MAC 239 vs. Sigma E55

Before purchasing my Sigma brush kit a year ago or so, I tried asking around on MUA, which brand people liked better for brushes, Sigma or MAC. By that, I quite frankly meant: Are the MAC brushes so much better than the Sigma ones, that they are worth me spending so much money on them.
Obviously, people had different opinions. However, I noted that one person told me that the Sigma ones can do just as good a job as the MAC ones - except for the MAC 239 brush, which that person said simply could not be duped.

Lucky for me, I already had the MAC 239, so I decided to purchase a Sigma Make Me Blush kit, and definitely do not regret it. Don't get me wrong - I do own a few MAC brushes and I absolutely love them - but I also feel that spending so much on brushes doesn't really make sense, when I can get almost the same thing for a lot less. I'm not a professional makeup artist, makeup is my hobby, so why not just spend the extra money on actual makeup, then?
And yes... I do admit that the fact that Sigma has pink brushes, might have played a small role... a girl never gets too old for a little bit of pink!

Above to the right, you can see the MAC 239 brush (the lower one) and the Sigma E55 (the upper one), which is supposed to be a "Sigma version" of the MAC one. Both of these brushes are meant for packing colour onto your eyelids.

Now, as you can tell from the top picture, and the one to the left, the Sigma one is bigger and thicker. This is both a good and a bad thing. Since the MAC one is smaller, it can fit into the corner of your eye more nicely and it is precise enough to be used for placing shadow under your lower lashline as well - the Sigma one is too big for this. I also find that the MAC brush delivers more colour to the eye - the shadow's pigments seem to transfer better with it.
However, the Sigma brush does a good job when dealing with glitter - and it is my go-to brush for that. That being said, I don't use glitter on my eyes very often, so for me, the MAC brush is a winner here.

Definitely worth the money, and although you don't feel like splurging on all the MAC brushes, I think you should check the MAC 239 out - it will be your best friend before long!

What do you think? Have you tried either one of these brushes? Tell me!

Love,
Miss Diorista

MAC - Fashion Flower

First of all, a warm welcome to all my new followers! I just reached 40 followers, which to me is utterly amazing, and I appreciate each and everyone of you. Thank you for following my blog, and I really hope that you will find some fun reads here on Miss Diorista!

That being said, I'm so excited about this most recent MAC purchase of mine! Isn't that beauty powder pretty?!?

The Fashion Flower collection landed in Iceland last week, and by pure coincidence, I spotted it early enough to grab two of my favourite products from the beautiful collection: Alpha Girl beauty powder, and Ever Hip lipstick. As you can see from the picture, they even aren't all that different in colour :)

Aren't they so pretty? Ever Hip lip colour just screams "summer"!

And how adorable is that flower imprint?!? I've been using this as my blush the past few days, and every time I use it, I take special care not to ruin the pattern :)

Swatches! Those are in direct sunlight, the beauty powder is the upper swatch, the lippie is the lower one.

Different lighting, same swatches. Ever Hip lipstick to the left, Alpha Girl beauty powder to the right. As you can see, Alpha Girl is rather light and I don't think I'd really recommend it for darker skintones (it could turn out a bit ashy or powdery), but it is beautiful on my skin (I'm fair, but a little tan these days :)

So, did you get anything from this collection? Even though you didn't, what where your favourite items? Share in the comments!

Love,

Miss Diorista

P.S. From our recent poll about polish posts, it turns out that most of you like "How I Wore It" posts, but many also like "Reviews + swatches", polish hauls, comparisons and dupes. Thank you to everyone who voted, and I will do my best in the future to write those kind of posts! I've never done a "How I Wore It" post (in fact, you haven't even seen me yet...) so that might be an interesting adventure to take on!



MAC - Surf Baby

I'm so late showing you this product, that it's almost funny... hope you don't mind this little reminder of MAC's summer collection 2011, Surf Baby.

I only bought one product, but I was going to get more... there's a story to tell here, a sad one! I loved Hibiscus lipstick, Strange Potion lipglass and the blush/beauty powder they had (with the golden flower on top). When I arrived to my MAC, all of those were sold out! Therefore, I only bought one product, Studio Careblend/Pressed powder in Gold-Go-Lightly, shown on the pictures below.



