Green and Blue Eye Look Using MAC Rated R and Birds And Berries Eye Shadows

Here is a green and blue look featuring some of the MAC eyeshadows that I hardly use. Let's start with Rated "R" from the Love That Look collection. Honestly, I think this was my first time (!) to use this eyeshadow. I love it, though. It's a pretty light yellow green or lime green that looks great for summer. It's been released a year or two ago, but it's only now that I've come to use it. That's what you get when you have a bajillion eyeshadows, both pressed and mineral ones!



For the blue part of my look, I used MAC Birds and Berries eyeshadow from the Give Me Liberty of London collection. It's a beautiful deep teal/dark blue with shimmer. It's perfect as an outer lid color and I didn't know that it can actually work with a lime green on the lid.



Incidentally, another color from the Love That Look collection, Strike A Pose, is an almost-dupe for Birds and Berries.


I also used my beloved MAC greens in Greensmoke and Flourishing to lend some olive green tones to the look.

Here's a step-by-step. All products MAC unless otherwise stated.


Apply Urban Decay primer potion in Sin all over lid and browbone. Using a stiff shader brush like the 239, apply Rated "R" on the lid with patting motions.


Using the Sonia Kashuk blender/crease brush, apply Greensmoke on outer V.

Dark Blues and Greys Using NYX Smokey Eyes Palette and MAC Give Me Liberty Of London Eye Shadows

Here is a smokey grey and dark blue eye look using eyeshadows from the MAC Give Me Liberty of London collection. I really love these eyeshadows especially Birds & Berries (the name is adorable as well). It's a gorgeous dark green blue in the veluxe pearl formula. I am such a sucker for the combination of dark blues and greys as I think this is a match made in heaven. Love the vibrant dark blues in contrast with the greys and blacks. That's why I really love my MAC Tone:Grey eyeshadow quad as well. I also used Bough Grey which is a grey blue color, also from the Give Me Liberty of London collection.



This is the first time I used my NYX Smokey Eyes palette. This was the last palette in stock at my neighborhood ULTA, so I had to make do with its chipped shadows as you can see in the photo above! I love this palette though and the shadows applied smoothly and vibrantly especially with the Benefit Creaseless Cream Shadow in Skinny Jeans that I used underneath:




I used the lovely Jouer mineral blush in Blossom.


I used MAC Perfect Topping MSF to highlight.

Please refer to the NYX Smokey Eyes palette photo for particular eyeshadows used since I'd labeled them for reference. All eye products used are MAC unless otherwise stated.


Apply Urban Decay primer potion in Sin all over lid and browbone and lowerlashline. Using a fluffy shader brush, apply Benefit Skinny Jeans on lid.


Using a stiff shader brush like the 239, apply Shadow A of the NYX palette on lid.


Use a piece of Scotch tape on the corner of the eye to create a clean edge.

Winner of MAC Give Me Liberty Of London Giveaway For Twitter Followers

Finally, we have a winner from The Shades Of U's MAC Give Me Liberty Of London Giveaway For Twitter Followers! All entries are in, and a lucky winner was randomly chosen to win MAC items pictured above. Here goes!

(*Drumroll*)

(Winner announced below the cut)

MAC Give Me Liberty of London Giveaway For Twitter Followers

As promised, here is a giveaway for my Twitter followers! The Shades Of U is giving away one brand new MAC Dirty Plum blush and MAC Give Me Liberty of London eyeshadow from the MAC Liberty of London collection. This giveaway is open to all @Shades_Of U followers on Twitter (yes, even international followers).  It's very easy to join. You have to be a follower of @Shades_Of_U on Twitter, you should re-tweet the tweet about this contest, and you need to enter your Twitter username and say that you have re-tweeted about this giveaway in the Comment Box below.


Contest Mechanics:

1. This contest is open to all followers of @Shades_Of_U on Twitter 18 years old and older. International subscribers (outside of the U.S.) are welcome to join. Follow @Shades_Of_U on Twitter. If you are currently a follower, you are automatically eligible to join and you do not need to re-subscribe.

