Quick Rave: MAKE UP FOR EVER Artist Liquid Mattes

MAKE UP FOR EVER has officially joined the matte liquid lipstick game with the new Artist Liquid Mattes (S$35), available in 19 shades from this month at the MUFE boutique as well as Sephora.

What is different about these is they promise intense color in an ultra-matte finish that remains comfortable to wear. If you know me, you'll know that I haven't been the biggest fan of matte liquid lipsticks that came out in the past couple of years because they DO make my lips look and feel mummified. Dehydrated, tight, wrinkly. 

Some transfer-proof formulas are a little more forgiving than others (MAC's reformulated ones, Sephora Collection, NARS PowerMatte, and Rouge Dior Liquids do feel a little better in my experience), but in general none of them actually feel great. I'll usually sacrifice the transfer-proof quality for some pliability and comfort, and I am most definitely a fan of Colourpop Ultra Satins over the Ultra Mattes. 

Until these came along.

One thing I was immediately happy about was that they don't change color significantly when they dry down. Then again, a lot of newer liquid lipstick lines seem to do better in this regard than the formulas that came out a couple of years ago. You no longer have to wonder how much darker or more grey the formula will go after it dries. With these, the colors stay pretty true in my experience. You can see from the half-dried swatches that the wet spots are not noticeably paler or a different tone to the dry spots.

Contrary to the claims, these MAKE UP FOR EVER Artist Liquid Mattes are not the most ultra-matte liquid lipsticks I've ever tried. In fact, they do dry down with a slight almost satin sheen to the surface. Like smooth calf leather instead of velvety suede. And this is not a complaint. 

Your lips don't look shriveled (or as some like to call it, like butt-hole lips). In fact, the formula won't emphasize lines unnecessarily, so they look more "plump" and smooth than they would with most other non-transferring liquid lip formulas. The other non-transferring formulas that have a similar smooth leathery finish upon initial dry-down are Dior's Rouge Dior Mat Liquids and YSL's Tatouage Couture, which will only launch in Singapore come Jan 2018.

You need to give these a moment to dry because of the slightly creamier, more hydrating texture. And like the YSLs and Diors, you can make these more matte just by pressing your lips together lightly after the product sets completely. That removes the satin finish and gives you more of the typical matte suede.

MAKE UP FOR EVER Artist Liquid Matte in 401

These remain comfortable and feel lightweight for hours, which is another huge plus for me. Like some of the more emollient formulas, they are more "flexible", so they don't feel stiff or crack when you smile.

After a few hours, drinking water through a glass, and eating some chips, it did wear away in the center of my mouth where most of the oil and moisture was. But these can be touched up easily as well. I simply dab a small drop of liquid lipstick onto a clean finger and pat it around the bare areas to fill them in. The formula does not cake up when layered this way.

NYX News - relaunch under L'oreal in Singapore and new product range

The original cheap 'n' chic beauty brand NYX has relaunched this January 2016 under the L'oreal umbrella, and the great news is they have brought it a much bigger and also a more updated range. New products launch at the same time as they do in the US, so we're not stuck watching people talk about new things for 6 months before we can try them.

The bad news is it won't be all that easy to grab some of the more popular things right now - they don't seem to have put a ton of products on the shelf at this time, and the renewed interest from shoppers has caused a lot of things to be sold out very quickly. I say give it a bit of time for stock levels to even out.

Still, if you can't wait, I do suggest going down to see what's still available because the updated range at Sephora is really great. NYX has stepped up their game in the recent year or so, and a lot of the products are pretty much on point in terms of quality and composition. There are the Intense Butter Glosses, the Avant Pop palettes, and my personal fave - the Go To Palettes (SG$30). I have Wanderlust, which is an eye and cheek palette with 6 shadows, a highlighter, blush, and contour shade.

My reason for actually highlighting this palette is because in the past I've never been very impressed by eye and face kits from lower-end brands. A lot of times the concept is on point but you may get great shadows, an okay blush, and crap highlight and contour. But this palette is pretty impressive. I would say 95% of the products are things that I would consider buying if they were sold on their own for a good price.

