For Bay area beauty junkies (and visiting makeup lovers), a trip to the San Francisco MAC Powell street pro store (45 Powell Street, right down by Union Square) is a must, because when it comes to beauty shopping, it’s an iconic stop, tantamount to visiting the golden gate Bridge, Pier 39 or Lombard Street… When you’re in SF, if your schedule permits, you gotta do it!

I stopped by yesterday to check out the new MAC studio Waterweight foundation and get some application tips.

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Studio Waterweight reminds me a little of my beloved Dior Diorskin nude Air Serum. It comes in a bottle with a dropper and has a consistency on the thinner side of the spectrum. It just recently arrived on counters, so it’s super new.

I talked to a very sweet makeup artist named Hannah (Hi, Hannah!) at the store — here she is right here — who recommended tapping and blending it on the skin with something like a wet MAC pro performance Sponge (MAC’s version of the BeautyBlender).

The studio Waterweight release also features a super soft synthetic face clean with short, compact bristles and a slightly angled head called the 196 slanted flat top Brush.

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Oh, my gosh! — the bristles are SO soft. Hannah said that if you use this clean instead of a sponge, it helps to alternate short strokes with a stippling motion for the most natural-looking skin.

I’m testing studio Waterweight today and through this weekend and will have more to say about it soon…but my first impression? very silky and lightweight, which I’m excited about.

Of course I also had to wander around while I was the store (of course), and I identified these MAC travel bags with matching mirrored compacts that say “MAC San Francisco.”

How cute are these!? Wouldn’t it be fun to travel and collect different MAC bags like these in different cities? That’s something I’d like to do.

What do you think of these big Zuca bags? I guess they’re supposed to be souped-up luggage for professional makeup artists (or hardcore makeup aficionados!).

WANT.

I’m not a working makeup artist, but still… should I put one of these on my Christmas list?! I could use it to take my makeup from my office to my bedroom. Hmm…

Oh! — and this also caught my eye. face and Body Foundation.

You know I love face and Body, right? Well, this one is very striking because it’s white! Yes, white, and it’s white so you can mix it with other foundations to lighten them. If you have light skin and struggle to find foundations that match, this could help.

Up on one of the walls in the store by the brushes, they also have this huge, valuable clean guide you can flip through…

Very cool!

The Haute Dogs fall collection is currently on display in the store’s windows, and I’m kind of obsessed with this black poodle (I’ve named him Earl). I wish it was for sale.

Or, how about this other dog? She has soft little ropes for fur. I was very tempted to braid them (but I didn’t).

I’m kicking myself for not taking a picture of this one artist who was wearing the new Miley Viva Glam 2 Lipstick (I can’t recall her name, agh!). She looked fantastic in it, and she told me that she was wearing it with pro Longwear Lip Pencil in Kiss Me quick as her lip liner.

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The combo looked beyond good. I’m definitely gonna try that one this weekend.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen