March 2013 MAC Matters Purchase: It's Lippie Time!

Before I share what I purchased for this month's installment of MAC Matters, here's a brief recap of what this whole shindig is about:

This series is the brain child of the fabulous Pam of Pammy Blogs Beauty. She basically decided that instead of continuing a subscription to a beauty box service, she'd use the money ($21) to build a core collection of products from MAC Cosmetics. I read about it and immediately asked if I could do it with her.
Here are the rules for the MAC Matters Makeup Challenge:

Goal: Build a core MAC Collection using an average of $21.00 per month. (Pam came up with this amount because it is what she was spending on a monthly subscription service that she decided to cancel.)Purchase at least one item a month: If the item is under $21, save the remainder for the next month. While there are many items priced under $21, there are plenty that are over the $21 range that we can save for. Some months, we will be "saving" the $21 to go towards a bigger MAC purchase.

Do a monthly blog post to share what we purchased! The goal is to continue this series for 12 months to see what kind of core collection we each can build! (I also think it will be very interesting to see the difference in the products we choose to purchase and what constitutes a "core collection" for us individually.)

If this series is popular, we will continue it with another brand once the 12 months of MAC are completed. There are already discussions as to what the next brand challenge should be! We're thinking that a drugstore line could be fun! Perhaps NYX? Pam has already suggested the title "NYX Fix" which I think is super cute! 

Here's what I've acquired so far to build my "core collection":

November 2012: an empty Pro Palette Eye Shadow x 4 and All That Glitters eye shadow

December 2012: MAC's Blacktrack Fluidline gel eyeliner

January 2013: Teddy Eye Kohl Pencil

February 2013: Matchmaster Foundation with SPF 15 in 6.0

And this month's purchase is...

...MAC Lustre Lipstick in See Sheer! Once again, I visited the MAC counter at my local Nordstrom to make this month's purchase and sought out the advice of one of the artists there. I tend to gravitate towards the same lip colors over and over (deep, dark reds and purples or colors that are very, very close to my natural lip color), but this time I really wanted to try something different. I asked Jenny (the artist that helped me) to pick out something fresh, springy, and wearable. She immediately thought of See Sheer, which the MAC website describes as a grapefruit pink, but reads on me as more of a sheer coral (definitely outside of my comfort zone, but oh so pretty and on trend).

See Sheer swatched on my hand. Above is without flash and below is with.

So once again, a very practical purchase for me, but honestly I think that's sort of the purpose of this series. I'm trying to build a "core collection" of makeup items that I can really work with on a daily basis.  MAC's lipsticks are only $15, so I have an overage of $6 to go towards next month's purchase. What would you get; I'd love to hear your recommendations! And don't forget to go see what Pam purchased this month. Until next time...