National Lipstick Day is on July 29, and every year MAC Cosmetics celebrates in a beautiful way. This year, the beauty brand is switching things up from their usual free lipstick offer. The beauty retailer annouched they’re giving customers a special deal–get any coveted MAC lipstick or lip gloss for just $15 (originally $21/$24) online. The Back-to-M.A.C. Program accepts empty makeup packaging in exchange for free M.A.C. Lipstick, Lipglass, or eye shadow. Bring in six empty M.A.C. Products in their primary containers and the.
I’m glad I had only thrown away a couple of panned out MAC blushes – all Pink Swoon – before I got to know about the Back To M.A.C Program. Haha, I wasn’t too adventurous in the past when it came to blushes. I still have another Pink Swoon in my stash, but the most often used blush now is Milani Baked Blush in Luminoso.
2 Pink Swoons saying goodbye.
Back To M.A.C is the company’s recycling program, and is one of its five social initiative programs.
The program is pretty clear-cut – return six M.A.C primary packaging containers in exchange for a free MAC lipstick of your choice. The lipstick cannot be from the M.A.C Viva Glam program as 100% of the purchase price of any item from that program contributes to the M.A.C AIDS Fund. I think they used to offer lipglass and eye shadow too, but now it’s only lipstick.
So you can pretty much bring back anything MAC, except for samples, applicators (like puffs, sharpeners, curlers), false lashes, cases, etc.
From MAC website:
Most primary packaging of M·A·C products is accepted as Back to M·A·C 'currency.' M·A·C does not accept the following as a part of the program:
- Secondary packaging of any sort [paper box, plastic/cellophane wrapper, shopping bags, etc.]
- Samples [sample containers, special/trial size products for promotional/seasonal kits]
- Cosmetic applicators/tools [disposables, puffs, sponges, scissors, spatulas, swabs, sharpeners, tweezers, curlers]
- Accessories [bags, belts, makeup cases, lashes, Blot Film].
If you are unsure of whether an item is considered a ‘primary packaging’, simply bring it to a MAC counter or see if your item falls into any of the categories below.
I brought home 2 lipsticks in exchange for 10 eyeshadow pots and 2 blush pans! YAY!!! 😀
I didn’t choose the colors on a whim, though; I spent a long, long time picking the top 2 that I liked – a pink and a coral. It must have been 3 or 4 trips to various MAC counters, asking the opinion of several MUAs before I decided on See Sheer and Speed Dial.
5 Mac Containers For A Free Lipstick Samples
Really, never judge a book by its cover. I was not entirely positive the shades the young and trendy-looking MUAs picked for me previously suited my taste that well. Then on the last visit, it was a slightly um, older and less hip-looking MUA that served me. She picked See Sheer and Speed Dial and I LOVED how they looked on me straight away!
Bahar e shariat jild 1 in hindi. I told her I wanted a pink and a coral, but unlike the others who simply chose a general pink and a random coral and shoved it into my hands, she actually stood in front of the lipstick counter for a while and gave thought to her selection. Talk about professionalism! Wootz! 😀
Back To MAC Program lipsticks are marked with a cross. And apparently they keep different stock for normal purchases and Back To MAC. If you want a color that is not stocked for the Back To MAC Program, they will not give you one from the normal inventory. That was what happened with my See Sheer. Raffles City MAC ran out of stock so I had to get it at the Ngee Ann store.
I think Back To MAC is an excellent recycling program. Tube rank jeet 3 pro. It not only helps us to correctly dispose of plastic containers, but also encourages us to depot our eyeshadows to save space! Some people immediately depot their eyeshadows to put in customizable palettes like the Z-palette and accumulate enough to exchange for a MAC lipstick!
It’s a pity only MAC in Ngee Ann City Singapore sells the refill pans. They cost about SGD5 less than the potted ones. MAC should sell those refill pans in all Singapore stores so we can save money and the environment!
Oh, another thing. One of MAC’s five social initiatives is MAC Cruelty-Free Beauty, and the company prides itself on not testing on animals. This seems to have changed though and there have been cries of outrage from bloggers (like Phyrra) who feel betrayed that their trust has been trampled on. What are your views?
