Review & Swatches: MAC Powder Blush in Style

I never was one to wear blushes much, which is funny considering that I'm pretty pale. Whenever I put blush on, I always ended up looking completely clownish and then deciding that blush WASN'T FOR ME EVER. Just this past year, since I started really getting into makeup blogs, I picked up this blush that I've had for a while. Maybe I just didn't know how to put blush on properly before, but I find myself using this blush pretty much every day. 

This is a blush from MAC's permanent line, and comes in MAC's standard packaging. One problem I find with this packaging is that the clear portion with MAC written on top often pops out. It's not that important, but I find it to be somewhat annoying if the clear part rolls away under the table or something.

L to R: MAC blush in "Style", NARS blush in "Orgasm", NARS multiple in "Orgasm"

Other than that, the blush is a warm coral-peach with fine gold glitter. The blush is quite pigmented, but not too potent. The gold glitter reminds me a lot of NARS Orgasm, although this is more orange than the NARS blush is. Because of that, I find this to be a little more "every-day" than NARS orgasm, having just enough color to keep you from looking corpsy but not pink enough to make you look perpetually embarrassed. Also, since my skin is a little more olive-toned than pink, the peacher/orange tone of the MAC blush looks a little more flattering than the NARS blush does. The gold glitter adds just a little bit of highlighting and warmth on the cheeks, and the fact that it's finely milled keeps you from looking like Ke$ha.

Pros:

• Subtle blush, for those of us that like to stay minimal
• Better for yellower skintones but fairly universal
• Finely-milled glitter 
• Pigmented

Cons:

• May not look as flattering on pink skintones or mature women
• May not be pigmented/dark enough for darker skintones (I would use NARS Orgasm instead)

Review & Swatches: Wet n Wild Coloricon Palette in Comfort Zone

I figured that I should review this next, since I probably use this palette as much as I used the Urban Decay Naked Palette (reviewed here). A lot of bloggers have reviewed this palette with really great reviews, so I had to check it out. It absolutely lived up to its reputation, especially for someone that normally doesn't buy drugstore brands.

I really like that the designates colors for certain parts of the smoky eye; for those of you who have a harder time with using multiple colors, this helps push you in the right direction. Even still, each color stands out on its own, and I find myself using colors individually for other looks.

The first 4 colors are from the first column, and the last 4 are from the second column. Honestly, not a single color is a dud here. Each shadow could rival the quality and pigmentation of high-end brands like NARS or Hourglass. The first column has more versatile, "every day" colors due to their nude tone, but the second column is very wearable nonetheless. The colors swatch fairly close to how they appear in the pan, although the browbone color in the second column is lighter and less grey and the crease color a little less green. Out of all of the colors, my favorite has to be the duochromatic definer color in the second column. It's a more-pigmented version of MAC's eyeshadow "Club" for a fraction of the price (~$.62 per color vs $15? Yeah.) Moral of the story: this palette is freaking amazing. Buy it.

Pros:

• Super pigmented, buttery texture without fallout
• Very useable colors
• Stupid mad cheap ($4.99 at Walgreens)
• Wears well throughout the day, even without primer.

Cons:

• No matte colors? There really isn't anything to gripe about.

I took a picture of how I wore it the other day (using the second column and MAC Blacktrack Fluidline over Benefit's Stay Don't Stray Primer), what a coincidence!

Sorry for looking sleepy, I was trying to show how that defining color shifts colors without looking like a huge derp. Isn't it gorgeous?