I won't say it's a 100% hit but all the shades are definitely good. The shadows are GORGEOUS. You get 2 mattes, 1 satin and 3 metallics. The metallics are the most beautiful in terms of feel and texture, but the mattes and satin are still good. You also get the option of doing light soft looks, dramatic metallic looks, or smoky smoldering looks.

The blush is my one complaint; it is a tad sheer and dusty feeling (it will dust right off if you apply it on dry skin so I don't expect it to be long-wearing unless you use a setting spray or a cream blush as a base first) but in general everything else is very silky and blendable. The thing that sealed the deal for me was the highlight and contour actually. I usually expect the ones in a face-kit to be there just for the sake of it, and never that great quality.

Sephora Essential Colorful Masks

The weekend is a perfect time to pamper your skin and explore different treatment options. While I'm still giving my new Nūface device a try (that's not something you use once or twice and write a review about), here are some economical options!

I have many friends who rave about the Sephora Essential Colorful Sheer Masks. But I think it's so great that they've come up with capsules because - sometimes - I'm just not in the mood to fuss with messy drippy sheets that get on my hair or run down my neck. With these you just open a pod, dig it out, apply, and you're good to go.

The new pods come in every one of your favorite colors; orchid, lotus, pearl, green tea... If you haven't paid attention to these before, here's a run-down of what they do.

• Avocado (moisturizing, nourishing) - softens and hydrates very dry, compromised skin barrier and helps protect chapped skin. 
• Ginseng (toning, revitalizing) - if your dkin is dull, tired and a bit puffy, ginseng can improve circulation and help firm and tighten slightly.
• Green Tea (mattifying, refreshing) - for those who have oily skin but don't like drying clay masks, this is one that helps calm and absorb excess sebum. It won't have the same anti-bacterial or pore-clearing properties as stronger masks but  sometimes when you are having hormonal breakouts, you need skin soothing more than skin drying.
• Job's Tears (moisturizing, brightening) - this is probably my fave off the whole series. It's good for a 10 minute quick fix to smooth and brighten skin. It's also good for acne-prone skin as it's calming and helps lighten fresh scars.
• Lotus (soothing, moisturizing) - a refreshing hydrating mask that helps soothe tired, stressed skin.
• Matine Algae (nourishing, deeply hydrating) - the difference between this and the Avocado is that this is better for skin that lacks water (dehydrated) and Avocado is better for skin that lacks oil (dry). Many people are can be oily and dehydrated at the same time due to not drinking enough water or using drying skin products to treat oily skin. If that sounds like you, you need to add back water, not oil.
• Orchid (anti-aging, regenerating) - if you want your mask to do more than temporarily smooth your skin, try something with antioxidant extracts. 
• Anti-aging is about prevention so even if you're young, using an anti-aging treatment regularly helps protect what is there. 
• Pearl (brightening, perfecting) - pearl powder has been used as a beauty aid in Chinese culture for centuries. It not only helps smooth and protect skin barrier, it also imparts a beautiul luminosity to thw skin. I consider this more of a special occasion boost than something for regular use to even out the skin as I find Job's Tear better for that.
• Pomegranate (anti-fatigue) - besides being loaded with antioxidants, Pomegranate also tones and perks up dull, tired looking skin.
• Rose (moisturizing, brightening) - we all love our rose masks because besides toning and intensely hydrating, they just feel like such luxurious, pampering treatments.

To be perfectly honest, many of these have overlapping properties and benefits. All of them are hydrating for one.

But the good thing is you don't need to over-invest. Just pick up a handful that appral to you and pop one open depending on how your skin feels that day. Put them in the fridge. They feel even better. 

And bring them traveling.

Updated Basic Contouring Guide

I don't have chiseled cheeks, but what nature doesn't give you, you can often get with makeup. Within reason. I don't think you should walk around looking like you have 2 brown stripes on your face. So you need to use a very light hand. 

For me to achieve that look above on camera, under bright lights, requires about 20-50% more makeup/pigmentation than you do in real life. So bear that in mind and don't be surprised if your natural looking contouring doesn't show up on camera. I need to do that so you can see where I apply pigments.

I mentioned it before on dayre, but if you want a basic, 5-minute, daily-contour routine, you only need a taupe-toned matte brown or a bronzer that isn't too warm (orange/red/gold). Honestly, who has time to apply 2-3 sculpting colors onto your cheeks each day?

