M.A.C Holiday 2012 GlamourDaze collection

 

 By now I'm sure you've all heard that the MAC Holiday collections are out! Temptalia has great reviews and swatches, they explain all the different collections and have great photos of everything. 

I initially went crazy adding stuff to my cart, but when I realized it would cost at least $700 to buy everything I wanted really badly, I forced myself to pare it down considerably to what I actually will wear. Which yes, that's not as "fun" as splurging on a huge order, but realistically I have so much other makeup to go through that it's just not necessary. 

I ended up purchasing the Skinfinish Illuminizer in Whisper of Guilt. This is a re-release, as are several components of this collection. That doesn't bother me because Whisper of Guilt is my all time favorite highlighter that I reach for again and again. You can see a review of it on a previous post of mine here.

I also picked up an eyeshadow in A Natural Flirt, which is the top left in this promo photo [property of MAC cosmetics]. I picked it because it's a nice champagne sort of neutral, and that's what I tend to wear in my daily makeup. The other colors are gorgeous, but I can't wear purples, blue eyeshadow looks odd on me, and the black is just sooo dark.

Next I decided to get a blush, because I am trying to wear it, and most of the blush I own tends to be really dark coral colors. I wanted a pretty, fresh looking pink color, and "I'm the One" looked like exactly what I was looking for. It's the one in the middle here.

When I saw that "Whisper of Guilt" was back, I had to restrain from purchasing about 4 of these. Realistically, that would be kind of silly, as much as I wanted to, and understand why some people actually did purchase multiples! It's my all time favorite highlighter. The formula is smooth, it leaves a nice glow, and I've seriously gotten soooo many compliments on how nice "my skin" looks since using this. I had other women asking me what I used in my cheeks because it looks so pretty. It's just a pretty champagne and I use it for eyeshadow sometimes too, even though the formula is a bit face powdery feeling for that. 

 I'm also trying to expand into wearing lipstick, since it's something that's always been sort of beyond me makeup wise.
The two colors that were purchased are Beauty, which is the cool toned pink that's second from left, and then Innocence, the coral color that's second from the right. I love the plum and know it's trendy for fall, but for me personally it's more than I would feel comfortable wearing.

 Now for some real photos! I had a really really hard time capturing the colors of the products with my camera. It kept on cooling everything down considerably.

The blusher is not quite so hot pink looking in person, but it can look that way depending on the lighting.
Whisper of Guilt and A Natural Flirt are close in appearance, but A Natural Flirt actually is more cool toned, and has bits of pink shimmer in it. Whisper of Guilt is a warmer true champagne color.

 Here is another photo that includes the lipsticks. [click on any of my photos to make them larger!]

You can see the cooler tone of the eyeshadow better in this photo.

 Swatch time! From right to left are: Beauty, Innocence, I'm the One, Whisper of Guilt and A Natural Flirt.
I really encourage viewing this at full size just to see the swatches more clearly.

My skintone is NW15, and Ivory in most other makeups, Fair in Bare Minerals.

The blush has a really nice color payoff, I was really surprised by how dark it was on my face! If you're pale, a little bit goes a long ways. You'll easily get a nice flushed look with this pretty color!

 Here you can see A Whisper of Guilt really well next to the blusher swatch of pink. Beauty is a frost lipstick, and Innocence is a Glaze finish.

Both of them tended to make my lips look a bit flaky and dry, so I would highly encourage lip exfoliant and lip balm before putting either of these colors on.
However, I love both of the colors and the formula of MAC lipsticks is my favorite so far.

Please excuse my apparently hairy hands. It's hard to see, because they are neutrals and shimmery and I'm pale.
But to the left is A Natural Flirt, and to the right is Whisper of Guilt.

Both have really nice smooth formulas. I was surprised by how silky the eyeshadow feels. Sephora made one that looked similar, it had a seashell wave pattern, but the Sephora one has such a terrible formula in comparison. The MAC one is smooth and blends easily while the Sephora tends to crumble and get everywhere.

All in all, I am extremely pleased with all the things I got from this collection. I know it's not a big amount, and the colors are probably what are considered the "boring" ones of the lot, since they are mostly neutrals. But I really suggest them for people who want to play around with color, are fair, and like a more "natural" but still special looking makeup look.

What are you guys picking up?

I really really wanted the pink and blue brush sets, but there was just no way to justify them. I have plenty of makeup brushes thanks to my ELF haul.

Leave a comment and tell me what your favorite items are from the collection! I love hearing peoples favorites and what they ended up with.

The collection should be in stores right now. Nordstroms has some of it, as does the MAC website.

Thanks for reading!

*all products featured were purchased with my own money, nothing was given to me to review by this company.