Makeup Hits of the 2012 Oscars

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not a huge fan of the Oscars. Particularly in the last couple of years. Sometimes I enjoy laughing at particularly ridiculous dresses or the odd embarassing or touching moment, but for the most part I pretend they're not happening. With one exception. The day after the event, I love scrolling through website after website featuring the makeup of the stars - the glamourous, the flashy and the just plain tragic! Because I'm not (totally) mean-spirited, this year I've just picked the top 10 looks - from the natural beauty to the red-hot smokin' diva!

10.  Jennifer Lopez

My enjoyment of J-Lo comes and goes, depending on if I'm in a bronzer phase or not, but I liked her look for the Oscars this year - understated, but with a cut crease eye look that added a little twist to an otherwise unremarkable (though beautiful) red carpet look.

9. Emma Stone

Overall I wasn't super crazy about Emma's look - disappointing because I am in serious like with this girl. Her sense of humour, her voice, her sexpot yet still girl next door look... but this just didn't work for me. I still think she's gorgeous, however, and I do love a good kitten flick liner!

8. Michelle Williams

Gotta love that the girl stuck with the pixie cut and added a playful, girlish pink lip rather than playing up her Marilyn! That just would have been a bit too on the nose - though stunning, of course.

 7. Mila Jovovich

Ah, Mila. She won my heart in Fifth Element (so did that magic makeup machine) and I think she is just stunning. This makeup look helped.

6. Viola Davis

I love this woman. There is just something eminently likeable about her. She's someone who seems capable and reliable - yet still a whole bushel of fun. Take her understated, all natural hair offset with emerald green liner for the Oscars this year. Somehow this totally worked!

5. Penelope Cruz

I have never been a fan of her acting, but damn does the girl clean up good! I love Penelope's subtle face that draws full attention to her smoldering eyes - which are, in my opinion, one of her best features.

4. Jessica Chastain

I'm not a huge celeb follower, so I honestly have no idea who this lady is. But when looking through Oscar photos this year, hers always made me pause for a moment and just take it in. Her hair and dress offset each other perfectly, and I love how her pale brows and skin really make that flick of black liner pop! Just gorgeous.

 3. Rooney Mara

Love. Love the bangs, love the marble skin, love the intense brows and LOVE the bright lip! The full effect is so clean and polished. Not a thing I'd change!

2. Kristen Wiig

Kristen Wiig creeps up on you. She doesn't necessarily make a huge impression the first time you see her, but every time she pops up, you fall in love with her just a little bit more. I love her understated beauty, and her ability to go all chameleon and pull off everything from girl next door to roller-derby hot mama! I really enjoyed her au naturel look for the Oscars this year - here's a lady who doesn't need full on glam to look her best!

1. Angelina Jolie

I have to say, as predictable as it might be, my absolute favourite was Angelina Jolie. I loved her sultry smokey eye with just a hint of warm bronze, offset by a classic red lip - too bad about the whole leg fiasco or she would have been pure perfection!

Overall I thought there were some wonderful looks gracing the red carpet this year - though I was sorry not to see Mila Kunis, whose look topped my list last year! Who did you miss? What looks were most memorable for you? Whose look would you die for?

xo M.

MAC Pro Longwear Eyeshadows

Clockwise from Bottom Left: Keep Your Cool, Sweet Satisfaction, 

Lie Low, Make Your Mark, Legendary Black

 Anyone who knows anything about me will know that I LOVE eyeshadow. I mean, I love makeup in general, but eyeshadow is my particular weakness. I'm always looking for unique shades, textures and finishes. I like blending, pairing and experimenting with it as eyeliner.

So I've been eyeing (excuse the pun) these shadows for quite some time, and have finally collected a few to share with you guys!

I got these five:

L-R: Sweet Satisfaction, Lie Low, Make Your Mark, 

Keep Your Cool, Legendary Black

• Sweet Satisfaction: This is a great neutral daytime shade, one that can be used to blend out a darker shade, on the lid with a darker crease colour, or as an all-over base. 
• Lie Low: Lie Low is a fabulous warm-toned neutral brown that I think particularly suits us pale ladies. I like it over the entire lid - either blended out with Wedge in the crease for a daytime look or paired with a darker shade like Make Your Mark in the crease for more drama.
• Make Your Mark: It's a darker shade, which reminds me a little of Carbonized from the MAC Me Over collection. Aside from being a great crease shade, it can be used to line the upper and lower lashline with a lighter lid colour for daytime, and can even be smoked out around the lashes for an evening look. Beautiful!
• Keep Your Cool: Keep Your Cool reminds me of Smut - it has a similar blending of various shades, making it a complex, warm-toned, mauved grey/brown. Like Make Your Mark, this can either be used to play up the eyes or for understated lining during the daytime. 
• Legendary Black: This isn't really black at all. At least, not in my opinion. It's almost more of a blackened bronze colour. This one is very difficult to describe - but I think it's worth getting simply because I haven't seen another shadow like it before. I like this one over a dark liquid liner or to smoke out at night.

As the name implies, these shadows were created for the Pro line and are intended to last alllll damn day (and night). As someone who struggles with creasing, I will try anything that might save me from becoming a hot mess by the end of the day! So far these have been great. 

Though these shadows are a bit pricey, at $24.00 CAD per shadow, they're also HUGE. If you remember the Mega Metal shadow collection MAC came out with, you can use that as a comparison point - these are exactly the same size.

For those of you who prefer numbers, these contain 3.4 g or 0.11 US oz. Compare this to their regular shadow that cost $18.00 CAD (or $14.00 CAD for a refill pan) and contain 1.5 g or 0.05 US oz. This means they have more than double the product for an extra $6-10. A deal by anyone's reckoning!

These are Pro shadows, but they're available at some MAC regular storefronts as well as their online site. I highly recommend checking them out!

Ratings:
Packaging: 4/5

Product quality: 5/5
Worth the price? Definitely!
Would I purchase again? Yes.

Cruelty-Free? Yes - appears on PETA's Cruelty-Free list.

Where to find it: MAC in store and online.