£30 to spend in MAC

[ephemeralfairy]

My best friend gave me the lovely and generous birthday present of a £30 MAC voucher! Considering that my usual make-up purchases are limited to whatever is on offer in Superdrug, I am very excited and want to make the most of it! I can afford to add maybe £10 cash onto it too.

What would you recommend I spend it on? I would like a really good under-eye concealer, other than that I'm not sure. I don't really wear lipstick or gloss but I love eye-makeup and nail varnish.

Also has anyone tried their skincare? Are there any good cleansers?

Thanking yew!

I don't rate the skincare range. The lipstick & mascara doesn't live up to the hype either.

I do swear by the pro longwear foundation, concealer & single matte eyeshadow though.

Their mono eye shadows are excellent, in the main. Veluxe pearl are a lovely formulation.

Lipstick wise, the only formulation I'd buy from them would be Cremesheen - moisturising but still pigmentmented.

I like their liquid highlighter too, strobe cream, great in the mini size as you only need a tiny amount to give a slight gleam. Also works beautifully on shins and collarbones.

Their SPF 50 primer gets good reviews too, not used it myself though.

I wouldn't bother with foundations, concealers or face powders though. The colour range is fantastic but everything complexion wise (beyond strobe cream) I've tried has broken me out . However, if you aren't prone to that, face and body foundation is supposed to be fantastic. You can use it on legs and whatnot too (veins, scars, tattoos).

Definitely get one of the foundations.

I bought the intensive skin serum foundation which I do like but I think next time I would buy the long wear even finish foundation.

A 217 eyeshadow blender.

Strobe cream also last for ages and is much better than the benefit version.

Check out the gel eyeliner, great stuff

I'd buy foundation- a good base is everything. Their foundation is 'buildable' so you can layer it to give you extra coverage in some areas e.g around the eyes.

The nail polishes aren't great.

I love the Paint Pot eyeshadows (cream, I also use mine as liner), powders (blusher, mineralize products, select sheer pressed and a lot of the powder eye shadows) and brushes. If you take good care of the brushes, they will last you years - I have a few that are 10 years old and they have been washed weekly.

I have very little experience with their concealers, but I do like a few of their foundations.

Don't bother with the nail polishes - Barry M and Rimmel are better.

I love their Paintpots, and there are some eyeshadows I adore - Omega, Brule, Vex, Club, Haux, Malt, Sketch, Trax, Patina, All That Glitters, Copperplate, Satin Taupe, Woodwinked.....

Their best concealer is the Prolongwear one. But for under the eyes check out Prep & Prime in Radiant Rose, as its probably more brightening than the other one.

As for the cleansers, the best by far is the Cleanse off Oil. You rub it on dry skin, wash it off with plain water and it turns into a milk and washes down the sink, and all the oil in your pores with it. It'd clean a chimney sweep, thats how good it is. I've used it for years.

My top picks would be strobe cream, eyeshadows, the gel pot eyeliners, blusher range is nice too. Basics I always get are PowerPoint eyeliner in black and mac blot powder.

Best idea I think would be to book a makeover with it, you get it all back to spend on products anyway and can ask the MAC MUA to direct you to the sort of stuff you would use

Oh and I really rate their cream blushers, nice and sheeny and last fairly well layered over a powder blusher. Good neutral soft gold eyeshadow is woodwinked, not too shiny and endlessly useful.

Yes I baulk at spending more than a fiver on nail varnish!

I think strobe cream is a must, I had a mini tester once and forgot how great it is! Eyeshadow definitely. I used to use the Studio Fix compact foundation but it made my skin feel very dry so maybe I will ask what else they suggest.

The makeover is a great idea too. Thanks all, knew I could rely on you!!

Have a look at the new times 9 palettes, great value and easy to order from debenhams website

Their face and body foundation foundation is awesome