Faux

I'm on a roll and posting again, I obviously have some time on my hands, haha! Anyway, just sharing some photos from a collaborative shoot with the amaaaazing Lyka Orhel (I swear, she is beyond amazing! I love her to bits!) and the very beautiful, Phoebe Rutaquio.

Please right-click on images to view in full size :)

photography: Lyka Orhel
Styling by: Patty Baligod and Lyka Orhel
Hair and Makeup: Maui Manalo
Model: Phoebe Rutaquio

Here are some of the essential products that I used :)

Product images from MAC and Makeup Forever website


For more photos, follow this link to Lyka's blog post :)

Day and Night

I've been itching to do purple eye makeup, but haven't had the chance to do it on any recent clients so I decided to do it on myself haha. After going through a pink phase, I think im going through a purple phase. Purple reminds me of Urban Decay which reminds me of Glam Rock, I dont know why haha probably because of how they market the brand. Such a shame I was intimidated by the very colorful and shimmery Urban Decay eye shadows when I had the chance to hoard on them.


Purple eyeshadow is such a pretty shade to use to emphasize brown eyes. I personally like more vibrant shades of purple or light pastel shades of lavander. I find that overpowering my outer v with darker shades of purple tend to make my eyes look muddy and tired. So when I want a purple look thats more suited for a night out, I sweep the darker purple shade all over the lids and turn it into a purple smokey eye look.


Here is a lighter purple EOTD I did. If youre not intimidated by colors this one is pretty easy to do =)



- Apply a light shade of purple/lavander on the lids and top it off with a shimmery neautal e/s ( I used MAC Femme-Fi)
- Apply mid tone purple e/s on the crease and blend upwards. Apply on outer sorner and blend towards the lid.
- Apply white eyeliner on water line. And line lower lashline with the shade you used on your crase.
- Put on eyeliner, curl lashes and apply mascara and youre good to go!


Now heres how I would turn my purple eotd up a notch for a night out. =)



- Having done my eyes with lighter shade of purple, I apply a darker shade of purple all over my lids and lightly blend towards the crease.
- Apply black eyeliner on the water line and make your eyeliner more defined (which I have failed to do in this photo hehe)



Pretty simple, yes? Purple is one of the easier colored shades to do and pull off. Took about 10 minutes to do both looks. It's monday again and its time to go back to the grind. Have a great week! =)

Surprise!

Now I know I havent been a very dutiful blogger haha so to make up for the lack of posts, I decided to try something new today! A video tutorial! haha well sort of. Ive been asked by a few to do a video and here is me trying to do a video haha.

I just recorded a video on how I do my foundation, conceal and contour. I did a video on how I do my eyebrows and eye makeup too but it was starting to get dark so I trashed those, maybe next time.

And so for the very first time, my nekkid face will make its debut on the world wide web! Que horror! See how much I love you guys! haha. Anyway, here is how I do makeup when I want full coverage without looking like I have too much piled on. The stippling brush allows me to apply a sheer amount of foundation evenly and give full coverage as opposed to using a regular foundation brush.



The image that shows up before you play it is way too funny! haha. This is a 3 part video because I didnt have that fast forward thingy effect on my video editor and its pixelated!! oh wells =)

Part 2

Part 3

If youre not going to apply eye makeup, just fill in your brows curl your lashes and make sure you apply foundation on your eyelids as well. I left mine bare because I will eventually apply on a lid primer. Theres 2 more parts of this video, one where I draw on my eyebrows and do my eye makeup. Im still thinking of whether I should redo those and post it maybe when I get too bored again haha
.

I need a better program to edit videos the one im using sucks haha. I want that fast forward like effect to make the video shorter. Any suggestions? =)

Hot hot hot!

Im not referring to the weather, but yes it's definitely a hot hot hot day! 93 F! gahh! The air is so heavy, I feel like a pancake wrapped in butter with syrup! yuck! I just got out of the shower, and i want to shower again hahah. I probably will in a few.


