Pencil wearers can choose from traditional Pencil Liners, soft Eye Kohl pencils and their more intense cousins the Kohl Power Eye Pencils, the mechanical pencil-style Technakohl Liner, and the long lasting cult favorite Powerpoint Eye Pencils. The Powerpoints are absolutely budge-proof. Permaplum is a very rich metallic purple that is dark enough to look natural. It also has a pink shimmer but don’t be put off by that. It’s not noticeable but instead has the effect of making the liner look multi-dimensional.

For those who never have any luck with pencils, there are a number of liquid options. Liquid Eye Liner is a standard liquid liner whereas Penultimate Eye Liner is a liquid liner with a pen tip. MAC’s Liquidlast Liner is a very long-wearing liquid liner with a brush applicator that stays on even through a day at the beach or after some serious crying. Not only does it not run, it also doesn’t flake, which is pretty impressive for a liquid liner. In fact, when it’s time to remove it, plan on expending an extra effort with a waterproof eye makeup remover. It comes in a lot of fun colors that can be hard to find in liquid liners, such as the teal-colored Aqualine.

photo credit: ookikioo

Fluidlines are the best of both worlds. They are gel liners that look soft and smooth like a pencil but without the hassle of sharpening. The Fluidlines do not smudge and come in cute little glass pots. You have a lot of control over the application because you can use whatever brush you want depending on the desired outcome. Blitz & Glitz is a classic black with a golden pearl twist. It seems almost impossible to go through an entire pot, but be sure to cap the lid tightly to avoid drying out the gel.

With so many great options, the only problem you will have when buying a MAC Eyeliner is narrowing down your selection!

Learning how to apply eyeliner is an essential step in pulling your look together. Properly applied eyeliner can help define your eyes and give a polished look. However, if you’re not careful, it can easily transform your appearance from classy to trashy. Here are instructions on how to apply pencil eyeliner for a pretty, natural look:

1. Color selection plays a big role in the final outcome. For everyday looks, brown is the most natural color for most people. However, if your hair is very dark, you can get away with black. Charcoal is another nice, universal option. If your eyes are green, a dark plum will make them pop.

2. Begin with the upper lid and a sharpened pencil. You need a heavier hand and a sharper tip for the upper lid. After using the pencil on your upper lids, the tip will soften a bit, making it perfect for lining the lower lid. If your pencil is very hard or waxy, warm it slightly with your fingers or hot water so it will glide better.

photo credit: Green Heat

3. Place the tip at the inner corner of your upper eyelid as close to the lash line as possible. Begin where your eyelashes begin or about one-fourth of the way in. Follow the lash line with the pencil all the way to the outer corner. As you reach the outer corner, you can press harder to make the line a little darker and thicker as it goes out.

4. Repeat this process on the lash line underneath the eye, but use a much lighter touch and work from the outside in. Remember the line should be thickest at the outside so gently lighten your touch as you work inward. Stop about three-fourths of the way toward your nose. Then grab a cotton swab and use it to lightly blend the line, starting from the inner corner and working outward, so that it looks more like a shadow than an obvious line.

5. You can connect the top and bottom lines on the outer corner of the eye, but don’t do this on the inner corners or it will make your eyes appear smaller. Regardless of how much eyeliner you apply, be sure it is even and blended – not rough and jagged. You can use an small, angled flat brush to smooth out any problem areas.

MAC’s To The Beach collection is filled with the sort of items you might expect to find in a summer collection – bronzes and bright colors that look great against tanned skin. Most of us find that the colors we’ve been wearing all winter just don’t look right once we start spending more time outdoors in the summer. MAC comes to the rescue once again with great selections in eye shadow, lipstick, and bronzers.

Everything in this collection features special beach-themed packaging. At first the green eyeshadow pots with white seashells outlined on the front are a bit jarring and almost look like they are not even from MAC. But these cases and the similar green blush compacts with their starfish design actually do have their charm. In fact, it’s fun to pull these out when you’re putting on your makeup and it also makes it easier to find the new summer shades among the sea of black shadow pots you probably have swimming in your makeup drawer. The Sweet & Punch shadow is a fun color that reminds me of key limes. It’s a festive shade perfect for an outdoor lunch or lounging on a boat.

