Comparison: MAC Virgin Isle CCB vs BB Cabo and Calypso Coral

Long time no see everyone!! I've just been really busy with some stuff, but hopefully things will be settling down soon so yay! :D

Summer is quickly coming to an end, so I figured I'd do a swatch comparison of my favorite summer coral cream blushers: MAC Virgin Isle, BB Cabo Coral and BB Calypso coral. They are all similar and within the same color family, but I do think they are different enough to own all three. (Or maybe I'm just trying to rationalize it to myself.)

In my opinion Cabo coral is the most different from the three. It's much more "subtle"/nude coral as compared to Calypso Coral which is a bright corally pink and MAC Virgin Isle which I find is a corally orange.

FYI: MAC Virgin Isle CCB is availible ONLY at MAC Pro unfortunately. HOWEVER, it did come out in a collection a while back and can be found at some of the Cosmetic Company Outlets.

MAC Gold Mode vs MAC Blonde's Gold

It has been said that gold mode pigment and blonde's gold pigment are dupes of each other. However, now that I have both, I must say they are NOT the same. They are similar, but they are different enough to own both...or so I say.


Gold Mode: Texture is a little chunkier. It's much more shimmery than BG. It's also a much brighter gold in my opinion than BG. Much more "night out" while BG is like it's softer more daytime safe sister.

Blonde's Gold: Finely milled. Smooth and easy to apply/blend. A nice shimmery beige-y gold neutral. My go to for ever day looks.

8-pan Challenge

Alright ladies it's spring makeup collection season! My favorite makeup season of all! I love how all the colors are starting to warm up and looking so bright, sunny and tropical. I am drooling just looking at all these gorgeous coral blushers and vibrant eyeshadow colors that are out right now. It's total sensory overload! What is everyone else lemming-ing? Planning any purchases?

So with that said, I need to go on a no buy. So starting today I am going to challenge myself to finish 8 makeup products before I get to buy anything new one. Originally I had started with doing a 5-pan challenge, but I ended up upping it to 8 because I am the proud new owner of Bobbi Brown Cabo coral and Calypso coral pot rouges!!!!! (well once they arrive as I ordered online.) I will get swatches of them up asap!

Anyhow, back to the challenge. The rules I'm setting for myself are as follows:

8-pan challenge rules:

1. Make up items only. Skin care/hair care items do not count

2. Two deluxe sample items count for 1 product.

3. Once I finish 8 items I can purchase only ONE makeup item.

4. If at any point I break my challenge, I tack on 2 more items that need to be finished before I can get another makeup item.

So far I have a few items "nearing the end". I can do this! I have been making a point to use these daily just so I could finish these suckers up and not have to look at them anymore.

Nearly gone items. Listed top to bottom left to right:

*THE SHE SPACE- RUDE AWAKENING
This is such a pretty wheat slightly gray/taupe color. It has just the right amount of shimmer. I just ordered a full size version of this!

* KORRES WILD ROSE POWDER WRF3

* MAC RICEPAPER
-other e/s top to bottom, left to right: ricepaper, era, satin taupe, grain-

I love using Ricepaper as a all over wash these days. Totally wakes up my eyes

*NARS BETTINA VELVET LIP MATTE
Gorgeosus peachy hint of orange warm toned matte

* TOO FACED SHADOW INSURANCE

* MAC SHE LOVES CANDY
I am so sad I'm almost done with this gloss. This is gorgeous alone or over any lipstick. It is this unique shimmery pale pink with a hint of a cool lavender tint to it.


And on to the swatches!

Left to right: Rude Awakening, Ricepaper, Era, Grain, Satin Taupe, Bettina, Bettina with She loves candy on top, She loves Candy

***NOTE: Eye shadows were swatched over TFSI***

MAC Pigment Swatches

I have a love hate relationship with pigments and loose eye shadows. I have a bunch of The She Space pigments which I will eventually try to get around swatching, but for now just the MAC pigments. Sometimes I just don't have the patients to deal with the fall out and fuss. I used to have many more MAC pigments, but I ended up narrowing down my stash to only these few. Swatches are listed from top to bottom: Pastorale, Gold mode, Cocomotion, Provence, Tea Time, Vanilla and Deckchair. Pigments were swatched on top of UD primer potion. (Click on pictures to make them bigger.)

>>>Quick side note..I goofed when I took the pics of the pigments in the jars..the jars are in the following order: Pastorale, Provence, Gold mode, cocomotion, teatime, deckchair sample (top), Vanilla sample (bottom)

Pastorale: A nice deeper sea foam green. It looks fabulous on my brown eyes. It's not overly shimmery or glittery though which is nice.

Gold mode: Supposedly this is very similar to the other LE MAC pigment in blonde's gold. It is not as coppery/red as the picture makes it out to be. It's more of a champagne-y gold with gold micro flecks. The micro flecks tend to get everywhere but are easily buffed away.

Cocomotion: This is quite an interesting and unique color. It's a nice bronze-y gold with slight olive-y undertones to it. It is shimmery but no glitter.

Provence: This color is a gorgeous neutral! It has a lot of golden tones to it with golden shimmer. I love using this as a wash.

Tea Time: Nice neutral to warm brown. This is more matte than many of the other pigments. It's got more of a stain finish to it.

Vanilla: Possible a "cult fave", this is a pretty shimmery opalescent pink-y pearl. While it is a lovely color, sometimes I am not a fan of the pink tones in it on my yellow skin tone.

Deckchair: So pretty! It reminds me a lot of Stila Kitten e/s. It's a nice shimmery pink/peach champagne color. This has tones of shimmer to it, so I need to use it carefully.