But back to my entry, Hot hot hot is an eyeshadow from M.A.C.'s Spring Colour Forecast. Its a lovely shade but one of those will I ever get to use this kind of eye shadow. But im a fan of color, and I like combining unusual shades together. The moment I saw and swatched Hot hot hot I knew we were meant to be...hahah.


I actually like the shade on the lids alone, but I tried to use it with other colors the other day and i liked it! But forgot to take a picture so i'm redoing it now to share with everyone here hehe



Please right-click on image to view in full size :D

Taken in different settings (natural light, with flash, no flash. I
cant remember which is which haha) Pardon the crappy eyeliner job and the
crazy lashes was trying some of the mascaras in my stash that I havent used.

Mid tone Coral Satin Limited Edition

Swatch

What I used and how I did it:

M.A.C. Hot hot hot - applied on the lid blended towards the crease
M.A.C Expensive Pink - applied on the hollows and blended towards crease and browbone
M.AC. Charcoal Brown - applied on crease and blended
M.A.C Embark - applied on outer V blended towards mid of the crease

• Lined inner lower lashline with expensive pink, mid lower lashline with hot hot hot and blended towards expensive pink, embark on outer lower lashline blended towards hot hot hot
• Lined lower waterline midway and upper lashline with in2it gel liner
• Curl lashes, applied mascara (dont forget the lower lashes!) and voila.

Hope you like it! Now time to shower! haha =)

My Giveaway ends on May 5, 2010!

Click on the image to join =)

Makeup Storage: Lipsticks

My traincase has been getting a little too cramped lately. And its a hassle to bring more bags with me whenever I do makeup, so I decided to depot my lipsticks. Inspired by a friends lipstick palette, I headed to National Bookstore to look for the "paint palettes". Little did I know that the container had actual watercolors in them!

See! It even comes with those scratchy brushes haha





Decided to get them since the watercolors
are non toxic. Costs P41.75 each at National Bookstore

How to get rid of the watercolors:
- If you dont like wasting stuff, have a kid play with it first haha
- You can put water and scrub it out with the brush BUT that will leave stains on the container (thats what I did and im so regretting it)
- The BEST way is to put water and let it soak, leave for about 6-8 hours or longer if you have the patience (haha) the watercolor will come out of the wells more easily.


Chop up your lipstick with a spatula and put them in the container. You can even melt the lipstick before putting them into the wells if youre OC like that haha. Here are my lipstick palettes after the whole process:

Pros:
- Saves space
- No need to worry if you are missing a lipstick while packing up (esp. if you have tons)
- You can easily see the shades and which one you want to use


Cons:

- Make sure you use a clean lip brush everytime you dip into the wells, you dont want it to be a well of bacteria! lol
- Not for those who dont have the heart to chop their lipsticks (it was very sad for me haha)

How to: Eyebrows

In my opinion, the hardest part in doing makeup is the eyebrows. Ive encountered different kinds of eyebrows: over plucked, shaved in half, bushy, brows with patchy no hair areas (my very own hah), etc. We read it all the time, that when we do our brows, we should follow the natural shape. That works sometimes when your own brows has a nice shape. But you sometimes have to go in and change the shape of the brows either by plucking/shaving or filling them in.

The main points of the eyebrows are: the starting point, the arch and the end point. This one you see in all those magazine and books where you measure by aligning a straight object (eg. a brush) along the side of your nose to the corners of your eye (end point), side of your nose along your eye (arch), side of the bridge of your nose towards your forehead (Starting point). Im sure its quite hard to imagine so here's an image from my portfolio of pretty Miel. You can use these lines as guideline when shaping your brows or when your drawing them on.

1: Starting point, 2: Arch and 3: End Point

As for filling in your brows, there are a lot of products in the market now. There are brow powders, pencils and even creams. Ive tried pencils and powders and I currently use a powder. I like that it gives you more control and isn't too overpowering unlike some of the pencils ive tried. The only decent brow pencil ive liked so far is M.A.C's brow pencil in lingering because you can slowly build the color and it doesnt look too fake.


