Magic of PIXIGlow Event: PIXI Beauty Collaboration with Disney's Tinkerbell!

Last night I went along to the launch of PIXI's new Spring/Summer PIXIGlow collaboration with Disney - specifically Tinkerbell with fellow beauty blogger and YouTuber (and best friend of 20 yrs!) Angel Armogida.  Although I'd come across PIXI at Boots before, I never took the pale green packaging seriously (shallow? moi?!) and so I was pretty much new to the brand.  I was surprised to learn that their little boutique just off Carnaby St (around the corner from fellow Swedish make up brand Make Up Store) has been there for 12 years.  

PIXI is the brainchild of a former Swedish model Petra Strand whose aim is to provide women with easy to use, mulitpurpose, long wearing products. 

The range launches in Boots today.

Stay Beautiful - Pocahontas Look

I'm so excited to introduce you to Robyn today with her Pocahontas look.  She has a Disney series on her blog which you must check out!  Robyn was the first beauty blogger I met and is utterly lovely and one of the most creative make up bloggers and an amazing budding MUA. 

Hi everyone, Robyn from Stay Beautiful here. I've been reading Click and Make Up! for a long time and was honoured that the lovely Kat - who, having met in the real world I can genuinely say *is* lovely - asked me to guest post for her. She asked me to do a Disney inspired look and we settled on Pocahontas!

EOTD: MAC + Disney Venomous Villains - My Dark Magic Purple Smoky Eye

My Dark Magic Mineralize Eye Shadow Duo is my favourite acquisition from the Venomous Villains collection, and the last one for those of you who've been following my posts on the other items.  It wasn't a piece which spoke to me online, but in the flesh, or mica, it was too gorgeous to leave behind.  My one has a lot of pink running through it, but I would have preferred more of the purple colour.  It cost £16.50, but I try not to think about that...and it is bloody HUGE and will give me smoky eyes for the rest of time!

My last run in with a MAC Mineralize e/s was Love Connection from last Christmas's Pinkzapoppin' set.  It was very roughly milled, packed full of cheap glitter and barely pigmented, and a lot smaller than this offering.

All I used for the above look was My Dark Magic.  Easiest smoky eye ever!  I found that if you blend too much you just end up with a sheeny charcoal, but you can just dab some of the purple or magenta lightly in the centre of your lid or the inner corner to add a bit of interest.

And some close ups...

You can see here I'd blended it in a bit too much, but the purple is still showing up along my lower lid.  Below I just dabbed on some more purple/pink...

I found that the best brush to apply this with is a small, flat shader brush like the MAC 239, and then use a small blending brush on any sharp edges.

Sadly My Dark Magic is sold out now, the cheapest I saw it going for on eBay is £27 :O!

MAC + Disney Venomous Villains: Strange Potion Lipglass

Strange Potion Lipglass - from the Evil Queen range - was another impulse purchase from the collection, but I'm pretty happy with it.  The colour flatters my skintone and for a lipgloss, it's extremely pigmented.  The colour is a bit of a tame pinky-peach and not too disimilar to Pink Lemonade, which I picked up a few months ago, with less of an orange undertone.  I'm not a huge fan of the Lipglass formulation as it's very gloopy and hair sticks to it too easily!  I would have preferred if Strange Potion was a lipstick.

It's sold out online but I've seen it going on eBay for £23 (normal price £13).  Again, this colour is easily dupable, so not worth forking out over the odds.

P.S. Is anyone else experiencing the issue with Draft Blogger where images which are 'portrait' - such as the one above, are only uploading horizontally?! It's driving me nuts, so any advice would be very appreciated!

MAC + Disney Venomous Villains: Oh So Fair Beauty Powder

It went through my heart to cough up £20.50 for this beauty powder.  Is it a blush?  Is it an all-over-face powder? Who knows!  But see that lil' cartoon on the front? My love of all things Disney runs deep.  The cartoon is actually just stuck on or 'applied' to the casing.  While I can't say I regret getting it - it was on my list from the minute I saw the collection - I do think MAC cashed in.  
I know some people keep the boxes make up comes in, and while I normally chuck mine right away, this beauty is staying in it's box, which has a nice sketchy design on the front.  Click HERE to see examples of the collection's packaging.

