MAC Cosmetics - Colour Forms Review

OVERALL, Colour Forms offers a nice range of new products and takes on old products, aside from the traditional Nordstrom exclusive of eyeshadow and lip palettes and brush sets. The packaging for the Colour Forms Collection is a glossy black, rather than MAC’s usual matte black, and there is a metallic red sticker that says “MAC Cosmetics.” Yes, it is a sticker, but it seemed much better adhered than the Fafi episode. It almost looks like metal, so they did a much better job with these stickers. The packaging for the palettes and brush sets is a mixture of brightly colored satin-y compacts that flip open and close by magnets. It’s fun packaging, which I think works well with the summer months. It doesn’t feel cheap or flimsy, either, which is something that is always a concern when it comes to mass-produced palettes.  I didn’t take a super close look at the brush sets - the packaging is just like the eye and lip palettes, and it seems like there’s a brush case and a brush bag, but I’m not 100% on that.

A word on the new products… The lipsticks do, in fact, have a true inner core, which is the same across all of the lipsticks, and it is a sheer, shimmery golden kind of color. I couldn’t tell you how it really changes the lipstick, as it all muddles together during application - I think it may add some golden sheen. The richmetal highlighters do look like CCBs, and to be honest, it’s hard to tell them apart. They do seem creamer than some of the CCBs I’ve tried in the past, so perhaps it’s more like an improved formulation of the CCB? The Colour Form Powders are both very pretty, though I’m biased and prefer Suncentered, which is warmer and has a nice level of shimmer. I think people will enjoy these, though - especially those who liked beauty powders.

You can see official product descriptions here.

Check out individual product reviews…

Lipsticks

• Rose Go Around is a sheer, creamy deep red with soft sheen. I think this may be a great red for those who are new to red lipstick. Because it is sheer, it can be built up or easily blotted. It is also creamy and moisturizing.
• Pop Circle is a cool pink, not quite “pornstar pink,” because it has a great golden sheen to it, as well as it’s not quite that frosty.
• Naked to the Core is the lightest of the four with its sheer, pinky-nude color and lots of golden shimmer (assumably from the inner core).
• Inner Hue is a creamy coral, not too orange nor too pink, with low sheen. I think this is a pretty color, and I’m sure it’ll be wearable for most people, too.

Richmetal Highlighters

• Positive Charge is a warm, rich brown with a gentle sheen. For those with deeper skin tones, this may actually work as a highlighter (because you can sheer it out). Otherwise, I presume these are to be used on the eyes. This would be a nice color for a neutral look.
• Dark Influence is a very pretty, intense purple - kind of like Parfait Amour, but very true-to-color.
• Rose Buillon reminds me of a softer Rose pigment, without the chunky particles. This is a soft rose with a bit of gold pearl to it. This one would make a great cream blush!
• Deep Deposit is an insanely rich and intense burgundy-brown. I really liked this color, though I’m not full of ideas as to how I would personally use it.
• Quick Flash is a low sheen gold with just a touch of antique gold, but not a lot. It isn’t a bright gold like Goldmine eyeshadow, but it’s not so dark or cool. I’m sure this would make a nice sheen on cheeks aside from its usage on the eyes.
• Female is a cool pink color, very creamy, and again, it would make a nice blush. I make sure to talk about other usages beyond the eyes, because I haven’t had the chance to test these in a look, so I have no insight as to whether or not these are likely to crease or not.

Pigments

• Royal Flush is cranberry-red color, probably more red than purple/cranberry. It does remind me a bit of Accent Red, or a less-intense Ruby Red.
• Jardin Aires is released once again, and it is still the same white-gold with peachy-gold shimmer and pearl. Pretty, but the texture is still a bit on the chunky side, so it’s not my favorite in terms of texture, but the color makes a nice neutral.
• Tea Time is an interesting shade of brown with gold undertones to it. It’s actually quite difficult to describe, but I imagine I will be picking it up. I think the texture allows you to get a less frosty finish than the typical pigment, which will make it great for those looking for softer looks. It was quite smooth when I swatched it as well.
• Steel Blue is a permanent color, and it is a chunkier pigment. It is blue with gold/greenish reflects in it. It’s not a bad color, but I do find that it takes more work to get it going in a look than other pigments.
• Gilded Green is a lovely pastel green with gold pearl. It reminds me a lot of Pastorale (but with way better texture) and Golder’s Green (though lighter, more pastel).
• Circa Plum is a great lilac-plum color, but it does remind me of Lovely Lily (perhaps a shade or two darker, not as frosty) and Quietly–nearly a dead ringer, from what I remember (it’s been awhile since I’ve played with Quietly). I believe Quietly was an Asia-only release, so it was not as readily available stateside.