I like to start filling in my brows in the middle and work my way to the end point where it should be the darkest. My own brows dont have an arch from the several times ive had people shave my eyebrows when they do my makeup (ugh. never ever again). I make sure that the arch on both sides are the same before I move on to the starting point. The starting point should be squar-ish in shape and a tad bit lighter then the middle part and end part of the eyebrow. I sometimes struggle with this because my eyebrows really need to be drawn on. So what I do is I draw the entire eyebrow shape and go back to the starting point and lighten it a bit with a qtip. Another good way to lighten it is by using M.A.C's brow set.

M.A.C. Browset in Girlboy, Beguile and Mink

Swatches (Girl boy, Beguile and Mink) w/ flash



Swatches (Girl boy, Beguile and Mink) w/o flash

My eyebrows: quickly filled it in with an eyebrow powder

Left: Beguile; Right: Girl Boy
I dont normally apply it over my entire eyebrow but I
did in the picture to give you a better idea of what it would look like.

My favorite is Girl boy which looks orange brown on the swatch but when applied looks like light brown. Beguile looks more like Golden brown but darker. I first purchased Mink because it was dark and thought I needed to swipe it all over my brows haha.

I really love the browsets from M.A.C. As nicely shaped eyebrows help frame the face, sometimes lighter eyebrows helps to make the face looks softer. And the browsets do that. If youre afriad of bleaching your eyebrows or want to see what you look like with lighter eyebrows, trying the browset is a good start!


A few more tips ive picked up that might be useful:
- An angular face (eg. square shaped) should have more of a rounded shaped eyebrows, while a person with a round face should make her eyebrows a bit more angular or a bit more arched.
- If youre a brunette your eyebrow color should be at lease 1-2 shades lighter. If you have
red or blonde hair, your eyebrows should be at least 1-2 shades darker


Hope this helps!The best way to get it right is to practice, practice, practice. I am no expert at this, its still a hit and miss for me sometimes and I even still struggle with my own, given that my eyebrow hair are so scarce hahaha.


Would love to hear from anyone who does her brows differently! hehe Ive yet to
try the cream one from MUFE as it is out of stock at the moment but ill let you guys know as soon as I get my hands on it. Oh and btw, if youre in the Philippines the Girl boy browset has been out of stock since March, hopefully they'll have it by next month. =)

Valentines FOTD

This is how I spent Valentines day....

HOW TO: Hide a swollen face (LOL)

As I've mentioned my left face is swollen because of my tooth. I wouldve hidden under a rock the whole weekend but my friend had a pre valentines gig and she and her boyfriend and a friend were going to be singing at an event for the first time. So I went there for support and to help her with her makeup =)


How fast can you do makeup? Im still having trouble with time haha. I think I need a good 30 minutes to an hour to do a decent job. Im obsessed with blending. I was given 15 minutes to do my friends makeup. I only got to do the foundation, eyebrows, eyeshadow, blush and lipstick. Nowhere near done :/

Pretty Iyz =)

Oh well, I still need a lot of practice. Iyz! I shall practice on you again soon haha thanks for trusting me doing your makeup that night haha. Hope you all had a great weekend! Happy Monday Everyone

How to: Winged Eyeliner

Hello! A quick post on how I wing my eyeliner =) I sometimes get complimented on how I do my eyeliner. I like winging it whether I have eyeshadow or not. Ive been playing around with makeup and practicing on myself for about 8 years now, but I didn't trust myself to do my own makeup til just a few years ago. One thing i've learned from all those years though, is putting on eyeliner.

I started with pencil, moved on to liquid and tried gel liner. I prefer Liquid eyeliner because its the quickest and I'm usually pressed for time. But liquid eyeliner can be messy if you're not used to it or have shaky hands hehe. I'd like to share how I do it. For this demo, I used a gel liner and a flat thin liner brush.

