Archived Post

MAC Colour Craft Collection Review - Part 2


Smooth Merge Mineralize Skinfinish

MAC Cosmetics Colour Craft Collection Review – Part 2

OVERALL, the mineralize blushes were smooth and soft in texture with soft sheens. They all felt pigmented without being overly intense. (Personally, I want a blush that is buildable but is never sheer–hey, I can be heavy handed, so ultra pigmented blushes are not my forte!) I think MAC did a good job of providing shades that are wearable for a range of skin tones, rather than all warm-toned or cool-toned. Some felt like they would work just as well on both cool and warm-toned folks, while others ran a bit warmer. I didn’t feel like any ran particularly cool, though.

Reference

Colour Craft: Colour | Official Information/Promo Photos
Colour Craft: Face | Official Information/Promo Photos
Temptalia Product Photos (Eyeshadows, Lipglasses, Lipsticks)
Temptalia Product Photos (Blushes and Mineralize Skinfinishes)
Swatches

The mineralize skinfinishes include five brand spankin’ new shades with just one repromote (Porcelain Pink). Again, keeping with the theme of the collection, these are smooth and soft in texture and have more of a soft sheen in finish than a glittery appearance. (Yay!) I don’t feel like any of these would earn the title “glitterbomb!” I also loved that Sunny By Nature was nearly matte in finish–really great to see something like that released. And of course, yay! for the repromotion of the 226!

Temptalia Recommendations

Must-Haves: Daft Pink, Hand-finish mineralize blushes; Sunny By Nature, Smooth Merge, Warm Blend mineralize skinfinishes

Nice-to-Haves: Cheek & Cheerful, Improvise mineralize blushes; Cheeky Bronze, Porcelain Pink mineralize skinfinishes

Skip: Triple Fusion mineralize skinfinish

See detailed, in-depth reviews of individual products…


Cheek & Cheerful, Daft Pink, Fad-dabulous, Hand-finish Mineralize Blushes


Improvise, Style Demon Mineralize Blushes; Porcelain Pink, Cheeky Bronze Mineralize Skinfinishes

Mineralize Blush ($21.00 U.S./$25.00 CDN)

  • Cheek & Cheerful is a coppery-bronze with a soft and smooth texture and a pearly sheen finish. It’s quite pigmented, and it didn’t feel like I needed to layer to get it to show up at all. It may be a bit too coppery/orange for some, though.
  • Daft Pink is a soft pink with peachy sheen and soft sheen. It feels smooth to the touch, and it is fairly pigmented.
  • Fad-dabulous is a warm adobe brown with earthy undertones. It has low level shimmer which appears mostly bronze-gold, and it has a softer sheen than blushes like Cheek & Cheerful.
  • Hand-finish is a soft, subdued peachy shade. It’s not bright, but it’s still pigmented. I found this one to feel really unique amongst the six released today.
  • Improvise is a soft peachy shade with a bit of pinky-coral undertones with a soft gold sheen finish. Smooth and pigmented, it looked pretty and seems like it will be flattering on a variety of skin tones.
  • Style Demon is a muted reddish-brick shade with gold shimmer and soft sheen. It feels like a redder version of Fad-dabulous.

Mineralize Skinfinish ($27.00 U.S./$32.50 CDN)

  • Cheeky Bronze is a apricot-bronze shade with gold sheen and slight shimmer. It feels like it has a more pearly look to it than frosty shimmer.
  • Porcelain Pink is a soft, pale pink with a little bit of peach to it. It has soft silver-pink shimmer. Mine didn’t have a lot of gold swirls in it, so you might want to ask to pick yours. (Hey, for MSF addicts, this is the norm!)
  • Sunny By Nature is a semi-matte sunny bronze-tan. I like that it has more of a matte finish while still delivering the smooth, soft texture of a mineralize skinfinish.
  • Smooth Merge is a trio of shades including a soft, silvery-pink, apricot-pink, and whitish-bronze. When mixed, they create a lovely shade of medium berry-pink. It’s not a deep raspberry like Petticoat can be for some, but it’s a softer, subtler raspberry color. It has a soft texture with a light pearly sheen. It didn’t feel too shimmery as it did pearly.
  • Triple Fusion features a trio of soft golden yellow, light peach, light raspberry pink. Together, they can be mixed to give a soft golden bronze with a light pink tone to it. I didn’t love it when swirled together, just because the color seems a bit muted and more like a highlighter. Like Smooth Merge, it has a soft, smooth texture with more of a sheen in appearance than shimmer.
  • Warm Blend contains a trio of rich, warm bronzy-brown, slightly richer bronze brown, and a golden bronze. When swirled together, you’ll find a rich, warm-toned brown with soft gold sheen and just a touch of gold shimmer. This one is really quite stunning (reminded me of Natural Flare mineralize eyeshadow!), but I’m not entirely sure just how wearable this is going to be on cheeks. I felt this way with So Ceylon mineralize skinfinish, though, and I know that one is a huge hit amongst MSF fans.


