MAC Viva Glam Nicki 2

I have been putting off posting all day, MAC has been sending me teaser emails for the past two days about all the new products and collections that are supposed to be releasing this week.  I spent a decent amount of time yesterday stalking both the MAC website and the Nordstrom website in hopes that Archie's Girls would be available for purchase.  Nothing was up for either website yesterday and this morning was exactly the same.  I kept checking on and off throughout the day since MAC kept sending me emails about Year of the Snake being up and ready for purchase.  And nothing...until about half hour ago.

MAC has finally updated their website which is realy good because I have been getting close to giving up.  I don't know if others were doing the same amount of obsessive checking for collections that I was or if MAC was having technical issues but the website has been really slow all day and it is still not moving at the normal rate.  The first of the new collections that I see up is this year's version of the traditional Viva Glam collection and it is another shade of Lipstick and Lipglass that has been made with Nicki Minaj.

Viva Glam Nicki and Ricky was the big hit of early 2012, the Lipstick sold out very quickly at the counters and was one of the biggest shades in the spring and summer.  You might remember how excited I was initally for this shade and then how let down I was when I saw how much yellow was in it, I still consider this one of the least flattering Viva Glam shades ever, it was on par with that super-pale nude from Gaga that was pretty much unwearable for the majority of the population.  Viva Glam's used to be among the best lip shades from this company, MAC wants these shades to sell out and to raise money for the MAC AIDS Foundation so they have traditionally made shades that many females could easily wear.  Not lately...

"Nicki Minaj continues her reign as the hip-hop queen of M·A·C VIVA GLAM. The Lipstick-loving diva is back to serve up a delectable duo of Lipstick and Lipglass in an all-new shade of pastel lavender pink. Every cent of the selling price goes toward helping women, men and children living with and affected by HIV/AIDS. Limited Edition."  I see that there is no Ricky Martin in this year's collection and his unisex lip balm is not offered anymore...

Nicki Minaj for Viva Glam!

Viva Glam Nicki Lipstick - M∙A∙C and hip-hop diva Nicki Minaj join forces to create VIVA GLAM Nicki, a scene-stealing Lipstick. Every cent from the sale goes toward helping women, men and children living with and affected by HIV and AIDS. Limited Edition.
- Viva Glam Nicki - bright yellow pink

Viva Glam Nicki 2 Lipstick - Embrace Nicki's colourful style with her new limited-edition shade of VIVA GLAM Nicki 2. It's a vivid pastel lavender pink, with a subtle sexiness and satin finish that's so Nicki. Every cent of the selling price goes toward helping women, men and children living with and affected by HIV/AIDS. Limited-edition.
- Viva Glam Nicki 2 - pastel lavender pink

Viva Glam Nicki Lipglass - Pay homage to Her Minajesty with a new limited-edition Lipglass in a hot pink. Wear it alone or pair it with VIVA GLAM Lipstick for a perfectly glossed look. Every cent from the sale goes toward helping women, men and children living with and affected by HIV/AIDS.
- Viva Glam Nicki - hot pink

Viva Glam Nicki 2 Lipglass - Get a shiny finish with the new limited-edition pastel lavender pink Lipglass that mirrors the magic of Her Minajesty. Wear it alone or paired with a Lipstick. Every cent of the selling price goes toward helping women, men and children living with and affected by HIV/AIDS.
- Viva Glam Nicki 2 - pastel lavender pink

I doubt that I am going to be buying either of the products in this new shade, it reminded me of the shade that came out for Fergie about 4 years ago and I wasn't impressed with that one either.  Both of these shades are very hard to wear and I bet that more people bought them to add to a MAC collection then to actually wear them.  The only item that I am even on the fence about the original shade in the Lipglass, yellow is not in the description of it and therefore it might be more flattering that original Lipstick.  This is a start to the new collections for the spring but I am waiting with bated breath for Archie's Girls...

photo courtesy of MAC

MAC Holiday Gift Collection - Glam It Up: Viva Glam Holiday Kit

We are now on the last part of the MAC holiday collection, a part that is near and dear to my heart and one that I have given many gifts from in years past.  I am talking about the Viva Glam gift sets, every cent of the proceeds from these sales go to benefit the MAC AIDS foundation so you can buy a great gift and help those in need all at the same time.  I do love that I can give to more than one person when purchasing from this part of the collection but I don't know that I will be buying any of the Viva Glam Nicki products since I don't think that any of my friends liked that shade.

