You are here: Home / Archives for tech stuff

MAC Matchmaster Foundation Info

Far be it from MAC to ever do fall launches in moderation, September also sees the introduction of MAC’s newest foundation – Matchmaster SPF 15. This seems truly unlike anything else in the MAC foundation family, and it’s clear that they agree. They even broke away from their traditional foundation nomenclature of NW or NC and a number (or sometimes just N, or sometimes just C!) to make things easier for both artist and consumer alike all around the globe. Anyone else thinking “yes yes finally!” ?
So what’s the deal with MAC Matchmaster SPF 15? Here’s how MAC describes their new brainchild:
  • New foundation technology utilizing translucent pigments for the best possible match.
  • Broad spectrum (UVA/UVB) SPF 15 protection.
  • Moisturizing demi-matte finish.
  • Line-reducing soft focus powders.
  • Reduces excess oil.
  • Medium buildable coverage.
Sounds pretty awesome right? MAC’s goal with this foundation was to create one that would give coverage without looking ashy or chalky due to mismatched tones. Each shade goes darker in depth as the numbers get bigger, but the translucent pigments allow these colors to be undertone-neutral, letting the wearers natural undertones show through for the best possible match. This foundation is more than 2 years in the making, responding to the call from artists for a foundation that would look more lifelike while still offering maximum coverage. How does this new technology work? Here it is in their words:

In traditional high coverage foundations, Iron Oxide and Titanium Dioxide pigments create skin tone using a mix of red, yellow, white and black pigments. When light hits the surface of these pigments they reflect and produce opacity and shade tonality based on the specific ratio of pigments used to create each shade. Often times the result is masky, dull and/or ashy depending on the wearer’s skin undertone and depth level.
Matchmaster Foundation SPF 15 utilizes patented pigment technology of clear acrylate spheres that encapsulate micro-fine Iron Oxide and Titanium Dioxide pigments. When light hits the surface of these spheres, it enters and refracts pulling the natural skin undertone into the mix of micro fine pigments so that the eye sees a more natural, true-to-life look. In Matchmaster Foundation SPF 15, we combine a proprietary blend of our patented pigment technology along with traditional pigments to give the most vibrant, natural shade, while still providing medium buildable coverage to perfect the look of skin and minimize flaws and skin imperfections.

Exciting for me personally is that this foundation is said to come in MAC’s lightest and darkest shades. As a practically card-holding member of the pasty white club, that is exciting news!

MAC Matchmaster SPF 15 launches on Sept 22 in North America and will retail for $32.50. I know I can’t wait to rush in and try on shade 1.0 to see if it matches me!

Available Shades:

1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0, 6.0, 7.0, 7.5, 8.0, 8.5, 9.0, 9.5, 10.0.

I like this nomenclature much better. For example if they discover a need for a shade between 2.0 and 3.0 they could easily insert a 2.5! However, the neutrality of the colors does tend to make them more forgiving and more versatile – two people who aren’t exactly the same skintone but are perhaps the same depth can wear the same shade. I’m very excited for this launch. Are you?

5 Comments

Networking Made Easy with CardMunch

As I’m getting prepared for IMATS LA 2011, one thing I know I will experience is coming home with a purse full of business cards. As a beauty blogger, or a makeup artist, or really any kind of professional you just can’t help but come home from a trade event like IMATS without a stack of business cards from all of the various contacts you met. So then comes the fun task of logging all of those contacts. Well, I was surfing around the iPhone App Store recently and I found something that I think is way cool. That is, if your definition of cool is as nerdy as mine. :)
CardMunch is a simple, yet genius idea for people who tend receive a lot of business cards only to promptly lose them to the abyss aka a purse. Here’s how it works…
Step 1 – Using the CardMunch app, photograph the business card you wish to add to your contacts.
Step 2 – The CardMunch app transmits the card to their team of transcriptionists – these are LIVE people who read the card to ensure accurate info.
Step 3 – CardMunch will automatically add the new contact’s information to your CardMunch address book. From there you can add it to your iphone Contacts, or set it up to automatically add all info to your iphone Contacts whenever you submit a card.
The turn-around is lightning quick for me so far, but they say it can take up to 24 hours for their team to transcribe your submitted cards. 
Best of all? The app, and this service, are completely free. They were recently acquired by LinkedIn and have since made everything a free service. From the CardMunch app you can also add your new contacts to your LinkedIn network. Very. Cool. Professionals, this is a must-have app for your iphone! It is coming soon to Blackberry; I don’t know about Android but I would imagine that is in the works as well.
1 Comment

Essential Beauty iPhone Apps

I got an iphone 4 for my birthday this past summer. I love this thing. I had wanted a smart phone really, really badly, and this feels like one of those “how did I ever live without this?!” items. For those of you who also have iphones, I thought I’d put together a list of my essential beauty-related apps.