Cheeky Bronze, Porcelain Pink, Sunny By Nature Mineralize Skinfinishes


Smooth Merge Mineralize Skinfinish


Triple Fusion Mineralize Skinfinish


Warm Blend Mineralize Skinfinish

Brushes

  • 226 is a small, tapered crease brush made out of natural fibres. It is amazing. Get it. Seriously! You can read my much lengthier review here.
  • 131 is a medium-sized, duo fibre brush designed to be used with mineralize skinfinishes and blushes. I asked my favorite artist, Thang, at my local MAC what he was loving it for, and he said it was great for blushes and mineralize skinfinishes. Since I just got this, it’s hard to really tell you what it works best with–yet. It is incredibly soft, and it is fairly fluffy. It’s kind of like a flatter, thinner 129 mixed with the bristles of the 187 with the fluffiness of the 184. If that makes any sense to you at all, kudos!

143 Comments

Comments that do not adhere to our comment policy may be removed. Discussion and debate are highly encouraged but we expect community members to participate respectfully. Please keep discussion on-topic, and if you have general feedback, a product review request, an off-topic question, or need technical support, please contact us!

Please help us streamline the comments' section and be more efficient: double-check the post above for more basic information like pricing, availability, and so on to make sure your question wasn't answered already. Comments alerting us to typos or small errors in the post are appreciated (!) but will typically be removed after errors are fixed (unless a response is needed).

We appreciate enthusiasm for new releases but ask readers to please hold questions regarding if/when a review will be posted as we can't commit to or guarantee product reviews. We don't want to set expectations and then disappoint readers as even products that are swatched don't always end up being reviewed due to time constraints and changes in priorities! Thank you for understanding!

Comments on this post are closed.
Julieloveshim Avatar

Warm Blend on the eyes is amazing, the dark mahogany brown doesn’t show up as much as you want it to though; maybe a different crease colour?
The true gold colour on the lid looks like liquid..:) NOM.

tes Avatar

i’m nc40 with mac foundations… what would u recommend for me on the msf’s… smooth merge is on my list right now… i’ll be heading to mac pro tonight… just can’t decide… i know for sure i want the 131 brush… a couple eyeshadows.. and a lipstick… i want the msf’s i’ll be getting two but just can’t decide… any suggestions?

tes Avatar

thank you christine… your suggestions will be very helpful… i’ll be on my way to pick up some items in an hour… can’t wait to get my hands all over these goodies!!!

Kate M. Avatar

Hey Christine,

I was wondering why you don’t like Triple Fusion? I thought it looked like Redhead from the BBR collection and since I missed that one, I was thinking about Triple Fusion instead. Can I get some thoughts on the negatives? Maybe my wallet will thank you =D

Thanks!!

Kate M. Avatar

Thanks for the input Christine!! And the swatches, I loveeee this site!! And I think I’m going to take that into account and look into Improvise. I’m looking for a peachy blush and it looks great!

Ms Trendy Avatar

i recommend you check it out in person… i got it and love it. majority of the MUAs in store said that would be their fave because its very versatile due to 3 different undertones.

Meredith Avatar

I just got a few things from the collection at Nordstrom. The mineralize blushes are very sparkly. I was kind of surprised. I wound uo buying Fab Dabulous which wasn’t what I had planned, but it looked best on my skin tone. I got Odd Bits eye quad and Pretty Pattern lipglass. I always buy pink, pink, pink, but the Pretty Pattern color has a little more brownish and creamy looking. Overall, the eye quads are very small. I like MAC reg. eyeshadows because they have more pigment. Good collection though, may go back after pay day for more.

Meredith Avatar

Haha Christine, you are so right. I just compared to one of my reg size mineral ES and yes, the case is same size. My eyes played such tricks on me in the store, because the color is seperated into tiny sections, it made the whole thing look smaller!

MC Avatar

I got Triple Fusion and I think it’s B-E-A-U-TIFUL! It’s a coraly-pinky-goldy on my n5/nc15 skintone and it looks really unique with a nice shimmer and no “sparkle”.