Colour Form Powder

• Sun Centered contains four different colors found in the same compact. They basically are around each other, and to be honest, it’ll be pretty hard to get individual swipes of colors if you intend to use this with any face brush. (I was using a q-tip to swatch, and even that was difficult on one or two of the colors!) So while individually, the colors are quite lovely, together they makeup a peachy-gold color with light sheen that’ll compliment warm tones amazingly. I was kind of reminded of Pearl Sunshine beauty powder, but more pigmented.
• Play Around Pink is filled with cooler, blue-based pinks. When swirled together, you get a cool shade of baby doll pink with low level pearl. I found this one was chalkier than Sun Centered when I swirled everything together. I think this shade of cool pink is similar to Don’t Be Shy from Barbie Loves MAC (which is an awesome shade that works for both cool and warm shades!). If so, that would be great, because I know a lot of people missed out on Barbie Loves MAC products.

Warm Eyes Palette

• Chillproof is a frosty white–no hint of peach, gold, pink, etc.–it is truly a stark white. If anything, it almost has a silver reflective sheen to it because it’s so frosty and white.
• Tancentric is a peachy brown with soft gold sheen. It reminds me of some of the neutrals from MAC’s permanent line.
• Rolled Gold is a pretty golden olive with gold shimmer color. It seems a lot like Golden Olive pigment in eyeshadow form; it may be a little darker and less frosty, though.
• Rustic is an incredibly pretty color–it is a rich, antique red color. I’m not sure how it would swatch next to Coppering (which runs a bit orangey-red). I would say they do seem different enough.
• Fertile is a cool, dark brown that goes on soft and doesn’t feel too chalky (it is a satin). I believe this color has come out before, though I’m not positive.

Cool Eyes Palette

• Radial Pink is a chalky white with pink undertones. I don’t see myself use this; it’s in the same family as Vellum.
• Brown Border is a frosty plum that looks very much like Circa Plum pigment! It also reminds me of Thunder eyeshadow from the Thunder Eyes Quad.
• Spot Colour is a cool purple with blue undertones, low shimmer. If you remember the soft sparkle pencils, one of them had a similar color to this. For a lustre, it had surprisingly smooth texture and great color pay off.
• Blue Spill is a satiny medium sky-blue. It’s not quite the bright sky blue, but more of the summery sky blue. I actually think this color is very lovely, and because it isn’t a frosty blue, it doesn’t feel like a regurgitation of the navy blues of the past few launches.
• Slate is a smoky gray in a satin finish, making it appear quite matte, but it goes on more smoothly.

Warm Lips Palette

• Flash of Flesh is a sheer, peachy gloss with pink undertones. This has come out in the past.
• Fresh and Fun is something that called to me as soon as I swatched it–it’s such a great coral color. A bit of a brighter coral, rather than a muted one.
• Oh Garnet is a sheer raspberry-burgundy color with plum undertones.

Cool Lips Palette

• Virginity is a soft pink with plummy-purple undertones.
• Miss Rose is a very cool blue-pink, reminds me a bit of Melrose Mood from Heatherette.
• Cassis Royale is a deep, plummy-berry color. It doesn’t have any real shimmer either, which makes it lovely.

Neutral Lips Palette

• Lunar is a creamy white-beige with soft shimmer. It looks opaque, but it goes on fairly sheerly.
• Altered Beige is a creamy nude with yellow undertones. Looks like a typical nude color, personally.
• Square Root is exceptionally pretty as a deep red-bronze kind of color. I think this would be so lovely with deeper skin tones.