The packaging from Surf Baby is very sporty, yet feminine. The compacte is off-white with shimmer, and has a mirror inside (like beauty powders).

I love the print on the powder, it says "MAC" a million times!
The texture of this powder is really nice and smooth, I almost want to say creamy. The colour is matte, and I do like it (I mostly use it for sculpting), but if you're not careful, it has a tendency to lean slightly orange. That orange tone doesn't show up if you use a light hand.

Swatches. The left one is blended out, the one to the right is full colour.

I was pleased with this product, but I'm still looking for a great bronzer which doesn't look muddy or orange. Any good recommendations? I just bought a Chanel bronzer (from their new summer collection) and I will share that one with you soon, but I'm also looking into investing in a Bobbi Brown bronzer, since I've heard they're good. Have you tried Bobbi Brown bronzers? If so, please tell me how you liked them!

Now, over to you: What is your favourite bronzer, and why? Tell us!

Love,

Miss Diorista

MAC - Wonder Woman

*fainting* :)

I haven't been this excited about a MAC collection for a long time, let me tell you that! First of all, unlike so many, I absolutely love the packaging - both of the products themselves and the cardboard (shown above). Second, the products seemed pretty and they had some daring colours, and last but not least... I completely fell in love with a few of the product names! Haha, MAC knows how best to draw me in :)

Isn't this just so pretty? Love the stars on the inside!



Here are the products I got, L-R: Lipglass in Athena's Kiss, lipstick in Marquise'd and a blush... I'll tell you the name later, just you wait! ;) *shuddering with excitement*

 Just wanted to show you how completely oversized the lipglass is - the lipstick is regular size, and looks so small next to the gloss!

Marquise'd lipstick. It´s a lustre finish, a nice nude-pink shade with shimmer. Nudes usually wash me out, and this one barely hangs in there, I have to use a pink gloss with it to make it work... or maybe I just have to get used to it a bit, this is as nude as I go! Love the star on the tube!

Athena's Kiss lipglass. Oh my, I confess that I only bought it because of the name! However, I don't regret buying it, since the gloss is a really pretty pink or almost lilac colour, with shimmer. Actually goes great with Marquise'd. And that wand is way oversized!

And now for the biggie... I don't know what the saleslady thought of me when I read the name of this one, shrieked with happiness and instantly bought it, without even taking a further look at the product :) Yes, I again only bought this because of the name: Amazon Princess!

In case you haven't heard of the Amazons before, they are (or were) a legendary tribe of women who were warriors. I completely fell in love with this Greek myth, and especially that of the Amazon Penthesilea, who in fact was an Amazon Princess. So quite understandably, I had to have this blush in my collection :)

The blush is oversized like the lipglass, and it holds two colours; a bright pink (satin), and the prettiest plummy colour I've ever seen (slightly more shimmery). Will be wearing those a lot!

See, Amazon Princess :)

And finally some swatches. L-R: Athena's Kiss, Marquise'd, Amazon Princess (bright pink, then plummy).

So what did you think of this collection? Many thought the packaging looked cheap, I on the other hand loved it. I mean, we´re talking Wonder Woman here, not Yves Saint Laurent! It's supposed to look a bit childish and cheap, in a fun way, and I think MAC did a great job with this collection.

Did you get anything from it?

xox,

Miss Diorista

P.S. I bought those items in Berlin, so they're kind of the first part of my haul from Berlin. However, I didn't mark the post as such... just so that it would be in sync with all my other MAC posts :)

The best and most beautiful things in this world cannot be seen or even heard, but must be felt with the heart. - Helen Keller

How to Contour by Mixing Blushes!

I mentioned in my January Favourites post that I've been loving mixing together blushes. I'm so excited to share this technique with you, since it's not a traditional way to contour, but definitely a fun one!

There is of course no wrong or right in this area - this is just how I do it. Enjoy!

