Week 2 Shop My Stash September

Update Week 1: I was great at wearing all three products from last week. I was thankfully reminded of how much I love my MAC concealer and my MAC blush in Breezy. I learned that I really do not like the Mirabella powder. It’s a finely milled setting powder but there are small glittery flakes in it. EEK! I’m a not found of having my face look like a disco ball which is what I felt like.

Week 2 is all about the eyes. I know I agreed to focus on three products each week but I’m throwing caution to the wind and choosing four. Go Me!

The first product I have chosen to focus on is Urban Decay Primer Potion in Greed which is a beautiful, shimmery golden color. It looks absolutely stunning on the lids but I have discovered that I really prefer a matte primer over a shimmery one. When you wear a matte shade over this primer some of the shimmer sort of translates through the shadow. I really prefer my matte shades to remain matte. Shop My Stash September has now put me on a mission to empty this primer.

This is an absolutely gorgeous mineralize trio in Calm, Cool and Collected; but, for the life of me I can’t tell you why I bought it. I rarely reach for it, even though it’s really pretty. After today I have discovered that I don’t have to wear these shadows all together in one look. It’s acceptable to wear each of the shadows individually which is what I am doing today. I am wearing the dark green in the crease with a taupe shade all over the lid.

MAC Haute & Naughty Too Black Lash. I enjoy this mascara and I love the idea of getting two mascaras in one. However, the formula is a little too wet for me. Wet mascaras have a tendency to cause my lashes to droop and loose their natural curl. I am wearing this mascara today layered over my beloved Clump Crusher.

MAC Pigments are absolutely amazing! These three are absolutely stunning!! I will admit that the reason they don’t get much love is because it can be a little fussy to apply them. I have used pigments with MAC Fix+ but I have discovered that I prefer using a homemade mixing medium rather than Fix+. I use an extremely simple recipe for mixing medium which I learned from Koren of EnKoreMakeup which I will list below. To use the homemade mixing medium I prime my eyes as usual, then a put a drop of it on a mixing palette. I tap my brush to the edge of the mixing medium and then dip the wet brush into some of the pigment which as been poured out onto the palette as well. Do not get your brush too wet or it will just run down your face. Start with tiny amounts as you can add more but you can’t really take away either water or pigment. When using this mixing medium, I have never had my pigments crease, flake, fade or move around. It works perfectly.

Koren’s Mixing Medium

1 part Glycerin (a few dollars at the drugstore)
3 parts Water

Put both ingredients into a travel squeeze bottle and shake to mix!

I usually make 1 TBSP of Glycerin and 3 TBSP Water first. Then if there’s enough room I repeat as necessary until my bottle is full. I have made at least 5 travel bottles of mixing medium with this one bottle of glycerin.