My latest Clinique makeover

I have used Clinique since I was in high school but I was never a really big fan of it, i more just bought a product here and there if i liked the color or the texture of something.

However, a few weeks ago, the Clinique counter in my local Macy*s was having an event and giving free makeovers out, I had some time on my hands so I decided to go for it and see what they would recommend. My primary motivation was that I needed a new foundation and I had read about their Almost Powder foundation in an issue of Allure.

On to the makeover...first they used liquid foundation on me with the Almost Powder foundation over it. This was not what i had asked them and not what I wanted from the makeover. Also, with the liquid foundation, they used a brush and spackled it all over my face and neck, creating a nice, mask like effect. This was the lowest point of the makeover, it did improve very dramatically after this.

The makeup artist made my eyes the focus of my face, using the eye color trio called Ebb and Flow. This is supposed to have been a best seller right when it first came out and they said that they had only recently gotten it back in stock. The darkest shade is a forest green, the medium is a mossy green, the lightest is a shimmery khaki color. To finish the look, High Impact mascara in black was used on my upper and lower lashes.

The look was finished with Superbalm moisturizing lip gloss in Grapefruit, a bright sheer pink color.

What i bought - the Almost Powder foundation (what I actually came there for!), the Ebb and Flow eye trio, the High Impact mascara in Black, and the Superbalm gloss in Grapefruit. so far the Almost Powder foundation has become a makeup staple and so has the lip gloss.

My First and Only Experience at MAC

I haven't mentioned MAC yet in my posting and this my be shocking to some people. Everyone that I know that could classified as a beauty product addict that I know has a decent amount of MAC and looks forward to the debut of their new collections. I don't fall into this category.

I have had one and only one experience at MAC and that was several years ago when I was in college. I was just beginning to experiment with high end makeup and skincare and was trying to break out of my neutral eyeshadow and lip balm rut that I had been in the whole school year before.

After many recommendations from friends and coworkers, I went the MAC counter in my nearby Macy*s. I decided to look for eye shadows that would be more dramatic than my current look and would really make my blue eyes pop. I decided to look for golds and bronzes and to see how the makeup artists could help me to create a new look.

Well, the only makeup artist that was working there had tons of black and plum eye makeup on (expertly applied of course). She grabbed several shades and quickly explained to me how to apply them in order to create a smokey bronze eye. She explained everything way too fast and I was left reeling from the explanation and ended up buying two shades of eyeshadow in hopes that I could take them home and create something with them.

Shockingly, I ended up only ever wearing the palest gold shade and the bronze sat unused in my train case. Ever since then, I have stayed away from MAC because I know that I could never create the look that they seem to push on their customers.

The Naughty Nauticals collection that was released in the end of spring 2008 got me interested in MAC again. I love anything nautical and really liked the shades of the collection. Sadly, I didn't actually get to purchase any of the collection because it was sold out in a matter of a few weeks. However, it did get me to give MAC another shot and to decide to go to the counter when their next new collection for fall comes out and to have their makeup artists find a look that works for me.