My MAC F&F Order!

Remember that MAC 25% off sale? Well, my order arrived today! Look at all the fun stuff I got:



I got a couple of lipsticks, a blush, a mascara, another 239 brush, and a whole bunch of eyeshadows! (Can you tell eyeshadow is my favorite?) I'm excited because I got a good mix of both neutrals as well as bold colors. I'm most excited to try out Steamy (the bluish one) and Sumptious Olive. If I come up with any good looks with my new purchases, I'll post them here.

SYTYCD: Thoughts on Top 16

This is for you Alisa!

I thought tonight's performance was definitely a step up from last week's dudfest where I struggled to pick any favorites. If you follow me on Twitter, you already know that I am not a fan of Toni Basil as a SYTYCD judge. She rambles on and on and none of her commentary is interesting or entertaining. I miss Adam Shankman, however, he won't be back to SYTYCD until the finale per his tweets.

Anyway, out of the 8 performances, here are my top 3 favorites:

1) Phillip and Jeannine - Broadway by Tyce Diorio

I am always a fan of the Broadway routines and this one was super cute. Nigel was somewhat harsh with Phillip, but come on! He leaped (leapt?) a 6ft couch *and* ripped his pants on national TV!

(Audio disabled - let me know if you have a better link)


2) Randi and Evan - Contemporary by Mia Michaels

The butt dance... very slinky and smooth and sensual... different and fun! And I have to say, Randi is really growing on me - she's really fun to watch.



3) Janette and Brandon - Hip Hop by Dave Scott

This was a toughie... I also liked the Rumba but ultimately Brandon won me over with his hip hop skills! You would never have known that was not his traditional background.



Honorable Mentions:

• Melissa and Ade - Rumba by Tony Meredith
  I also liked them because I love the Destiny's Child version of Emotion, heehee
  
• Kayla and Kupono - Viennese Waltz by Jean Marc Generaux
  Side note: I love Jean Marc, he always cracks me up in rehearsal footage
  
• Caitlin and Jason - Paso Doble by Jean Marc Genereaux
  I was surprised Jason got the harsher critiques as I didn't feel Caitlin danced it as "sharp" as he did

So that means my bottom two are:

• Karla and Jonathan - Hip Hop by Dave Scott
  
• Auska and Vitolia - Jazz by Mandy Moore

My guess is that Jonathan will go home for the guys but it's a toss up between Karla and Auska for the girl.

What did you guys think about the show?

This cat just kills me!

OK, kind of random... but this cat just cracks me up! He/she is so playful *and* chubby, a great combination, haha.



Whenever I see this, I laugh out loud:


See more of Maru's adventures here.

Heehee - Pranks on Twitter

Saw this on Ashton Kutcher's twitter...


the best prank ever - Watch more Funny Videos

I was literally laughing out loud when watching this, but part of me was thinking... geesh, these guys are kinda creepy! Luckily, they only pranked men. If that was me, I would have been crying for my life!

Anyway, are you on Twitter? If so, follow me!



(FYI - I have to approve all requests first.)

MAC Friends & Family Online Sale ends today!

Today is the last day of the MAC Friends and Family sale - 25% off everything, online only, with the exception of the Viva Glam products.

Offer code is SAVE25 with free shipping of orders of $60 or more.

Not surprisingly, I went a little crazy with this sale, despite the fact that I definitely do NOT need any more of this stuff. But I can't resist a good sale!!! Ah well...

This info is a little late, but if you were thinking about getting some stuff, here are some suggestions below. These are some of my favorite neutral shades that should go with anyone's coloring.

Audrey's MAC Picks

Eyeshadows:











These were actually the first MAC eyeshadows I bought and I often see these on other people's "must have" lists. I typically wear Shroom & Satin Taupe together and Ricepaper & Woodwinked together but you can always mix them up. And if you want it more dramatic or more of an evening look, I'd add some Carbon in the outer corner. You could also use Carbon with a liner brush to line your eyes instead of eyeliner.

I also prefer buying pans vs pots - pots on the left, pans on the right.



Then I would just buy a palette to store the pans and I find that easier to manage and tote around. Plus it's more economical. A pot eyeshadow is $14.50 and a pan eyeshadow is $11. A x4 palette is $3.50, so a pot eyeshadow is the same price of a pan e/s + the x4 palette and you'd still have room for three more pan eyeshadows. If you think you'll be collecting more, there's also a x15 palette.

Lip stuff:

Bare slimshine lipstick


Love Nectar lustreglass (like a lip gloss)


I'd also recommend the Viva Glam V lipstick but that is not included in the sale, but still worth checking out.

Brushes:

These are my two favorite eyeshadow brushes.

