MAC Grand Duos, Intense Eyes palette, and FOTD

Grand Duos was the first MAC collection I've been really excited about in a while. I missed out on last year's Sonic Chic collection because I was on a strict ban then, so I had to get some this time.

Out of the collection I had intended to buy Love Rock and Grand Duo, but I ended up getting Love Rock and Moon River instead.



I may still go back for Grand Duo though - am still debating it. Mineralized face products are my weakness...


Some closeups:

Moon River


Moon River's swirly side reminds me of Lightscapade MSF in appearance - it has blue and yellow mixed into it. The solid pink side is a pigmented but light coloured pink.


Love Rock


The swirly side of Love Rock is gorgeous, I love the purple mixed into it. The solid side is very pigmented purple toned pink, so a light hand is definitely needed for these.


Swatches:

L-R Moon River, Love Rock (solid side on left, swirly side on right)


You can't see it in the pictures but these do have quite a lot of shimmer. The shimmer is a bit larger than say Petticoat MSF, but it is not as bad as New Vegas MSF which was just large bits of gold glitter that I hated.


The MAC Suedette Intense Eyes palette is a recent buy off Ebay as the price was reasonable and the seller seemed trustworthy. It was released in 2006 as part of the Holiday Formal Black collection.



I think the concept for this collection was using different fabric types for each palette cover, in this case suedette. Out of the recent holiday palettes, I think the one with the best colours and packaging is the Formal Black one from 2006. Antiquitease 2007 was alright but I only really liked one palette from it, while the recent 2008 red gem palettes were boring, and downright ugly in terms of packaging.

Closeup:



Left column: Phloof!, Till Daybreak, Smut
Right column: With a Twist, Nightbird, Gallant

Swatches:



The colours are all gorgeous. I think this is the best palette MAC has done in terms of value for money because it has shades from the most common colour families. It has a good combination of shimmery and satin shades too without any matte shades (I hate mattes).


Today's FOTD:

Products used:
La Mer Fluid Foundation 01 Creme
Giorgio Armani Master Corrector #1
Giorgio Armani High Precision Retouch concealer #2
MAC Love Rock mineralized blush
MAC Suedette Intense Eyes palette (Phloof!, Gallant, and Smut)
Blinc Kiss Me mascara
MAC Strayin lipstick



For Love Rock, I used the solid side on the cheekbone and the swirly side to highlight the top of the cheekbones.



Also used the swirly side in the middle of the eyelid to blend MAC Gallant (outer corner purple) and MAC Phloof! (inner corner) together. It gives a nice shimmer to the centre of the eye.



Finally, used Smut to line the upper lashline.






Looking at the pictures, I thought Strayin was a bit too bright for this look, so I ended up wiping them off and going with a MLBB colour.


Thats about it for today. Hope you're all enjoying your weekend!