Mary Kay‘s got a bunch of new products out for Summer 2016, so I grabbed some of them and put together a look alongside some quick reviews. Let’s get into it:

The most eyecatching item was easily the Rose Gold Compact Mini ($22 if bought unfilled).

If you purchase the full compact with shadows, you’re looking at $76 CAD ($54 CAD without the compact). It comes with six shadows in your standard neutral shades. This is the kind of compact absolutely anyone can grab and create an easy day-to-day/work look.

The colours swatched well, and are quite pretty (if not fairly standard fare), but they were really, REALLY powdery in the pan. They applied well, but the kickup in the pan is INTENSE, so be sure to bang your brush off hard before you apply this to you lids!

Also out is a limited edition Beauty That Counts “Hearts Together” lipstick. From May 16, 2016 onwards, $1 of the sale of each lipstick will support the Mary Kay Ash Charitable Foundation in its efforts to support women living with cancer and to help end violence against women by providing grants to women’s shelters and community outreach programs.

Hearts Together is a labelled as a “soft pink creme lipstick”, but I’d say it veers more towards a sheer-shine lipstick with a glossy cool pink hue.

Okay guys… deep breath. DEEP BREATH. I loathe reviewing concealers because I just don’t use them. Why, you ask? Because every freaking concealer creases on me. Or looks crepey under my eyes. Basically, they all look like absolute garbage, so I can’t be bothered to use them.

….UNTIL NOW. I don’t know what the heck is in this thing except for magic. PURE FREAKING MAGIC. I put this on my undereyes and it not only brightened the area, but it also didn’t budge. It didn’t crease. It didn’t look crepe-y. I am totally and completely floored.

The shades featured above are the ones that are most likely to match my skintone so they’re the ones I’ve swatched. As it turns out, I used Deep Ivory under my eyes and it was slightly lighter than my skintone, so it helped to brighten up the area.

Mary Kay Summer 2016 Look

In these shots I’m wearing the eyeshadow palette on my eyes, the Lash Intensity mascara (which I forgot to photograph – I am so sorry!), the Perfecting Concealer in Deep Ivory under my eyes and the Hearts Together lipstick.

• Rosegold on the lid.
• Espresso on the outer corner and on the outer lower lash line.
• Driftwood through the crease.
• Sweet Cream on my brow bone.
• Moonstone on the inner corner.

Final Thoughts

I wasn’t totally blown away by this collection as there are a few misses in the lot. (Overall, I found the Spring launch a lot more up my alley.) Of the products I used here, I think the eyeshadow palette is a miss for me. The eyeshadows, while lovely on the lids, are intensely powdery and I think the price point is unreasonable when other brands are putting out more shadows for a cheaper price point. (And it’s odd too, because the rest of the Mary Kay line is not unreasonably priced, so I have no idea why these shadows are so expensive. I also feel they’re inferior quality to the ones I tried last quarter from the spring line.)

The lipstick was perfectly adequate, and completely comfortable to wear. My only reservation is that it’s just not a shade I’d wear with any kind of regularity. If you love it though, get it – it’s comfortable and easy to wear!

All that to say… the complete and absolute winner out of this whole lot were the Perfecting Concealers. I can’t even begin to explain my excitement for this product! AT LONG LAST, I can finally wear undereye concealer without having to WORRY about it. I’d long since given up thinking I could wear undereye concealer just because no other brand has ever worked for me. I am so excited that the Mary Kay ones took me by complete surprise because I absolutely love them!

The products featured in this post were sent to me for consideration.

I’m fairly new to Mary Kay makeup. My only lasting impressions of the brand was that it was always an Avon-type brand. You know the kind… where older women in your neighbourhood would have makeup parties and they’d all go through the catalogue together and pick out items they wanted to wear. They’d then place their order via their representative and wait for their products to get delivered. Since my recollections of this were from an eight year old perspective as I watched my mom take part in these things, the brand kind of became branded with a “that’s for old ladies” perspective. And while I think some of those memories still linger for me, I’m quite happy to try out a brand for the first time and see what *I* think about it, and not what my 8 year old self’s impressions are of it.

Well that was an intro and a half. Let’s get into this. As part of their spring collection, Mary Kay has released their Into The Garden collection (available now) and this Color Compact is part of that release. Florals for spring is hardly a new theme, but I know there’s a lot of women out there who appreciate the softness of pastels and gentle colours when it’s finally time for us to exit winter.

The Into The Garden Color Compact comes with four eyeshadows that all have a shimmery finish. The three lip colours are more of a gloss, but they do have some colour in them so they’ll help augment the colour of your lips.

The eyeshadows impressed me: they may all have the same finish, but they’re soft, easy to blend and the pigmentation is definitely there. There’s no chalky-ness to them and all four colours are highly complementary.

The coloured glosses stood out a bit more to me in this palette as they’re not shades I would expect to see paired with these eyeshadows. They also have a bit of glitter in them.

Here’s the look I put together using the Into The Garden Color Compact.

I used all four eyeshadows and the more coral-red lip shade.

I applied the taupe shade all over the lid, the deep, dark purple on the outer corner and through the crease. I lined my lower lash line with the vibrant purple and applied the soft pink shade to the inner corner. The look came out quite pretty, and yet dramatic enough for my tastes.

Let me know what YOU think of Mary Kay products! I was pretty impressed with the eyeshadows in this palette and would love to hear more about what you recommend from the brand.

The product featured in this post was provided to me for consideration.