I thought the blushes were glittery. I only swatched 3, but all had very dominant sparkle particles. The colors were so pretty! I only wish they hadn’t been so BAM! on the sparkles…

Ms Trendy Avatar

i agree! Triple Fusion is georgeous and you can achieve 3 different looks and depending what quantity you blend the colours together you can achieve a warmer or cooler effect. I found the smooth merge ran too pink for me – almost fuschia looking.

MC Avatar

Hmmmm… I’m considering going back in a few days to ask for a Porcelain Pink with more gold veining… the one on display didn’t have very much, maybe that’s why it didn’t show well on me…

Hanna Avatar

Do you think Cheeky Bronze would be to orangy on a NW20 skin?

Also is Smooth Merge in the same colour family as the Blonde MSF?

Really trying to make my list a bit shorter here;0)

Hanna Avatar

Thank you! You are always so helpful and make it easier for us to order online. I live 3 hours away from a MAC counter, so I totally rely on YOU!
Thanks

Hanna Avatar

I have Love Rock and I never ever wear it. I look like a clown with it on. Maybe Daft Pink is a better one…hmm decisions decisions…

Annie Avatar

Hi Christine, do you think Warm Blend would look too dark as a bronzer on NC35 skin? Or should I go with Sunny by Nature or Cheeky Bronze?
Thanks =D

Enna Avatar

I agree with Christine, go for Sunny by nature ´cause it is matt, that color you can apply on the whole face and maybe use warm blend only on your cheeks:

Annie Avatar

I was actually disappointed. I think Triple Fusion has a lot of glitter to it, and Smooth Merge was too pink on me (I’m NW25) and I wear more coral blushes now. I also thought the sheen was too intense, and accentuated my flaws! Oh well, more money for me!

Ms Trendy Avatar

i felt the same about smooth merge… too pink and iridescent for the cheeks and you’d have to use a very light hand.

Megan Avatar

Thanks so much for the swatches Christine. Im going to MAC tomorrow and I think I gonna give Warm Blend and Smooth Merge MSF a go. I have the Brunette MSF and its pretty be it seems too glittery for my taste so I was glad to hear the these didnt feel as glittery to you. I will also check out the eyeshadows and glosses (which I thought I was gonna skip)

Megan Avatar

I went to MAC and bought Sunny by Nature which was surprisingly beautiful on my skin, which is around NW 45. Sunny by Nature is what I wished Warmed MSF would look like.Smooth Merge and Warm Blend didn’t grab me like I thought they would. I also bought Girlish Romp e/s and two non collection e/s in Da Bling and Sable. Also Style Demon is not as similar as Merrily on me as I thought it would be, so that one may be next!

Ydania Avatar

awesome review christine .. i agree completely .. i purchased Daft Pink, Improvise (bcuz i felt it was so unique), Porcelain Pink, and the 109 .. Heh Heh .. i knew i was gonna spend alot on this collection.. i also picked up one of the lippies.. it was a great collection .. and i feel like once you swatch it .. you can really tell if its for you or not.. take care =]

Angie Avatar

Hmm, well I know i’m picking up some MSF’s, but now I feel like I need Hand-finish blush! Haha. Now I don’t know if I need a 131….looks interesting but I don’t know if its something I will regret NOT getting or not.

Christine Avatar

I don’t think the 131 is really a must-have unless you’re *really* into brushes. Me, I am slightly obsessed now, so I am going to grab pretty much any and all brushes that come out these days 😛

However, I think the 116 will do just as nice of a job as the 131. Or stick with the original duo fibre 187 brush! It will likely sell out, though. I’ve heard it is sold out on the Canadian website!

Faheema Avatar

Welll I have made a list of all that I MUST buy 🙂
Thankss so much for the swatches and details Christine! Its really helped me narrow down what I should get! & I don’t like odd bits either haa

dadadaaa Avatar

Smooth merge has a darker rosey shade compared to Blonde.

Also triple fusion is way glittery, but Improvised is very similiar to it and to cheeky bronze but a bit cheaper.

