So when I mentioned in yesterday's MAC Night Divine post that I would update you when I received any additional MAC holiday items, I bet you didn't think it would be that fast, huh?
Yeah, literally when I published that blog post, this box of MAC "Stroke of Midnight" holiday stuff hit my doorstep.

So much in the fashion of MAC holiday collections past, this year's group contains the typical brush bag sets, eye bag kits, lip bag kits, collective face palettes, eye shadow palettes, and more.

I have to be totally honest... I've been really let down by the MAC holiday collections over the past few years.. I remember getting the most beautiful packaging in the past (maybe five, six years ago) with the most beautiful collection of lip and eye products.
So the past few years, I've felt like the packaging is either really cheap and child-like, or the products are not a good mix. Remember the year of the all red and bordeaux lip colors? Yeah, that year made me angry...haha.

But let me just be honest. It's mostly the packaging.

I know I know. Packaging isn't the most important, but I just think that the holiday collections should be extra special and beautiful. Something that should be really ornate and glamorous to look forward to every year.

I had not done ANY research on the holiday collections. Hadn't even seen a photo. So when I opened the box to find this...

I got kind of excited. I'm a sucker for black and gold. Already it looked like my style.

SO much prettiness inside too...

I love how it feels sort of Hollywood Regency/modern. Not too over the top. Just elegant and special-feeling.

Seriously, aren't the compacts gorgeous?? They feel really nice, have a magnetic closure, and aren't too bulky like holiday palettes past (we remember the legit snow globe and the fabric TUFTED compact last year that matched my ottomans... anyone anyone?). Yeah. MUCH better this year, MAC.
I feel like I could actually pull this one out of my bag and be proud of it and not feel like I'd need to hide it.

Ok, so let's just skip straight to the products I have and some photos.

*There are SO many sets and products in this collection.  Keep in mind, this is not the complete collection, just what I was sent. To see ALL of the products, check out the details at Nordstrom HERE.

Let's start with the compacts...

Face Kit, $49.50

Stroke of Midnight Face Palette/ COOL

 Sparkling Rose Iridescent Pressed Powder

eye shadows: Scene, All Races, Magic Moor

lipsticks: Sublime Pleasure, Romantically Inclined

Ebony Eye Kohl

corresponding swatches below

Eye Shadow x5 Compact, $39.50

Stroke of Midnight Eyes/SMOKY

Chillproof, Retrospeck, Gaelic Gold, Well Put Together, Carbon

Next up, the bag sets.

Stroke of Midnight Brush Kit/ MINERALIZE, $49.50

includes: 287SE, 286SE, 159SE, 187SE

pretty lining inside of the bag...

There are two other sets as well. One that is a mix of essential eye and face brushes, and another that is a mix of eye brushes to create a smoky look. Each of those contain five brushes, whereas this mineralize one contains only four. All are the same price. I've said it before, if you don't have a lot of brushes and really need some variety and you have your heart set on MAC brushes, check these out. The face brushes are a bit smaller than their full sized counterparts (not just the handle, but the density of the actual brushes), but the eye brushes would be my pick. Those are the most similar to their full-sized mates.

Eye Look Bag, $39.50

Stroke of Midnight Eye Bag/ NUDE

set includes: In Extreme Dimension Lash mascara, Utterly Becoming Paint Pot,  Past Twilight Fluidline, 209 Eye Liner/259 Eye Shader double-ended brush

below: Utterly Becoming Paint Pot, Past Twilight Fluidline

I think for the price, these kits are great.  Full-sized products and a double-ended brush. Can't beat that for $39.50 from MAC.

I really like this particular shade of paint pot. At first it scared me because I thought it would be too dark for my skin tone, as I was comparing it to Painterly which matches my skin tone perfectly.  This one is a lot more tan. While people with darker skin tones would be able to use this to match their tone, for me, I like the idea of blending it really well and diffusing it a little past the crease sort of as a colored base for my entire look, crease and all. Sort of like the effect of soft brown to blend out the crease like I love to do so well. Only thing is that the consistency was a bit chunky. Super weird. Maybe it's just because it was the first use (you can see some of the chunkiness in the swatch), but they're normally super smooth.

