MAC Mischief Makers Collection:  Pigment/Glitter Sets

Alongside the lipglass/lustreglass sets are three pigment sets. Each set includes four vials of pigments and one vial of glitter. MAC has them priced at $32.50 a pop, but they denote the value of the set as $39. Again, each set is housed inside a holiday box, so they’re easy to give away as gifts.

I always like the holiday pigment sets, because I think they give people a chance to try out pigments without investing $19.50 per shade (not to mention, you’re very unlikely to ever finish a jar–I never have… not even have I come close!). The only part I don’t love is the vial of glitter, as none of MAC’s glitters are eye-safe, so I just never find myself using them often. However, people do ask what can you do if not use them on the eyes, and my answer is: try them in your hair (e.g. mix with hair spray), mix into a nail polish, dust on your body, or pat onto your lips. Each vial is smaller than a full-size jar, but I really think you get more than you’ll probably need–certainly enough to last you years.

My favorite set was 5 Cool Capers, because I think they brought together some very bold, but perfect for fall/winter, shades. Running a close second was 5 Haute High Jinks, because I am always a sucker for earth tones. I think they’re flattering on a variety of skin tones and they tend to be easy to use (particularly the shades they chose–they all have excellent texture). 5 Sexpot is so-so, but it consists of mostly permanent shades, and I think I’d have liked to see the addition of a gray or silver in it, just for a little more kick.

See swatches and shade breakdowns…

Note: I didn’t purchase these as I own a lot of the repromoted shades, and it seemed awfully silly to purchase these just for photography. This means I’ve linked to any shades that I have photographed previously for your reference, so just click if you’d like to see the product photo.

Copperized, Jardin Aires, Museum Bronze, Rushmetal, Reflects Gold

5 Haute High Jinks ($32.50 U.S. / $38.50 CDN)

• Copperized is a shimmery olive green with almost a metallic look to it. This is a repromote from Rushmetal (2007).
• Jardin Aires is a lovely gilded gold that makes an excellent base under shadows, cheek highlighter, and even body highlighter. MAC does re-release this shade from time to time, and it’s just a nice neutral pigment.
• Museum Bronze is a rich chocolate brown with a gold sheen. This is a repromote from Overrich (2008).
• Rushmetal is a frosty, coppery bronze. Even when it was originally released, it seemed like a redux of Copper Sparkle–perhaps slightly less gritty and more copper. This is a repromote from Rushmetal (2007).
• Reflects Gold is an ultra fine glitter that reflects gold. It’s pretty much exactly as it’s named! This is part of the permanent PRO range.

Deep Blue Green, Fuchsia, Grape, Kitschmas, Reflects Transparent Teal

5 Cool Capers ($32.50 U.S. / $38.50 CDN)

• Deep Blue Green is a rich, deep dark teal-black. It’s kind of like a forest green, but deeper, darker, and has a bit of a teal cast. Lovely shade! It’s available at PRO permanently.
• Fuchsia is a shimmery hot pink. It really is that simple. It’s a permanent shade, but it’s also a favorite of mine — it was one of the first pigments I owned. (And these days, it’s eye-safe — when it originally was out, it wasn’t!)
• Grape is a rich, jewel-tone purple with a great, smooth finish. This is part of the permanent PRO range.
• Kitschmas is a soft mauve-y purple with high sheen and frost-factor. It’s a chunky pigment, so it can often have fall out problems, too. It’s not my favorite pigment because the texture leaves much to be desired. It was part of the permanent range, but it was discontinued.
• Reflects Transparent Teal is a ultra fine glittery white base with small particles that reflect teal-green. This is part of the permanent PRO range.

Chocolate Brown, Dark Soul, Naked, Sunnydaze, Reflects Antique Gold

5 Sexpot ($32.50 U.S. / $38.50 CDN)

• Chocolate Brown is a medium dark chocolate brown with slightly paler bronze shimmer. This shade is part of the permanent range.
• Dark Soul is a dark gray-black with silver sparkle. I find that it can often look too much if you’re not careful, and it always reminds me of Black Tied eyeshadow. This is part of the permanent range.
• Naked is a fleshy beige shade that has a velvet texture and slight silvery sparkle. It makes for a decent base shade if you like to use pigments as bases. This shade is part of the permanent range.
• Sunnydaze is a cool-toned bronzy taupe with a metallic sheen. This is a repromote from She Shines (2006).
• Reflects Antique Gold is an ultra fine deep antique gold glitter with a brown cast. This is part of the permanent PRO range.

MAC Mischief Makers Collection:  Lipglass/Lustreglass Sets

Every year, MAC offers up holiday kits and sets for giving and receiving.  This year, there are three lipglass/lustreglass sets, each with three lipglasses and two lustreglasses, and all of them are in miniature sizes.  MAC has them priced at $29.50 a pop, and they denote the value of the set as $35.  (Yay, they did the math for me!)  Each set is housed in cute, giftable packaging (as pictured above), so they’re incredibly easy to give as holiday gifts.

