Harlow Friends. This blog is what I would describe as "serious beauty porn". I know, it sounds hardcore but why bother if otherwise? So you might have seen my mini vlog on Meccland 2018 on my Instagram account @teacupofmakeup - If not, why not? In any case, it is linked below.
I would describe Meccaland 2018 (I say 2018 as there are plans to do it again next year), as "SURREAL". I didn't know where to start! I was lucky to be invited down to Melbourne for the PR Preview (and holy moly, Mecca even paid for my airplane ticket, yes I must have done something very good in my past LiveS, stress on "S"). I also went again, primarily to film and photograph more visuals for my blog and instagram, on the Saturday. Did I enjoy it both ways (no dirty thoughts please)? Yes and Yes. I was fueled by cotton candy and it was magical.
Part of the products shown here were gifted, Honestly, I've forgotten which is which. I've also tried to include direct links to Mecca's website for each product. All photos show here with my watermark were photographed by me. I apologies in advance for the s%*t quality of the photos, I was in a ridiculously rare situation where I had to keep changing cameras.
Now let's get down to business. Here's that makeup/skincare porn, you've visited my website for!
There are three highlighters in this collection. One is Holographic. The RRPA$61 per highlighter. OK, these are beyond beautiful. You need them and you need them NOW. They swatch beautifully and they are build-able. You can go from a natural glow to a full on "Instagram" shine. The formula is good and the packaging is just too pretty!
This collection is beyond amazing! The packaging, formula and performance of these are so beguiling that I really wanted the entire collection. There is a sense that these products were created with a lot of detail - just like Vlada MUAS style. This is a ""rose gold" heaven as well.
There are currently 3 highlighters. One prismatic one ("Prismatic Petal") and one golden one ("Gilded Rose") and one pink toned one ("Rosemantic").
In the photos above, last row from left to right: Rosemantic; Prismatic Petal; Gilded Rose. I very often do live swatches on my Instagram (@teacupofmakeup) and archive them under the Highlights "Swatches". I will be including all three in my upcoming International Giveaway.
There are also a number of lip products. I love the liquid lipstick formula of both the liquid lipstick and especially the Always on ones. There seem mostly to have a metallic finish but are also still very wearable (see swatches below). The ones I have are the 2 Always On ones and Be Legendary Liquid Lipstick. See below for swatches. All at RRPA$35 each.
From top to bottom: "Rose Magic" Be Legendary Liquid Lipstick; the Always on ones: "XO, Vlada" and "In Bloom".
How gorgeous are they!?
Leveraging off the success of the UD Heat Palette, this little baby is a lovely addition. You can shop it here. RRPA$47.
The packaging is seriously seductive.
I've enjoyed using the two older Basics palettes. The first one is warm toned and the UD Naked 2 Basics is cool toned. If you already have the two, this is a nice and handy addition. Small yet sturdy enough to chuck into your bag. Great for travel too.
The formula and format of these palettes are fairly consistent. Each palette has a satin/shimmer shade followed by mattes. Some people have noted they feel a bit dry, but I did not have the same perception. They all swatch and apply in pretty much the same way.
(swatches above NB = Naked Basics; NB2 = Naked Basics 2 and "NBH" = NB Petite Heat.
It is sad to note that NARS is selling their products into China which stills require animal testing. I am philosophically against animal testing in general. However, I am not sure if NARS is selling their products bu funneling them through Hong Kong, which a lot of other brands do to avoid the requirement. I don't know. I just know that I have been a huge fan of NARS products since discovering them in 2010.
I've been waiting so long for these. I absolutely love the Wanted Eyeshadow palette!
There are two cheek palettes. Each have a highlighter in them.
The one on the left is Cheek Palette I and the one on the right is Cheek Palette II. You can shop them by clicking here.
They each retail for A$86
I can't say which one I prefer. I just know that I love them! Great shades for the eyes too.
