MAC A Rose Is A Rose Eyeshadow Quad (Nordstrom Exclusive) ($36.00) is the long awaited final piece to MAC’s A Rose Romance Collection, which launched earlier in April.

With tax, I think I paid just under $40, which makes each shadow cost approximately $10 each (a little less than eyeshadows sold in palette form already). In terms of value, the eyeshadows are cheaper buying them together. However, Solar White eyeshadow has been released before (though it was limited edition), and Contrast eyeshadow is part of the permanent range. So if you have one or both of those, the quad’s value definitely diminishes. If you are not a collector, and you already own two, I’d probably say to skip the quad.

• Solar White is a smooth, buttery golden-toned, creamy white. It has a frost finish, so it does have shimmer and sheen. It’s a nice shade to own, so if you missed out on Solar White previously, here’s your chance to grab it without paying eBay prices.
• Seeds of Love is a smooth, pigmented coralish shade. It doesn’t lean too red nor orange, just right. It does remind me of Paradisco (but with way better texture), and I’d say Paradisco runs a bit more orange. The point is they are close enough that you could nab Paradisco instead of Seeds of Love for a coral fix if this was the only color you needed/wanted.
• Petal Worship is a soft, light lilac with purple sheen. It reminded me a lot of a slightly more purple Stars ‘n Rockets — like a cross between Lotusland (limited edition) and Stars ‘n Rockets. It has a lustre finish, so it wasn’t the smoothest of the four, but it was surprisingly pigmented without too much fall out/crumbling that’s typical with lustre eyeshadows.
• Contrast is a deep navy, purple-casted shade. It’s lightly shimmered over a dark blue-black base. I love using Contrast in purple looks, and I definitely think it is significantly different from Deep Truth (just for those wondering!).

See swatches…

Solar White (Frost), Seeds of Love (Frost), Petal Worship (Lustre), Contrast (Velvet)

Solar White (Frost), Seeds of Love (Frost), Petal Worship (Lustre), Contrast (Velvet)

Please do not redistribute or republish these images without permission. Thank you!

MAC Rose Is a Rose Quad is FINALLY available at Nordstrom!

You can purchase online or you can purchase online and pick-up in-store (to save on shipping). Will you be scoring one for yourself, or will you be skipping this time around? The official release date is slated for May 20th to coincide with Nordstrom’s Half-Yearly sale, so I don’t know if the online site will ship now or if stores will let you pick it up now. YMMV.

The quad contains:

• Solar White Golden white (Frost) (Repromote)
• Contrast Dark purple/blue (Velvet) (Permanent)
• Seeds of Love frosted peach (Frost)
• Petal Worship Light, blue-based pink (Frost)

P.S. – Dior 5-Colour Designer Eye Palette are also now available on Nordstrom, plus $5 shipping for beauty purchases of $50 or more!

See lip swatches for the other products from MAC’s A Rose Romance!

Tender Tryst see thru lip colour

Loving Touch see thru lip colour

Way to Love lipstick

A Rose Romance lipstick

Odyssey lipstick

Virgin Kiss lipglass

Steal My Heart lipglass

Magnetique lipglass

Here are product photos for MAC Cosmetics’ A Rose Romance Collection!

Secret Crush, Tender Tryst, Loving Touch

Way to Love, A Rose Romance, Odyssey

Virgin Kiss, Steal My Heart, Magnetique

Virgin Kiss, Steal My Heart, Magnetique

Love & Friendship

Love & Friendship

Blush of Youth

Summer Rose

Summer Rose

Silverthorn

Silverthorn

Just A Pinch

Of Summer

Et Tu, Bouquet?

Circa Plum, Mutiny

Fix+ Rose

OVERALL, MAC’s A Rose Romance Collection is a true representation of soft, feminine spring florals. It’s laced with soft pinks, lilacs, and sheer-to-the-touch colors. The only color that seems like a misfit is Mutiny pigment, but it can be excused if only because it’s a divine color and rightly repromoted! For the most part, the products are sheer and tend to be more like washes/light tints rather than opaque, pigmented beauties. I feel like the collection was well-thought out in terms of the right pairings and mix of shades, and I think they all work together. It’s not the most exciting or off-the-wall collection by any means, but it is a nice, workable and wearable launch.

Note: Nordstrom Exclusive Quad “A Rose Romance” debuts on May 1st.

Temptalia’s Recommendations

Must-Have: Odyssey lipstick, Tender Tryst see thru lip colour, Shadowy Lady eyeshadow, Mutiny pigment, Magnetique lipglass, Summer Rose beauty powder

Nice-to-Have: Way to Love lipstick, Steal My Heart lipglass, Circa Plum pigment, Of Summer eyeshadow, Nordstrom Exclusive Quad, Just a Pinch gel blush, Love & Friendship nail lacquer

Skip: Virgin Kiss lipglass

See reviews by product…

Lipstick ($14.00 U.S. / $16.50 CDN)

• Way To Love is a sheer, pink tinged with yellow tones. It almost has a golden sheen to it, but it’s very light when applied to lips.
• A Rose Romance is slightly pinker, a little more mauve to it, than Way to Love. It, too, is incredibly sheer, so for those looking for more pigmented lip colors, stay clear of this shade.
• Odyssey is an opaque raspberry-plum color. It’s like burgundy, but better. It’s one of those shades that looks pretty swatched, but not quite “wearable” — give it a shot on the lips. You might find yourself amazed! Odyssey is permanent, however, so there’s no rush to get it if you’re on a budget.