What you will need:

• A matte, mauve-ish blush
• A bright blush, shimmer or non-shimmer
• A regular blush brush
• If your bright blush is very pigmented, then you will also need a duo-fibre brush
• A kabuki brush

This is the kind of colour that you want for your "matte and mauve-ish" colour - I love using The Body Shop Cheek Colour in Nr. 2 (pictured) for this.

This girl will act as our "model" today :)

With your regular blush brush, pick up some of that matte colour and put it right below your cheekbones, working from the upper part, and not going any further than halfway down your cheekbones (that is, stop right below where her eyebrow ends. Don't put any of this colour on your cheekbones, though, just below them. Blend well, for example into your hairline, but don't overblend, you want your blush to really define (that is, contour) your cheekbones.

Now for the fun part, take a little bit of your bright blush, smile, and place it right on the apples of your cheeks! I'm using Make Up Store's blush in Frozen Daiquiri, and MAC 188 to apply it. Be careful not to use too much of this bright blush, it is simply meant to act as a "pop of colour" :)

Finally, blend between the two blushes so that there are no harsh lines - but again, don't overblend. This look is supposed to be very defined!

So that is it - simple, isn't it? I first saw this look on a friend and it looked stunning on her, but it took a while for me to find the courage to wear this myself - the idea of blush below my upper cheekbones felt so out-there! But once you get used to the idea, this looks amazing!

Feel like trying this? Tell me what you think in the comments below!

Love,

Miss Diorista

P.S. Picture of the girl comes from http://www.activedesktopwallpapers.com/

MAC - Peacocky

Peacocky has finally arrived in Iceland - yay! I only got two things, though, since I'm saving up for the Wonder Woman collection, which I by the way can't wait for!

Those are the two things I got - Kissable Lipcolour in Love Peck, and Mega Metal Shadow in Odalisque.

Here is Love Peck. As you can see, it's a really dark colour - actually way darker than I'm used to, so I wear just the tiniest amount of it - I scrape almost all the product off, then apply a dot on the center of my lips, and sheer it out with my finger. Then I get a nice berry colour that I really love, and stays forever. So I really use this as a stain, as opposed to a lipcolour. But I do love it :)

 

I fell in love with Odalisque the moment I saw it. It's this really pretty turquise colour, so pigmented and shimmery. And actually rather wearable, since it's not super-bright.

And some swatches! To the left is Love Peck, and in the middle is Love Peck like I wear it. And finally to the right is Odalisque - it's so pigmented and smoothe!

What did you get from this collection? Any recs for Mega Metal Shadows that I need to get while they're still in store?

Yours,

Miss Diorista

MAC - Cham-Pale

Did you like this collection? I thought I wouldn't but I actually kind of did... However, the products I wanted the most (Chez Chez Lame and Dangerous Cuvee Paint Pot) were sold out when I finally got the chance to visit MAC, so I decided to get those two products instead. Turns out I really love both of them!

To the right is a lipgelée, and the colour is Sin-Tillation. This is a light pink shade with lots of multi-coloured shimmer, and it's one of those that look good over almost any lipstick!
And the paint pot I got is Chilled on Ice. It's an exceptionally pretty colour, though very light, and can go under pretty much any eyeshadow.

A close-up of the Chilled on Ice paint pot - the colour is so pretty, it's a light one (almost white!) with a hint of melon to it and some golden shimmer to top things off.

Why does looking at product names make me feel so good? :)

The lipgelée is swatched lightly to the left (top row) but heavily to the right.

And below is the paint pot, very lightly swatched to the left but heavily to the right.

The same swatches, different lighting. Wanted you to see the multi-coloured glitter in the lipgelée, so pretty!

I love those product because I know that I will be using them non-stop! Did you get anything from this collection?

Love, Miss Diorista

January Favourites!

It's already February! I can't believe it :) So it's time for another monthly favourites post, yay! I don't have an awful lot of products to show you, but I have also included one TV show and one foodie... or maybe it's a drink. Yes, water it's definitely a drink :) Enjoy!

L-R, top row first: I don't know why I haven't mentioned the Smashbox Photo Finish Foundation Primer to you before - 'cause I love it! I have seriously come to the point where I can't wear foundation without applying this to my skin first!

