They still have a really good core range of products, while their seasonal, limited edition offerings can hit high highs and also hit low. I think they’ve been improving in consistency for limited edition releases over the last two years, though.
— Christine
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They are still my go to for colour – the price point is so much more manageable. I wish they wouldn’t DC some really great legacy products like Patina e/s (also Earthline technakohl) especially as these are hard to dupe in a world that rarely delivers true cool browns anymore
I just got into MAC. It’s exciting trying a lot of their cult products (strobe cream, fix spray, dazzle glass, pigments) for the first time. Their LE releases so far this year have been really fun colors. I’m not much for their winter icy colors or frosty finishes around holiday. I can count on them for a bronze lipgloss for summer though! If I want a lip or blush color that isn’t trending right now and is hard to find, I can usually find it with MAC.
I like the uniform way they describe their shades online. I also feel like the colors in their product pictures are more accurate compared to other brands.
I don’t like that they apparently change their ingredients/the sources of their ingredients very often. I have messaged customer service about what an ingredient in a particular product was derived from. They told me they couldn’t say because that changes regularly. As someone with a lot of allergies… that makes me nervous. I’ve stopped rebuying things from MAC (like foundation/concealer) because of this. Plenty of other companies can answer that type of question… so I’d rather buy from them!
I absolutely love their highlighters! They are among my favorites! And their blushes too! I also like their lipglosses. I stopped buying their lipsticks.. the color range is incredible but they never looked that great on me unless I added a gloss.
That limited edition rainbow ombré highlighter was glittery but I loved it!!
Fix it spray is my go too! It’s iconic!
MAC were great when they were cruelty free, but I lost interest in the brand when they began selling in China, where animal testing is rife. I also wasn’t keen on their rapid turnover of products which were either ‘limited edition’ or quickly discontinued. I had no chance of keeping up!
Christine, it’s as if you read my mind on this question, LOL! I feel exactly the same way about MAC: Love their permanent core products, but, unfortunately their limited edition products are all over the map in the quality department. Good thing we have your site in order to sift out the good from the bad…and the REALLY bad.
I love Mac’s Powder Kiss Soft Matte eyeshadows, but I loathe Mac’s website.
The website is horrendous! It lags a lot, pages load oddly, I’m logged off in like 5 minutes, pictures and swatches are not good quality (and it’s MAC, they are an old brand targeted to makeup artistry… I would imagine they would have had the time and resources to have a better variety of good quality pictures).
I love MAC. I love their eyeshadows, it’s the only shadow I wear. I am sad that they dc’d Next To Nothing powder and the Lustre lipstick…I’ve seen your swatches of the revamp and am liking what I see. It’s an old school and affordable line ♥️
I find their lip liners horrible and there eyeshadows drying looking when on.
There brushes do not have good quality anymore.
I have not purchased anything from them in at least 4 yrs.
I haven’t bought MAC in a few years because they started selling their products in China where animal testing is required. I’ve been trying not to purchase any makeup, body or skincare products that are tested on animals. Another dislike I have with MAC is the discontinuation of products. They always seem to discontinue all of my favorites; I really miss Freckletone.
There is so much I love about MAC and they were my first true makeup romance and they are still dear to my heart. They make some of my very favourite products, including Craving lipstick, which is my most repurchased, most used and most flattering lipstick. Their newer eyeshadow base is fantastic and has replaced UDPP (which has really deteriorated) as my favourite shadow primer. I like that most of their shadows come as pro pans which cost less and are easier to store than their other singles. What I don’t like is their tendency to discontinue many of their best products (the Matte2 shadows, All That Glitters, several lipsticks I’ve only recently fallen in love with and which were GONE when I went to get backups a few short months later). I do wish they’d put out a bulletin with their emails (I do get emails from them) warning “XYZ lipstick is going to be phased out….” – how hard would THAT be?). Also, their palettes don’t contain any thing magnetic in the base (which is why their pro pan singles come with magnets glued to the bottom). Other brands’ palettes – Anastasia, MUFE, Z palettes, etc. – have magnetic bases but not MAC’s and this also means that MAC’s pro pans won’t stick in other palettes, only MAC ones.
All that glitters eyeshadow came back due to popular demand, so it is available again ❤
My concern is that they’ve “reformulated” it, much as they “reformulated the version of Blanc Type they brought back and which was dreadful compared with the original. Fortunately, I’ve got a basically full pan of the original All That Glitters but the sales person I deal with most often at MAC said she was furious when they suddenly just ditched it (the original).
I agree they should be better at announcing when products are discontinued. I periodically check the “goodbye” section just in case, but you never know if the product is discontinuing, reformulated or they just get rid of old stock.
And it’s not just with customers. When the Prolongwear brow gel was discontinued, it was long time out of stock. I asked the Contact section on the web, several MAC artists in stores, everyone said it’s just a stock issue, it’s not discontinued. And it was discontinued eventually, and they launched the Big Boost Fiber Gel (decent, but not by beloved Prolongwear).
Mac has been my favorite brand since I found them at Macy’s in the 90’s. Their eye shadows are the first thing that hooked me & they are still my favorite. I love so many of them & I get so disappointed when they don’t deliver. They are MAC! They should always get an A!
