mac face and body

[VioletPearl]

Yes, MAC Strada is my go to contour powder. I wish there was a simiar shade in the creams but CW blended nicely is close enough I suppose. I had a MAC SA tell me over the phone that PS was just that shade and ummm no.

Oh, MAC Strada! It looks soo good on swatches!
Why did they discontinue it?

Neither of the powder blushes from the permanent range come close to Strada.
Maybe MAC will repromote it in a collection, then I will buy at least 2 of them.

 

[mousygiggles]

Oh, MAC Strada! It looks soo good on swatches!
Why did they discontinue it?

Neither of the powder blushes from the permanent range come close to Strada.
Maybe MAC will repromote it in a collection, then I will buy at least 2 of them.

NYX Stone and Taupe are close if I remember correctly.

 

[Mac-Guy]

Oh, MAC Strada! It looks soo good on swatches!
Why did they discontinue it?

Neither of the powder blushes from the permanent range come close to Strada.
Maybe MAC will repromote it in a collection, then I will buy at least 2 of them.

It was just repromoted last year in the Gareth Pugh collection, both as a refill pan (in Pro) and as a special packaging compact.

 

[mousygiggles]

It was just repromoted last year in the Gareth Pugh collection, both as a refill pan (in Pro) and as a special packaging compact.

Thank goodness! I got 3 pans and one compact!!

 

[VioletPearl]

It was just repromoted last year in the Gareth Pugh collection, both as a refill pan (in Pro) and as a special packaging compact.

That collection sadly was not sold here.

 

[Mac-Guy]

Oh no! Maybe you'll find it on ebay.

 

[VioletPearl]

Yes, I use Taupe from NYX, I ordered it last october and I have a bit left in the pan.
Soon it's time to buy another one, I just wait for a special offer to place an order with some friends on the site from what I ordered last time.
It's good but I would like to try something similar from MAC too.

 

[MACina]

I just decided to get these 2 and I hope that they will work me.
At first I was not sure whether I should get any of the creams because I have never used a cream product to contour before.
But after reading all the positive reviews I am curious to try them.

I love CW and Accentuate on me. I am Nw15. Pure Sculpture is ok too but does pull a tiny bit orange.

 

[Copperhead]

163 brush sold out on U.S site again.

 

[mousygiggles]

163 brush sold out on U.S site again.

That was fast.

 

[Mac-Guy]

That was fast.

Usually they restock brushes. Let's hope there is a restock for those who were undecided, but want it now. The reviews seems mainly positive with only a few (bitter) ones.

 

[mousygiggles]

Usually they restock brushes. Let's hope there is a restock for those who were undecided, but want it now. The reviews seems mainly positive with only a few (bitter) ones.

It is not as bad as I expected based on the video but it is still a brush for a more advanced user or application for the intended use. I can see some people liking it for foundation if they can't make it work for contouring.

 

[Mac-Guy]

I haven't tried it out for foundation yet.

 

[liba]

I'm NC15 at the moment, my winter shade is NC10.
I tried Pure sculpture and it was too reddish orangy on me, even now...
tried the Walnut one, since it looked much more cooler but blended out it was greenish on me.

I'm so sad that they don't make a sculpting powder like NYX's Taupe. I really like the shade on me of thit one but the texture and quality could be improved.

My sister got Pure Sculpture she is somewhere between NC-NW15 and it looks great on her, like natural shadow.

I'm NC15 with a yellow undertone and Pure Sculpture even ran very warm on me. It's definitely on the orange end of the spectrum.

Violet Pearl - did you try Naturally Defined? That one seems rather light in the pan, but just from eyeballing it, it looks a lot closer to Strada territory - but less of a pink cast and more beige.

