The Accidental Beauty

Talk about long overdue! I know I’m later than FEMA posting this, but there are several reasons I waited so long. I’ll spare you those, and just get down to business. As most of you know, MAC released a much anticipated Summer collection called To the Beach around two weeks ago — full of typical summery shades. Beautiful bronze colors, electric greens, cool corals, etc. One of the most coveted items from the collection literally sold out within three hours…and left a lot of people high and dry.

Seashells, sand, seaweed, seahorses, starfish were the creative culprits of this beast of a collection. It features adorable orange and green packaging with different seashells and starfish designs stamped onto them — no stickers! Each item comes in either an orange or green box as well. Here’s what I picked up…

clockwise: Hipness blush, Sweet & Punchy, Firecracker

Hipness blush, Weekend creme bronzer

Sweet & Punchy eyeshadow, MAC 131 brush handle

Marine Life

Marine Life

MAC TO THE BEACH SWATCHES

l-r: Thrills lipstick, Funbathing lipstick

*taken with flash in room lighting: Splashing lipglass, Flurry of Fun lipglass, Funbathing lipstick, Thrills lipstick

*taken with flash outdoors: Splashing lipglass, Flurry of Fun lipglass, Funbathing lipstick, Thrills lipstick

l-r: Float on By eye pencil, Temperatures Rising lip pencil

Thrills lipstick, Temperature’s Rising swatch, Float on By swatch

*taken without flash: Hipness blush, Firecracker eyeshadow, Sweet & Punchy eyeshadow, Weekend creme bronzer

*taken with flash: Hipness blush, Firecracker eyeshadow, Sweet & Punchy eyeshadow, Weekend creme bronzer

*taken without flash: Shimmermoss, Humid

*taken with flash: Shimmermoss, Humid

Sun Rush lustre drops (you wouldn’t use this much)

Sun Rush lustre drops blended out (you wouldn’t use this much)

a very punk ass Marine Life swatch lol

**In case you’re wondering, Sweet & Punchy is exactly like Rated R. I took swatches and posted them on this post so check those out**

There is one item from the collection that I absolutely plan to buy next week and that’s the Get-Away Bronze blush. I swatched it next to Format because they looked similar in the pan, but they’re pretty different. Format is a bit darker, more of an antique bronze color, where Get-Away Bronze is definitely a lighter, more beachy bronze — its really beautiful. I already own Sun Rush lustre drops, Refined Golden bronzer, Humid and Shimmermoss eyeshadow.

I missed out on Marine Life initially. I went to the MAC counter an hour after the release…and get this…they were all gone. WTF?!?! I was pretty pissed lol. I wanted to grab at least two of them. A week went by, and my dear sugarbooger hit me up on twitter to tell me she got me one *insert the most epic poplock of the season* YES! Finally! I’m so thankful she was able to snag one for me because I absolutely love it. It’s a gorgeous bright coral shade with a soft baby pink highlight around the lower rim with subtle shimmer. There is a gold overspray that immediately disappears once you touch it — womp! But that’s okay, because the product alone is so beautiful you won’t even miss the overspray. I use it as a blush and its my favorite color right now — it lasts all day! So thank you again girly <3

OVERALL

I really liked this collection for the most part. I thought it was really fun and juicy for Summer. The colors are appropriate for the heat…very sexy and sultry. The only item I would consider a “must-have” is Marine Life. There may be something out there similar to it, but I damn sure don’t own it lol. I think its really beautiful and I adore how long it lasts on my cheeks. It gives me a beautiful coral cheek and looks bomb w/ my bronzer. I wish I had two, because I can see me hitting pan on this one in a few months. The only item from this collection I was least wow’d by was the creme bronzer. It just wasn’t that special to me. I honestly might take it back, I’m on the fence. I’ll post a FOTD very soon using Marine Life so you can see how it looks on the face. When I took these pics, I didn’t wanna swatch it — hence the weak swatch lol. Sorry guys…

As for the lip products, my favorite is Flurry of Fun. It’s so pretty!! It reminds me so much of Comet Blue Dazzleglass because of the gorgeous blue shimmer. It’s a sheer peachy color with a subtle blue shimmer, I can’t describe it, its really really nice. I bet it would look amazing over Temperature’s Rising lip pencil. I also really love the MAC 131 and 130 brushes. I think I need a second 130 brush…it’s that amazing!

Did any of you get anything from this collection? Were you lucky enough to get Marine Life?

Availability (if anything’s left lol): MAC Cosmetics