Here is the description of the collection from MAC, "Holiday cheer meets holiday chic in the pitch perfect pairing of Nicki Minaj and Ricky Martin for M•A•C VIVA GLAM. Every cent of the selling price goes towards helping women, men and children living with and affected by HIV/AIDS."  I wish that I had one or more people to give this giftset to since I love the Viva Glam line from this company.  Maybe next year...

Viva Glam It Up Bag - A clasp-top clutch of glossy black leopard print vinyl over red satin keepsakes two signature lip luxuries - Nicki Minaj's scene-stealing pink satin finish Lipstick and Ricky Martin's colourless Lip Conditioner. Limited edition.

This lipstick shade is a bright pink with a yellow undertone, the yellow undertone is what made this product totally unwearable for me and it is the reason that I didn't buy it when it first came onto the scene.  And you all know how much I wanted this lipstick for months...until I saw it in real life at the counter. 

With the fact that this lipstick was bearly unwearable for me, I doubt that I will be buying this set for any of my friends.  I feel like this group of holiday gift collections ended on a bit of a low note however it is only because I hate the Viva Glam Nicki shade...almost any shade from the previous year and this set would be on my shopping list!

I hope that you have accomplished two things while looking at the MAC holiday gift collections, first picking out a few gifts for the friends and family on your list and second, finding a few little gifts for yourself!  Happy gift shopping!

photo courtesy of MAC

MAC Viva Glam Nicki and Ricky...Part 2!

Last February, we looked at the newest installment in the MAC Viva Glam series, Viva Glam Nicki and Ricky.  If you remember, I was obsessed with owning Viva Glam Nicki from the second that I first heard about it months earlier and then counted the days until the collection was finally released at the counters.  After I was finally able to try the lipstick, I was so disappointed because I hated the shade when I tried it on, it had too much yellow in it and was too warm for my skintone.  I quikcly got over my obsession with this shade when I bought NARS Schiap and this shade became my go-ton bright pink matte from the end of the spring and then all the way into the summer.  I still plan to pull that hue out now that we are in fall since bright lip shades are still very popular and this shade is still a favorite lipstick of mine.  That shade made me forget about Viva Glam Nicki...

At some point over the past few days, MAC quietly added to the Viva Glam Nicki collection and will draw attention back to the Nicki and Ricky collection.  I seem to remember that MAC did the exact same with the Viva Glam Gaga line several years ago and this worked out very well for them.  This time around, MAC has released the Viva Glam Nicki in a lip gloss formula.  I am thinking that this shade might be easier for me to wear since it wouldn't be near as pigmented and it might be ok with my skintone.

"Ricky Martin and Nicki Minaj bring a hot new way to Glam it up with Viva Glam Nicki Lipglass.  The limited-edition products joins Nicki's scene-stealing pink Lipstick and Ricky's colourless Lip Conditioner.  Every cent from the sale goes toward helping women, men, and children living with HIV/AIDS."

The original Viva Glam Nicki and Ricky and also the newest addition...

Viva Glam Nicki Lipstick - MAc and hip-hop diva Nicki Minaj join forces to create Viva Glam Nicki, a scene-stealing Lipstick.  Every cent from the sale goes toward helping women, men, and children affected with HIV/AIDS.  Limited edition.
- Viva Glam Nicki - bright yellow pink

Viva Glam Nicki Lipglass - Pay homage to Her Minajesty with a new limited-edition Lipglass in hot pink.  Wear it alone or pair it with Viva Glam Lipstick for a perfectly glossed look.  Every cent from the sale goes toard helping women, men, and childern affected with HIV/AIDS.  Limited edition.
- Viva Glam Nicki - hot pink

Viva Glam Ricky Lip Conditioner - Pop icon Ricky Martin amps up Viva Glam with a limited edition Lip Conditioner that goes from day to dance floor!  Untinted, keeps lips soft and supple.  Every cent from the sale goes toward helping women, men, and childern affected with HIV/AIDS.  Limited edition.
- Viva Glam Ricky - clear

I already know that I will not be buying the Lipstick or the Lip Conditioner, I ruled both of those out in the first round.  Now the lip gloss is a very different story, I will need to try the shade out and see if this version is a bit cooler than the lipstick the shade description is different.

Let's see if this gloss release is a strong as the Lady Gaga one!

photo courtesy of MAC

MAC Viva Glam Nicki and Ricky

I have been going crazy for this collection since I first heard about it last summer/early fall.  It finally has been released, first on the MAC website last week and then it finally got to my local counter at the beginning of this week.  I had been stalking the MAC website for the past week so I could see it when it first came out, I wanted to see as many pictures of the lipstick shade as possible since I was somewhat afraid to order it with just seeing the one promotional picture, my skintone is so radically different from Nicki Minaj's that I can't decide how it will look on me.  It took days for my counter to get this product out and I still haven't seen the Lip Conditioner at the counter yet.  I still am a bit surprised that it only had a small display on the counter and that Shop MAC, Cook MAC still had the biggest area of the counter.  I always thought that Viva Glam was among the biggest sellers for MAC...