Shaina Avatar

Thanks Christine! I did try it and i got it:) it looks like a nice peachy/pink with a slight bronze/gold sheen… very subtle blush and aweosme highlight! i prefer this to sunny by nature which blended into my skin and only gave a glow

Enna Avatar

Shaina, how does warm blend look on you? do you like it? I am nc 43.5 and I took cheeky bronze, it show on me, but I was wondering if I should also buby warm blend for the night, do you like it?

sugarcrumb Avatar

Heya,
i’m NC 43 too; Cheeky Bronze is a peachy bronzy shade (a more intense Margin blush, for comparison’s sake); i thought it was great. Warm Blend was waaay too dark for me – it was a deep cocoa-ish brown rather than a golden bronzy shade. 3 different MAs at 3 different MAC counters all commented that it was rather dark for me the moment i swatched it. If you really want a bronzed, deep shade look (perhaps like the new Illamasqua pics in Christine’s post about them being available in US Sephora), then perhaps it will work.

Shaina Avatar

Hey Enna i LOVEE Warm blend.. am NC 45 and its hawtness!! haha if u like the bronzy look its perfect:).. and like someone said.. this will propbably be one of those MSF’s tht ppl didint get at first but regretted later!

DevilishDoll Avatar

Now I know that I definitely want Triple Fusion and Smooth Merge. They are so pretty, and I only have 1 other MSF so far. None of the blushes for me.

DevilishDoll Avatar

Well, I had enough money on my credit card to order 1 thing, so I got Girlish Romp MEs. After the 17th, I’m going to Nordstrom and I’ll probably get Fashion Patch and Eccentricity MEs, the 2 MSFs, Eclectic Edge, Miss Marble, Colour Crafted and Trimming Talk. Then I’ll take some swatches myself and decide which one I want between Crazy Haute, Funky Fusion and Nice Mix Up. And hope I can keep myself from buying all 3. I already had to cut out the Fresh Cut palette from Graphic Garden due to all of the Colour Craft stuff I want, lol.

DevilishDoll Avatar

Crazy me, I changed my mind again after looking at your Graphic Gardens swatches and comparing them to this. So now I’m skipping Fashion Patch and getting Fresh Cut. And if I get a third lipglass, I decided on Crazy Haute since it will go great with my Rose Romance lipstick. Plus it looks quite pigmented. Now stop me from changing my mind again, please! LOL

francesca Avatar

Thanks, Christine! I’m looking for a mineralize blush that can remind me of Mac’s Style blush: is there anything similar in this collection? I’m a NW25, FYI!

Kate M. Avatar

Christine,

I was wondering how similar Triple Fusion and Redhead MSFs were? I’m looking for something peachy and I did end up buying Triple Fusion but I really like Improvise too!

Thanks!!

NuNu Avatar

I had Hand-finish on my list, when I got there yesterday I picked it up and I put it back down, I picked it up again and I put it down again *repeat 10 times*
I just keep thinking it’s too frosty to be used as a blush?

Enna Avatar

I agree with you NuNu, it had the same effect on me, I kept taking it and puting it back until I decided to try, I am NC43.5, it looks odd as a blush but as a highlighter is looks AWESOME! I use on my cheekbones. Now, I don´t know if it is me, but I think it looks exactly like porcelain pink, just with more glitter, what do you think Christine?

Enna Avatar

My God, I never replied so much on a thread, I really like this collection. My MUA told to use the lighter stripes as a blush and the darker one to contour the cheeks, looked very nice.

kristie Avatar

Thanks so much for the swatches Christine! Do you know which MSF is closest to warmed MSF? I miss out on that one and is looking for a replacement.

Katy Avatar

Hi Christine!

Just wanted to tell you that you have a wonderful site, and wanted to thank you for the swatches. Out of curiosity, I’m really liking the look of Hand Finish and Improvise, and I’m wondering if they’re different enough to warrant getting both, ’cause they look similar with swatches. What are the differences between them? Thank you!

Christine Avatar

Thanks, Katy! 🙂

Hand-finish has more of a pinky undertone, it’s a little lighter, less colored than Improvise. Improvise has more orange-coral to it. If you’re on a budget, I’d probably just get Improvise and use it lightly to get something similar to Hand-finish!

Luda Avatar

love love love the triple fusion
love Hand-finish
love Improvise

I’m absolutely in love with everything i got

the biggest disappointment were the glosses, no matter how many times i swatched it just didn’t look good but I still got the via veneto from the euristocrats II ( i know i butchered it) collection

Luda Avatar

I love it – for some reason any lip color with a blue undertone makes my green eyes POP. People asked me if I was wearing contacts today!!!
Hey i’m not complaining. 🙂

Carolyn Avatar

Hi Christine, do you think that Smooth Merge would be too ‘cool’ on my NC35 skintone? And would one use it as a blush? Thanks!!

