MAC Creme Cup Dupe? B.Vibrant Lip & Cheek Colour in Prom*

I have been using the B.Skincare range from Superdrug for a while (B. Replenished Facial Oil
is still one of my cabinet staples) but have never adventured in to the make up side. I spotted an opportunity to try a few bits and jumped on the chance.

One of them was their Lip & Cheek colour which I had alrady had an introduction to when I went to Superdrug's press day last September. B.Vibrant is just that, strong bright colour in a crayon style applicator. Its creamy to apply on, and after two layers has a 8 hour lasting power.

I was swatching away amd a little light bulb went off, this looks so close to sanother one of my lipsticks, MAC Creme Cup. Digging around in my storage box, I found it and swatched it next door to a swipe to Prom,

Top: Creme Cup. Bottom: Prom

Side by side, Prom is more of a deeper richer pink than Creme Cup. Both on smoothly but I do like the convenience of crayon that I can apply in a hurry. Price wise B.Vibriant is also the winner at £7.99 (currently has £1 off at Superdrug at £6.99) compared to MAC's ever increasing prices at the £15.50.

* Product was provided for reveiew, but the ramblings are my own.

Beauty Swap with Clare (A Bit of This and That)

About late May I signed my name to a Beauty Swap organised but the retro fabulous Kat from Tales of a Pale Face. It is very simple, you get an email to say who you have got as well as contact mail, you send a lot of emails asking about likes/dislikes and arranging when. Clare and I found out that we were both going to London Meet Up at the end of July and decided to save the postage to send more surprises.

 

I mentioned in my emails that the pale person for me struggles to find a bronzer that doesn't turn me orange and I lacked any daytime lipsticks (all of them are mostly red!). Clare said that she kind of liked MAC lipsticks (owns 25 of them , you need help with a MAC lipstick - she's your girl!) and loved premium make up.

 

You can read what I got her here on her blog and see below what appeared in my little bag (beautifully wrapped up may I add, I lasted an hour before I opened them all).

 

Natural Collection lipsticks in Apple Blossom (on the left) and Rose Bud (on the right) - I already have one of the lipsticks and think they're really great value so it was great to see two more for my collection.

Bourjois Powder Bronzer - Smells delicious, have not tried it yet, but the other bloggers around me when I opened it, 'Ohh'd' at it and came with recommendations.

Not Pictured - Montagne Jeunesse peel off face masks - my favourite face mask brand and they have added to the collection. I also gave the exact same ones to Clare!

The one I got most excited about was:

My second ever MAC lipstick in Crème Cup - a beauty bloggers holy grail. I have worn this a few times now and it goes slightly pink on me but looks great for everyday which is what I have been looking for.

Big thank you to Kat for organising and Clare for being really generous.

Brand Masterclass - M.A.C. Cosmetics

M.A.C. Cosmetics or Makeup Artist Cosmetics was created in 1984 by Photographer Frank Tostan and Salon chain owner Frank Angelo, seeing a gap in the market for specialised cosmetics for fashion photo shoots. Tostan was the idea and creative mind behind M.A.C. before partnering with Angelo, he experimented with formulas with his brother in law and chemist Victor Casale.  Original product lines were designed for Makeup artists who needed heavy cosmetics, cake makeup ad stage makeup needed for the heavy light of photography.

Already having connections in the industry, they spread the M.A.C. word through these contacts. The quality and durability of the products soon promoted the brand and won endorsements by stars like Pamela Anderson, Debbie Harry, and Boy George. They opened their first store in New York in 1991, with the first European in Paris in 1996. They now have 1,500 locations in 78 countries.

In 1994 the partners sold 51% of the business to Esteé Lauder with the full takeover being completed in 1998 after the passing of Frank Angelo. Esteé Lauder kept the original philosophy of the owners work as well as the continued VIVA Glam campaign that raises funds and awareness of AIDS through limited edition collections.

"All ages, All races, All sexes"

The Only MAC Lipstick I Own - Milan Mode

As part of my BTEC I have to do design briefs - this is one of them. The brief was to have pale skin, using tones of brown for the eyes, slight pink blush and  pink lipstick. I had to put photos together showing each stage of the look altogether, as well as creating a treatment plan, design, and final evaluation.

I love this look, it's the first time in along time that I've looked at photos of myself and just thought wow. I'm not normally a person who feels comfortable within my skin, but as this course has gone on I feel I've gained confidence to show off my work better.

Anyway onto the lipstick, as this says in the title this is the only MAC lipstick I own. Amongst beauty bloggers its almost unheard of, especially as it is an not very well known colour. This is part of the Luste range, a bright blue toned pink with lots of shimmer. I got this when I was working for Estee Lauder (as MAC is owned by them) from the staff shop and have worn this in Ibiza dressed as a school girl (twice!).

Still available at MAC Cosmetics for £14.00

*****************************************************************

A little side note, Collections Halloween Competition finished today and I wasn't the winner (The winner got 200 + against my 25). Thank you to everyone who 'liked' me and voted. You can check out the winners blog here 

Could Your Bargain Be Costing You Your Life?

Imitation is suppose to be the highest form of flattery, I would not think that high end make up brands would agree. In the never ending saga of fake make being sold to the public, Leanne Wertheim was sentenced to 8 month suspended sentence, £2,000 costs and 160 hours of community service. She took £40,000 from the public over four eBay accounts, the "brands" she was selling included Bobbi Brown, M.A.C, Benefit, Lancome and Max Factor.

Unsuspecting customers, who were thinking they were getting huge discounts with some products selling at £3.99, were actually buying toxic make up. When customers complained about the quality of products, she claimed that they were genuine. When initial tests were carried out on the products, the results showed that they had 3 times the normal levels of lead in them. Lead contamination can lead to side effects as brain damage, a lowering of IQ in unborn babies and behaviour problems.

In one instance, a Max Factor mascara was showed to be having 68 mg/kg of lead, where the legal amount is 20 mg/kg.

So how you spot a fake?

Knowledge is power, look at the stores to see how the product feels and how its packaged. Chanel and MAC are the most common copies that are sold. Chanel is always dressed in glossy packaging, with very simple writing. Fakes have little touches, logos in the wrong places, lower grade cardboard and lower grade pigments.

With MAC eye shadows and pigments, real items have the bar code as a sticker on the box, as well as having the colour name and finish on a sticker on the top of the box. MAC also do not have mirrors and applicators in with their products, the logo will always be centre (apart from mascaras which is on the left hand side). Sizes on genuine items will be given in grams and ounces - fakes tend to be in millilitres.

The best way to avoid fakes?

Save your pennies and buy only from authorised retailers and manufactures.

For more information on spotting all fakes, try: http://www.spotcounterfeits.co.uk/
Another brilliant entry on Fakes by BritishBeautyBlogger