MAC To the Beach Collection: Overall Review & Round-up
Thursday, May 27th, 2010
MAC To the Beach Collection: Overall Review & Round-up
To the Beach debuts in-store on May 27th, 2010 in the U.S./Canada, as far as I know. There are preview parties at select locations on May 18th. Otherwise, it should be available online around May 25th.
EDIT/UPDATE: Just moving this post up for all those who went to an unveiling party tonight!
I hope you got everything you wanted. Shout outs to Tatiana & Olivia for saying hello to me @ Hillsdale! Can you believe that the unveiling had already pre-sold the majority of the Marine Lifes? There were literally three available. I was customer #2 and only ended up with one.
ANOTHER EDIT/UPDATE: Just moving this post up since it’s officially out now, though goodness knows it’s been one crazy launch.
This is quite the launch, with 31 products releasing all at once. You can think of the collection in two parts — the traditional color collection and a secondary bronzing collection. The packaging doesn’t do anything for me either way; I don’t find it particularly cheap or tacky, but it doesn’t blow me away either. I like the mixture of products in this launch–there are some bright pops of color, subtler, more wearable colors, and everything in-between. I think it’s well-rounded collection that’s perfect for summer (with the color selections), but it’s pretty wearable.
I do recommend purchasing Marine Life if you think you want it. It’s just not going to be a product you’ll have the luxury of time with. Again, I fully believe it will sell out shortly after it becomes available online. I’ve heard some stores have received less than ten! I also anticipate Sweet & Punchy, Thrills, Life’s a Breeze, and both brushes to sell quickly. I would not be all that surprised if In the Buff, as oddly received as it has been, goes fast as well.
P.S. — I will try to get brush reviews up shortly. I’ve had them since whenever they originally launched, but I never reach for them, so I’m going to play around with them this weekend!
Temptalia’s Recommendations
Must-haves: Marine Life High Light Powder, Sweet & Punchy (if you have nothing like it), Thrills Lipstick, Fun Bathing Lipstick, Life’s a Breeze Lip Pencil
Nice-to-haves: Float on By Eye Kohl, Life’s a Breeze Lip Pencil, Hipness Blush, Get-Away Bronze Blush
Skip: Beachbound, Sand & Sun
Skip if…
- Skip SWEET & PUNCHY if you have RATED R, SOUR LEMON, or EYEPOPPING (all previous limited edition shades).
- Skip BEACHBOUND if you have MELON (pigment–use it sheerly with balm), ARCHETYPE (from Pret-a-Papier), or TANARAMA (permanent).
- Skip the EYE KOHLS if you eyeliners are prone to smudging and migrating on you (e.g. the majority of eyeliners you’ve tried do so).
- Skip FUN BATHING if you have “O” (permanent) — unless you adore and wear it all the time–though Fun Bathing has the copper-metallic-bronze thing going on that’s less apparent in “O.”
Don’t forget to…
Check your stash for SHIMMERMOSS (permanent), HUMID (permanent), THRILLS (from Rushmetal), ROSEMARY & THYME (permanent), HIPNESS (from Fafi), PINK REBEL (from Style Warriors), SUN RUSH (from Style Warriors), GOLDEN (permanent), and REFINED GOLDEN (permanent).
Recommendations by Skin Tone
- Best Picks for Lighter Skin Tones: Firecracker Eyeshadow, Lazy Day Lipstick, Easy Lounger Lipglass, Splashing Lipglass, Float on By Eye Kohl, Life’s a Breeze Lip Pencil, Hipness Blush, Golden Bronzer
- Best Picks for Medium Skin Tones: Sweet & Punchy Eyeshadow, Shimmermoss Eyeshadow, Thrills Lipstick, Fun Bathing Lipstick, Float on By Eye Kohl, Marine Life High Light Powder, Refined Golden Bronzer
- Best Picks for Darker Skin Tones: Sweet & Punchy Eyeshadow, Shimmermoss Eyeshadow, Humid Eyeshadow, Thrills Lipstick, Fun Bathing Lipstick, Splashing Lipglass, Marine Life High Light Powder, Get-Away Bronze Blush
Product Photos, Swatches, & Reviews
- Blushes
- Bronzers
- Bronze Body Oil
- Cream Bronzers
- Eye Kohls
- Eyeshadows
- Lip Pencils
- Lipglasses
- Lipsticks
- Lustre Drops
- Marine Life High Light Powder (Possible Dupes)
- Nail Lacquers
What are you loving? What are you looking forward to?