1. I start off by lining the lashline starting from the inner part to the end of the lid.
2. Follow the natural shape of the eye and take a cue of where to wing from your eye shape.
3. Draw a winged line following the curve of your bottom lashline.

4. From the line you just drew. Connect the it to the lid by drawing a line from the tip of the winged line to the line you drew on the lashline.

5. Go back and fill in the space and make sure that the line is "smoothly" connected to the line you drew on the lashline.

6. You can then adjust the winged part if you feel that its a little to thin. If you went a little overboard, clean off the edges with a q-tip. And youre done! :)

What I used:

-UDPP ( I find this lessens the tendency of NYX Jumbo pencil to crease)
- NYX Jumbo Pencil in Milk
- M.A.C. Gesso (Lid) and Knight Divine (Crease). Blended Gesso on the crease and brow bone area to get rid of the harsh line. Femme-Fi for highlight
- L'Oreal HiP Gel Liner. I used Stila Kajal eyeliner on a flat eyeliner brush to adjust the winged part and for waterline
- The Faceshop XO lashes

Hope this helps! :)

Foundations

Another Quick post today. Wanted to post a few Color tips on choosing the right foundation. I take forever trying to get a match. I dont like poorly matched foundation because it tends to look like a mask on your face, instead of making you look flawless it draws more attention. Here are a few tips when choosing the right color foundation.

- Always test on your face and not on your hands. Im guilty of this, I usually have makeup on so I dont test it on my face. But I make sure I try it on when im about to purchase

-Dont ignore foundations that may look yellowish or a bit too dark in their packaging. You need neutral tones so yellow is good. Some foundations just look too dark because theyre more pigmented

-If youre skin colors in between two shades, go with the slightly darker shade. Foundation that is too light is much more noticeable and will look like its just sitting in top of your face. Just make sure to blend onto jawline and neck.

Black Eye

Why isnt my concealer working?! 0.0

Under eye circles are probably one of the most common problems. When I first started doodling with makeup, I was always looking for a concealer that would cover the slightly blueish tone under my eyes. That was more than 5 years ago. They are no longer SLIGHTLY bluish.

I blame it on the case presentations, the quizzes and exams in college and the thousands of facts and diseases I had to cram into my head for the Nursing board exam. Hello freshness! haha

Concealers should be applied to the area youre trying to conceal in thin layers. If its not enough continue layering thinly until you get the right coverage. However, it doesnt work all the time. If you keep layering eventually the concealer will deposit in to the creases or lines if you have any and it will look cakey.

If you find that nothing works to cover the evidence of too much partying or you just want to pretend that you didnt stay up all night cramming for an exam then what you need are Neutralizers are Color Correctors.

Neutralizers/Color Correctors work by cancelling out a discoloration such as under eye circles, redness, brown discolorations due to hyperpigmentation and basically any kind of abnormal coloring. These are the crazy colored concealers you see - the green, yellow, purple, orange/pink, etc.

For it to work, you have to have some understanding of colors and what color blocks what. Here is a color wheel:


Opposite of Blue is Orange or Yellow Orange. You can use a neutralizer that has a tint of orange or even salmon pink to neutralize bluish undertones such as those under the eyes.

Opposite Red is Green. You can use a neutralizer that doesnt necessarily have to be green ( I see a lot of those) but has some tint of green to it to neutralize redness caused by acne or spider veins

Also a neutralizer with a hint of pink to it can help covering up brown spots.

When correcting color, remember that you DONT use a pure green, orange or pink color to Neutralize. You need to look for a product with a skin tone color but has the correct color undertone (green, red, etc) to correct problem areas. The most common corrector I see is the one from Physicians Formula and the corrector/primers from Smashbox. The ones that they have to correct redness are Green and though I havent tried them I think they would end up leaving a slightly green cast if you dont mix it or cover it with foundation. I just think its too weird to put green makup on your face.