Still I'll show you contouring steps in different degrees of intensity, from:

1. a simple "tear-drop" contour (which is done more in Asia to achieve a smaller, more oval face with a small jaw)
2. Western-style chiseled cheeks using the same single taupe shade
3. Youtube/stage-style reverse contouring using a pale powder to add contrast against the darker contour color
4. Lower cheek contouring for a more sunken "couture" cheek look
5. Shimmery highlighter to make the peaks of your cheeks pop to the max

TYPICAL CONTOUR COLORS

I'm using Sephora's Contour 101 kit, because it pretty much has all the matte sculpting tones you need, from deep contour shades to pale and banana-colored highlight powders. In my opinion, only the right and bottom shades are good as contour colors because they are "cool" enough. One for medium skintones, one for tan skins. The one on the left works more as a bronzer because it's too warm/rosy. 

If you are pale, mix one of the contour shades with the pale highlight colors to soften them out before applying to your cheeks.

BRUSHES

Not every brush works the same. What you don't want is to use a typical big soft fluffy powder or blush brush. Those are better for bronzing. Contouring is about precision; applying "shadows" to specific areas, then blending the color out properly so it looks like the shadow is real.

So your brush needs to be quite compact in shape.

One good shape to try is this sort of small tapered pointy brush, like Sigma's F35. You can use the tips to apply contour precisely along the hollows of your cheeks, then angle the brush slightly to its side to buff and blend out the color. But you do need to invest in brush guards, those plastic nets that you use to hold your brush bristles tightly together while your brush dries after a wash. Otherwise, your tapered brush will start splaying and working more like a normal puffy brush.

You can also use a more typical shape, as long the size of the brush head is quite compact and not too large. Like this bent Japonesque brush. This angled handle just makes it easy for you to sweep color down along your cheek hollows as well.



As for highlighting colors, I usually just flip my contour brush around and use the cleaner side to apply pale colors. Honestly, it should be clean enough that you don't need to get a separate brush.

Now if you are quite inexperienced, or tend to be very heavy-handed, you might want to try an ultra-soft brush instead. These are harder to find because most soft brushes have very wide heads. Hakuhodo's G5538 has a narrow metal ferrule and long brush bristles, which means it combines medium precision (your contour powder will not go all over your cheeks) with a very light touch. The bristles are too loose and soft to hold and apply too much pigment.

It pretty much forces you to slowly build up color. (Which a lot of newbies need.)

A special mention of a brush which works for shimmer highlighter application AND nasal contouring: Hakuhodo's small flattened pointed S116 brush. This is ULTRA soft so it doesn't pick up too much product. At the same time, it is small and doesn't splay all over the place, so you can be quite precise and neat when trying to apply shimmer just along the peaks of your cheekbones, or matte contour down the sides of your nose.

A note on nasal contouring:

I don't do nasal contouring. I don't think everyone needs it, and I'd personally look weird if I did it. So I'm not an expert on it by any means and I'm not going to draw a chart here for you. I think it can look quite unnatural in real life on pale to medium-fair girls because unlike your cheekbones, your nose is vertical, which means when you turn and the angle of the light changes, there shouldn't always be a shadow down both sides.
Unless you're an absolute pro at it, keep it restricted to when you're going to be on camera. 

Typically it works better on women of color because they naturally have more variation of skin-tones on their face. If you are relatively fair-skinned and MUST do nasal contouring, look for a very VERY soft small brush, and use a contour color that is only slightly deeper than your skintone. 

 ON TO THE CONTOURING!

 Remember I'm doing it with powders because these are usually easier to work with, but the same shapes apply with cream contouring products.

1. Basic subtle "narrowing".
Just drag your brush from around the outer perimeters of your face down towards the chin. But stop under your chin unless you are trying to shorten or recede a long chin. If you get contouring powder on the tip of your chin, it will make your face look shorter.
You can go up around the edges of your forehead along the border of the hairline as well, if you want to make your forehead look less wide.

This type of shape is more common in East Asia, where most women actually do not do any contouring, and even when they do, only do it so they can get a narrower face.

2. Basic cheek sculpting.

A lot of people just do one stripe along the hollow of their cheeks and think that's all they need.

