new to mac

hi everyone!
i have been working as a make up artist for nearly 6 years now, and as i work for someone else, i have been using the brands that they state. (vincent longo, anthony braden and bare essentuals) i love vincent longo but its a pain to get hold of and i want to try something new. i have just got a new set of mac brushes and LOVE them and wanted to try the make up (just for personal use) but i just dont know where to start!im always wary that the girls in the shop just try and sell u anything and i let them most of the time so i wanted to do a bit of research first. any products to be avoided?any must haves? all comments will be very much appreciated!
thank you

I saw someone do swatches of their line filler, and it was AMAZING. That would me a must-have for me. I, too am just starting to fill a palette with my first MAC eye shadows, and I'm really loving Satin Taupe and Club especially. I also hear really great things about the paint pots. People use them under shadows for good staying power and an extra kick to the color.

A few MAC products which I think are really good are:
Painterlily Paintpot (good for eyelids before you apply eyeshadow)
Mac Bronzer in Refined Golden
Eyeshadow in Shroom, Satin Taupe and Patina (these are only a few of the ones Ive tried...)
And my all time favorite eyeliner is Mac Technakohl Liner, its so easy to use and you can make it neat or smudge it and it always looks great! I have it in Brownborder.

Hope that helps, Im sure once you get going you wont be able to stop!

Products I recommend:

Groundworks paint pot (amazing! I love this as a great natural brown base and works beautifully with other eye shadows like woodwinked, soba, twinks, etc.)

Other paint pots I recommend: Quite Natural (matte dirty brown) & Soft Ochre (yellow-ish nude)

I am obsessed with browns and gold so I recommend some matte neutrals, shimmmery gold shadows, and matte &/or shimmmery dark browns. Some colors I recommend for these categories:

Woodwinked, Twinks, Soba, Cork, Patina, Texture, and Embark


Also, Love Nectar lipgloss is just beautiful, as well as Jubilee lipstick (my favorite nude).
Their Blacktrack Fluidline is also amazing.

Have you worked for Bare Escentuals?