MAC Heavenly Creatures Lipsticks Review, Photos, Swatches

Christine — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 19:08:29 +0000

MAC Cusp of Dawn Lipstick

MAC Heavenly Creatures Lipsticks

MAC Heavenly Creatures Lipsticks ($14.50 for 0.10 oz.) features five shades: Cusp of Dawn (beige pink), Cut a Caper (mid-tone peach pink), Fire Sign (red pink), Pleasureseeker (creamy peach), and Venus (sheer yellow pink with pearl). Both Cut a Caper and Pleasureseeker have been released in previous collections, and all five are limited edition.

Cusp of Dawn is a soft, warm peach-beige with a little hint of brown and orange-copper shimmer. This has a lustre finish. The color coverage is semi-sheer, depositing more visible shimmer-sheen (almost looks metallic on my lips) while muting any natural pink in my lips. On my lips, it comes out as a subdued beige with a semi-metallic finish. Guerlain Chant d’Aromes is slightly browner and more opaque, less metallic. MAC Viva Glam VI has more red and plum (but it looked a little similar on). Maybelline Coral Kiss is slightly rosier. Guerlain Grace is rosier.
Cut a Caper is a pink-coral with this really, really subtle purplish iridescence. This has a lustre finish. The color coverage is semi-opaque and very buildable, so you can use almost nothing and get sheer color. Bobbi Brown Pink Seashell is less pink. Chanel Coquette is more vibrant, pinker. NARS Niagara is darker, pinker.
Fire Sign is a pinky-red with semi-opaque color coverage. This has a lustre finish. Was anyone else wanting this shade to be more fiery? It’s exactly as described, so I don’t take any real issue with it, I just envisioned something more fiery by the name (this has no impact on the review!). Guerlain Pour Troubler is a little more ruby red. NARS Flamenco is comparable. Guerlain Grenade is similar, slightly more muted.
Pleasureseeker is a dirty peach with subtle warm undertones. This has a glaze finish. It has semi-sheer color payoff, though it has more of a frosted/metallic effect than a lot of color. It seems to warm up my natural lip color and make my lips look a little coral–I imagine this is because it’s semi-sheer, so it’s not adding noticeable peach as a solid color but mixing peach with my underlying lip color. Bobbi Brown Pink Seashell is very similar (perhaps a little pinker in the tube) and also turns my lips to a shade of coral. MAC Razzledazzler is darker, more opaque. Burberry Devon Sunset is more opaque and darker.
Venus is a semi-opaque subtly yellow-toned medium pink with subtle golden shimmer. This has a lustre finish. MAC Blood Red is less pink. MAC Radicchio is lighter, plummier. Guerlain Bloom of Rose is more frosted.

Four of the five shades have a lustre finish, which isn’t one of my favorites by MAC for two major reasons: 1) they don’t wear very long (anywhere from one and a half to three hours usually), and 2) they’re drying. One shade has a glaze finish, which is similar but slightly glossier (heavier on the shine, slightly creamier), which wears about as well as lustre finishes do, but I don’t find the glaze finish as drying–slightly drying but not too badly. MAC lipsticks are vanilla-scented with no discernible taste and come in black bullet tubes with silver accents.

Yesterday, I tested the wear of Cusp of Dawn (two hours), Cut a Caper (three hours), and Fire Sign (five hours), while this morning, I tested out the wear of Pleasureseeker (hour and a half) and Venus (three and a half hours). All of the shades were on the drying side with Cut a Caper being the least drying but slightly so. Cusp of Dawn and Pleasureseeker will do best on well-hydrated, smooth lips. The sheer and frost combination doesn’t work well on dehydrated lips, as it tends to accentuate any imperfections on the lip, like dryness, flaking, and cracking.

On the whole, I do like MAC lipsticks, and I think there are few brands that provide as many shade varieties as they do (there are so many classics in the permanent range, and plenty of “ooh, I remember loving you” shades that were limited edition). I also think they’re a good option for someone who wants to go high-end but doesn’t want to shell out $20+ for true high-end brands (as MAC is generally considered mid-end, though their price points have been creeping–especially on newer product types–upward into high-end territory, e.g. $20 for an eyeshadow). Lustres just don’t work well on me; they wear off easily and dry out my lips, and since four of the five are lustres, this review certainly reflects those problems.