MAC Cosmetics - Balloonacy Collection Review

Balloonacy Review

*Hullaballoo and Mellow Rave are mixed up, they should be the opposite!

Lipsticks
Festivity: Nice texture, creamy with a touch of coral coloring, but I didn’t find it stood out enough for me to add to my lipstick collection (as I have been trying to refine it to only colors I need/use!).

Full-Blown: This reminds me of a creamy Wild ‘Bout You, only a bit subdued and sheerer (though fairly pigmented). If I didn’t already own Wild ‘Bout You, I’d definitely have picked tihs one up, it’s gorgeous.

Fun Fun: A creamy, sheer pale pink lipstick that would be perfect for a hint of color, especially in the spring and coming summer months.

Up-Note: I loved the coral, yet semi-nude, coloring I got from this lipstick, and since I’ve been on the hunt for more of this shade in lipsticks, I thought it was a great addition to my collection.

Lipglasses

Out For Fun: A typical MAC baby pink lipglass, which resembles several other dozen colors they’ve launched in limited and permanent collections (Luminary lustreglass and Fleur de Light are nice substitutes, IMO).

Perky: I thought this lipglass was fun and spunky, since it has a bit of a purple tinge to it, but I’ve got several already in the purple family. This isn’t exactly a unique lipglass, since it reminds me a lot of Opal lipglass, but if you don’t have a lipglass in this color, it’s not a bad choice.

Pink Meringue: I’m not sure if this is a repromote because they launched a lipglass called this before, which I own, so I completely passed on this version, even though it’s a warm, pretty pink.

Silly Girl: I applaud MAC for trying to come out with new lipglass colors, like this orange-toned one, but they’ve continually released an orange lipglass in the past two or three collections (Vital Spark, anyone?)

Pandamonium Quad
Cloudbound: While it’s a lovely shimmery white shadow, I don’t find it particularly unique amongst the MAC past/present line. It reminds me a lot of Nylon eyeshadow (permanent), as well as limited Pollen from Madame B. Not to mention MAC’s released several in this family in the past two collections (Magic Dust, Whistle).

Up At Dawn: Anyone who said this color looked like Mancatcher was right, it completely does. It’s extremely pretty, so if you missed out on Mancatcher, this could be your way to score.

Violet Trance: I found this color to be pretty, but the texture wasn’t one of my favorites – it was better than usual, similar in feel as Passionate eyeshadow, and the payoff was decent. If this color was available singularly, I would have loved to purchase it.

Pandamonium: A great shimmery charcoal gray/black color that would be perfect with a smokey eye or to darken any look. Unfortunately, I’m not overly impressed by this as its easy to find a good mix of colors/shadows that blend to make this one (and there could be an actual duplicate already, I just might not remember one offhand).

Pigments
Golden Olive: This is a repromote of an existing permanent pigment color, and I do love the color, but there’s no rush on this one.

Helium: I wasn’t able to test this at the store (they were sold out), but I do have a sample of it, and it is lovely – a bit chunkier than I’d probably like, but it’s a color that I don’t have five million shades of already.

Viz-A-Violet: A softer version of MAC’s existing Violet pigment with a finer, softer texture that goes on extremely smoothly. I found it to be a very workable pigment just testing it in the store, and I was very tempted to purchase a jar of it.

Softsparkle Pencils
Iris Accents and Nightsky: Both repromotes from a past collection, so nothing to write home about.

Goldenair: This is a gorgeous cream colored softsparkle pencil, so if you enjoy this texture/shimmer, it’s definitely for you. It has flecks of gold when I swatched it, so if I could think of more than a couple of uses for this, I’d have picked it up.

Mint & Olive: This was my favorite item out of the entire collection, probably, it’s absolutely gorgeous. I love the warmth the gold shimmer gives to the deep olive green color. My only complaint about softsparkle pencils is that they tend to be a bit rough on the lash line, so they’re not my favorite to use.

High-light Powder
Hullaballoo: I was disappointed in these – sure, they look pretty with the imprinted designs, but the high-light powders left a lot to be desired. This color doesn’t seem like it would work on my skintone whatsoever, and it’s quite sheer and didn’t seem to have any shimmer/glow to it at all.

Mellow Rave: I could see certain skintones using this as a great contour color, but I couldn’t for the life of me think of a single use on myself other than perhaps a bronzer, but I already have enough of those (plus, I think there are better color choices for bronzer for me, too!).

Nailpolishes
Nocturnelle: Repromote, so if you love it, buy it, it’s a dark/black nail polish that goes on nicely.

Vin Goth: I really loved this color; it’s a great wine burgundy shade that’s rich and cool in tone. If I wore dark nails, I probably would have bought this.

Overall, I was unimpressed by Balloonacy, but at least I didn’t expect to buy much in the first place. I know, everyone seemed excited about this collection, but that’s what happens any time MAC introduces a bright/bold color like Violet Trance, as well as new pigments for collectors to snag. I liked two of the four quad colors, but only one color enough that I would have purchased it outright, but since they aren’t sold separately, I had no choice but to pass. I’ve gotten to the point where I’m no longer collecting pigments so I can have a million full jars, so I’ll probably get a sample of Viz-A-Violet when I can instead.

I ended up purchasing Fun Fun and Up-note lipsticks (as well as Rubia lipstick from the Rubia launch), but I’m going to hold off on Mint & Olive softsparkle pencil for now. It’s to die for, but I have to think about it a little more, or wait for someone to swap it!

Headliners of the launch: Full Blown lipstick, Violet Trance eyeshadow, Viz-A-Violet pigment, Helium pigment, Goldenair softsparkle pencil, Mint & Olive soft sparkle pencil, and Vin Goth nailpolish

Bores of the launch: Festivity lipstick, Cloudbound eyeshadow, Mellow Rave high-light powder, repromotes (for the sake that they’re not new)