Another tip I found: After neutralizing or color correcting lightly dust it with powder (prefereably something finely milled like a transulucent powder, mufe hd powder or something like it) and then apply foundation. This prevents the mixing of the two.


I have been trying Cinema Secretss Ultimate Foundation and Concealers/Corrector. I havent gotten the hang of mixing the foundations to get a mtach but I love the correctors. They get rid of the bluish tone under my eyes as well as any hyperpigmentation or redness I have from broken capillaries, veins or pimple marks. But I dont think I can use them as is since I will look like I have an-an HAHAHA. So I have to use foundation (cream or powder) over it to hide the areas I concealed. And it works so well, i am in love with it!

Anyway, thats it for now. Pictures next post.

A post for Cindy because I will not make and upload videos of myself looking like a fool attempting to demonstrate how I do my makeup HAHA. I can imagine and...FAIL haha Anyway, this is a video on how to blend shadows by Enkore. I like his videos, they are all informative and he has a lot of DIY stuff and he makes everything simple.

For more of his videos, click here: EnKoreMakeup




Finally got the Traincase! Yay! I was virtually stalking my package but gave up today and surprise surprise. I'll post a picture of it next time. I dont know if Im sad or relieved that it wasnt as bright as the on screen image on Sephora. I kept all the boxes just in case I want to return it but finally decided to throw those out becuase its hella cute! and not all of my stuff fit soo I see an upgrade in the future.

Anyway heres the review I left on Sephora:

"Was a bit hesitant to purchase this since at that time, there were no reviews. I thought it looked cute but I was afraid that it wouldnt be in person ( I didnt like the pink one too much) Anyway, on screen it looked like a bright almsot sky blue color. But its actually kind of a dark aqua almost a little darker than torqoise color. Very cute! didnt want to have the usual black or silver.

Took off one star, because I expected it to be a bit bigger. The trays are kind of hard to access and you cant put more than hmm 4? compacts on the top tray they have to be laid flat or it wont close. Maybe an extra and bigger tray would be better. The bottom compartment was bigger than I thought but I also had to lay most of my products flat because it wouldnt close."


I do think its the perfect size if youre just startign to buy stuff. And well I dont think I'll need to bring ALL my makeup with me all the time haha. But I bought it cause I like seeing it organized, and it is now. But its going to be a hassle when I actually need to use the stuff in it cause I swear I tried to pack everything I own in it haha.

Anyway, pictures next time! zzzz

Maui

How to Spot FAKE M.A.C. Brushes

Okay the second part of my earlier post hehe. I actually did this a while back but never got to finish it. So, yes they even copy brushes and they started off making ones that were easily identified as fakes ones. Ofcourse theyve gotten better. And again, if you have no idea what to look out for you will be fooled ( haha so tagline na siya lol)

Anyway, most people would want to get brushes from MAC because they are of good quality and one of the best out there. And if you arent a professional make up artist, buying just one or two of the basic brushes will burn a hole in your pocket. Most sell for about 20 plus dollars each. So finding relatively cheaper or rather overwhelmingly cheaper ones is like a dream come true and you ignore that little voice telling you ITS FAKE. lol

Its pretty hard to tell if the brushes are fake from pictures. So it really is up to you to take the risk of buying one online.


THE SIGNS

- Okay, first things first. There are a lot of MAC brush sets for sale now. And im positively sure that ALL FULL SIZED MAKEUP BRUSH SETS are fake (yes, theyre too good to be true. Unless its the the Pret-a-Porter)

- MAC has never offered full sized makeup brushes until November 2006 with the release of Pret-a-Porter brush set which had 8 full size brushes (187, 190, 129, 213, 224, 266, etc) and came with a black satin brush roll.

The Pret-a-Porter brush set. If it does not include the 18 skunk brush, its fake. And the fake ones they sell are in a leather roll that is incomparable to this one.

- They do however release travel size (short handled) limited/special editions that usually come in a set of 5

Okay, on to the detailed stuff:

-The most obvious sign is the fake brushes only say M.A.C. on the handle. The real brushes will have the number of the brush next to it (eg. MAC 187) BUT the new fake brushes even have the numbers on them.