The Fluidline is an awesome shade too. It's described as a "blackened plum", although at first glance, it seems more like a blackened brown to me. Either way, I love it and I'll be wearing this a lot. MAC thank you for reading my mind. I needed a new dark brown gel liner.

Obviously the double-sided brush excites me. Have I ever mentioned that to you all? How much I love double-sided brushes? Well I do. This one is a good combo.

Oh and let's not leave out the mascara. I've had a tube of this for several months now (MAC sent me a sample before it was released a while back), and I lost it. I think I left it behind at a hotel. I'm guessing it rolled off the table and didn't make it back into my makeup bag. Tragic.
It's good stuff too. Really lengthening and volumizing. Very similar to my beloved Le Volume de Chanel. However, like most mascaras with sort of a "wetter" formula (including that Chanel), it sucks right when you use it the first few times, but ends up being fabulous after it's been opened and closed a bit and allowed to thicken up a bit.

And as always, they have an assortment of lip kits.

Mini Tinted Flavoured Lip Conditioner Kit, $32.50

MAC Tastitint Lip Conditioners

Mintessence, Sugared Vanilla, Taste of Paradise, Dash of Lavender

This is the only lip kit I have, but I'm really glad I got it. Probably because this is honestly something I would never be drawn to really check out or purchase myself. I love the consistency. They're not sticky like normal MAC glosses and the scents are really nice. My favorite by far is the Dash of Lavender. More lip glosses need to be lavender scented, just saying.

There are three other mini gloss kits in different themed collections- Pink, Coral, and Nude.

There are lip bags that contain a lipstick, gloss and liner as well. I like how one is more nude and one set is more berry. A little something for everyone.

There are also three mini glitter and pigment sets.

So what do you guys think? How do you feel about the overall "look" of this collection? Any must-haves on your wish lists??

Again, you can check out the entire collection here for more details on everything available!

products provided for consideration by MAC with no agreements or obligations to feature or review post contains affiliates

Hello and Happy Halloween everyone!
MAC swatches can be spooky, right?

no?

Ok, so here are the items I have from a part of the the new MAC 2013 Holiday Collection- Divine Night. As soon as I receive any other holiday collections, I'll of course share!
**check out al the rest of the MAC Holiday Collection in my new post HERE 

These are just the pieces I have. I don't have the complete collection, but you can see every product from Divine Night, and more on each product here (Nordstrom).

So this collection is made up primarily of MAC Mineralize products: 6 Mineralize Eye Shadows, 3 Mineralize Blushes, and 3 Mineralize Skinfinishes. If you've followed me for a while, you probably remember all of my rants about the MAC Mineralize Eye Shadows. I either like them or I hate them. I never really love them, but some are definitely better than others. But the ones I don't like? Totally horrible. Haha, so maybe I'm being dramatic, but that's just my thoughts.

The Mineralize Eye Shadows in this collection mostly fall into my "like" category. I like these that are two (or more) SOLID colors totally separated.  The ones I despise are the swirly ones. Ok, so let's just jump right into it!

So I have three of the six eye shadows...

Mineralize Eye Shadows, $23.

Tonight's Temptation

outside: black with pearl base, inside: royal blue (frost)

Captivating

outside: bright white gold base, inside: deep gold (frost)

Until Dawn

outside: soft gold base, inside: purple taupe (frost)

There are three more shadows-
Exquisite Ego (outside: Bronze base, inside: soft white champagne)
Past Midnight (oustide: Blackish purple with violet pearl base, inside: soft white pink frost)
Gilded Night (outside: Bright gold with silver pearl base, inside: black with pearl frost)

I reallllly want to check out the Gilded Night because I'm a sucker for black shadows, and the black and gold combo is just gorgeous. The purple one (Past Midnight) looks good too. I'll have to check those out in person before I actually purchase though.