Yelp – Free!
The Yelp app is excellent for locating salons, spas, and shopping, complete with reviews.

TweetDeck for iPhone – Free!
If you follow me on Twitter, you know I’m a very active Twitterer. Tweeter? Whatever. I use it a lot. My favorite thing about Twitter is that you can ask your followers a question and get an answer back right away. This is useful for everything, but it’s also great for beauty-related conundrums too. Like “which of these colors looks better on me?” or “does this eye shadow make me look like Megan Fox?” etc. You know, the important stuff.

UPS & USPS – Free!
Duh, to obsessively track all of those packages that you and I both know are coming in the mail at any given moment. Yeah.

Stila Get The Look – Free!
This app is meant to be a companion to the Stila Color Wheel Palette. It features dozens of beautiful makeup looks that are sorted by what skin/hair coloring you have. There are diagrammed instructions with where to put each color, complete with some gorgeous photos. Even if you do not have the palette, this app is still fun because it can give you great inspiration if you’re stuck in an eye shadow rut. And hey, it’s free.

Sephora To Go – Free!
Okay well. This app is not something I use very often because I do not trust their product reviews. They screen them, and I have on more than one occasion found any negative review I write doesn’t get posted on the product page. They deny doing this of course, but I know they do. However, sometimes it’s a good reference to have if you just want to check the price of something, or some other question you have about a product Sephora carries. There’s also a shopping list feature that is useful as well. I think you can get a freebie if you go to a Sephora store and show them that you have the app, too. It’s a mini Tarina Tarantino primer. I don’t know if they’re still doing this, but if they are it’s worth a shot to try a free gift.

Total Beauty – Free!
This app gives you access to hundreds of beauty product reviews. They’re sorted either by brand or by product type. I do not know if their reviews are screened or not. Like any product review, whether it be mine, yours, or Kristin Stewart’s, always take it for what it is– an opinion. I find reviews helpful when making purchases, but ultimately I have to decide if I think the item will work for me.

Beauty Grub – Free!
I love this app. Get access to RSS feeds of some of the most amazing beauty blogs on the web, plus magazines like American Salon, Allure, and more. They also have links to the top 3 beauty retailers – Sephora, Ulta, and Beauty.com.

Beauty Alert! – $1.99
This is a great concept and a creative way to utilize a phone in a way that relates to beauty. Beauty Alert! tracks how old your products are and reminds you when they expire so you toss them and don’t keep using expired products. This is very important with things like sunscreen that lose their effectiveness after the expiration date. The only thing I wish I could change about this app is the life span it assigns to products. I don’t always agree with what their opinion the lifespan is (for example sunscreen – they say 6 months, I say it’s more like a year). Beauty Alert! also sells labels you can put on your makeup products to remind you of the expiration date. However, I still say it’s worth it if you are like me and often forget how old your mascaras are because you have eight of them and don’t remember when you opened what. ;)

Glamzy – Free!
Glamzy is a fun little program that allows you to create your own face charts with colors based off of MAC products. It is a useful tool for when you’re feeling creative so you don’t forget whatever inspired you later when you’re sitting at the vanity. There is also an upgraded Glamzy Pro with more features.

Some fails…

I have been looking for a great inventory program to use to keep a log of my makeup stash. I figure it’ll help me avoid buying dupes of things I already have. However, I have yet to find a program that will accommodate someone with a large stash of makeup to begin with. I’ve tried BeautyCase (free) and Makeup Inventory (.99), but I’m not too satisfied with either. BeautyCase is better than Makeup Inventory from what I can tell, but it’s still not perfect. There are also literally dozens of beauty tip/makeover apps. I don’t really use any of them. Most of them are just common sense stuff you could get just from reading blogs or talking to people on Twitter/Makeup Alley. If you’re interested, there are tons to choose from. I’d just download a bunch of the free ones and see which ones have info that you like.

How about you? Do you have beauty-related goodies on your iphone?

Leave a Comment