- MAC brushes have black matte handles with the exception of the special edition/ special edition sets (some come in different colors). The fake regular brushes have tiny shimmers on them. So sadly, by the time you realize that your brush is fake, the seller might have run away with your cash. **Another thing is, the seller might also not be aware that the brush theyre selling is fake.

- Not always, but some of the fake brushes have a strong odor of lacquer to them. The real ones may have it too but its usually faint.

- The real mac brushes come in a clear plastic sleeve with a barcode. They do NOT have extra plastic covering that hold the bristles? of the brush

- If you try scraping the MAC label and number off with your nail it can come off easily. The fake ones wont come off and are usually heavily imprinted on the handle.

-If you check real MAC brushes, at the end of the handle it says france, USA or Japan and theyre usually very faint and not very noticeable -(its just marked? but its the same color as the handle). Some of the fake brushes have this too but are heavily imprinted.

- The silver thing that holds the bristles can be used to tell if the brush is fake too. But I cant find a clear way of explaining this so i suggest that you compare them to brushes that are store bought.

- Also, i think most people have enough sense to doubt brushes that are sold way too cheap.

- Ive also seen some limited edition brush sets that are fake. I used to think that it would be safe to buy those on evilbay. But oh well.

**Keep in mind though, that whoever makes them keep improving their junk haha so who knows, in a few months they could probably make better fake ones.


That's all I got to research. I finally decided not to buy them online because I dont think i'll ever be sure and its just a hassle getting fake ones and having to return them (it would be worse if the seller ran away with your money). And besides there are cheaper brushes that work too. A few good brushes are:

- Sonia Kashuk's
- The kirkland set at costco! ( I swear! haha but they only come out once a year I think, during the holidays? and the sets keep changing every year)
- Loew Cornell painting brushes! I love their dupe of 239-Maxine mop brush. you can also get paint brushes and use them as angled liners, blush brushes, powder brushes etc. I love going to Michaels! :)
- If you have CCO nearby, it is heaven! brushes, M.A.C., origins, clinique, Bobbie brown and a whole lot of other stuff at 30% off!

Pretty Purple and Pink

Soo for a change I decided to use a color ive never used. Pink and Purple! I hated these colors when I was a kid haha but anyway, I loved it!

Here are the pictures. I apologize for the unruliness though haha I took the pictures 11 hours after application!! And it was pretty much still intact except for one of my falsies which look like its ready to fall off! Ohh and the pink E/S were not as vibrant but hello, 11 hours! haha

I also used a blush from the contour palette and even though it was huge, I stuffed it into my bag thinking that I would need to re apply. And surprise surprise! 11 hours after, it was still as vibrant! I wouldve posted a picture of my whole face but after 11 hours, I looked super exhausted haha

What I used:
Urban Decay primer Potion
Coastal Scents 88 Matte Eye shadow Palette
M.A.C. nylon (inner corner and tear duct)
Loreal HIP eyeliner
Ardell false lashes



I dont know if the pictures would help but these are the colors that I used (Click on the images to see a larger version - I encircled the color I used in red using paint haha):


1) Highlight - brow bone


2)Wash above the crease


3) Dabbed on both colors and applied on the lid


4) Applied on the crease



5)Used the 2 purples on the outer corner of eyes and crease, applied a little black on the outer corners and blended to add depth to the crease.

BLEND BLEND BLEND!! :)




Anyway, wore this to a baptism and a birthday party. The baby im baby sitting was baptized today then we had lunch at a korean/japanese/chinese buffet somewhere in Vallejo. We then went to Danville for Sarah's 6th birthday celebration with her family. I am exhausted!