Actually that can look a bit too fake. 

Try to do an  "E" and bring your contour inwards at the outer corners of your eyes, under your cheekbones, and along your jaws. This ties everything together and looks more like real shadows will look. The shading at the temples and cheek hollows "sandwiches" your cheekbones and brings out the shape better too.

This shape is pretty common in the West, and also among girls who follow Western fashion, bloggers/vloggers and makeup artists in general. There's a preference for the chiseled, hollowed "supermodel" face. The point is to look skinny. Whereas Eastern contouring focuses more on looking child-like and delicate. Pronounced cheekbones and gaunt hollowed cheeks actually make you look older, so if you want to try steps 2 - 4 here, remember you WILL look more mature. AND slightly more masculine actually.

That's the trade-off for looking skinnier.

3. Reverse contouring

An optional step that I would say is more important if you are going to be on camera, is the reverse contour. You do it AFTER regular contouring, by taking a light, often yellow-toned shade, and drawing V's under your eyes to lift that area. People also stroke just under their cheek contouring for maximum contrast against the deep brown.

Girls who want very heavy, exaggerated contrast actually apply a very pale concealer in a V under the eyes and down the cheeks, THEN set with a pale yellow powder. I don't love the look for real life - it's too obvious and fake -  but for the camera, it can look good.

If you are trying to make your nose look higher, you will run a pale powder down the bridge of your nose as well.

4. Jaw/Jowl and lower-cheek contouring.

Sometimes women have slightly more puffy lower cheeks. Also, some women because of aging, excess weight or genetics, will have jowls (the slightly sagging pads of flesh hanging down by the sides of your chin). It can affect even very skinny women.

In those cases you may want to avoid reverse contouring around your jaw. It can exaggerate the look of jowls.  You want to instead take your contouring down lightly from the center of your cheeks down past the sides of your mouth.

If you are extremely thin and gaunt or have an overly-long face, do NOT do this. At some point, you have to exercise good sense.
But if you have pouchy lower cheeks, this can REALLY help reduce the look. Just use a light hand if you don't want to look muddy or (for you ladies in the East) too tan.

IMPORTANT: the contouring there should always be softer than the contouring under your cheekbones. It can look like your face is dirty otherwise. Usually, whatever is left on your brush after contouring your face should be enough to contour beside your mouth.

Step 5: Shimmer.

This is optional and it can be done even if you don't contour. I like to do this every day just to throw a little texture on the skin. This adds a little dewiness along dry areas of the face, and helps your contours to catch the light more. But if you have lines or blemishes/scars around those areas, avoid this.

Tip: For shimmer on the nose, you can still do it if you are not extremely oily. Just make sure you get the CENTER of your nose bridge. Not the tip or too high up, because that can look like grease in real life. 

And voila! Before and after.
Now you're ready to move on to blush.
I always apply blush AFTER contouring. Because applying blush helps soften and blend in the contour a bit more, and you're also less likely to muddy up the color of your blush.



Sorry for the lighting/tone difference in both pics. I tried my best to get the saturation and color balance closer. The camera auto-color correction drives me nuts sometimes. Your ultimate goal is to subtly look like you lost weight, or you have prominent contours. Be brutal with yourself and ask your friends or family if your contouring looks too obvious. Better to find out early so you can correct it.

Artificial light also tends to be more forgiving so you can do a bit more contouring for a dinner party, than in the daytime. Also, remember that by the time your contouring looks good in selfies, it probably is too heavy for real life. #justsayin

Now, one final product mention for light skinned girls who can't do without nose contouring.

Estee Lauder's New Dimension range launches September in Singapore. And in the Shape + Sculpt Eye Kit is a tan shade which is actually pretty darned good for lightly contouring the sides of your nose. This is meant for eye socket contouring, but it works just as well for the nose.

If you can find a single shadow that matches this color, you can use that too, but shadows tend to be too pigmented. This one is quite subtle.

Last 3 Tips for newbies to contouring: 

1. Check your face in natural light or at least white light.Yellow light lies.

2. There's a tendency to keep going and going and not realize when we should stop. If you don't want to do that, apply contouring only on one side of your face/nose, then stop and compare it to the un-contoured side. As the color builds up slowly, we might actually not realize how much we've applied already. Only by comparing it with the "clean" side will you realize when you should stop.