The Wanted collection also includes three sets of the Lip Pigments. I think the formula is amazing and they last pretty much all day. They each retail for A$32. I bought all three sets and gave the Red one away. I'll be including these two (Warm Nudes and Cool Nudes) in my upcoming International Giveaway.
This is the new Danger Control palette. I LOVE IT! I'm guessing this is NAR's response to the popularity of prismatic everything. They have done such a good job with this palette. You can wear each eyeshadow shade separately or layered. For the moment, this palette is not yet available in Australia (hurray, means I can create some looks for you to see).
I especially like the rose gold and purple shades. Please note that the skin on my body is very dry and these eyeshadows are not dry at all.
TOO FACED LIFE'S A FESTIVAL COLLECTION
One of the most popular brand at Meccaland was the Too Faced one. It was such a fun stand. We could make boomerang videos. This was Unicorn everything PLUS prismatic goodness.
This is the Life's a Festival Palette which retails for A$61. This is a very fun palette with duo chromatic shades in matte and satin. The larger sized shade is like a topper which transforms the other shades in to glittery prismatic magic. The palette is quite cute. The cover is padded and feels like you are holding a bag. Each eyeshadow shade swatches well, all quite pigmented.
This cute little pouch with a deluxe sized Better than Sex and Eyeshadow primer was a gift with purchase. Total cuteness huh?
The collection also features Fairy Tears lip topper and La Creme Lipsticks. If you have the original Unicorn Tears lipstick, this is an extension on that. The collection also includes more lip toppers (really cool powder and cream highlighters and a glittery face mist and a cute rainbow coloured brush.
I love Too Faced's products, and so in conclusion, I'm loving the happy unicorn vibes of this collection.
MAC; STILA; HOURGLASS; CIATE; MECCA MAX
There were so many amazing brands at Meccaland. MAC was there too. We were gifted the very pretty Pink Lite Fix+. Just think of this as a shimmer shimmer mist of goodness. There is a gold version as well which is just as pretty.
They each retail for A$36.
Get your perfect brows from Billion Dollar Babes! I love their products but the staff at the BDB stand did not seem very engaged. I'm not sure why.
Show me a person who does not love Stila's liquid eyeshadows and I'll show you a liar. THEY ARE WONDERFUL! I'm slowly building up a collection.
This one is the specially designed for Meccaland. It is "Beauty Junkie", see the swatch below. There are 17 more shades of glitter and glow. Shop them by clicking here. They each retail for RRPA$35. I have a few and they are so pigmented that a little bit goes a long way.
Stila Glitter and Glow Liquid Eyeshadow in "Beauty Junkie"
Ciate London came with quite a lot of cool new things. For a brand that first started out as a nail polish brand, I'm impressed by their makeup now. The quality has improved over the years. These ones here perform so well, that I need to dig out my old Ciate collection to do a compare and contrast for you. As mentioned before, I pretty much capture my entire day on my Instastories and that includes doing many beauty related demos. So do follow me on my Instagram! Click here, it's that easy.
The Wonderwand Mascara. Comes with a lot of promises and my first impressions of trying it was:"Wow, this could be my new holy grail mascara." My current one is a combo of Fairydrops (difficult to get) and Tarte's Lights, Splashes, Camera mascara.
Over the years, I have personally come to the conclusion that a good mascara is a combo of good formula and great brush. This seemed to combine the two when I first used it. The mascara formula was just nice, not too wet and not too dry. The wand, to my surprise, was able to separate, lift and (fairly) evenly coat my lashes with the formula. It also managed to work on my teeny tiny bottom lashes. SO that's quite amazing.
Hmmm... it is a tough choice for me. The formula of powder highlighters are getting so creamy that using a stick cream one sometimes becomes redundant. I do however, like how easy and travel-friendly a stick highlighter is. Nothing easier than drawing it on your face and patting it in with your hands.