I love the fact that you list which products are good for what skin tone and what products to skip. It's very helpful because I usually just guess what would look good. So thank you! :)
Hi Christine! I know it's a little late to post a comment on this collection, but since I live in Mexico it only came in stores today (well, on the store near my workplace - other stores launched it last week)! It is a beautiful collection and your review was as useful as always. I arrived in the MAC counter with a clear idea on what I wanted from this collection and was lucky enough to be able to be there when they still had every product. I got Easy Lounger Lipglass, Thrills and Fun Bathing lipsticks (I was surprised by Fun Bathing - I did not expect it to be so pretty in person!), Golden Bronzer, Humid Eyeshadow and, finally, Marine Life, which I had thought I did not want but could not resist once I saw it!! Thank you again for the wonderful work you do with this useful, beautiful and super fun blog!!
Aww, thank you Leticia! I am so glad that I was able to help out a bit :) And so great that you got Marine Life!
I appreciate your recommendations based on skin tone. It's easy to get overwhelmed by new colours, but your review and recommendations really break it down. Thanks!
So! On Thursday I bought: Marine Life Float on By Hipness Splashing Today I went back and bought: Marine Life (thank goodness they still had them!) Rosemary & Thyme (caved and bought it lol) Humid (ditto ^) Sweet & Punchy Lustre Drops in Sun Rush This is definitely the most I've ever spent on a collection... but so worth it! As for my second Marine Life, I'm just going to keep it to look at it. The gold overspray is so pretty. xD
Whew!! Great haul, Wendy!
nothing really special.
I tried on Thrills, Fun Bathing, and Splashing tonight and I really thought I would like Thrills the most but I left without buying anything. I wasn't 100% sure....maybe I will try again tomorrow and see. sleep on it! haha... :)
Totally surprised!
Ughhhh I pre ordered last month at nordstroms and went today the girls said they were sold out of marine life ughhh I was sooo mad what was the whole point of pre ordering if we weren't going to get one!!!!...I then drove back to montebello and they were sold out the girl said she at least sold 100 today... Luckly I found it at stonewood mall they seem to be stocked up i might go get another one tomorrow...lol bottom line I drove all over L.A for marine life but it was worth it I was with my best friend
Ooh, I am so glad you found one!! :)
Went to the store at 10:02 am this morning, they refused to sell Marine life because it's sold out online and they want to sell it during their Saturday morning BS promotion. I'm returning a few items I got today so btwn Marine Life and the $45 I'm returning, that's money they wont be getting. But Fluur of Fun Lipglass and Thrills lipstick are just awesome! I love them.
PS- BS stands for bullsh.... you know what I mean. It wouldn't be so annoying if I were actually going to be in town, but I'll be 3000 miles away. It's a stupid sales strategy.
That really sucks, RC! I don't really think that's fair, because it's the launch day. I understand setting aside stock for an unveiling, since that's pre-launch... I mean, I don't even really like that a lot of those events take place a week after a launch, since most things sell out before then anyway. I am surprised that they would do that for this launch!
Your pic wearing Fun Bathing was gorgeous and I wish it worked the same way on me. When I wear it, it is just above YLBB and it is very dry and almost chalky. It isn't as pigmented on me as it was on you. I ended up layering it with Underworld to give it some more punch, but Underworld has its own issues (balling up?).
Dry and chalky? Wow! That is really, really odd... Mine is definitely not dry or chalky. I'm so sorry to hear that :(
So I went to my MAC today to swatch a few things I was iffy on and I'm glad I did. I wasn't as impressed with the Lustre Drops as I expected to be. I actually like my Smashbox Illuminating lotion more, so I passed on those. The bronzer was ok, but my favorite is still my Korres bronzer so I skipped those too. And since I realized this morning that I have a few loose shadow pigments that are similiar to the shadows I was looking at (namely Firecracker), I was able to skip those also. So instead I just picked up back-up Thrills (OMG, I LOVE this color) and Marine Life. Supposedly they had gotten quite a few of Marine Life (they get quite a bit of everything it seems like) and by 5pm the only had a couple left. Same with Thrills. They were even surprised by how fast things were going. And unrelated I know, but can I just say how much I love Pink Bronze pigment dusted over a light bronzer? It looks great with my new Thrills lipstick. :)
I'll have to check out the Illuminating lotion then! :) Thrills is love for sure! Isn't it so unique/pretty? Love it!
Oh btw, Angel is almost spot on to Fun Bathing l/s. Fun bathing is just a tad more cooler but they are pretty similar when I swatched them together at the store. ;)
Marine Life was sold out by the time I got to the MAC store this morning...and the store had only been opened for 1.5 hrs! But oh well, I didn't want it anyways. Wait, let me rephrase that: I convinced myself I didn't need it. hahaha I got Hipness blush and thought that was all I wanted. Then once I got home, I knew I had to go get Flurry of Fun and Splashing lipglosses! I hate it when that happens. hahaha
LOL! I hear ya. I remember I'd get the items on my list, and then I'd be like, "maybe these..." but have to go back!