Me and Jhelyn after she was baptized

My cousin in her new blue dress that she wore. Soo cute! Reminds me of Alice in Wonderland

How to Spot FAKE M.A.C. Eye Shadows

I recently just got into Online Shopping. I had no access to visa cards in the Philippines hahaha and I dont own a credit card (thank goodness!) So imagine how crazy I got when I finally got one, okay yu know what, dont! haha

Anyway, I was alittle skeptic with some of the stuff that was on evilbay. Some had weird containers, new colors and what nots and I actually thought: "Oooh I didnt know they had that!" So I searched the M.A.C. website for the stuff that I saw online and I was puzzled since they didnt seem to have it.

So I decided to do a little research. Ive probably seen every sinlge entry on how to spot them and compiled them. And here it is! lol "HOW TO SPOT FAKE M.A.C. EYESHADOWS"

This post actually came from my blog in multiply (HERE).




Eyeshadows:

-MAC eyeshadows never come with a sponge tip applicator. NEVER. or have mirrors on the back of the pots

-They will ALWAYS HAVE A NAME and not just a number. At the bottom of the pot, it will have a number combination (eg. A97) with the name of the eyeshadow along with the description (eg. Frost, velvet, satin, etc.)

-The box will have a sticker on the top with the name of the shadow and a UPC code sticker on the bottom. Fake macs will have the "UPC codes" printed on the bottom of the box

- The best way to check is to compare it on the mac website, but there are a lot of stuff that are discontinued so you might have to check for other signs to see if they're fake.

** The top part of the eyeshadow pot, the clear plastic thing has the mac logo. and its NOT supposed to be very dark or engraved heavily. On the real mac you can barely feel it, basically its barely there. If you can feel it with your fingers, its fake.

- Palettes with a sponge tip applicator are fake. Palettes that come with an applicator usually have a mini brush that says SE after the number (special edition)

- Mac does not have cream eyeshadow palettes. They only have cream color base, the one pictured above is obviously fake.

- In Real mac eyeshadows. the pans of the shadow itself will be lower than the lip of the pot, the fake macs will have the pans higher above the lip of the pot. ( i don't know if you get that, ill try to look for a picture of it)

AHA!! haha The pictures not very clear (I'm sure the seller meant it to be that way haha) But you can see that the pan is much higher than the whole pot itself. Even the upc code at the bottom of the box is a giveaway, its too small and if the picture was much clearer I'm sure you'll be able to see that it isn't an actual sticker and its printed on the box.

Sticker

Real MAC eyeshadows pans are much lower then the lip of the pot

- Not always, but most will come from china. If seller claims that the packaging is different because the "packaging here in ** is different" or "they don't have names on them because here we only have numbers", well then that's fake. But some may come from the US or Canada (maybe buyers who didn't get a refund are trying to sell their fake stuff idk haha)

- if the item is listed as "as it is" or the seller does not know the name of the eyeshadow that's a red flag right there.

-But there are a lot of duped products that come close to the real ones and the only way to find out is by destroying the pot or eyeshadow. The pans are sometimes different and you can only see that when you depot the shadows.

- Fake ones have wider lips than the real ones. i don't have a picture of it but you can compare them to actual pots from the store that you already have.

- The boxes may be different too, they're usually much shinier, they may have names like Prismisque or Lustre with the numbers 02, 03, 6, 7 blah blah blah.

I don't know who they're trying to fool but this one is obviously fake haha

As for the quality, I really have no idea. They might suck, be quite good if not close to real ones but the thing is you're being tricked into thinking that you're getting an authentic product. They re usually much cheaper than the real mac products or almost the same. Although, I'm not saying that all are fake. There are some artists who sell items that were meant to be used as samples at the stores since they don't get to use all products meant for that purpose. But I think the best way to go is to just buy them from counters or from the stores. BUT!! And I cant stress this enough. SAMPLES will be labeled with the color/shade or whatever, it will be like the regular ones. The only difference is it will be labeled or will come with a sticker that says SAMPLE. Sooo, those who say that "no theyre not labeled because theyre factory seconds or samples that werent used ladidadidaa.." are full of crap. haha

Hope that helped and good luck shopping for bargains!! =)"