Also, we were commenting on how a few of the new Office Hours blushes were in the Strada color family (but also more beige than pink, but with that noticeable grey cast). Baby Don't Go and Blush All Day are the two I particularly remember (I think Baby Don't go had the most grey). They were too light for contour for me applied directly to bare skin, but so is Strada. One thing about those Office Hours blushes - if you apply them over a full coverage foundation, then the color and texture really come forward and look beautifully gorgeous (we tested this out after I was scratching my head about why they weren't showing up on my skin). With something underneath them to grip onto the powder, they've got the most beautiful porcelain matte radiance.

It's the grey undertones in CW that really make it work for me, so maybe Baby Don't Go will be the right sort of thing for you - it's very greyish, while skipping all that green and yellow. As far as powders go, I wouldn't say it's so soft that you couldn't get a sharp line if you wanted one, but if you're not the type to wear foundation or primer regularly, better be safe and try it out first to see what it does on your bare skin. Naturally Defined looks less grey, but for a cream, it might be the right look you are trying for (I can't say for sure because I didn't try it on my skin and that's always the most important test).

 

[liba]

any other reviews on the 215 brush? Is it scratchy? I am hearing nothing about it but crickets...

I was tempted by this brush, but I didn't want to test out the display brush on my skin because I was getting over a cold.

It's very dense and quite stiff (due to the short dense bristles), but I wouldn't call that scratchy. It's got a very subtle slant as well. It struck me as a perfect tool for contouring from the crease outwards along the underside curve of the brow bone, 70's-style. Also would work very precisely if you have puffy bags under your eyes and are using concealer to sculpt around their edges to give that really flattened out illusion, like this MA's technique here:


All in all, I wouldn't call it an all-purpose eye brush, but I think it will be a real miracle worker if you have a pronounced brow bone and/or under-eye issues you need maximum precision for. I'm going to get one, since I've mostly been using a pencil brush to do all these things up till now, but this brush will speed up application and require less strokes to get the perfect results. I use one or both of these techniques pretty much every time I do my eye makeup, so it'll be very handy for me.

The face contouring brush is excellent too, btw - so velvety soft and dense. I had that on my buy list the instant I saw it. I can't speak for how the Kashuk one is because I've never seen it on the shelves at Target - it must sell out often. I'd have a hard time imagining it would be as dense as the MAC brush, but you never know.....

 

[MACina]

I really wonder why MAC describes PS as "neutral pink beige"

I found it far too orange on me. It already looks orange in the pan and even more orange against my NW15-20 skin.

 

[bulbasaur359]

I just noticed on mac's site that they still have both sizes of face and body. Are both gonna be permenent? There are no triangles when you click on the shades. I have read you guys talking about how it's more natural looking and works with oily skin so I might be checking it out.

 

[RayannaBanana]

I wish the white came in the small size.

 

[duckrodeo]

I'm glad CW can be workable for neutral undertones! That was the shade I was drawn to the most, so I'm glad my instincts were in the ballpark lol. I'll check it out in person. I like to use strobe cream as a liquid highlight, so it would be great to get a liquid contour as I typically use liquid foundation as well! I'm also glad to hear the 215 is scratchy. I have a similar brush I got in a costco brush set a few years ago, and it's soft and has held up pretty well. All of the bruses I got in the set are excellent and haven't shed so far! I like to use it to blend out my crease.

 

[patentg33k]

My swatches of Accentuate, Naturally Defined, Pure Sculpture and Richly Honed on NC15/20 skin:




Thoughts:

• Accentuate is a true highlighter shade on me. I did an amateur version of Goss's Kim K. contour on me and it really was a nice effect using Accentuate.
• Naturally Defined blends out into something similar to my natural foundation shade. So the contour effect is really really subtle. Here is a shot where you compare it to an everyday foundations (Burberry Sheer Glow #6) and they are sort of close.

• Pure Sculpture blended out gives me a "true" contour under my cheeks. As you've said, it's one of the warm shades in the group that I ordered.
• RIchly Honed is super super dark on me. Any blending tips that you have are appreciated. I'm an amateur at blending for contour--should I try mixing it with a bit of my foundation?
  

Any suggestions that anyone has are greatly appreciated! Anyway, maybe some of you NC15 might find the pix useful.