New Loves: MAC's Innocence, Beware and Milani's Amber Nectar Illuminating Face Powder

Where have you two been all my life?

I’m in love. 

Head over heels-crazy-in love.

Now that I think about it, maybe this post should have gone up yesterday, on Valentine’s Day, since it is all about new loves.  Don’t you just love it when new products enter your makeup life and immediately make it better? 

*sigh*

That’s what has happened for me with the introduction of MAC’s Innocence, Beware Cremesheen Lipstick and Milani’s Illuminating Face Powder in 01 Amber Nectar to my makeup collection.

Innocence, Beware is part of MAC’s Shop MAC limited edition collection, but I’ve actually had my eye on it going back a couple of years ago when it came out with the Disney Venomous Villains collection. I wasn’t quick enough to pick it up before it sold out then, so I ordered it as soon as it was available on Nordstrom’s website this time around. 

MAC's Innocence, Beware

I’ll admit that even after looking at swatches upon swatches of it, I was a little worried that it wouldn’t work with my super fair skin. It’s one of those light nude-y shades that always run the risk of making me look half-dead or totally washed-out. MAC describes it as a light yellow pink, but to my eyes, Innocence, Beware has just enough peach in it to warm it up and add some color to my fair skin.  So all my worrying was for nothing - I love it so much that I’ve worn it everyday since it arrived on my doorstep last Friday, including today. 

I don’t usually bother with a lip liner, but I like shading around the edges of my lips with Smashbox’s Nude Lip Pencil In Fair before putting on Innocence, Beware just to add a little dimension to the look. Then I like topping the lipstick off with a little bit of Too Faced’s Glamour Gloss ins Pillow Talk, which is a milky pink shade that’s very similar to Innocence, Beware but with light and dark pink shimmer scattered throughout. 

Innocence, Beware Lip Combo: Too Faced Glamour Gloss in Pillow Talk, Smashbox Nude Lip Liner in Fair, & Innocence, Beware

Innocence, Beware Lip Combo Swatches: Smashbox Nude Lipliner in Fair (bottom), MAC Innocence, Beware (middle), & Too Face Glamour Gloss in Pillow Talk (top)

It’s a really pretty combination that I’d recommend to anyone, but especially fellow fair skinned folks who might be a little bit afraid of Innocence, Beware being too light.

Now, as far as the Milani Illuminating Face Powder goes, it came into by life totally by surprise – and accident.

I ran into CVS to pick up a few 12-packs of Diet Coke (gotta stock up when they’re on sale), and a display of new Milani products greeted right as soon as I walked in. Now, I guess I’ve been a bad beauty junkie because I had no idea that Milani was coming out with these powders. The packaging describes them as ‘ultra-smooth highlighter, bronzer & blush’ and the powders themselves feature gorgeous little roses in various colors. My CVS had two shades, the Amber Nectar that I picked up and a darker shade, Hermosa Rose.  (I checked Milani’s website, and there’s a third shade, Beauty’s Touch, which features light pinks, peach, and ivory roses – it seems lighter than Amber Nectar.  I kind of want that one too.)  

Milani Illuminating Face Powder in Amber Nectar

I’ll admit it – I bought the powder mostly because the roses were just so cute (and I had a 10% off one beauty product coupon) and the colors were pretty – peach, ivory, bronze and tawny. I don’t really know what I was expecting from the product – but I can safely say that’s is better than I imagined.

Swirled together, Amber Nectar is a soft peachy color, though it has enough bronze-y tones to keep it from looking orange. When I first swatched it, I was kind of disappointed in how light it was, but on the cheeks, it actually builds up pretty easily to natural sun-kissed glow. I’ve used it primarily as a blush – the color is too dark to use as a highlighter on my skin.  However, the powder has a lovely sheen that allows me to skip a separate highlighter product when I use it on my cheeks.

Milani Amber Nectar Swatch (heavy)

Milani Amber Nectar Swatch applied with brush and blended

I’ve also tried it as a bronzer, just dusting it along my cheekbones, temples and hairline. While it has a peachy tone, it actually does sort of mimic the look of my skin when it gets a little sun (which it really hasn’t in 15 years).  With fair skin, I think it’s important to use a big fluffy powder brush or a duo-fiber brush when using it as bronzer because it can quickly look too amber if you use a small, dense blush brush.

Like Innocence, Beware!, I’ve worn the Milani Illuminating Face Powder everyday since I got. The two pair really nicely together, actually.

Have you tried either of these products?  Are you as big a fan as I am? What products are you loving lately? How long does it take to know you’ve fallen for a product?