All About Orange!

While Radiant Orchid is supposed to be the colour of the year; Spring 2014 seems to be all about the orange, and I'm totally ok with that. I remember the day orange make up was a terrifying prospect for me but Lady Danger lipstick by MAC was still red enough that it wasn't orange (who was I kidding, it's totally orange) and from there it was all down hill, so I for one am super excited to see more and more companies and designers embracing the orange trend this spring.

Top 5 Orange Picks:

MAC's Powder Blush in Modern Mandarin

theBalm's How 'Bout Them Apples? in Crisp

Zoya Nail Polish in Arizona

Mac's Lipstick in Vegas Volt

Butter London Nail Lacquer in Trout Pout

I also registered for my first ever Tough Mudder event that will be happening this September; aside from being a badass mental and physical challenge it is also a fundraiser for The Wounded Warrior Project which helps care for injured servicemen. Right now there is a big emphasis on treating PTSD, as someone with many friends in active service who have completed several tours I know what the face of PTSD looks like, it looks just like me and you, you can't see it and so often it goes untreated with deadly consequences. If you'd like to make a contribution THIS is my donation page for the event, and it will be linked at the bottom of all my posts as "Tough Mudder" until September. 

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MAC's Patent Polish Lip Pencils

Chubby sticks have been taking the make up world by storm lately; Clinque has the Chubby Stick Shadow Tint for Eyes and the Chubby Stick Intense Moisturizing Lip Colour Balm, Tarte has had the LipSurgence Lip Tint or some variation of it, for YEARS and the list just continues for brands launching their version of the chubby stick and now it's MAC's turn.

I've never been a huge lover of Chubby sticks, don't know why but I never really hopped on the chubby stick bandwagon so I didn't have too high of hopes when MAC announced it was releasing it's own version of the chubby stick, the Patentpolish Lip Pencil. The website describes them as "The colour and shine of a gloss, the precision of a lip pencil - now in one colour stick. M•A•C Patentpolish Lip Pencil instantly achieves a luscious shine with a single swipe. Effortless twist-up keeps application clean and simple, with no need to sharpen."which sounds pretty good to me but I've been let down by website claims before...

The line consists of twelve different shades that cover all the bases; soft and natural, bold 

and flirty, pretty corals for spring days and more sultry tones for the evenings.Now I was pleasantly surprised by these, Fearless was the first shade I got and I loved it because it was a nice bright pop of colour but still very wearable - I've since Picked up Go For Girlie (a bright coral pink), Revved Up (a peachy nude) and Teen Dream (a bright orange- not pictured since I left at work, boo!); these lip pencils did not dry my lips out like some of the lipsticks and delivered the shine of a gloss without being at all sticky. I found the wear time on them to be mediocre at best but because they're so easy to reapply (in other words I could do this walking without a mirror) I didn't mind that I needed to touch them up a little more often.

I really enjoy these pencils and have already made a shopping list of the next couple of colours I want to pick up; I'm glad MAC finally joined the chubby stick party even if they were a little late to get the invite because these are definitely worth the wait!

This is what Teen Dream looks like on!

You can find them online here for $24 and they just hit counters in North America on April 4th if you want to pick up a couple for yourself as well!

The winner of the March Giveaway was.... drum roll please! Kelsey Anderson, you should have received an e-mail with some questions to help me personalize your box of goodies, if you haven't seen it yet make sure to check your spam box! Everyone else, thank you for entering and supporting my passion and keep your eyes out, there is only more giveaways to come!

MAC A Fantasy of Flowers - Spring 2014 Collection

Let me just start with saying very seldom do I get stupidly excited about a collection launch but this guy right here had me ALL kinds of excited; as soon as the colours were released I knew I'd be saying a teary farewell to a good chunk of change. The day it launched I had pretty much very single item in my little pile ready to go until I remembered it wasn't too long ago that I got home from Paris where I'd invested a decent amount of money into skin care, so after much contemplation and soul searching I narrowed my pile down to my top 4 products.

Now you can see the whole collection here but for the sake of today's blog post I'll try and keep my rambling primarily on these four products. A quick note on the collection; it's the perfect combination of soft pastely neutrals and bursts of fresh colours to help transition into spring with plenty of shimmer and class. 

Nectarsweet Cremesheen gloss is that perfect pinky nude color that looks perfect on it's own or worn over top of another colour, I personally love to layer it over the new Fleur d'Coral lustre lipstick that also came out with this collection. Fleur d'Coral is a wonderful coral nude color that is perfect for spring; simple and elegant yet fun and playful all at once. I am addicted to layering my lip products so my power trio that I'm loving right now is the MAC Pro Longwear Lip Pencil in In Anticipation with Fleur d' Coral and Nectarsweet piled on top for the ultimate girly lip combo.

Now the last two products you see swatched above are Perfect Topping Mineralize Skinfinish and Petal Power Mineralize Blush, it should be noted that up until about four month ago I had been wearing the same colour of blush every day for probably the last two years. I broke that streak and fell in love with some new blushes (Blushbaby and Warm Soul also by MAC) but Petal Power might have me wearing the same blush again every single day until I finish it and then I'll probably be trying to sell my organs on the black market for a new one. Now why you may ask is it so amazing that I'm willing to part with a kidney over it? Well let me list the ways I love thee! First of all it's a mineralize blush so it goes on pretty light but you can build the colour, that also means it's got a bit of shimmer to it. Second it's the perfect colour of pink for almost any body, and I do mean any body, I've seen it on so many different skin tones and it's looked rockin' on pretty much everyone. Third, the shimmer on your cheeks makes me feel like a fairy princess, need I say more?

Perfect Topping really is the best name for this new Mineralize Skinfinish, when my face is done and I'm about to head out the door I dust a little bit on to the tops of my cheekbones, the bridge of my nose and a wee smidge on my chin and it just adds this instant glow to my face; and remember what I said about shimmer - fairy princess! I was a little hesitant about this guy at first as I've picked up some of the limited skinfinishes in the past and been a little bit disappointed by them; I felt they were a little too metallic and not enough shimmer, they left my skin looking greasy instead of illuminated and enlarged the appearance of my pores which are generally quite well behaved and stay out of sight, but after one try of Perfect Topping it was love at first sight. 

Some other close runners up from the collection that are definitely worth a glance is the Lily White loose pigment and the Flare for Fantasy Cremesheen Gloss, this whole collection is just amazeballs and I foresee it selling out pretty quickly so I recommend running - not walking or jogging, I'm talking a full on sprint - to your nearest MAC location and getting your hot little hands on some of these glorious goodies, you can thank me later when you're all shimmery and wonderful like your own little fairy princess!

Just another quick note: you can now find us on bloglovin', so follow the link and show us some love. It's also a great way to keep up with all things Facepalm! And to continue with pimping myself out on social media check @facepalmbeautyblog on Instagram and head on over to Facebook. When our Facebook page reaches 50 followers I will be holding a giveaway and the more ways you follow Facepalm the more chances you have to win some of my favourite goodies. 

- <3