 3. If you've gone overboard, you can actually quite easily go back with a clean brush and some beige powder that matches your skin or is 1 shade lighter. Buff into the brown, and the colors will slowly blend together and lighten slightly. If you've REALLY over-applied, grab a clean buffing brush and just buff and buff over the contoured area. That's less uneven than trying to wipe with tissue or a cotton pad. But honestly if you've gone past the point of no return, it might be faster to just wipe your cheeks down with a wet wipe and start over.

Urban Decay Naked Smoky Swatches and Demo

It almost seems there will be no end to the Naked series!
The latest item to join the family is Naked Smoky, which for the first time sees the 12 colors grouped by theme, so you can easily create looks using the 3 "quads" in the palette, or by picking balanced trios just by choosing 1 warm, 1 cool, and 1 matte from the palette.

Warm Neutrals:

Cool Neutrals:

Matte Neutrals:

There are plenty of soft colors but definitely more deep shades in here, considering it's a "Smoky" palette. The mattes are slightly more chalky, which is quite common for mattes. They're pretty smooth and blendable though, so you don't need to worry that they'll go on patchy and uneven.

But as usual for Urban Decay, it's really the metallics that stand out. They are smooth, pigmented, and just gorgeous as heck. I'm more of a warm neutral girl, but the grey/plum shades in this palette are just too nice. The warm shimmer shades are beautiful as well of course. (I'm a huge fan of Dirtysweet.) The good news is I didn't experience quite as much fallout with this palette as some of the earlier Naked palettes. In fact, I didn't even need to clean the skin under my eyes after doing the eye look below.

This palette has only 1 glitter shade, Armor, which is good because they have a tendency to fall off the lid and all over the cheeks after a few hours. Still, this wasn't as bad as I remember some shades being in Naked 1.

One of the fun things to do with this palette - since the cool and warm tones are quite balanced - is to do part warm, part cool looks, like the one I did above.

I do feel several of the shades, and the balance of light and dark in this palette are somewhat similar to the Naked original palette, so technically speaking, you don't need both unless you're a collector and fan of all Naked palettes. This has more deep/smoky shades than Naked 2, so you can consider it if you want deeper options. And of course, it is very different from the rosy-hued Naked 3, so it's actually quite a good complement to that palette if you want a good range of different neutrals.

The Naked Smoky palette launches 20 Aug in all Sephora Singapore stores at SG$83.

A Little Love for "Little Red Love", from The Little Red Dot

As cities go, Singapore isn't usually the source of inspiration for many fine fragrances. There are plenty of scents named after places like New York, Tokyo, London, etc. Cities that have traditionally been acknowledged as having such distinctive cultures and atmospheres that they resemble nowhere else in the world. 

But this year, Sephora has teamed up with Firmenich nose, Alexandre Freile, to launch a special fragrance in honor of Singapore's 50th year of independence.

Little Red Love (so named for the "Little Red Dot" used to fondly refer to our island nation as it appears on world maps), was inspired by Freile's 8 years of living and working in Singapore. I admit when I first received the 12ml rollerball, I was slightly intrigued. There is no brand, no perfumer's name written on the bottle to mark ownership, nothing to indicate its identity aside from the name and visuals. And all they say is "this is Singaporean".

I was frankly a little apprehensive because it could turn out like those gimmicky things like "I love Singapore" magnets and Merlion-shaped chocolates. Singaporean only on the very surface.

But the moment I rolled it on, I went "ahhhh". It's a little familiar, a little unique.

Little Red Love features some accords and natural ingredients from Asia that I love in perfumery.

Top: Citrus, Osmanthus (Chinese speakers might know it more as "Gui4 Hua1"), plum blossom
Heart: Vanda Miss Joaquim orchid, tea, mint, rice
Base: Incense resin, sandalwood, cashmere wood, musk

But what really impressed me? The orchid.

In Western perfumery, "orchid" is a very often-abused name used for floral-vanillic accords. There are a dozen cheap celebrity fragrances claiming to contain some fantasy form of orchid or other ("white chocolate orchid", "fire orchid" and all that nonsense), and I often find it funny when I hear people claiming their favorite floral note is orchid, based on scents that mostly smell nothing like orchid.