Next up, the Mineralize Blush. I have one out of the three.
I actually have always been a fan of the mineralize blushes for the most part. However, I just realized my preference for these is the TOTAL opposite of the eye shadows! I actually prefer the swirly ones (ones that look like swirled paint), whereas I sometimes have trouble using the more solid ones (like these) as actual blush because they're so frosted. So for these, I like to wear them lightly over a bronzer for a light glow when I don't mind a bit of frost on my cheeks. Or maybe even over another blush for a bit of a glow. For me, personally, I definitely would not apply these like a typical blush. It would just be too much frost. But the colors are pretty!

Mineralize Blush, $27.50

Talk of the Town

warm brown base with yellow bronze (satin)

All of the blush shades are described as a "satin". Well, let me tell you, there is NOTHING satin about this shade...haha. It's probably the most frosted blush I've ever seen with actual sparkle in it as well.

There are two more that I don't have- one that is a bit more violet, and one that is a bit more coral.


Next, the Mineralize Skinfinishes. Again, I have one out of three.
The one I have is very smooth with a lot of sheen. Not chunky and shimmery like some.

Mineralize Skinfinish, $33.

Perfectly Poised
outside: bronzy coral with golden tones, inside: creamy beige with pinkish purple sheen

I mean... is it me or are these getting crazy expensive? Seriously I'm waiting for the day when they hit $50 a piece...haha

A few eye liners...

Fluidline, $17.50

Macroviolet
deep smoked violet with red pearl

Kohl Power Eye Pencil, $17.50

left, Orpheus
right, Raven

Now for the lip products...
(two of five lipsticks)

Lipstick, $16.50

left, Private Party -dirty plum mauve (satin)

right, Flair for Finery -cool pink nude (lustre)

Both of these lipsticks are gorgeous. I think Private Party would make the perfect dark, berry lip without looking too matte or intense. Of course, Flair for Finery is a shade I would probably wear a bit more because nudes are just easy to me. However, not all nudes are great. This one is actually really nice and wearable because it's not too matte or "paint-like". This one has a nice gloss to it and lets a bit of your natural lip color shine through so it doesn't give you that zombie effect. (Halloween reference ftw)

aaand their corresponding glosses...

Cremesheen Glass, $22.

top, Private Party

bottom, Flair for Finery

Finally, one of three nail lacquers...

Nail Lacquer, $ 17.50

Military - black matte with silver suede pearl (frost)

This looks like a super pretty one. I'll wear it soon and update this post! Not about to mess up my new manicure. :)

So as always, you can check out the entire collection HERE (Nordstrom).

So what do you all think about this collection? Anything you're particularly excited for??

products provided for consideration by MAC with no agreements or obligations to feature or review
post contains affiliates

Well one thing's for certain, y'all...
Riri really loves MAC.

Yup, another Riri Loves MAC collection. This time, it's centered around Fall. Some parts are great, some parts are, well, a bit redundant. But nonetheless, as a whole, it is a really gorgeous collection.
First of all, the packaging to me is beautiful.

Hot pink and rose gold everywhere. Totally reminds me of early 90's Barbie stuff, no?

I think the concept is really great- Riri Loves MAC. Riri helps design stuff for MAC. People who love Riri and MAC rejoice and buy the collection.

However, I feel like it's getting a bit repetitive. Don't get me wrong... I think she's created some GREAT stuff. We all love Riri Woo (although already pretty similar to Ruby Woo), but I feel like they may as well make it a part of the permanent line just because it seems like these Riri releases are getting pretty close together, no?

Riri Loved MAC in the Summer, now Riri's Loving MAC again in the Fall. Makes sense.