Lipglass ($14.00 U.S. / $16.50 CDN)

• Virgin Kiss is a sheer pink. I really wouldn’t even call it pink, because it looks more like a nude lipglass on my lips. Maybe just a tinge of pinkness to it. This gloss color is typical to the “barely there light pink” lipglasses MAC puts out on a regular basis.
• Steal My Heart is a sheer, bright pink. Let me rephrase a bit, because it looks kind of bright in the tube, but when applied to lips, none of that brightness transferred for me. However, it did give me some color, and it made me feel like it brightened and enhanced my natural lip color.
• Magnetique is a rich, glossy purple-fuchsia shade. It’s just one of those shades that you don’t see too often, so I definitely recommend picking this one up of the three lipglasses. I have one from eons ago, which I’ll be replacing with this one (as it is definitely about time, ha!).

See Thru Lip Colour ($14.00 U.S. / $16.50 CDN)

• Loving Touch is a sheer, pearly soft pink. It’s the lightest, but it gives a bit of a melony pink tint. It does seem to have a touch of coral tones to it.
• Tender Tryst gives you a pearly deep mauve-berry lip tint. Despite the shimmer, the tint definitely sinks into the lips. This is the darkest of the three shades available.
• Secret Crush is the perfect shade of “just bitten” lips. It’s really quite lovely without being too bright. It does tint lips nicely and naturally, kind of making them a red berry color. The see thru lip colours are nice to layer underneath less opaque lipsticks/glosses for a bolder lip.

Pigment ($19.50 U.S. / $23.50 CDN)

• Mutiny is a sky blue tinged with aqua. It just never reads pure sky blue to me, but I really love this shade. It’s great to wear with blues, teals, etc. I find it works as a great base for teal-driven looks, because you don’t have to start off too dark (example, if you used Teal pigment as a base).
• Circa Plum is a dirty plum color. It’s almost like a silvery plum color, and it does come out kind of frosty. This originally came out with Nordstrom’s Colour Forms collection, so you may or may not have grabbed it then. It’s not an all-time favorite pigment, but it has a nice finish, color, and texture to it.

Eyeshadow ($14.50 U.S. / $17.00 CDN)

• Et Tu, Bouquet? is a frosty, chunky pale pink with a little bit of peach to it. I don’t see a ton of gold, but there might be a bit of a gold sheen. I’m surprised it’s listed as a frost finish, because it feels more like a lustre to me. I’d say this might be a little similar to All That Glitters, just pinker.
• Of Summer is a semi-pale lavender shade. It’s incredibly pretty, and it’s not a shade MAC puts out often. I just wish it was more pigmented, but that’s the nature of satin shadows.
• Creme de Violet is a bright pop of warm-toned medium purple with pink flecks in it. This is a permanent color.
• Silverthorn is a light to medium silver shade with flecks of gold sheen. I swatched this twice (once at Nordstrom’s, then at MAC freestanding), and it clearly cast golden to me. I thought that made it pretty awesome, to be honest! Color pay off was on target and I liked the brightness of the silver. I’d say it’s similar to Electra/Filament if I had to compare.
• Shadowy Lady is an extremely dark burgundy-brown kind of color. It’s matte in finish, and you’ll have to layer it in a swatch to get its true color. Just one swipe will make it look chalky and powdery, but it’s a shadow meant to layer.

Just A Pinch Gel Blush ($18.50 U.S. / $22.50 CDN)

• Just A Pinch is a sheer, gel-y pinky-red color. It really does go on quite sheerly, and it will melt into the skin. It’ll take me some practice to get the hang of it, though.

Beauty Powder ($22.00 U.S. / $27.50 CDN)

• Blush of Youth is a pinky-peach shade that’s not quite asp igmented as Summer Rose, but they’re both on the sheerer side of blushes.
• Summer Rose is a soft pinky-purple shade. It’s kind of like a cool pink with a slightly lilac tone to it.

Nail Lacquer ($11.oo U.S. / $13.00 CDN)

• Love & Friendship is a creamy dirty lavender shade. It’s not a typical pastel nor is it light; it’s dark enough to not be mistaken for the typical lavender color.

Creations Hue: Dejarose ($22.50 U.S. / $27.50 CDN)

• Dejarose pretty much smells like roses. I didn’t spritz it, because it’s not exactly my kind of scent, though I know lots who love it (and several who hate it!).

Fix+ Rose ($17.00 U.S. / $20.00 CDN)

• Fix+ Rose is very lightly scented with a rose scent, but still very much like the original. I picked it up, only because I don’t know where my regular Fix+ is, and summer is coming up so I figured I’d give Fix+ another shot.

MAC A Rose Romance Swatches

As promised, here are swatches of everything from MAC’s newest collection, A Rose Romance! The Nordstrom exclusive quad doesn’t launch until May 1st, unfortunately, so no swatches of that yet. Next week!

See swatches galore!

A Rose Romance, Way to Love, Odyssey, Just A Pinch (gel blush)
Virgin Kiss, Steal My Heart, Magnetique; Loving Touch, Tender Tryst, Secret Crush

Virgin Kiss, Steal My Heart, Magnetique; Loving Touch, Tender Tryst, Secret Crush

Virgin Kiss, Steal My Heart, Magnetique; Loving Touch, Tender Tryst, Secret Crush
Et Tu, Bouquet?, Of Summer, Silverthorn, Shadowy Lady

Et Tu, Bouquet?, Of Summer, Silverthorn, Shadowy Lady
Circa Plum, Mutiny

Et Tu, Bouquet?, Of Summer, Creme de Violet Silverthorn, Shadowy Lady
(Remants of the lip stains!)

Blush of Youth, Summer Rose

Blush of Youth, Summer Rose

Love & Friendship