If you've ever wanted the fresh and glowy supermodel face, a beauty advisor at your local Sephora would probably point you toward Charlotte Tilbury. Charlotte Tilbury is a professional British makeup artist who has done makeup for several A-list celebrities and has been lead makeup artist for the Victoria's Secret's Fashion Show (via Charlotte Tilbury and Beauty Packaging). Tilbury released her own makeup line in 2012, per Allure, and since then the line has been a big hit. But with the bombshell look you get from Charlotte Tilbury products comes the bombshell prices.
The company has some cult favorites, like their Hollywood Flawless Filter ($44), Airbrush Flawless Finish Setting Powder ($45), and the Matte Revolution Lipstick in Pillow Talk ($34), via Allure. The Hollywood Flawless Filter is a tinted, luminous primer that you can wear on its own or under makeup for a dewy face, while the Airbrush Setting Powder contains emollient rose wax and almond oil, so the powder doesn't dry out your skin. The Pillow Talk lipstick is a rosy-nude lipstick that gives you that 'my lips but better' look. But if you want that smoke-show look without breaking the bank, the good news is that there are plenty of more affordable products, or dupes, that will give you an identically flawless finish.
Achieving a flawless complexion using drugstore alternatives
Beauty guru Tara Lynn listed drugstore dupes to popular Charlotte Tilbury products on her YouTube channel. Among them, she listed NYX Born to Glow Liquid Illuminator ($7.50) as an alternative to the Hollywood Flawless Filter and the FLOWER Beauty Light Illusion Liquid Foundation ($14) instead of Charlotte Tilbury's Light Wonder Foundation ($44).
Lynn says that the FLOWER Beauty foundation offers more coverage than the Charlotte Tilbury foundation, but that FLOWER Beauty's shade selection isn't as extensive as Charlotte Tilbury's. Jessica Braun, another makeup reviewer on YouTube, suggested L'Oréal Age Perfect Radiant Serum Foundation ($15.99) as a slightly more glowy and higher-coverage dupe to the Charlotte Tilbury Foundation.
Jessica Braun used to apply the Airbrush Flawless Finish Setting Powder under her eyes, until she found a better, and cheaper, dupe — the No. 7 Lift & Luminate Triple Action Translucent Finishing Powder ($12.99). Braun said, 'It's really a finely-milled powder. It's brightening. It's blurring.' Braun added, 'This does an even better job at flattening out that area [the undereyes].'
Mac Free Lipstick
Cheaper products that give you a sultry supermodel look
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Charlotte Tilbury's Luxury Eyeshadow Palettes ($53), via Sephora, which consist of four shades, are a popular item, but they seemed lackluster to Braun at first. 'I just wasn't impressed. Given the price you pay for just a quad, they should be really good' (via YouTube). Braun ended up trying their Pillow Talk quad, though, and ended up loving it to the point where she almost used up one of the shadows in the quad. But then she bought the Revolution XX XXpress Quad in XXposed ($15) and found it to look virtually the same on her eyes. Fruity loops studio 6 free. download full version.
'It's an incredible dupe,' said Braun. It's not the first time the Revolution brand has managed to duplicate Charlotte Tilbury. In fact, Makeup Revolution caused controversy when they released their since-discontinued Renaissance Lipsticks, for allegedly copying the Pillow Talk Lipstick, down to Charlotte Tilbury's signature packaging, per Cosmopolitan UK.
5 Mac Containers For A Free Lipstick Sale
But if you do want dupes of the iconic Charlotte Tilbury Pillow Talk Lipstick, Stylecaster listed a few alternatives, like NYX Matte Lipstick in 'Euro-Trash' ($6), Maybelline Color Sensational Inti-Mattes Lipstick in 'Almond Rose' ($5.79), and MAC Cosmetics Amplified Lipstick in 'Cosmo.' While MAC Cosmetics' lipsticks are $19, they are still cheaper than Charlotte Tilbury lipsticks ($34). MAC also has a recycling program called 'Back 2 MAC,' in which you can give six empty, used MAC containers for a free lipstick.