2. Re-tweet the tweet about this giveaway on Twitter.

3. Leave a comment in the Comment Box below. Include the following:

a. Your Twitter username;
b. A statement that you have re-tweeted about this giveaway.

4. EDITED TO ADD: I have been asked if you can enter more than once.  Let's clarify this for everyone's sake.  The answer would be - yes, you can enter more than once.  You can enter every time you re-tweet, but you can only re-tweet once a day.  Thanks!

5. The winning entry shall be randomly chosen via Random.Org.

6. The contest shall run starting today, April 4, 2010 and ends on Tuesday, April 13, 2010 at 11:59 p.m. PDT.

7. The Shades Of U shall randomly pick one winner who shall win both items, announce the name of the winner on this blog, and shall contact the winner via Direct Message on Twitter.

8. The winner shall respond to the Direct Message with his/her mailing address within seventy-two (72) hours of the delivery of the notification message; otherwise, the entry shall be disqualified and another winner shall be chosen. 

9. The Shades Of U will ship the prize package to anywhere in the world via First Class mail. If the winner is a U.S. Resident, the prize shall be sent with delivery confirmation. If the winner resides outside of the U.S., the prize shall be sent to the international winner using First Class international mail with no tracking number. However, the postal receipt shall be kept as evidence of shipment. The Shades Of U shall not be responsible for damage, loss or delays in the delivery of the package after the prize has been mailed, nor shall it be responsible for customs duties or fees.
Goodluck to everyone! Remember to follow all Contest Mechanics, especially Number 3.   Facebook followers, your giveaway will be up next! =)

Pinks and Purples Using MAC Colour 3 Quad and Blooming Lovely Lipstick

Here is another pink and purple look from my favorite purple quad, MAC Colour 3 quad from the MAC Spring Colour Forecast. I used the darker hues as crease and outer V colors for this look.



For the main lid color, I used my favorite Aromaleigh eyeshadow (yes, I love this so much that I think out of the hundreds of Aromaleigh eyeshadows I own, this is the one I love the most). It's the now-discontinued eyeshadow from the Valentine 2009 collection called Soul Mate. How I love this shadow! I've used this in many of my EOTDs and it never fails to amaze me. It gives this soft but shimmery pink shade that is eye-catching and really opens up the peepers. I'm so sad this has been discontinued! But good thing I was able to score one from Aromaleigh's "garage-sale" of discontinued items.



I also used my beautiful mineralize blush duo in Two Virtues from Too Fabulous collection for this look. Lovely purple pink color!



I used my greyish pink lipstick with purple undertones, Blooming Lovely from the MAC Give Me Liberty of London collection. It's cool-toned, so I had to wear a warmer lipliner to balance the undertones. I love it though - very creamy and pigmented.



I used English Accents on top of Blooming Lovely. Here's how they look like together:



Here's a step-by-step. All eye products MAC unless otherwise stated.


Apply Urban Decay primer potion all over lid, browbone and lower lashline. Using a fluffy shader brush, apply Fresco Rose paint pot on lid.


Using a stiff shader brush like the 239, apply Aromaleigh Soul Mate on lid foiled on the lid using Charged Water (use a slightly damp brush).


Using Sonia Kashuk blender brush, apply Bruised Plum on crease.


Using the same brush, apply Black Tulip on outer V. Blend with the 224 brush.

MAC Give Me Liberty of London Product Photos and Reviews Part II

Here are some more product photos of the MAC Give Me Liberty of London.  I posted some swatches and reviews HERE, but I will include some more thoughts about this collection in this entry.

As I said, this is probably going to be one of my favorite MAC collections for 2010.  I really like the clean, crisp white background of the design and the old-school birds and flower illustrations.  I have products from a MAC collection that had white packaging, namely MAC Moonbathe, but they don't have the really cute images on the product windows.   Also, I love the color palettes of this collection.  The peaches and violets combined with the greys and dark grey blues truly tickle my fancy.