The majority of the sets contain a mix of permanently available shades, repromoted shades, and the occasional brand-spankin’-new shade.   Long-time collectors may want to take a quick glance at their stash to see if they already own a lot of the shades (or need to replace some of their old favorites).  I did notice that they repromoted quite a few shades from 2005, which is about four years ago, and I imagine some of those lipglasses may be in need of an update.

Don’t forget — if you like one of the shades that’s permanent but aren’t sure about the rest, consider purchasing it by itself and in full-size! ;)

Overall, I really did like the way these came together. My favorite set was the 5 Models Misbehaving, but I’m also often attracted to bolder lip colors, even if I seldom wear them!  5 Sexy Shenanigans was the lightest/sheerest of the three sets, while 5 Frisky Business was a good mix of soft, medium, and bold.

See swatches and shade breakdowns…

Note: I didn’t purchase these as I own a lot of the repromoted shades, and it seemed awfully silly to purchase these just for photography. This means two things: 1) I will not be doing lip swatches (since I do not own all, but own enough not to merit purchasing) and 2) I’ve linked to any shades that I have photographed previously for your reference, so just click if you’d like to see the product photo.

Cruise Control, Elle, Ensign, Morning Glory, Poetic License

5 Sexy Shenanigans ($29.50 U.S. / $35.50 CDN)

• Cruise Control is a semi-sheer, medium yellow-based pink with soft yellow shimmer. This is a new, limited edition shade exclusive to this set as far as I know.
• Elle is a milky, pearlescent pale white-pink with soft shimmer. This is a repromote from Belle Azure (2005) and Patternmaker (2006).
• Ensign is is a bright, medium pink that’s not a hot pink, just something bright enough to get noticed. It kind reminded me of watermelon, but a little pinker. This is a repromote from Naughty Nauticals (2008).
• Morning Glory is a sheer, pearlescent pinky-lilac. This is part of the permanent range.
• Poetic License is a creamy, beige-y coral. This is a repromote from Naturally Eccentric (2005) and was recently featured in palette form in the duty-free exclusive Trip II (2009).

Angelwing, Gitane, Instant Gold, Magnetique, Pinkular

5 Models Misbehaving ($29.50 U.S. / $35.50 CDN)

• Angelwing a rich, raspberry-fuchsia with purple and copper-red shimmer. It’s like a deeper, more intense version of Magnetique (and darker overall–not as bright). This is a repromote from Madame B. (2005).
• Gitane is a semi-opaque shade of rich, warmed-up chocolate with copper bronze. This is a repromote from D’Bohemia (2005).
• Instant Gold is a sheer slightly yellowed gloss with lots of gold shimmer. This is part of the permanent range.
• Magnetique is a mostly opaque deepened fuchsia-berry shade with iridescent purple pearl shimmer. This has always been one of my favorite lipglasses. This is a repromote from Belle Azure (2005), Holiday Dress Sets (2006), Nocturnelle (2006), Little Darlings Sets (2008), and A Rose Romance (2009).
• Pinkular is as far from pink as you can get. It’s a rich, coppery shade with lots of copper sparkle–very warm. This is a repromote from Patternmaker (2006).

Beaute, Pinkarat, Silly Girl, Totally It!, Wonderstruck

5 Frisky Business ($29.50 U.S. / $35.50 CDN)

• Beaute is a semi-sheer soft orange-y coral with multicolored shimmer. This is a repromote from D’Bohemia (2005).
• Pinkarat is a sheer, cool-toned pale pink with gold shimmer. This is part of the permanent range.
• Silly Girl is a gilded peachy-gold with gold shimmer. This is a repromote from Balloonacy (2007).
• Totally It is a bright pop of hot pink with matching pink shimmer. This is a repromote from Fafi (2008).
• Wonderstruck is a semi-sheer medium pink with a little raspberry tone and silverish shimmer. This is part of the permanent range.

MAC Magic, Mirth, & Mischief Collection: The Round-Up

MAC Holiday is always a bit of an overwhelming event, just because of the sheer size of the offerings. Each year, MAC puts out a holiday colour collection, but they also have several separate, yet related, launches of more giftable items. From eyeshadow and lip palettes to mini-sized sets (which are due out November 5th), MAC has you covered. There are also some store exclusive sets, too.  To help make sure you haven’t missed anything, here’s a compilation of all of the reviews for holiday:

Colour Collection

• Mineralize Eyeshadows
• Mineralize Blushes
• Nail Lacquers/Softsparkle Pencils
• Lipsticks
• Dazzleglasses
• Cremesheen Glasses

Kits & Palettes

• Smoke & Mirrors Eyeshadow Palette
• Devil May Care Eyeshadow Palette
• Mystic Cool Eyeshadow Palette
• Sorceress Eyeshadow Palette
• Face Kits (Hocus Focus / Fab-racadabra)
• Lip Kits (Possessed by Pink! / Heavenly Dish)

MAC also released lip, eye, and brush gift sets, which I won’t be reviewing in detail (if you’re looking for a review, this is all you’re going to get–sorry!), because it includes mostly repromoted or permanent products. Each lip bag does feature one new, limited edition lipstick. They’re all good bang for your buck — you’re probably getting more than you would if you purchased the items separately, so they make good gifts or opportunities to pick up permanent items you may have skipped over in lieu of something limited edition.