I already ordered some of the collection online, but I went to my MAC counter this morning at 11 to pick up Marine Life and Sweet & Punchy. It looked like they had less than 10 Marine Life powders left, Life's a Breeze was gone, and so were Splashing and Lazy Day. I think it's a gorgeous collection, but some of the colors are so easy to dupe, like Lazy Day and Splashing, and of course some of the colors are already a part of their permanent line. In fact, Splashing looks a lot like English Accents from the Liberty of London collection that was just out.
great review I was wondering if Hipness blush would look good on only light skin tones....would it not be good for tan/olive (NC42-44) skin tone?
It would be OK on darker skin tones, but it'll be pretty subtle.
I was swatching all my stuff I picked up and my favorite things are flurry of fun and float on by. they both have this beautiful sheen. It's a pretty sheen that doens't show up in pictures but in person its gorgeous. I'm thinking about going back and getting back ups for both.
Float on By is definitely a gorgeous shade!
What a disappointment today...rushed to my MAC counter as soon as I could---but it turned out to be one of the most overrated collections, in my opinion. But it saved me a lot of $$$ so I'm actually quite thankful! haha
i agree……i brought both blushes firecracker…sweet and punchy beachbonnd and 2 marine life….the only thing im keepin is sweet and punchy..and marine life…i have not been impressed with a mac collection in a long time….there are 7 mac stores close to me but the one i went to only had 3 marine life..and i was the very first customer..how crazy is that… the marine life was worth it though..im a nc55 and i can use it for a blush or highlighter.
I'm so excited! I just got home from MAC and picked up Hipness, Sweet and Punchy, Flurry of Fun and Splashing. I wasn't even going to get the two lipglasses but they looked too nice to pass up when I tried them on!
I was walking in the mall yesterday on my way to sephora and I happened to look at the MAC store and in the window was the display! I spent a lot of money yesterday on the rest of the collection that i didn't order online and at sephora... *cringe* >.< so bad for my wallet... but i'm oh so happy! :D Thanks Christine! Hopefully we don't have another huge collection for a while... I need to save. haha.
Aww! Nothing big til July!
I just B2M for the Thrills lipstick. I am so excited to wear it!
Thrill l/s sold out online! So glad I got it!
I just got back from the Macys near my job (its walking distance, yay!) and they just launched this collection this morning at 10am. I got there at 11:30 and they only had 2 Marine life powders left! I bought them both, I dont even know why, I only wanted one but I suddenly felt the need to get both of them since they only had 2!lol Don't know what got into me!It is such a pretty color though! I just can't believe they are selling out so fast!
LOL! I know, right? It's a FRENZY!
Hi Christine do you think marine life will go on sale ? I notice that it was sold out when it hit mac website and also its not in any of the stores that sell mac products I checked macy's & Bloomingdale's site also.
I think it's pretty much sold out everywhere now :(
I did my haul this morning!!! I am super excited!! I got two of the marine life- one to look at and one to use hahah -hipness blush -thrills lipstick -flurry of fun -131 brush
Have you seen/held the bag? I am considering getting it but I'm not sure yet. Just wanted to see how big it is and what not.
It's huge!!
Ran to the mall during my lunch hour and bought: Sweet n Punchy e/s Firecracker e/s Hipness blush Thrills lipstick Easy Lounger lipglass Thanks so much for all the swatches & looks, Christine! Your "molten" post from this morning convinced me to go for Thrills & Easy Lounger & I love them!
Christine? Im curious ,because I dont know ,, if they ran out,does MAC make more eventually?
Not typically!
Thanks for the review! I mainly just want to get the Hipness and Get Away Bronze blushes, and (maybe) Marine Life. I'm surprised that you didn't think that Hipness would be a good pick for darker skin tones. I've been on a coral blush kick lately and think that coral is definitely flattering on darker skin tones.
Coral is great on darker skin tones, but Hipness isn't SUPER pigmented, so it's not my favorite on deeper skin tones.
After trying Hipness at the store, you were soooooooo right! I would've been putting on that blush for days trying to get some color!
LOL!
My counter is having their launch today but I cannot get there until tommorow.Fingers crossed there is still some products available!
Forget it! I just made some time to run up there and scored Marine Life, Thrills, Life's a Breeze and Easy Lounger! I just couldn't wait. Woohoo...
Oh wow...Easy lounger & MarIne life are already sold out online @ mac & the Marine life is not available on Nordstroms.com assuming it's been sold out as well.
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