The Diorskin Nude Glow Foundation you already know - I've told you how much I love it, been wearing it non-stop this month! You can find my review here.

How come I am first now discovering the wonders of blotting sheets?! I've had those Bourjois Anti-Shine Blotting Sheets forever... maybe three years, I think, but I never used them until three weeks ago. Now I can't leave hourse without them, these are a lifesaver.

The blush is by Make Up Store, Frozen Daiquiri - it is a beautiful, bright colour with shimmer (see my haul and swatches here). I love this for a pop of colour on the apples of my cheeks - but be careful! This is very pigmented - which is why I use the next and the last product on the picture to apply it - the MAC 188. In case you aren't familiar with it, it's a small duo-fibre brush which can be used for mineral blushes, regular blushes (if very pigmented) and even foundation. I find that by just tapping the brush twice, very lightly, in the product, I get about the amount I need. Then I blend out with a kabuki.

Mixing blushes - I love this! It gives you such a natural flush, much more natural than you could achieve using just one product. I will do a separate post on how to mix two blushes for a flushed but contoured blush-look, without having to use a contour colour!

Dexter - Is loving him wrong? Because I can't help it :)

Sparkling Water - I can seriously drink dozens of bottles of sparkling water!


What are your favourites for January? I'd love to hear, please comment and tell me ;)

Love, Miss Diorista

P.S. I'd be happy to review any of those for you - let me know if you would like to see reviews, and then I'll be sure to put them on the top of my list!

Some Upcoming MAC Collections

What do you think of some of those upcoming collections over at MAC's? Here in Iceland we are still waiting for Cham-pale and Stylishly Yours, and from what I've seen online, they look nice. Especially the Chez Chez Lame highlighting powder from Cham-pale, I love it!

But they also have some pretty collections coming up. Of course Peacocky, but also the MAC and Mickey Contractor collection (spring 2011 - those fluidlines, oh my!), as well as the Jeanius collection (spring 2011). I am simply in love with the Jeanius one. First of all, the name! Jeans, and genius. Now that's completely genius!

The eyeshadows from the Jeanius collection look amazing - really no way to describe them, so I'm leaving you a pic from http://www.temptalia.com/. For all further information, head over there!

This little darling is called Motorhead. He will be mine one day :)

Love, Miss Diorista

MAC - A Tartan Tale 2!

I actually got those for Christmas! So that makes this the second part of the "What I got for Christmas" (there is one part left :). You can check out the first part here. Enjoy!
Above to the left, you see a lip kit, Happily Ever After. It is so pretty!
And above to the right, you see a face kit, Hark the Heraldry. Now on to the picture below :)

First up is the Happily Ever After lip kit. It contains three colours, one lipgloss (to the left) and two lipsticks. All of them are very pretty, and I love to just throw this in my purse for quick touch-ups (I especially love the middle one!).

Then you can see Hark the Heraldry face kit. It has three products, just like the lip kit. The one to the left is actually Oh So Fair, which came out with the Venomous Villains Collection. I didn't get it then, so I'm very happy to get the chance to try it out now! The face kit also contains Dame, and Plum Foolery, both of which are really pretty.

The blush you see is Her Highland Honey, which is a gorgeous peachy shade. On the picture it looks brown, but in real life it really is not. I love it! It definitely looks very natural on my skintone, which I never would have expected.


And finally, the plaid eyeshadow! Isn't it so pretty? The colour is Enviably Fun, which, as you can see, is an absolutely beautiful green. The darker shade in there can actually be used as eyeliner. Works wonders :)


So that is it! Please stay tuned for part three of the "What I got for Christmas" :)


Love, Miss Diorista

My Favourite Products of 2010!

Can you believe it? The year 2010 is almost over. I feel like it was New Year's Eve just yesterday... yet the whole year has passed!
But, that of course means, that it is time for a quick summery of the year, that is, the cosmetics of the year :) Enjoy!

First up, you see my most used perfume this year. It is the Miss Dior Chérie, by Dior, in the Eau de Printemps version. It is rather light, floral but sophisticated at the same time. I love this perfume.