This is one of Ciate London's newest highlighters. The Dewy Stix Luminous Highlighting Balm which comes in three shades and retails for RRPA$38. So far reviews have been excellent. This one pictured above is in the shade: "Glow". It looks somewhat holographic and I think it is meant to be a neutral coloured one as the other two are a pink and gold one.
Ciate London has also introduced a line of glitter liquid lipsticks - Glitter Flip Liquid Lipstick (RRPA$27). This shade is called "Candy". Fairly pigmented and light on the lips, I felt this was ok. The wear time was average for a glossy lipstick. The shade is very pretty but I would only wear something like this if I was going to a music festival/rave.
It was pretty cool at Meccaland, as you could get a personalised YSL Tatouage Matte Lip Stain and/or mascara. I received the dark vampy one in No. 15 as a gift. Also included were some cool new holographic products from Mecca Max (great quality); the mini Hourglass Ambient and Strobe Powders (adorable) and the Hourglass Vanish Flash Highlighting Sticks. There were also blushes from Bare Minerals in our gift bag.
I haven't had time to play around with these but will do so on my Instastories. So, if you are not already following me, just click here please.
SKINCARE
There was quite a good selection of skincare brands and items available. One of the most popular ones being the Glitter Mask from Glam Glow. I've tried it and you should be able to find a demo archived under the Highlight "Skincare" on my Instagram (@teacupofmakeup) .
It is a fun mask to play with. It is a firming mask in gel format that dries down to a layer that you then "peel" off. Bonus points for the cute glitters. My first impressions were that my face did look brighter and firmer.
Another cool skincare item was from REN. Seen above next to the famous Origins Ginzing Eye Cream is REN's Ready Steady Glow Daily AHA Tonic. I've tried it a few times and I like how it feels. It has one of the those "push down" pump dispensers.
Retails for RRPA$46. You can shop it by clicking it here, but do note that this product, at the time this post was published, is sold out online.
Other skincare brands at Meccaland were Dermalogica; Drunk Elephant; Kate Somerville and SKYN. All of their stands were packed. Skincare is a huge focus for the beauty industry now.
How cute is that little Drunk Elephant C-Tango Multivitamin Eye Cream?! I've yet to try it but the texture and smell make it seem very promising.
You can shop each of the brands by clicking on their names below:
Grown Alchemist and Mario Badescu were also at Meccaland.
Surprisingly, Replica by Maison Margiela was at Meccaland. I love their fragrances and the idea behind them. It just seemed a little out of place as most "Meccalanders" were probably a bit too young to know much about this now cult status fragrance line. I would recommend you try out at least one fragrance from the Replica series. I will be including a review and overview of the Replica fragrances in my Fragrance Story.
SPECIAL EDITION BEAUTY LOOP BOX
They certainly did pack in quite a lot in the Meccaland Beauty Loop Box. If you are not already a member of Mecca's Beauty Loop Program, just sign up by clicking here. I was most impressed by the brands chosen and the size of the samples.
MECCALAND MERCHANDISE
We were given one of these big bags (filled with goodies) at the PR Preview and anyone who had a ticket to the public events also received the same bag. I love how Mecca structured this idea, as the bag was served as your "shopping cart". Other merchandise included iron-on patches, caps, jumpers, mobile phone covers, and even water tumblers! I now, for most intensive purpose" "live" in the jumper (gifted). Press and Bloggers were also give a pair of limited edition prismatic heart shaped sunglasses from Too Faced.
In summary, Meccaland and the products showcased there are "magical, anything but typical". If you watch my mini vlog with the sound on, you'll get my little inside joke.
Thank you for reading this!
If you have any thoughts or wish to know more about these products, please email me (makeupmanic88@gmail.com) or DM me on my Instagram account (@teacupofmakeup). Also, do subscribe to my website (just fill in your email address in the subscription box) to be alerted to new articles I publish on this little website of mine. I promise you won't get irritating emails from me!
