Long Time, No Blog

Apparently I haven't posted since April. That is embarassing. Today was an especially good day and so I felt inspired to update.
MAC's Smoke Signals and Blue Storm were released today. I'd planned for this in my budget, so I was able to get everything from Smoke Signals that I wanted plus a Lipglass (Atmosperic) and Kohl Power (Mystery) from Blue Storm. It came as no suprise that the lighter lipsticks (3 of the 4) didn't work for me. Two were obviously too light and one was so sheer that it wasn't worth the $14. Since Silver Fog and Dark Soul are perm. I skipped on them.

I decided to wait on the eye shadows from Blue Storm but I am definately going back to get all of them except Storm Watch which is probably the least interesting teal I have ever seen from MAC. True, there isn't a real, true teal in their permanent collection, but if you have been keeping up with the collections for even 6 months, you have better teals in your collection. Personally I think Plumage is a better choice. Storm Watch doesn't have a decent color pay off or lasting power either. The other standouts were Thunder, which prettier than Parfait Amour and has a reflective quality and a beautiful finnish. Blue Storm is gorgeous, and Cloudburst was a surprise. At first glance I wasn't too impressed, but after swatching it I found the blue black nature of it really appealing. It's similar to Nehru, but not powdery, but pearly instead. Cumulus is nothing special, but I'm going to get it anyway. I do like that it is not an overpowering silver, like many are.

Topping of the MAC excitment is the realization that I may have found a solution to my oily T-Zone. I usually use a blot sheet mid-day to remove excess oil around the T-Zone, but on my nose especially, there isn't a wiff of powder remaining. The solution? A blot powder and foudation primer. Too bad nearly every foundation primer I looked up had ton's of negative reviews and almost none of them seemed to keep oily T-Zones at bay. Granted I'm not a oil slick my any means, but the
matte-r the better. Then off when the idea bulb. I could combine Clinique products, the Pore Minimizer (T-Zone Shine Control) for pre-powder use and mid-day touch-ups and the Stay Matte (Sheer Pressed Powder) for use after blotting to replace powder and keep the face matte. I was really impressed by the products in the store, and I hope this combo will work. I even picked up a Benefit brush (the short handle makes it perfect for travel) for my on-the-go touch-ups. I'm excited and I'll update with the results.