In the upper row, from the left, you see the Tri Brow Color by the Make Up Store. This is HG for my eyebrows, I will do a separate post on it.

The lighter e/s is Eye Colour in shade 41 by The Body Shop. It is very smooth and pigmented, a shimmery golden, beige colour. Goes great over Rubenesque paintpot, which is what I have been using it for (mostly). The other e/s you see is MAC Satin Taupe, which is what I have then been using in the crease.

I'm sure that most of you are familiar with the Voluminous mascara by L'Oréal. If not, then you need to try it :) It is absolutely amazing if you're looking for way blacker than black, long lashes.

And the brush you see is MAC's 275. I actually got this one for Christmas, but I'm already in love with it. This brush makes shading a breeze!

The lippie is by YSL, it is a Rouge Volupté in shade 29, called Opera Rose. This is a brilliantly creamy lipstick, but the shade is also right up my alley. Bright, yet not too bright.

The lipgloss is by L'Oréal, it is one of their 6H Glam Shine ones. Mine is in colour number 103, called Forever Nude. It is basically a nude colour, with a hint of pink and it's fair share of shimmer. Pretty by itself but gorgeous over almost any lipstick!

And finally, products that have made my skin purr :) Well, almost. The powder (which you can tell is a lover!) is Hello Flawless by Benefit. Mine is in the colour Gee I'm swell, shell. It's a little too dark for me, but I can still make it work. Wonderful powder foundation.

Next to that is the Amber Diamond highlighter by Dior. I got it for Christmas, and didn't fall in love with it until yesterday (the trick is to use a blush brush for it!)... but I fell so hard that I decided to include it here. Really gives you a gorgeous, subtle glow.

The blush is MAC's Springsheen. It is a sheertone shimmer, and creates beautifully glowy (I'm in love with anything that glows!) cheeks.

Last but not least, the Dior Airflash foundation (mine is in shade 200). I actually never spray this on my face. I rather spray it on the back of my hand, and then use a brush or my fingers for applying it. This gives me just the right coverage, not too light and not too heavy, and I can't feel that I'm wearing foundation at all.

That completes it! I hope you liked it. What were your most-reached-for products this year? Please tell me in the comments!

Love, Miss Diorista

P.S. Looking for a review on any of those? Let me know!

MAC - A Tartan Tale!

I gave in... and decided that waiting and hoping for one of the Santas (read about the Icelandic Santas here!) to bring me something from the Tartan Tale collection was not a risk I was willing to take! So I went there yesterday, and although I did want both blushes, a face kit, all of the plaid eyeshadows... then I picked out those three things. Let's take a look!

I love that plaid box! It is made out of tin, and has four "small" jars of pigments, and one of glitter (each one holds 2.5 grams, or 0.09 US OZ). They have three types of these pigment boxes, a smokey one, a cool one, and a warm one. I wanted both the smokey and warm ones, but ended up buying the warm one.

The blush you see is Her Blooming Cheek. It is the brightest blush I own, but I'm wearing it today and I love it! If you can get your hands on it, go get it!

Finally, I got one pigment in full size, Moonlight Night. I actually saw some swatches a long time ago (I think over at Hebridean Sprite) and fell in love, so I had to get it. It is sold out online, but I could still get it at my MAC counter. It is a gorgeous dark, dark blue (almost black) colour, with blue-ish sparkles. Looking at it, literally feels like gazing at the starry sky.

I love the Scotland-inspired MAC logo on there!

Left to right: Reflects Bronze (glitter), Gift O' Glamour, Gilded Green, Gold Mode, Most Darling.
That green star in the middle is actually why I chose the warm box over the smokey one, it is a gorgeous minty green with shimmer!

Some swatches! Of course, on top is Moonlight Night pigment. You can see that it is very dark, but it still has that really pretty blue tone to it.

Below are two swatches of Her Blooming Cheek blush. The left one is heavily swatched, but the one to the right is a bit blended out. People have been comparing this to the Bite of an Apple blush from the Venomous Villains collection (see my swatches here), but since I have and love both, I can tell you that Her Blooming Cheek is much brighter, and much more pigmented.

