A Blushing Sunset!

I was planning on doing another look yesterday, but it turned out to be my personal "Anti-Everything Day", and I seemed to fail at everything I set my mind to do. It ended with me wiping my face clean, and keeping it makeup-free the whole day - which resulted in absolutely no pictures at all. A little boring I know, but I promise to make up for it soon. Now I've finally managed to get my hands on the gorgeous M·A·C Blush Ombre Ripe Peach (mission accomplished), and I'm deeply in love with it. The part of me struggling with a vile "OCD" is trying hard to convince me not to use it, but to save it for some rainy day when I need something beautiful to look it instead. It truly reminds me of the sunsets back home, or a glass filled to the rim with an ice cold San Francisco.

But guess what, I have decided to use it - and I need something gorgeous to help me overcome my fear of ending up looking like a clown if wearing blush. I mean, I have accumulated a few since I first fed my ever-growing M·A·C addiction, and wearing blush does so much for your face! I snapped up a tip at Pudderkvastrabagast yesterday about correcting over-enthusiastic usage of blush, and it actually made me a little less reluctant to freshening up my face with some colored cheeks. I've heard that M·A·C Cremeblend Blush in Optimistic Orange (bright coral) is perfect for using as a base for Ripe Peach. Might be difficult to find as it's a LE item from the M·A·C in Lillyland collection, but I'll try my connections.

Now all I have to do is to pick up my blush brush, and brush away!

I've also expanded my makeup collection with a few items from Illamasqua, thanks to Amira. Maybe it's just me, but I love their tagline: "Makeup for your alter ego", it's fabulous! The packaging is different and very nice, the products seem good and easy to work with, and Illamasqua has a lot to offer if you dare to be different. Sooner or later (later rather than sooner - now is the time for saving, not spending) I'll be placing an order with them myself, and I'm planning to check out a couple of their other products like their palettes, and the third Liquid Metal. I haven't gotten around to trying any of these items yet, but I'm very pleased after swatching them, and I look forward to actually using them in a look or four. Perfect for summer!

• Liquid Metal in "Solstice" (molten gold)
• Liquid Metal in "Enrapture" (molten bronze)
• Bronzing Duo in "Glint/Writhe" (soft luminous peach/golden tan)
• Fat Pencil in "Perverse" (pale gold shimmer)
• Fat Pencil in "Wilful" (copper gold shimmer)

Today Mr. Postman also brought me a Barbie Loves Stila smudge pot in "Little Black Dress". From the name I was convinced that this was some kind of black smudge pot, so I didn't really pay much attention to it until Amira told me that the color was a pretty exact dupe of M·A·C Young Punk, one of the LE mineralized eye shadows from the M·A·C Style Black collection. I think it was the first of the eye shadows from Style Black that was completely sold out, but since I don't like the mineralized products, mainly eye shadows and blushes, I didn't bother trying to find one for myself. I loved the color though, so I was thrilled when Amira told me about this smudge pot. It doesn't look purple at all in the pot, but I can assure you that it's a blackened purple with purple flecks. An absolutely fantastic color! And even though the smudge pot is a gel eye liner, it's really versatile and can be used as other things.

Oh, and just for the record.. I ordered these things before I went on a no-buy, so this isn't me caving.

Photos © M·A·C Cosmetics and Stila Cosmetics