The MAC 239 brush is a flat shader brush and is really great for packing on color on the lids. Because it's thin, you can also use the edge to line your eyes with shadow.



The 217 is more of a fluffy brush and is good for putting color in the crease or the corner and just blending out the color for a softer look. You can use it with either creams or powders so I have one just for eyeshadows and one that I use to blend out my concealer.



OK, those are my main recommendations for now... do you guys have your own favorites? Please share!

The Return of So You Think You Can Dance

YAY! I'm so happy that So You Think You Can Dance is back on the air. I always look forward to the end of American Idol for this reason alone, haha.

The Top 20 had their first performance show last night... loved it! So great to see all those familiar faces again. Plus Adam Shankman is one of my favorite guest judges.

Here are my favorite performances of the night:

Jeanine & Philip: Ne-Yo / Tabitha and Napoleon piece
I *love* Tabitha and Napoleon's choreography... this had a similar feel to their "No Air" and "Bleeding Love" routines, hip hop with a storyline. It was awesome to see Phillip in his element in a choreographed piece and he and Jeanine both did such a great job. The choreography seemed so intricate!




Caitlin & Jason: Bollywood / Jai Ho
Nice to see they brought Bollywood back this season. I can't imagine them ever going wrong with this style since the costumes alone are always so gorgeous. Great piece!




Ashley & Kupono: Crash Test Dummy / Wade Robson piece
Sometimes Wade Robson routines are hit or miss for me but I really liked this one. Their movements were so fluid and you really believed they were crash test dummies!




Melissa & Ade: Right Here Waiting / Mandy Moore piece
This one is really beautiful and romantic.



All in all, it was a great show. It will be interesting to see which ones get the boot tonight. I'll guess Paris and Tony for now.

And how crazy was it that Louis Van Amstel is now choreographing for the show? I'm used to seeing SYTYCD alums on DWTS but not vice versa. I'll be honest, he was one of my least favorite professionals on that show, but I liked what he brought to the show tonight. I know everyone was raving about that final samba number. It was good, definitely, but not one that I wanted to watch again.

Which ones were your favorite? Who do you think will get voted off tonight?

Loving The Cosmetics Company Store...

If you've been following my blog, you'll know that my interest in make-up started with watching YouTube make-up videos (tutorials, reviews, hauls, etc). That's pretty much where I learn everything (for good and for bad) and one of my favorite discoveries through YouTube is this wonderful place called The Cosmetics Company Store. (I'd link a website, but they don't appear to have one.)



This is a chain located at various shopping outlets. (You can find all their locations here.) I guess they primarily sell the Estee Lauder line which includes not only Estee Lauder but their other brands like Clinique, Prescriptives, Bobbi Brown, and my personal favorite - MAC!!!

The beauty of this place is that not only do they sell discounted makeup but they all sell discontinued products as well. And since MAC has so many collections that include limited edition products, you can really score at these stores. They also sell some of their permanent products. I typically only purchase the MAC stuff and from what I can tell, they are usually priced at about a 30% discount (awesome, right?).

Below is picture of a portion of the MAC display at the CCS in Maryland. This is just a small portion - they also had a whole wall rack of their skin, eye, and cheek products. But check out all those palettes on the bottom shelf - those are from past collections that aren't available at stores today.



The offerings vary from store to store. The one near me doesn't really have too much compared to the ones I went to in Las Vegas and Maryland.

Here are the fun MAC products that I got in the Las Vegas CCS:

• Sweet & Nice Tendertone (Limited Edition, came out in June 2008)
  
  
  
• Love Nectar Lipglass (Permanent)
  
  
  
• Dipdown Fluidline (Permanent)
  
  
  
• Fafi Eyes 1 Quad (Limited Edition, came out in February 2008)
  

I was excited to get this quad because all the colors are pretty plus I've been meaning to buy Vanilla as a standalone eye shadow anyway. Here are all the colors included:

Top Row (L-R)
- Pink Venus: Washed pink (lustre)
- Vanilla: Soft pale-peachy-ivory flecked with shimmer (velvet)
Bottom Row (L-R)
- Hey: Neutral tan with white pearl (veluxe pearl)
- Howzat: Deep grey with silver sparkle (satin)

I couldn't wait to try it out so here's a look I did using all the colors.



I wore Hey on the inner third of the lid, Pink Venus on the remainder of the lid. Howzat in the outer V and Vanilla as the highlight color under the browbone.

I later went to a CCS in Maryland and bought a couple of eye shadow brushes that are part of the permanent collection. I totally do not need them but I have some weird addiction with collecting MAC brushes. That's why I absolutely love these discounts!

Next time you're outlet shopping, make sure to look for The Cosmetics Company Store!