The MAC website provides very little in the way of a description of the products so I decided to wait until they were up on the Nordstrom website instead of trying to see what I find on the MAC website.  The Nicki part of this collection is a bright pink lipstick and the Ricky part of this collection is a clear Lip Conditioner (suitable for both genders).  I was most interested in the lipstick of course, I had originally thought that the Lip Conditioner was going to be more of tinted pink hue (before I knew that it had anything to do with Ricky) and I was really excited for a tinted pink lip balm.  Once I saw the Lip Conditioner on the MAC website, I knew that I could skip over it since I don't really need another clear lip balm.

The Nordstrom website contains a full description of both products.  "MAC and hip hop diva Nicki Minaj join forces to to create Viva Glam Nicki, a sizzling shade of flamingo pink with a satin finish.  Every cent from the sale goes toward helping women, men, and children living with and affected by HIV and AIDS."  On Nicki Minaj, this shade looks like a neutral bright pink but it looked very different when I swatched it on my hand at the counter.  It is a bright yellow pink and was much warmer than it looked on the website.  It looked more like a bright coral pink shade on me and was much too warm to be flattering on my skin.  It looked awful on me and I was so glad that I didn't just order it from the website since it looked so different on my skin than it did on Nicki Minaj.  I was so bummed that it didn't work since I have wanted this lip shade for so long...

The Lip Conditioner wasn't even shown at the counter, however I know what a clear lip balm looks like so I feel confident that I can skip over it without looking at the product itself.  "Pop icon Ricky Martin amps up Viva Glam with a lip conditioner that goes from day to dance floor.  Untinted, it keeps lips soft and supple.  Every cent from the sale goes toward helping women, men, and children living with and affected by HIV and AIDS."  This isn't a product that I need at the moment.

I was so upset that this lipstick didn't work for me, I love to support the MAC AIDS Foundation and I was just so excited for another bright pink lipstick to add to my collection.  I just it just wasn't meant to be this time around, hopefully the next Viva Glam release will be better than this one for my skintone.

photo courtesy of Nordstrom

OPI Nicki Minaj Collection

Nicki Minaj is the newest beauty industry obsession, after the annoucement that she would be pairing up with MAC for the newest Viva Glam shade, she became the toast of the beauty industry and I am willing to bet that we will be seeing even more from her within the next few months.  I am seeing the same trend that we saw with Lady Gaga two years ago and then with Katy Perry last year.  I love all of these women so I am happy to see all of these trends and they end of making me buy all kinds of products and shades that might not have appealed to me before.  The new Viva Glam shade comes out in Feburary so we have a bit to go before we are able to see that shade.

OPI will be releasing a nail polish collection made with Nicki Minaj in January 2012, so I am dubbing 2012 the "year of Nicki Minaj".  Let's see how correct I am, I am betting on a fragrance release and tons of other color products coming out in the upcoming year.  This collection contains six brand new shades, five of which are regular shades and one of which is a crackle finish top coat.  Personally, I am the most excited for the Viva Glam lipstick but I am looking forward to this collection too. 

The fact that Viva Glam teamed up with Nicki Minaj was actually the only reason that I ever gave her music and style a chance.  I used to gag at every wig that she wore and I would refuse to ever listen to her songs.   But when she teamed up with MAC, I downloaded a few of her songs from iTunes discovered that I really liked her.  Thank god for MAC! 

The shades that are in the Nicki Minaj and OPI collection are either bright or glitter finishes, but I would expect nothing less from a collection that was inspired by Nicki Minaj.  This would not be a collection of boring reds and pinks and that is exactly what OPI needs to keep up with Illamasqua and China Glaze.  This collection might inspire me to buy crazy shades from OPI, something that I rarely ever do.  Normally, OPI is the company that I go to for reds and sheers.  This is a whole new concept for me and might actually make me love OPI a bit more than China Glaze for the moment...

First we will start with the regular nail polish shades...

The first shade in named Pink Friday, after the title of Nicki Minaj's first album.  On first glance, this is my early favorite shade of the collection.  Lately, bright pinks for both lips and nails have been my style and I can see this going right into the spring.  I am over the holidays and just so ready for spring!  I am just so looking forward to spring shopping....