It was extremely refreshing to smell a much more realistic, watery, fleshy, NON-sugary orchid accord here. On me, the fresh citrus-osmanthus opening lingers quite a while and blends in with the orchid-tea heart. The plum blossom barely adds a little sweetness and I don't get a lot of tea. The mint isn't a pepperminty/spearminty toothpaste scent. It's barely there in the background and just gives a cool freshness to the overall scent.

For me this is pretty linear actually. It sweetens and goes from fruity-floral to more of an herbal-floral as it warms up, but there isn't a very dramatic change. Even as it dries down, it doesn't become a dark musky scent. It's still quite a soft, luminous orchid floral, but with a clean, warm skin-scent.

I have no info on the concentration (whether it is classified as an Eau de Parfum or Eau de Toilette). Lasting power was surprisingly high for a fresh floral - I was surprised when the drydown lingered on my skin overnight. It stops projecting after about 3-4 hours for me though, and becomes a soft skin scent after that. I would recommend this for anyone who enjoys fresh florals (which is almost everyone in Singapore) and are curious to try something that is just a bit different from the other fresh watery fragrances around. This isn't a fruity Summer-cologne scent. It has that sparkle and breeziness, but is slightly more grown-up and cosmopolitan at the same time.

The 50ml size is housed in a clean, minimalist glass bottle with squared shoulders, with cute font and a sketch of a couture gown in red and white, Singapore's national colors. It's quite a nice representation of the scent itself; there is a certain pared-down, easy-going glamour. It feels familiar, but just when you want to dismiss it, you catch a whiff of something just a little unique. Not too unlike Singapore, I guess!

 “Singapore has a purity and an intensity no word can describe. In this creation I strived for encapsulating its unique blend of cultures, harmony of traditions, and mix of smells, as a gift to a country that has so warmly welcomed me. [...] This is my creative interpretation of harmony & love, both of which I have experienced in my time here." -  Alexandre Freile

Little Red Love is available only at SEPHORA ION from 23 July 2015 while stocks last. The 50ml is priced at SGD$88 while the 12ml is only launching August, so keep an eye out for a pricing update!

The Tartelette Amazonian Clay Matte Palette

Tarte's new Tartelette Amazonian Clay Matte Eyeshadow Palette is a real beauty if you love matte neutrals. I haven't always loved their eye palettes because some previous ones had been rather chalky or unpigmented, but when I saw this on the display at Sephora, it was love at first swatch.

I'll just start out by saying that the textures in this palette are ultra smooth and silky. I swatched all of them below so I can point out the couple of shades that go on slightly patchier than the rest. There are less than I usually expect from an all-matte palette with so many deeper shades.

Tarte Tartelette Amazonian Clay Matte Palette

There are 12 x 1.5g of shadow in the palette. Which is fantastic value because that's 12 full-size MAC pans worth of shadow. And all of these are gorgeously coordinated.

Row 1 is a collection of 4 warmer neutrals. Nice chocolate browns, a latte, and a cream shade.

Row 2 is a collection of pink-hued plummy neutrals. Bombshell is probably the patchiest shade in the entire palette, but to be honest, it actually looks fine if you wear it sheer and don't try to build it up like I did.

I dunno though. What's with the slightly cheesy names that look like they belong on Mothers' Day Better Homes & Gardens wax tarts from Walmart? Those of you who are in the US and into budget home-fragrances might know what I mean.)

Seriously, "Caregiver"? "Super Mom"?

ANYWAY - I'll try to ignore that. The colors are great.

Row 3 is made up of 4 cooler-toned taupe-based neutrals. Power Player reminds me of classic MAC mattes like Omega. There are several MAC dupes right here in this palette.

I'll try to do a tutorial or two with the Tartelette soon, but I honestly think this is a great investment if you don't already own other matte neutral palettes like the Urban Decay Naked Basics. The quality of the shadows is similar, but you get a lot more for your buck. 

I actually seldom wear all-matte eye looks, so this palette is still perfect as a transition palette. No matter what I wear on the lids, I will be able to find a nice natural blending shade in the Tartelette for buffing into the socket line. It's a quick way to make any metallic or colorful shadow instantly sit better on the eyes. 