So we've got Riri Woo again. Not surprising. But I was also kind of disappointed (and surprised) that they re-promoted the Hibiscus Kiss blush duo (in the new packaging, of course). I just thought it would've been fun to have that product in a different shade because Hibiscus Kiss is nice, but maybe creating one in some deeper shades? Especially since this is a "Fall" collection. That's such a cool little duo product that I think would be awesome in different shades. It's just confusing to me. Also, a re-packaging of lots of items already in the permanent line (36 & 38 lashes, Extended Play Lash mascara, and a black Liquidlast Liner). These would be a great addition to a large collection, but I just didn't feel like the collection was big enough to warrant that many permanent and re-promoted products.

However, the products that are new are nice. The re-promoted ones are nice too, but I felt like this collection really could've been extra-awesome with even more new stuff.

Ok, so I got a little carried away and did the post a bit backwards... Usually those types of thoughts come at the end of the post.  So let's continue to the products and the swatches of items I have from the collection and I'll share more of my thoughts on the specific products throughout the post.

Oh, and be sure not to miss my video review at the bottom as well.

The Riri Loves MAC Fall collection contains:
2 Eye Shadow Quads, 4 Lipsticks, 1 Lipglass, 2 Pro Longwear Lip Pencils, Extended Play Lash, 1 Liquidlast Liner, 2 Veluxe Brow Liners, 1 Powder Blush Duo, 1 Powder Blush, 1 Cream Colour Base, 2 lashes, 2 special edition brushes

Extended Play Lash in Gigablack $17.50

One of my favorite MAC mascaras. Especially presh in this new pink packaging.

Powder Blush Duo in Hibiscus Kiss $29.

While I think this duo could work on most skin tones, I think it's especially suited for more fair tones. It would be very subtle and a bit "glowy" on darker skin tones.

Cream Colour Base in Diamonds $22.

This is definitely one of my stand-out products in the collection. Cream Colour Bases are super-versatile. Especially one in a more natural tone like this. I would use this to highlight my cheekbones, maybe even the smallest bit on my eyelids when I want a bit of a more natural look with a bit of shimmer.

 Powder Blush in Bad Girl Gone Good $23.

swatched beneath Diamonds

While it could definitely be sheered out and work for lighter skin tones, I think this blush would look amazing on medium-dark skin tones. Personally, it's a bit orange for moi.

 Eye Shadow x4 in Smoked Cocoa $44

Gotta be honest- Based on these swatches, this quad is not my favorite.  Color-wise, it's nothing unique. If you're into makeup, you've probably got something similar to this. What bothers me the most is that I found the quality of a few of the shades to be a bit off. Especially the one in the lower right. It swatched pretty badly and wasn't smooth at all. Seemed like it would be a nightmare to blend.
**UPDATE** Check out my accompanying video review of this collection below to see me actually wearing this quad. After actually using it, my opinion was TOTALLY different. The swatches lied to me.

The collection also contains another quad, "Her Cocoa". It contains all more natural bronze and brown shades. 

 Lipsticks in Nude and Talk That Talk, $16.50

"Nude" is actually a great nude for darker skin tones. "Talk That Talk" could definitely be sheered out and work almost like a stain effect on anyone, but I think it's definitely best suited for medium to darker skin tones as well.

Lipglass in Riri Woo $16.50

Pro Longwear Lip Pencil in Riri Woo, $21.50

Liquidlast Liner in Pointblack $21.50

Veluxe Brow Liner in Deep Dark Brunette, $21.50

I just really love Riri Woo. Not usually the biggest red fan (I should say, red wearer), but I've really always loved this cool-toned, beautiful red. Just an all-around good, super solid red lip gloss. The Riri Woo liner and lipglass have really awesome color payoff.

I personally cannot wear the Liquidlast liners. I've never been really sensitive to any other eye product but these irritate my eyes. No fun.

I'm actually really impressed with the Veluxe Brow Liners. The color payoff is great and they're super soft, yet have that sort of "dry" consistency that of a brow pencil.

all swatched below

Collection releases September 26th in MAC stores and September 30th online.

So what do you guys think? Do you think Riri is going to love MAC again this Winter? ;)

Products were provided for my honest review and consideration by MAC Cosmetics with no agreements or obligations to feature in any way.