Pink Friday is the first shade is the collection.  It is a light blue pink and we all know how much I love blue pinks!  This is a great light blue pink shade and I imagine that this is will be the best shade to match the upcoming Viva Glam Nicki shade.  This is a light blue pink and I wish that I could tell if it has a shimmer or a cream finish but the picture isn't exactly forthcoming as to what the finish of this shde is.   It is the perfect light blue pink and I love it it.  I can't wait to buy this shade and rock it all spring, this is a great shade and I can't wait to wear it.  The second of the the new shades is Did It On 'Em, a bight green that is is so ready for spring.  This is a bright yellow green that is reminescent of a shade that I wore in middle school.  This is another shade that I can't tell if it is a shimmer or a cream.  I doubt that this shade is one that I would use very much on my nails but would use more on my toe nails.  I wish that OPI had a few more details of these shades, I can't really tell what I want to buy from it. 

The next shade is named Fly, a shade that would be great for the spring and summer months.  It is a bright robin's egg blue cream that reminds me a lot of the China Glaze shade For Audrey, a favorite polish of mine already.  I really like this shade but I have to see it in person first because I might not need this if it very close to For Audrey, however unless it is an exact dupe, I will most likely end up buying it because the shade is so pretty.  This is the last of the non-metallic shades, we will look at those two shades next.

The two metallic shades are very very heavy on the silver and chrome, both shades are able to be worn now and well into the spring.  The first shade of this finish is named Metallic 4 Life, a deep metallic charcoal shade.  This one will work best this time of the year but I don't know how well it will translate with the spring trends of light and bright polishes.  In the warmer months, this might be better as a pedicure shade with black or silver sandals.  I will reserve full judgement in this matter until I see it person.  The second shade in the metallic finish is Save Me, a chrome that looks like it has holographic shimmer in it.  This is the wildest of all the shades and another one that would work well in the winter time but also might be better with sandals in the warm weather.  I really like the Metallic 4 Life shade but I think that I will be skipping over the Save Me shade, I doubt that I would get all that much wear from it.

The last polish is one with the popular Crackle finish that was first introduced in the Katy Perry collection last spring.  I thought that the Crackle polishes were really unique and pretty when they first came out but I am now waiting for the trend to end.  Putting a black crackled top coat over a light cream polish looked great but now taking the trend all the way to metallics is beginning to look cheap and trashy, I doubt that I will ever wear a Crackle again after seeing some of the looks that have been created with it.  This shade is named Super Bass Shatter and is my least favorite shade in the collection, it is deep plum metallic Crackle top coat.  I have a feeling that this will take the trend to new level of awful, I can't even imagine how bad this will look over any of the polishes from this collection.  I am skipping over this polish and I cannot wait for this Crackle trend to end!

I love the pink and blue shades in this collection, the pink will look so pretty when paired up with the Viva Glam shade that should be coming out within the next two months!

photo courtesy of OPI

First Look at Nicki Minaj and Ricky Martin Viva Glam!

This is the first promo picture that was released for next year's Viva Glam release, I was so excited when I heard that Nicki Minaj was the model for it this year and this ad doesn't disappoint! 

That lipstick that he is holding looks like it almost the exact same shade as the original Viva Glam Gaga, a shade that I love and have been searching for a back up tube of for months now.  I was hoping that the shade would be a brighter pink but I will be really happy if it is similar to the original Viva Glam Gaga. 

So excited to see more photos as they are released!

photo courtesy of Daily Mail UK

Nicki Minaj Pink Friday - Preview to the Next Viva Glam Shade?

We will have to wait until the end of next winter to fully find out but I pulled up a picture of the Pink Friday shade that was designed with Nicki Minaj to celebrate the release of her debut CD.  The shade is named Pink Friday and was only for sale on Fridays in the month of the release.  This lipstick was a hit and I bet that this lead to her becoming the next Viva Glam model.

I hope the next Viva Glam is close to this or even more of a bubble gum pink hue.  Viva Glam doesn't have any shade like this in the line and Viva Glam Gaga was much lighter than Pink Friday.  I am hoping for a bubblegum pink, full-coverage cream lipstick with no shimmer in at all.  Let's see how closwe my wish comes to the reality!

photo courtesy of MAC and Nicki Minaj

Newest Viva Glam Model Announcement!

It has just been announced this morning that the newest Viva Glam models are Nicki Minaj and Ricky Martin.  Nicki Minaj isn't a favorite of mine for music (or hairstyles for that matter!) but I am still really excited to see the new shade that comes out in the Viva Glam collection.  I do wonder what we will see when the lip collection releases in Febuary of 2012, I am thinking something bright pink with tons of pigment!

photo courtesy of Billboard.com