I love their blush & their mascaras. Most of my brushes are still Mac.
I love their lipsticks & lip glosses.
I like the Shape & Shade Brow Tint.
I love Studio Fix Fluid Foundation. I love Studio Finish Concealer, I love the Prep+Prime Highlighter.
I love Turquatic Fragrance. I have repurchased it several times.
I love Gently Off Makeup Remover.
I hate the Wipes, only because they break me out. Same with Studio Fix Powder & the Skinfinishes.
And, the Tweezers. I love the Mac Tweezers!
I haven’t purchased many products from MAC – just their lipsticks, which have been great.
It seems to me that MAC has produced some really excellent products over the years – blushes, some of their eyeshadows and they were the first to implement a comprehensive foundation range that was numbered and catered to a wider variety of skintones.
The brand did go through some rough years where they were ‘over-releasing’ some average products and collabs that were pretty poor in quality, but they have settled down recently.
I guess the biggest peeve for their loyal customers is d/cing their most loved products.
I forgot to mention in my comment, but the shade range for complexion products is one of the best in the market. And it’s just not shade range, but also undertones. They still kind of have more options in the light and medium range (expecially for undertones), but they don’t have major gaps.
MAC eyeshadows. Color range and overall maintain excellent quality. Favorites are Brûlé, Orb, Rice Paper, Cork and on and on 😉
that they discontinued soba eyeshadow
For me MAC is two separate brands 😅 one with great permanent options, and one failing 90% of the time with limited edition collections.
I personally have a lot of MAC products in my collection, I keep repurchasing some items after many years and I’m satisfied with the general quality.
I like most of their complexion products, and I like they have a good variety of finishes and coverages (although most of their foundations are buildable enough to cross segment).
Things like blushes and eyeshadows are sometimes hit and miss, but rarely I got a bad dud.
The MAC Matte and Satin lipstick formulas will always be my favorite, I don’t need other lipsticks.
I also like the brushes, they perform great and I have 7-8 year old ones that look like new (and I was my brushes weekly).
I love their custom made palette system, I have the doubled sided one (half eyeshadows, half blushes) and in the past 5 years I discovered that’s just everything I need.
I do dislike how often they discontinue stuff, especially my favorites. They tend to bring items back, but it makes things annoyingly confusing.
They’re not as bad as 2-3 years ago with the limited edition collections (they used to have one a month), but the brand is still not excelling with the quality and creativity for those.
I still find it odd, for a company targeted to makeup artists, that they still have a few gaps in the line. For example, they have a wide range of colorful eye pencils, but very few options for a nude waterline.
Wow, I was a MAC junkie for many years and bought their products almost exclusively except for things like mascara or things I can buy at the drug store for better or near quality at a lower price. I agree with the LE collections being overdone and it seemed they were using FOMO to sell their products. Then I got wise and realized that most of the LE products could be duped with–wait for it–other MAC products or if I waited, there would be a re-promotion. I like that their releases have a theme and they use creative ideas to display the products in the promo photos. I don’t like that the models in the photos often were NOT wearing the actual products to get the look for the photos. A better selling point would have been a how to description of a look from the collection to duplicate but I get that for the concept art, maybe that does not always work. I like the VG campaign and that the money is donated to help persons with AIDS. I usually like their holiday packaging and special packaging–Marine Life, anyone? I still have that blush with the seahorse!!! I really like their Fix product, the eyeshadows, the Matchmaster foundation, their color coding system to figure out your shade, the MAC wipes, Paint pots as eyeshadow base, the MSF powders, the transparent setting powder, and the lipsticks in most of the formulae, but I hate the Lustre formula because it melts easily and dries out the lips. I have never found a MAC mascara that I liked. I like the fluid line eyeliners but sometimes I cannot be bothered to get out a brush and wing it. I like their eyeliners in general but I feel there are better products to be had a the same or slightly higher price point. The powder blushes are good but not greatly pigmented compared to other brands out now but I like that I can get pans and put multiple in a palette.
I like that they have many really good core products, and their lipsticks are great. I think the last collection they did — the floral one with the bright pastel eyeshadows and stunning packaging — was more like the “old MAC,” and I hope to see them putting in the effort like that more often.
I don’t like that they got rid of a lot of classic eyeshadow shades. I find that they’ve gotten really boring and done mediocre to awful collections the past few years. Like WTH was that Cruella de Vil collection?! Then there is the sheer rate at which they pump out the mediocre collections. Take your time, MAC, ColourPop has fast fashion makeup covered.
They have great products and not so great products, but what really get me is the ethical side. I love Viva Glam, but I hate Estée Lauder as a company.
I never really got into them all that much, honestly. I think they’re fine but somehow they don’t get on my radar too often. Still I have a few things from them like tubes of Ruby Woo and Rebel, and some Fix+.
Ya know in my 20s and early 30s I always purchased Mac! There wasn’t too many brands similar at the time, I mean there was like urban decay and too faced but mac was my fave! What annoys me is that they have sales now lol! I would of loved a sale a discount on products lol sheesh!