen Lip glosses that MAC put out a while ago. However, after his untimely death I feel like one day they might be worth something You never know:)

The last item is probably my favorite. It def comes in handy everyday and holds all my MUA swap contents. It is the MAC LE Liberty of London Make-Up bag. I know a make-up bag is so simple but it has literally taken me forever to find on I really like. I know people either love or hate the Liberty of London print but I love it.

To date, these have probably been my favorite swaps. What have been some of your favorite swaps? Have you gotten some LE item that you were super excited about? XOXO-MissMakeUpFairy

What Are Certain Make-Up Brands Known For?

I was in Sephora the other day talking to one of the sales associates who asked me what type of mascara I was wearing. I said DiorShow as it has been my staple for a while. But that got me thinking why don't I have any other products from Dior besides their mascara. I came to the conclusion that I tend to buy certain products that each brand is "known" for. These are their most well known "signature" products. I decided to make a list and associate each brand with their "standout" product. Let me know what you think? Am I totally off or do you agree with me?

MAC-Eye shadows (I mean this whole line is a "standout" but I feel like recently everyone raves or at least starts out by learning about their eye shadows)

Benefit-Their boxes of blushes like Hoola, Dallas, Sugarbomb, 10, Coralista, Throbb, Dandelion, & Georgia

Clinique-Black Honey Almost Lipstick and their 3 Step Skincare line (that has been around FOREVER)

Dior-Diorshow Mascara in black

Guerlain-Meteorites Powder for the Face

Laura Mercier-Their Primer and Tinted Moisturizer

Make Up Forever-HD Cover Foundation and their HD Microfinish Powder

NARS-Their Orgasm Blush

Smashbox-Photo Finish Foundation Primer

Stila-Kitten Eye shadow

TARTE-Cheek Stains

Too Faced-Pink Leopard Bronzing Powder

Urban Decay-Primer Potion (for the eyes)

I think I pretty much covered it from my end. Please let me know if you think I am missing something or I have the wrong product in for each brand. Until next time....XOXO MissMakeUpFairy

MAC To the Beach Collection

I am soooo excited to MAC's To the Beach collection. I was in my MAC store and found out it is coming out May 27th, 2010. I thought this was only going to be sold in the U.K but I am sooo glad I was wrong. I am most excited about the following products:

Marine Life Multicolour Highlight Pressed Powder

Bronzing Powders-Golden – Muted Golden Tan-Beige with Golden Shimmer
Refined Golden – Finely Spun Golden with Soft Pearl Finish.

BeachBound – Sheer Frosted Pale Peach (Glaze)
Lazy Day – Light Dirty Blue Pink (Lustre)
Thrills – Rosy Copper with Gold Pearl (Frost)
FunBathing – Mid-Tone Bronzed Plum (Cremesheen)

I am def getting the Marine Life Powder. Also, Refined Golden is my staple bronzer and I am running low so what better way to repurchase then with a LE packaging! Also, out of all the lipsticks I most excited to try BeachBound. What are you most excited to get?

MAC Alice + Olivia Collection for Summer 2010

U.S. Launch Date: July 8th, 2010
International Launch Date: August 2010 (Japan & Korea only)

Dazzleglass Creme ($18.00 U.S. / $21.50 CDN)

• Sparklicious Creamy pale pinky white with soft multi-dimensional pearlized pigments (Limited Edition)
• If it’s Pink… Hot pink with soft multi-dimensional pearlized pigments (Limited Edition)
• I.Want.Candy. Hot yellow with soft multi-dimensional pearlized pigments (Limited Edition)

Pigments ($19.50 U.S. / $23.50 CDN)

• Later: Black with transforming purple pearlized pigments (Limited Edition)
• If It Sparkles… White with transforming pink pearlized pigments (Limited Edition)
• Partylicious: Turquoise with silver pearlized pigments (Limited Edition)

Nail Lacquer ($12.00 U.S. / $14.50 CDN)

• Morning.After. Creamy turquoise (Cream) (Limited Edition)
• So Rich So Pretty Bright purple with pearlized pigments (Frost) (Limited Edition)
• Military Black matte with silver suede pearl (Matte with Pearl) (Limited Edition)

See if you can spot me in this video-Hint: I am an angel

Zbigniew Rybczynski -  Keep Your Eye On Me
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Getting Fake MAC on eBay

I have been scammed and it doesn't feel good. Four out of the five MAC eye shadows that I had ordered online through eBay are fake. I was alerted first by a fellow MUA Swapper that the MAC Hello Kitty eye shadows never came in pots. That led me to an online information hunt to find out what other items I had purchased were not real. I came across this website from one of the more "well known" bloggers I follow and was able to realize what was real and what was fake. Below is the link and it is really helpful:

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://www.specktra.net/blogs/counterfeit-mac-packaging-comparison



I think the most helpful part of this article was the back label comparison. That is where I was able to catch all the "fake labeling" on these products. In the picture below on the right side is the real eyeshadow and the left side is the fake one.

The most common spot where these scammers got me, was either the actual weight of the eyeshadow or where the "e" was placed. The good news is that I was able to catch all of these bad sellers, open cases with eBay and get full refunds. It isn't even the fact that they cost me that much money but, it is the principal that when selling these fake products who knows what chemicals they are made of. They can cause hives, swelling and all other sorts of allergic reactions. From now on I am buying my MAC strictly from the store. Plus now a days it seems like drugstore make up is almost the same price as MAC make up as well. Hopefully this short post will help you beware of buying make up on eBay. XOXO