On MAC Holiday Brush Sets: The holiday brush sets are machine-made rather than man-made (or handmade) as the full size brushes are. This is primarily what accounts for the difference in quality between brush sets and full size brushes. I do recommend the brush sets inasmuch as you’re on a budget and you think you’ll use the majority of the brushes included in the set. I started off just owning a holiday brush set, but I’ve since gone on to replace all my brushes with full sized versions. I’m disappointed that the eye brush set doesn’t contain the 239, which I think is one of the most vital, must-have eye brushes ever. The brushes themselves are sleek handled and look really nice, though they do feel a little scratchier/rougher than the full size versions do.

MAC Magic, Mirth, & Mischief Review: Smoke & Mirrors Eye Shadows

A good smoky eye palette is never a bad thing to have on hand. It’s useful, easy to travel with, and it’s classic. I’m not loving this year’s version of the smoky eye palette, because it’s more of a brownish eye, and I’ve always felt the classic smoky eye is monochromatic. I still hold that last year’s was better. (And I still contend that you can make your own smoky eyeshadow quad with permanent MAC eyeshadows just as well.)

6 Smoke & Mirrors Eye Shadows ($36.00 U.S.)

• Fire In Her Eyes is a super soft, slightly sheer beige with a light frost finish. In the swatch, you can tell it hardly shows up on my skin without a base. It’ll make a nice highlight, though.
• Wide-Eyed Wonder is kind of a taupe-y brown with a reddish touch. There’s nothing about this shade that makes it jump off the page for me.
• Black Magique is a velvety smooth deep dark black with brown tones. It has slight gold shimmer, but it’s hardly noticeable.
• Spell No. 9 is a satiny neutral pink. It’s sheer, and it doesn’t do much for me.
• Deception is a sheer, glittery copper bronze. Even though it’s a frost finish, it had more of a lustre feel to me.
• Smoke & Mirrors is a cool-toned chocolate brown with a little gray sheen.

I”m not sold on this year’s. It reads more like a neutral eye palette than a smoky eye palette to me. It’s useful, and the colors are easily worn by many, so in that aspect, it’s a solid choice for those looking for a go-to palette.

• Product: 24/30
• Value: 9/10
• Ease of Use: 4/5
• Packaging: 4/5

See photos and swatches…

6 Smoke & Mirrors Eye Shadows: Fire In Her Eyes, Wide-Eyed Wonder, Black Magique, Spell No. 9, Deception, Smoke & Mirrors

6 Smoke & Mirrors Eye Shadows: Fire In Her Eyes, Wide-Eyed Wonder, Black Magique

6 Smoke & Mirrors Eye Shadows: Spell No. 9, Deception, Smoke & Mirrors

Please do not redistribute or repost these images without permission. If you want to share, please link back to this post instead! :) Thank you!

MAC Magic, Mirth, & Mischief Review: 6 Devil May Dare Warm Eye Shadows

MAC’s Warm eyeshadow palette usually gets me. I’m warm-toned, and I naturally gravitate towards warmer shades. Give me gold and I’m a happy lady! This year’s warm eyeshadow palette isn’t my favorite, but I like half of it a lot. The other half is just so-so, but I’ve been known to purchase a palette for just one color… so I suppose half isn’t bad! I think the reason I don’t love half of the palette is that it doesn’t feel very “warm” to me.

6 Devil May Dare Warm Eye Shadows ($36.00 U.S.)

• Oh My Darling is a soft, slightly warmed up beige with a frost finish. I like that this color is included, if only because it’s a very nice shade for a highlight. It’s not too frost or white, so it will work well on the brow bone.
• Dare Ya! is a medium pink with kind of a peachy tone to it. It went on a bit sheerly on me, though.
• Sorcery is a reddish-toned eggplant purple with a soft finish.
• Gold Tease is a gorgeous shade of gilded gold with a metallic sheen. It reminded me of the Rushmetal pigments a bit, actually.
• Prankster is an antique gold; kind of like a green-gold that’s played down. Again, gold, so of course I love it. I told you – three shades rocked my world!
• Devilishly Dark is a warmed-up light chocolate brown with gold shimmer.

I would have bought this palette just for the two gold shades, but I have an unhealthy obsession with gold eyeshadow. (Particularly if they’re antique golds!)

• Product: 27/30
• Value: 9/10
• Ease of Use: 4/5
• Packaging: 4/5

See photos and swatches…

6 Devil May Dare Warm Eye Shadows: Oh My Darling, Dare Ya!, Sorcery, Gold Tease, Prankster, Devilishly Dark

6 Devil May Dare Warm Eye Shadows: Oh My Darling, Dare Ya!, Sorcery

6 Devil May Dare Warm Eye Shadows: Gold Tease, Prankster, Devilishly Dark

Please do not redistribute or repost these images without permission. If you want to share, please link back to this post instead! :) Thank you!