Here you can see the swatches from the warm box. From left to right:

Most Darling, Gold Mode, Gilded Green, Gift O' Glamour, and on the bottom is Reflects Bronze, which is a glitter. To the left, I just piled it on, but to the right I blended it out a bit more, so that you could see how it looks either way.

A close up of the glitter, Reflects Bronze.

I love all of those colours, and couldn't be any happier with them. If you are looking for a nice gift for someone, any of those would make a great gift!

Love,

Miss Diorista

P.S. What have you been getting from this collection? Please tell me in the comments!

MAC - Superslick Liquid Eyeliner in Pure Show

This eyeliner came out with the Fabulous Felines collection by MAC, the Leopard Luxe, to be precise. It is a liquid, gold eyeliner. And believe me. When I say gold, I mean gold. This is not yellow with glitter. It is gold.

Here you can see the brush or applicator tip. It is very nice and can be used for fine work.

And some swatches. The upper two stripes are heavily swatched, the lowest one is a bit thinner. The consistency of the liner is great,very workable. It stays on all night, yet comes off very easily with eye makeup remover.

I love this. Period.

Yours,
Miss Diorista

September Hits!

Yes, I know that it's the tenth of October... but I still really want to do my September favourites, so I decided to just forget the calendar for a few minutes! Please turn all forgetful with me, will ya?

First of all, you see Sprinsheen blush by MAC. Do I love this. I wore nothing else the first two weeks after I got this. I absolutely love this. Did I tell you how much I love this blush?

The little pink pot is a concealer, the Erase Paste by Benefit. I'm in the lightest shade, nr. 1. This is a really creamy concealer, stays on all day and covers really well. Yes, it does crease a little bit, but I can live with that :)

And the powder you see is also by Benefit, the Hello Flawless! It is a powder which is supposed to cover like a foundation. I really love this. It covers up pretty decently, and feels good. I'm in the shade "Gee, I'm swell, SHELL". Only downfall is that I am going through this pretty quickly... on the other hand, I have been using it almost every day for about two months now, so maybe that's why I'm seeing pan already!

Here, you see the... long things. Yeah. Good explanation of my behalf, wasn't it? Okay then, Miss Diorista. Let´s see your long things!

First up is my favourite mascara so far, the Voluminous by L'Oréal. This is just beyond words, makes my lashes long and lush, doesn't clump and is very black. I don't like it when mascaras say "black", but come out looking all gray. This one says black, and is black.

The brush is an e/s blender by The Body Shop. Sure, it's a good blender, but the reason it's here, is that it is a great brush for creating subtle shadows for an everyday look. If you just want that extra depth/emphasize on your eyes, without it looking like you have any eyeshadow on, then this is your brush. Love it, have been using it constantly.

Yes, I've been on an eye-lining rush lately... the first one is by Clinique, a Cream Shaper for Eyes in 103, called Egyptian. It is a beautiful kind of khaki green colour. Really dark though, and looks black once on. Just not quite as harsh, which I why I love it. Also really creamy, so to prevent smudging, I would set it with some dark e/s.

The white eyeliner is by Sisley, it is a Kohl eyeliner, in Snow. Has some subtle shimmer to it, and is just a dream. Creamy enough to be used on your waterline, yet doesn't smudge. However, it is also creamy enough to be used under your brow as a highlight... so this is a wonderproduct, I'm telling you! Creamy when it has to be and non-creamy when it is supposed to be exactly that! Lol!

The last long thing I've got to show you is a Velvet Eyeliner from GOSH, in 01 Blue Moon. It is a beautiful blue colour. Not a bright blue, just... the perfect blue. I love it! Adds some bling to your eyes without being too overpowering!

Here are some swatches for you guys. On top is the Springsheen blush, then the eyeliners. First is Egyptian, then Sisley Snow, finally the GOSH one.

So, what have you been loving for the month of September? Please tell me, I'd love to know!

And leave any requests for product reviews in the comments ;)

Yours,

Miss Diorista