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The Scarlet Season: MAC Warning Lip Varnish

Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009

MAC Warning Lip Varnish

The Scarlet Season: MAC Warning Lip Varnish

I can thank my girl Heather for turning me on to one of MAC’s all-time greatest shades of reds.  I remember seeing her rock it, and it was stunning!  I was like, “What’s that?“  I’m sure I’m not the only one who misses the days of MAC Lip Varnish — slick, glossy opaque colors in bright, bold shades. Warning is a high-glossy bright red that goes on opaque in a single layer and clings well to lips. It wears well and lasts a good six to eight hours if I don’t eat (it survives some drinking mostly intact). It was such a shame when MAC decided to discontinue this formula, but maybe one day they’ll bring it back and perhaps even improve upon it…

The Scarlet Season is a series of posts showcasing and featuring my favorite shades of red lips–from glosses to lipsticks that runs through December 2009. You can sure expect to see a lot of red this holiday season!

See more swatches and comparison photos

MAC Warning Lip Varnish

MAC Warning Lip Varnish

MAC Warning Lip Varnish

MAC Warning Lip Varnish

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oh. my. god. speechless. PLEASE tell me that there is a dupe for this. I NEED THIS IN MY LIFE!

-prays to the MAC gods- please bring it back! it looks so gorgeous! :D

oh my GOD!!!!!!!! i NEED this!!!! this is so effing gorgeous Christine!!

christine, your post inspired me to go hunting for this shade...i ended up finding it for pretty much retail price so it wasn't too painful either! when i first applied it, my husband was bowled over - he said my lips looked like a glass of bordeaux, so its a thumbs up from me...i had a bit of feathering issues, but nothing major...and it seems to have a very long wear time...almost eight hours. i hope they bring this stuff back!

in pictures it lookes like the Chanel dragon laque a bit, how would you compare the two? I love my dragon!

Dragon is brighter and has shimmer :)

OMG they should bring it back!! It looks like the perfect "vintage" lips. I'm looking for a vampy MAC lipstick that looks vintage :)

They could make it part of a Vintage collection ;)

Oh man, this looks AWESOME! So sad it's DC! D:

Let's cross our fingers & hope MAC gods are listening!

I'm for a resurrection of this shade! It's gorgeous!!

Haha, I know, right? Are you listening MAC gods?

I found this at a CCO a few months ago and my cousin and I bought ALL of them :) It is such a gorgeous shade but we found that it does bleed a lot. Anyhow, you miiight still be able to snatch one up at a CCO.

Very nice!! Did they have other shades or just Warning? Any who, glad you were able to find 'em!

If they brought it back, they'd need to do something about the bleeding/feathering. I had Warning and only would wear it around the house because of this. Liners didn't help, it was such a shame for such a stunner of a color to be unwearable for me.

I'm very lucky not to really have any issues with bleeding/feathering with it, even when worn alone. Have you tried clear lip liner on the outside of your lips?

I MUST HAVE THIS. And things like this are why I don't have an eBay account...I'd be broke in two weeks. Are the other varnish colors this amazing?

Haha! I haven't seen many, and I can recall even less, but I remember a few being very pretty as well.

Thanks for adding both before and after pics when you swatch, Christine!

Gorgeous! Sigh, I do remember the days of Varnish & Lacquer. High shine gorgeousness that nothing else from MAC currently has.

I remember the Lacquers, too - loved them, though I could see MAC amping them up and refining the formula a bit if they ever did.

I know! I wish they'd bring it back!

Thats fi-yah!!! LOL...You have to include Stila's lip enamel in Joy from the Barbie Loves Stila Collection! I loooove that red!

Haha! I'll have to revisit Joy...

Yay!! If you do post it can you recommend a good liner to go with it? I was thinking Red Enriched Creamstick but im new to the red lipstick world so I could be totally off :)

Red Enriched is one of my go-to liners for reds, actually :)

Wow. Liquid lipstick with a touch o gloss...Mac needs to bring these back. How long ago where they discontinued?

Gosh, I think it's been awhile. At least two years, I'd say!

Wow! That's a pretty stunning shade of red. Even more impressive that there's no lipstick underneath it.

I know, right? Bring it back, MAC!