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MAC A Rose Romance Collection Review & Thoughts

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.

67 Comments

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Ally Avatar

Thanks for the review and swatches you’re a quick little bunny. Now I need to get silverthorn and tender tryst it seems, I was already getting magnetique and maybe a rose romance lipstick, will see if it looks good on me.

retrofox Avatar

Thanks Christine for the post! I just came back from haulin some RR and I gotta say that I L O V E the gel blush! I asked my MA to apply it on my face so I could see what it really looks like on and it’s beautiful! He said the best way to apply it is to scrap some onto the back of your hand to warm it up a little and then use the 188 brush to apply it. The blush gave me a beautiful glow like I just got done with a brisk walk. Anyways, just thought I’d share my love for the new blush!

Tracey Avatar

Thanks Christine! I was upset that the Nordstrom Quad wasn’t out today. I was going to order it and a Rock and Republic eye brush. Man, MAC is killing me thus far this year.

Ann Avatar

Hey, you know what’s weird? I checked with Nordstrom’s customer service and they told me that the eyeshadow quad came out on the 23rd. I checked that day and it wasn’t up, so I contacted them again (I want it, can you tell? haha) and they said that it wasn’t up because they had sold out already. So what’s the deal?? Did it sell out or was it never up?

Great review by the way!

Holly Avatar

Reminds me a lot of the Emmanuel Ungaro collection (of which I bought the whole darn thing). Am I right about this (please say yes cuz I’m broke LOL)?

cloudburst Avatar

I’m checking this out tomorrow – at first I wasn’t thrilled about the BP’s but I think they will be nice. I have a similar product from Shu & it does give my skin a nice subtle pink glow. I’m also really excited for the LE l/s (I love lustres), they look so good I might buy two of each!

cmferrets Avatar

thanx christine for posting when the norstrom quad comes out, cuz i checked the website and it didnt say a thing. i just went to mac today and got the nailpolish, the take a pinch blush, both BP’s , all 3 LE e/s and rose romance, odyssey l/s and steal my heart, magnetque lipglass. i love the steal my heart l/g it has the right amount of bright pink , like the color of a watermelon, and these 2 have a glossy finesh and not too much sparkles. oh i also got the secret crush see thru lipglass which i am diggin, so i might go back and get the other 2- they have a cooling effect on the lips when u first put them on.

Rachael Avatar

I was really dissapointed in the Beauty Powder Blushes, they showed up so sheer on my skin, so I easily skipped those. I was excited for Loving Touch because it looked so pretty in the bottle was totally blah on my lips so I skipped the See Thru Lip Colours too. I bought all three eyeshadows even though I found Of Summer didn’t have a great color payoff (maybe it will be good as a highlighter). I bought Virgin Kiss l/g which I may return since it turned out to be so sheer (which is a shame because it looks so pretty in the bottle!). I also got Steal My Heart l/g which I really think is pretty and I don’t have any l/g’s that color. I also bought Way To Love l/s, which is pretty but nothing super special, and A Rose Romance l/s, which is okay, I’m not too sure about this product yet. I’m actually getting interested in the Fix+, I may go back and get it!

misstrendy Avatar

Hey i wore the blush of youth today and it showed up nicely. i can wear either NC or NW shades (lucky me eh!) in the 25-30 to give you an idea of my skin tone. i applied it with the 109. i was surprised because on the hand it didnt show. i really think the beauty powders need a base to adhere to whether it be moisturizer, primer, foundation or cream blush. I was pleasantly surprised! paired up with the pinch of colour on my lips i looked “rosey” which is exactly what this collection is all about (before anyone tells me i am using it wrong yes i know it was designed for cheeks but works as both)

Rocketqueen Avatar

What a great haul! But there are no Beauty powder blushes in this collection, only Beauty powders which is a different product… No wonder you were disappointed if you mistook them for blushes, they are sheer as they are supposed to be used all over the face!

mindy terasawa Avatar

do you think i need shadowy lady if i have Fig? I hate to have to buy another similar colored shadow and they arent’ exactly cheap!

meagan Avatar

Hi Christine – great review!

I ended up with a pretty small haul – Blush of Youth BP, Loving Touch, and Steal My Heart. The MA put Summer Rose on one cheek and Blush of Youth on the other, and I was surprised at how much better BoY looked on me. I have trouble with the warm/cool thing because I am very fair with a warm flush, and I have warmer toned green eyes, but cooler toned black hair. I can pull off gold and silver jewelry. I get confused a lot of times over what colors to look at! And I am always drawn to the cooler colors first, of course.

Jessie Avatar

I can’t wait to go get Secret Crush and look at the gel blush today lol

I got Loving Touch and Silverthorn yesterday as the other two le e/s’s look so much like some of the others I have. Ones too chunky and the other is like one other color I have. BUT! Silverthorn looks awesome with Silver Ring and Burnt Burgandy pigment (i’m wearing it today lol)

I’m in love with the lip stains, I havent found any I like since Benefit’s benetint until these came out!

Luda Avatar

I was so absolutely disappointed with this collection. The E/S are not pigmented. I kept swatching and but it was juts too light on my finger. I skiped on those since I already have shadowy lady. The others didn

Nars Avatar

Thanks so much for the post, Christine. You rock as always! 🙂 Now I’m down to Summer Rose BP, Silverthorn e/s, and maybe A way to love and a rose romance lipsticks…not a huge fan of darker lip colors. I really do like Mutiny pigment, but it sort of looks similar to Azreal Blue, of which I own a huge sample. Can you or anyone tell the difference between those two?

Andrea Avatar

great post! I only go fix+ rose so far. I think it smells a bit like lush angels on bare skin! I might go back for more stuff later…

cloudburst Avatar

I got practically everything – both BP’s, Just a Pinch, Rose Romance & Way to Love l/s, all 3 See Thru lip colours, all 3 l/g, and Silverthorn, Of Summer & Et Tu Bouquet. I always buy too much!

Anyways I was surprised I really liked Loving Touch because I thought it would be too sheer, it leaves a really pretty pearly glow on my lips. I also really like Blush of Youth, which I will use as an all over powder, it brightens my yellow toned complection.

Brigitte Avatar

I got quite a lot from this collection and I’m pretty sure now that I know to layer the lip products I’m going back.
One thing I didn’t get: Shadowy Lady e/s

Would you recommend it? I hate the way it swatches but putting it on the eye over the other e/s in the collection it comes out a bit better but still… eek. What do you think?

Jay Avatar

All I picked up was Mutiny pigment, and only because I had been wanting it since Naughty Nauticals and never got around to getting it. This collection really just doesn’t suit me at all. I’m definitely an all-brights kinda girl.

Daria Avatar

Hey Christine, I was just wondering if I was going crazy, or if the Nordstrom exclusive quad still wasnt online? Have they already sold out you think?

Thanks!!!!

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