 

The best thing about Oh So Fair is the mirror on the lid.  MAC need to get a clue and roll it out across their other products.  The container is much larger than their blushes and closer to the size of MSFs.  In the pan, Oh So Fair is a pale pink matte powder, and swatched it is practically transparent.  In the photo below I used it as a blush - you have to layer it on about 3 times to get any sort of effect.  However it can also be used with a very light hand all over your face to give a bit of a glow, a bit like Benefit's Dandelion powder, but not as iridescent.  I considered picking up Briar Rose, as I love the name, but it was a bit too puce for me, and the image of Maleficent wasn't very exciting.

If you're trawling eBay for Oh So Fair I would advise you not to pay too much over the RRP as the product itself is nothing to write home about, but if you want it as a sort of 'show piece' - a cosmetic ornament as such - and are Disney nuts, then go for it.  However I reckon there'll be a few popping up in blog sales in the future once all the hype dies down.

MAC + Disney Venomous Villains: Mean & Green Nail Lacquer

With flash on left, without flash on right

Mean & Green Nail Lacquer is definitely my least favourite purchase from the Venomous Villains collection, but I think it's worth posting some swatches for any of you guys who may be considering paying an extortionate eBay price for it.  I did like the look of it on Temptalia, but didn't intend to get it, and so it's one of the bits that I succumbed to on the release day frenzy!  I think it is a pretty cool colour for Halloween, but it's not particularly flattering.  

On it's own, one nor two coats work, you have to apply three.  And even then it chips rapidly at the tips of your nails.  The best way to wear it is two coats over an already opaque base - perhaps a dark purple or green and then topped off with a coat of clear.  10mls is not a huge amount and after my one three-coat application quite a lot is already used up!

I wouldn't go out of my way to pick this one up, as Orly have similar offerings, and more recently, Accessorize have come out with two polishes that look like Mean & Green and Bad Fairy dupes.  I'm not sure what I'll do with this lacquer, you may see it pop up in a blog sale at some stage.

Here are some shots showing one, two and three coats...

One coat

Here I've applied one coat, and all you can really see is green, without much of the purple duochrome.

This is two coats and you can begin to see the purple shimmer asserting itself!  But it still looks pretty shoddy!

Here we have three coats under bright fluorescent lighting.

Again, three coats, but under normal artificial light, with a camera flash.  This is how it looks best.  You can see that at the tips of my nails it looks transparent and green, but this is only picked up by the camera  and not really noticeable.
All in all, while I do regret the purchase, I know if I hadn't got it I would be hankering after it.  For me, it's not worth £8, but I do think the photography doesn't do it full justice, and it does look better in 'real life'.

So, did you pick up Mean&Green? What do you think of it? Would you pay crazy £ for it on eBay?!

Update: MAC's Disney Venomous Villians Collection Coming Sept. 2010

You've probably already seen this picture, but I just had to post it as I am waiting for this collection like it's Christmas!

News first broke of the collection back on 18th May and late last week the official packaging was revealed - it's very similar to the photos which surfaced a couple of weeks ago.

To watch MAC's promotional video for the collection click here.  For more info on the collection check out Kim Porter's blog.

The previous leaked shots featured Ursula from The Little Mermaid, but sadly it looks as though she won't be part of the collection...looks like I'll go for the Evil Queen (Snow White)...or actually, just wait until I see the colours on offer!

Have you come across any other shots of this collection?

MAC Venomous Villains Coming Autumn 2010!

Rumours about a MAC Disney collection have been swirling on Makeup Alley for ages now, and this afternoon I was delighted to read Princesa Livia's post about the forthcoming MAC Venomous Villains collection due out in Autumn 2010.  

Now I must say I am a little disappointed that MAC has based the collection on their villainous characters, I would have preferred so see my beloved Disney Princesses (Ariel, Aurora, Belle, Jasmine!) adorning the packaging, but no doubt I will pick a few bits up from this collection.   Instead we get to choose from Cruella, Ursula (the one I'll go for as I love The Little Mermaid!), the Evil Queen, Dr. Facilier and Maleficent.


Here's a naughty pap shot of a few bits:

I'm slightly surprised that MAC just went with the straight up cartoon illustrations in all their glorious colour rather than working the characters into a more sophisticated design, but hey, we're all kids at heart!  I deeply regret missing the Hello Kitty collection (I must have been on Mars at the time) and so I will be swooping into MAC Westfield the minute they're released!


Will you bother with this collection?  Did MAC go with the best Disney villains?!