Urban Decay Sheer Revolution Lipstick Swatches

Urban Decay Sheer Revolution Lipsticks are now available in Sephora Singapore (SGD$33). I have 7 out of the 10 shades here to swatch for you, and you should be able to get a feel for the texture and pigmentation from the images below. 

I'm a fan of the regular lipstick line, which is smooth and ultra-pigmented. But my lips have been a bit sore and chapped since a bad cold the past couple of weeks, so they haven't done too well with lipsticks. Hydrating glosses and sheer, glossy lipsticks are the way to go for me right now, so these came at a perfect time. 

Urban Decay Sheer Revolution Lipsticks: F-bomb, Slowburn, Streak, Rapture, Anarchy, Obsessed and Walk of Shame

The Sheer Revolution lipsticks come in gorgeous metallic purple cases, and what I like best about them is that while they are glossy and translucent, the textures aren't runny and super soft like many sheer lipsticks. They're a little like Tom Ford Lip Color Shines. 

The color range is pretty good, and ranges from an ultra-pale beige to cool-toned pinks and magentas, to coral-hues and reds. 

I usually expect most sheer lipsticks to look patchy and uneven on the lips, but I'll say upfront that all these did really well. They went on smoothly and didn't catch in lines or flaky bits. Just pressing my lips together evened out the color quickly, and the texture is not so light that the color wears away quickly.

Urban Decay Sheer Walk of Shame

Urban Decay Sheer Obsessed

Urban Decay Sheer Anarchy

Urban Decay Sheer Rapture

Urban Decay Sheer Streak

Urban Decay Sheer Slowburn

Urban Decay Sheer F-Bomb

It's really hard to pick a favorite shade here because so many of them are so pretty, but if I had to pick three out of these, it would be F-bomb (Cherry red), Streak (warm pink) and Anarchy (magenta).

These are too sheer to wear with matching liners. If you need a pencil, wear either a translucent one or a nude shade, so you don't end up changing the color and sheer finish too much.

MAC Toledo Collection: Swatches Part 1 and First Impressions!

MAC's collaboration with Isabel and Ruben Toledo is probably one of the most fun and eye-catching makeup releases of the entire 2015 Spring season. You can imagine I spent HOURS just taking product shots and swatches. I'll also be doing some looks as soon as I can, so stay posted!

First off, the collection features the following. (Please note there are a couple of items which are pending at present time, and I'll update the blog with visuals of the full collection as soon as they arrive.)

• 3 "Eye Shadow x 6" palettes
• 3 Blush Ombres *1 shade pending
• 3 Nail Lacquers
• 6 Lipsticks (Matte) *1 shade pending
• 6 Lipglasses
• 4 mascaras *1 shade pending
• 1 Makeup Pouch *visuals pending
• 1 Makeup Brush
• 3 Eye Pencils *visuals pending

The white packaging features Ruben Toledo's eclectic graphic designs, and are collectible in their own right. But all the packaging in the world can't make a good collection if the products don't actually perform. And I'm happy to say there are lots of gems in this collection.

Before I get into the swatches, I'll say first that my absolute favorite products in the entire collection are the lipsticks. They're ALL matte, ALL intense, ALL beautiful colors.

MAC Toledo lipsticks: (from left) Sin,Opera, Tenor Voice, Barbecue, Oxblood

If the sheer, glossy Lustre lipsticks in the Red, Red, Red collection aren't quite up your alley, you'll be VERY happy with the ones in the Toledo collection.

• Oxblood - nude with an apricot/peach undertone (like a paler sister of Kinda Sexy)
• Barbecue - tangerine red (a little more orange than Lady Danger)
• Tenor Voice - true red (similar to Ruby Woo but a touch warmer)
• Victoriana - cherry-pink red; I'll update with a swatch as soon as I receive the product
• Opera - deep blue-red (a less brown version of Russian Red)
• Sin - dark blackened plum (Diva with more noir)

Of these shades, only Sin tended towards the dry side and dragged on the skin when applied, similar to the Retro Matte texture you find in Ruby Woo. The rest were very creamy and smooth to apply.

