You know you have a slight excessive beauty-product buying problem when you are constantly scouring the shelves of Sephora, whatever local department store there may be in your area and the magical emporium known as the drugstore – if you’re in Canada, Shoppers is my pick – for the latest treasure and were likely induced to do so by stress (you know how it is) when really all you had to do to find such treasures would be to scavenge through the assortment located in your bedroom known as the stash.

I know it’s in vogue currently to talk about the black impeccably-lined-up-co-ordinated-and-quite-frankly-still-intimidating store otherwise known as MAC Cosmetics as an overrated location of beauty product purchase, but it was my first makeup love and to this day, I still adore a good number of products in their selection. I don’t care how outdated I sound but their eyeshadows are fantastic and generally speaking, the products give you great bang for your buck. Before I’ve written amounts that could make an extremely disorganized essay, I’ll attempt to move onto blabbering about the neglected products.

MAC Club Eyeshadow ($12/18 CDN)

I really can’t explain why I use Club so infrequently. It’s in my older Mac quad that I successfully took the divider out of to fit more in that I look through a time or two during the week and when I do so, I resolve to use Club – somehow it never seems to happen. It’s a nicely textured, pigmented, creamy and whatever warm brown with a green duochrome that whenever I pass through MAC with a friend, I attempt to convince them that they need in their life. It’s one of those versatile medium-dark shades that can be worn in the outer corner on the daily but can also create that (relatively) effortless smoky eye — if you’re a regular reader here, you should know that I adore the smoky eye and especially the effortless variety.

MAC Springsheen Powder Blush ($25 CDN)

I’m fairly certain this was one of my earlier blush purchases and that I made it in ninth grade. I remember wearing this constantly until Sephora opened near me and from the moment my eyes met the matte-black packaging of NARS Orgasm, I tossed this one onto the side. It’s another one of those coral shades with fine golden shimmer throughout but it’s more of a true warm-toned coral than the infamous NARS blush. The texture is at least as good as the blush in comparison and I do rather like it on. My theory is that it pulled too bright back when I thought I had pink-undertones and constantly looked flushed as a result of the tragedy; now that I match my foundation to my much more yellow-toned body, I don’t have this issue whatsoever. Lesson learned: learn how to match your foundation correctly to your body and everything else will fall into place.

Maybelline Dream Smooth Mousse Foundation ($11-14 CDN)

Ah, this would be one of the all-too-frequent stress-induced purchases that somehow manage to happen after dry winter skin frustration and a long busy day,week, etc. at school. I bought this in the time when every foundation looked slightly terrifying on my skin with dry patches galore and as I have dry skin and this was toted as a great dewy moisturizing formula (by Rosanna, from youtube’s rpiercemakup) at a good pricepoint…. It happened. This was in the phase a month or two back when I kept piling on the foundation to cover the skin irritation and consequently it looked even worse and I cast it aside, forgetting all about it. As with all other Maybelline face products, the shade range is horrendous but the medium coverage formula is a nice one especially on drier complexions. Obvs. I would expect to hear more on this from me in the foreseeable future.

Rimmel Lasting Finish by Kate Moss Matte Lipstick in 107($7-8 CDN)

It’s doubtful that writing the full title was really necessary and was tempted to merely write “that dark Rimmel lipstick”, as this is such a commonly praised product this year. I bought this in the fall and I liked the candy-scented longwearing but not drying matte lipstick but it wasn’t as vampy as I expected and I forgot about it. I think it’s more of a cool-toned berry red shade than it appears and somehow this made it’s way into the abyss of my cluttered lipstick drawer. I’m really going to try to wear this more and it bewilders me that I don’t use it more. It’s about as pink as I can go without looking ridiculous – if you’re new to this blog, I LOOK TERRIBLE IN PINKS and consequently have an abundance of red-toned shades. Yes, this lipstick, easily referred to as “that lipstick” that seems to be featured on every beauty blogged (and loved also) is worth it.

Have you tried any of these products? And I’m even more curious to see if I’m the only one who completely neglects great products – if you’re like me, I’d love to know your discoveries from your stash! x

Maggie