Christy Avatar

Love the swatches & review! I skipped all of the lipsticks on swatching, but picked up Eclectic Edge l/g, Crazy Haute l/g, Funky Fusion l/g, Handfinish MB (gorgeous!!!) , Fab-Dabulous MB, Style Demon MB, Improvise MB (gorgeous!!!), Cheek & Cheerful MB, 131 brush, 226 brush (since I didn’t get it during BBR), Cheeky Bronze MSF, Sunny by Nature MSF, Smooth Merge MSF and Triple Fusion MSF. I skipped Warm Blend MSF, it looked too dark for me. I also skipped on Daft Pink, since it didn’t draw me in much. Oh well, still a pretty happy haul for me. =)

Raquel Avatar

Hi Christine!!

First, I just wanted to say you are a-ma-zing for putting together this fantastic website!!! Thank you thank you thank you! I really wanted your opinion on Style Demon MB (for reference I use MACs MSFN in medium). Do you think this color might be too much for my skin tone?? I got it yesterday, but now I’m having second thoughts… I have very few blushers (MACs well dressed and gentle MB) and think I might end up going over board w/ this one… So, in your opinion, which mineralized blush should I go trade it for?? I also got smooth merge and triple fusion MSFs and I thought smooth merge was a little close to daft-pink and opted not to get daft-pink. Okay, I’m blabing now! Thanks again!

raquel Avatar

Hi Christine! It’s me again! You know what… I gave Style Demon a try… And I absolutely LOVE it! I just need to be very light handed and I’ve also noticed that once I apply my Fix+, it kind of tones the blush intensity down and just leaves the prettiest flush of peachy red on my cheeks. I also tried Triple Fusion MSF on top of it after applying Fix+ and it looked AMAZING! Love it! hahaha! Thanks again for putting Temptalia together, I can’t live a day without checking your posts out!
xoxo
r.

Emilie Avatar

Thanks so much for this awesome review Christine!
You are always the first to post on MAC collections, i love your blog!!

I was wondering, in your opinion, do you think that Smooth Merge is unique enough compared to Blonde MSF to justify getting it?

I already have Blonde MSF and if Smooth Merge nearly gives the same look, I think it would be a waste for me to purchase it.
What do you think? 🙂
– I’m a student so I don’t have as much money as I’d like! Lol 🙂

Cassie Avatar

I just purchased my very first highlighter- triple fusion. I’m not sure that I like it. It could be that I don’t like how a highlighter looks on me or it could be the actual product that I don’t like. Triple fusion is my first msf. It is really shimmery. I think it beautiful in the pan though. I’m not sure if I should return it. I’m torn!

Meri Avatar

Hi there 🙂 I am thinking to get Daft Pink but I am afraid that it’s all about shimmer, doesn’t show any pinky shade at all. Do u think it will look nice on fair asian skin ? Really need you suggestion >.< Thanks btw 🙂

Jacquelyn Avatar

The swatches are amazing! I’m dying to get Cheek & Cheerful, Fabdabulous, Style Demon, Smooth Merge MSF. I’m loving both the 226 and the 131 brushes by far! I think I might need to buy a second 226 and 131 brushes!!

GucciGirl1229 Avatar

Hey Christine, I am starting to build my kit and I was wondering if you would suggest getting the 131 brush? I would hate to not get it and it turns out to be the must have brush and on the other hand I dont want to get it and its nothing special. Any input would be appreciated.

Annie Avatar

Would you suggest the 131 brush? I don’t have a duo-fiber brush yet, only a factory-made from HK, So would you say I should get this one before 187,188?! TIA!

Elle Avatar

What is the difference between Cheek & Cheerful and So Ceylon? They look similar in the swatches

I’m NW20, what would you suggest as a good bronzer from the collection?

smut Avatar

Okay so I wasn’t going to buy any make up until the Makeup Art Cosmetics Collection came out (I want that green quad!) but today I broke down. I wanted a turquoise shadow so I went with Shimmermoss. I wanted a new blush as well and the person who was helping me tried Hand-Finish on me, which I liked. The thing is it was sold out everywhere so she gave me the tester which is pretty much brand new!! My first official freebie from MAC. She really liked how it looked on me so maybe that helped as well!

We try to approve comments within 24 hours (and reply to them within 72 hours) but can sometimes get behind and appreciate your patience! 🙂 If you have general feedback, product review requests, off-topic questions, or need technical support, please contact us directly. Thank you for your patience!