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.