Strangely enough, I would have thought they'd name Sin Oxblood, since that's more of an oxblood color, but - oh well!

MAC Toledo Lipglasses: (from left) Sin, Opera, Victoriana, Barbecue, and Oxblood

The Lipglasses are equally pretty, and very pigmented. The shades are all coordinated with the lipsticks, so if you want extra drama you can simply layer the matching shades over one another.

[Update] I actually missed out Tenor Voice when swatching these.
And you'll see why here.

Tenor Voice is the Lipglass that I missed out. And the 3 reds in the collection are so close in Lipglass format that I didn't even really realize I missed out one.

• Tenor Voice - true red
• Victoriana - red with a hint of cherry-pink
• Opera - red with a hint of blue undertone

I daresay you can get away with picking just 1 out of the 3 reds. These are very close to each other.

Now the Blush Ombres... ahh.

These aren't anything new, and Estee Lauder has ombre blushes in their permanent collection, but these are still pretty regardless. If you've missed previous releases, make sure to grab these with the Toledo collection because the motifed case is much cuter than the original round packaging with the see-through plastic lid.

Toledo Blush Ombres: Azalea Blossom and Kindergarten Red

There's a 3rd shade, Ripe Peach (peach ombre to tan) which hasn't reached me yet.

Ombre blush shades always look like they might be quite scary but if you've ever tried them before you'll know they are very soft and wearable colors. At the same time, I'm not sure if these would work on those with very dark skin, because they MIGHT go on slightly too pastel.

Still, both shades are gorgeous (I swatched them with an ombre effect so you can see how it would look on the skin) and I can't pick a favorite.

MAC Modern Twist Lash mascaras: Cligrafy, Tarot, and Vynil (yes it's spelt like this on purpose - at least I hope so)

I have to say I haven't had time to try the Modern Twist Lash formula yet, so I won't do a performance review here, but there are 4 shades available with the collection. Black, purple, a deep peacocky blue-green which is quite subtle, and a lime (which I don't have with me).

From the brush alone, I'm not entirely sure how obvious Caligrafy would be on the lashes - especially if you have dark hair. It's quite a subtle ultramarine.

The 3 palettes are the most eye-catching, but I do have to say the performance is not consistent. For every palette, the last shade on the right (dark matte) was consistently patchy and hard to apply. Most of the rest are quite smooth though.

Also, do remember that many of the shades are in the permanent collection, so unless you're a collector, make sure you swatch in the store and are sure you don't already own the shades you like most. 

MAC Toledo Bellgreens palette swatches 

All the shades in the Bellgreens palette were very smooth, except for Sushi Green, which was very patchy, gritty and hard to apply evenly.

MAC Toledo Moodyblu palette swatches 

If you like strong payoff and silky pigmentation, then the Moodyblu palette is probably one that would score the lowest points out of the 3, even though the colors ARE pretty.

Idol Eyes is a Lustre shadow in the permanent collection and not the easiest shade to work with because the flakes of sparkle fall all over and don't like to stick to the lids without a good base. You should not touch it with your fingers too much or it can seal over. Indigogo is very gritty and again, without a good base, the gold glitter in the matte blue will fall off. Exotic Purples was just very uneven and not easy to work with.

MAC Toledo Violetwink palette swatches 

Violetwink is probably my favorite in terms of the colors. It has 3 pinks and neutrals on the left, and 3 violet tones on the right, so you can wear it for a variety of occasions. But again, Overnight and Frizzyplum on the right are quite difficult to work with compared to the rest. (And I fancy myself quite an expert swatcher to begin with...)

Still the 4 shades on the left more than make up for it. Sweet Allure, French Clay, and Tendersmoke I don't remember having seen before and definitely are not in the permanent collection. And they're gorgeous. Stars 'n' Rockets is a popular favorite for pink/purple shadow lovers, so if you don't already own it, its inclusion in this palette allows you to create slightly brighter looks.

I'll get down to doing a few makeup looks with some of these colors soon - and also add on visuals of the items which are pending, but these are just my first impressions of the collection. Overall, I really like it and I'd definitely suggest everyone check out the lipsticks and glosses.

In Singapore, the collection launches 27 Feb in Sephora ION, and 3 Mar island-wide.