The lipsticks here are perfectly suited to the theme if a bit predictable and boring. Lazy Day is the requisite blue-based pink that only the tannest among us can pull off. Beach Bound is a frosty peach shade that is great if you’re going for a nude lip look, especially if you pair it with the sparkly peach Flurry of Fun Lipglass also in this collection. The lipsticks come in orange tubes with white conch shells and the Lipglasses have orange caps emblazoned with seahorses.

Lustre Drops make a reappearance here from the Style Warrior collection. This is a multi-purpose liquid highlighter that helps you achieve a sun-kissed look. The golden bronze Sun Rush Lustre Drops are the perfect complement to a tan while the Pink Rebel Lustre Drops help give paler skin a fresh glow. Dot on with your fingers or blend into foundation or cream blush for a pearly glow. Scorcher Nail Lacquer could very well be one of the best Nail Lacquers MAC Cosmetics has ever released. It’s the perfect coral shade to paint on your toes for the beach but bright enough that you will want to confine its use only to the summertime.

The Marine Life High-Light Powder is a pressed powder highlighter that uses shades of pink, peach, bronze, and brown to transform the surface of the powder into a work of art depicting a seahorse swimming in the ocean. The design is so beautiful that you almost don’t want to use it but the powder gives such a nice glow that you don’t feel too bad about disturbing the scene.

Eyeshadow – $14.50 US/$17.50 CDN

* Firecraker – Frosted mid-tone red orange (Veluxe Pearl)
* Humid – Intense green with shimmer (Frost)
* Sand & Sun – Light peach (Matte)
* Sweet & Punchy – Bright yellow green (Veluxe Pearl)
* Shimmermoss – Green with green pearl (Veluxe Pearl)

Eye Kohl – $14.50 US/$17.50 CDN

* Float on By – Dark green turquoise
* Rosemary & Thyme – Mid-tone olive gold with shimmer

Lipstick – $14.00 US/$16.50 CDN

* Beachbound – Sheer frosted pale peach (Glaze)
* Lazy Day – Light dirty blue pink (Lustre)
* Thrills – Rosy copper with gold pearl (Frost)
* Funbathing – Mid-tone bronzed plum (Cremesheen)

Lipglass – $14.00 US/$16.50 CDN

* Easy Lounger – Light baby pink with multi-dimensional pear
* Flurry of Fun – Sheer sparkly peach
* Splashing – Mid-tone blue pink with soft gold pearl

Lip Pencil – $13.00 US/$15.50 CDN

* Life’s a Breeze – Soft pink
* Temperature Rising – Loudmouth orange

Powder Blush – $18.50 US/$22.00 CDN

* Get-Away Bronze – Mid-tone Suntan (Frost)
* Hipness – Intense coral with soft white pearl (Frost)

High-Light Powder – $26.00 US/$32.00 CDN

* Marine Life – Multicolour pressed powder

MAC Cream Bronzer – $25.00 US/$30.00 CDN

* Beach Bronze – Golden Glow with Soft Gold Finish
* Weekend – Mid-tone deep orange brown with soft pink pearl

Luster Drops – $18.50 US/$22.50 CDN

* Pink Rebel – Blue pink with gold pearl
* Sun Rush – Peachy bronze with gold pearl

Bronzing Powder – $22.00 US/$27.00 CDN

* Golden – Muted golden tan-beige with golden shimmer
* Refined Golden – Finely spun golden with soft pearl finish

Bronze Body Oil – $22.00 US/$27.00 CDN

* Glowing tan with multidimensional golden shimmer

Nail Lacquer – $12.00 US/$14.50 CDN

* In the Buff – Muted taupe avocado (Cream)
* Scorcher – Creamy bright coral red (Cream)

Makeup Bags

* MAC To The Beach Bag – $49.50 US/$59.50 CDN
Available at MAC Stores only.

Brushes

Brush 130 – Short Duo Fibre – $38.00 US/$45.50 CDN
Brush 130 Short Duo Fibre Powder/Blush – $34.00 US/$41.00 CDN