I have been meaning to depot all my eyeshadows but upon seeing these, I don't know if I will depot Give Me Liberty of London shadows since they are really pretty in the pots.  I am so in love with Birds and Berries and Bough Grey.  Birds and Berries is a beautiful, very pigmented dark green blue that is in the Veluxe Pearl formula, my favorite MAC formula.   Swatches are in another entry (see link above).  Bough Grey is now sold out on the MAC website and almost gone at my MAC counter when I picked up Birds and Berries.  I think I got their last Bough Grey.  This is such a popular color.  It's a mid-tone bluish grey that would be great as a blender or crease color.  It is satin in formula so it would give depth and dimension to the outer V without being too sparkly.  This would be great paired with Birds and Berries.

Free To be is creamy true coral.  I can't wait to use this packed on the lid.  The matte look would truly stand out when paired with my other eye shadows.  Give Me Liberty of London is flat creamy pink.  It hardly showed up on me, so this maybe a bit harder to work with.  Since these two are matte, I suggest a good colored base to really make the colors pop.  I suggest maybe Fresco Rose paint pot or any pink-colored base to bring forth the hues.





(See more product photos and reviews after the jump)

Taupe Neutrals Using MAC Eye Shadows

I did a simple eye look using taupe and brown eyeshadows from MAC. I used my favorite taupe shadow ever from MAC called Twillery. Unfortunately, it's a limited edition from the Inventive Eyes Quad from 4 years ago:


Vellum is totally gone, I did a bad de-quad-ing so it literally crumbled into pieces.

Twillery is still one of my favorite MAC eyeshadows, so much so that I have two of these. For this look, I used Bare Study paint pot underneath to give Twillery a little bit of a lighter shimmer, in order to open up the eyes:


Bare Study

For this look, I also used Bronze and Time and Space eyeshadows (see first photo above). To give more depth and dimension to the crease, I also used MAC Satin Taupe eyeshadow:





I used Manila Paper to highlight. It's from the Colour 4 quad of the Spring Colour Forecast collection. This shadow is quickly becoming one of my favorite highlighters.



I also used the amazing mineral blush from Jouer named Blossom. I love the formula of this blush. It is so finely jet-milled and it applies like a dream on the skin; it is never splotchy and finish is gorgeous.



I used Refined mineralize skinfinish from the Sugar Sweet collection.


I also used one of my favorite lippies from the MAC Give Me Liberty of London collection, Peachstock.


I used Virgin Kiss lipglass on top of Peachstock (from the A Rose Romance collection).

Here's a step-by-step. All eye products MAC unless otherwise stated.


Apply Urban Decay primer potion all over lid and browbone. Using a fluffy shader brush, apply Bare Study paint pot on lid.


Using a stiff shader brush like the 239, apply Twillery on lid. Pack it on.


Using Sonia Kashuk blender brush, apply Bronze on outer V.

Konad Nail Stamp Art: MAC Blue India Nail Lacquer

I am really in love with my MAC Blue India nail lacquer from the Give Me Liberty of London collection, so much that I am contemplating on getting my very first nail polish back-up. It is this chic dark blue-grey cream that applies like a dream and has good staying power. I think MAC's nail lacquer formula has improved of late. It is no longer chippy and hard to apply, and I really love the look of Blue India.  It is edgy and yet can still be neutral enough for work.  This would look great with jeans as it is very similar to the color of denim.

The color is pretty simple and yet unique. The finish is just plain old creme formula but since I love cremes, this is totally up my alley. Moreover, the packaging is just darling. I really love the miniature birds and flowers; so reminiscent of old-school spring illustrations.

I can't wait for summer so I used my fauxnad image plate in H20 that I got from chez-delaney.com. It's a pretty shell image in Konad special polish in White, to go with the white birdie on the nail polish bottle.

This is a very popular MAC nail lacquer shade, and it's very in demand so I read that a lot of counters are running low on this or are simply out of Blue India.  If you like the color, try to get a hold of this as soon as you can.