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MAC Posh Paradise Mattenes Swatches, Photos, Reviews

MAC Fresh Amour Mattene
MAC Fresh Amour Mattene

MAC Posh Paradise Mattenes Swatches, Photos, Reviews

MAC Mattenes ($14.50 for 0.08 oz.) see the limited introduction of ten new and limited edition shades with Posh Paradise (which debuts tomorrow in-stores).  The six featured in this post are: Fresh Amour (light lavender), Naked Bliss (neutral light pink), Potent Fig (deep blue grape), Rare Exotic (bright mid-tone blue pink), Seeds of Desire (deep brown plum), and Unknown Pleasures (deep red blue).

  • Delectable is reviewed here.
  • Deliciously Forbidden is reviewed here.
  • Eden Rouge is reviewed here.
  • Fresh Amour is a pink-tinted lavender with a semi-matte finish and opaque color coverage. It’s very slightly less pink compared to shades like MAC Lavender Whip, Fashion Mews, Blooming Lovely, and Quite Cute. It does tend to pull the yellowness out of teeth, though.
  • Legendary is reviewed here.
  • Naked Bliss is a pinky-beige nude with a semi-matte finish and mostly opaque coverage. It’s darker and pinker compared to MAC Innocence, Beware! and MAC Naturally Eccentric. Maybelline Born With It is similar though glossier. It’s a more pigmented verison of MAC Nude Rose. It’s not as pale as MAC Playing Koi.
  • Potent Fig is a dark grape purple with a slightly glossy finish. The texture is different from the others, as this had a lot of slip, more shine, and went on uneven/streaky because of the additional creaminess. I can’t think of a dupe for it, as a lot of the previous purplish shades I’ve reviewed are either much darker (and more burgundy) or lighter.
  • Rare Exotic It is cooler-toned compared to Guerlain Shalimar and Bobbi Brown Cosmic Raspberry. It is a touch bluer than NARS Carthage. OCC Pretty Boy is a little more magenta. It seems a little darker and bluer-based than MAC Girl About Town.
  • Seeds of Desire is a luxurious brown tinted with red and has ruby red shimmer with a semi-matte finish. The color payoff is good with mostly opaque coverage. CoverGirl Smokyis similar but a little lighter and browner. MAC Underworld is lighter.
  • Unknown Pleasures is a dark brown-tinted red with mostly opaque color coverage and a slightly shiny finish. The shine with this shade seems higher than the majority, so it’s not quite as semi-matte. It’s redder than Illamasqua Growl. It’s a touch darker than MAC Good to Be Bad. It’s similar to Bobbi Brown Blackberry, MAC Dark Side, and MAC Dark Deed.

These felt creamier, with better slip and comfort, than previous iterations of Mattenes (I think the last time we saw them was with Style Black). I wore Delectable on half of my lips (half of the upper/half of the lower) with Eden Rouge on the other side, because I like to test shades from both the lighter and darker ends of the spectrum to get a handle on the length of wear. Delectable wore off within three hours, while Eden Rouge wore about five. I think the increased slip and creaminess of the formula has reduced the wear time by a bit–at least in these shades.

I didn’t see anything in the marketing/press release on these about them being long-wearing but did glean that they are supposed to be soft enough to glide-on with semi-matte finishes, intense color, and moisturizing. They’re far more moisturizing than the average matte lipstick. After wearing the two I tested for wear, I did want balm, but I didn’t feel like my lips were cracking or dry. These are packaged in slim tubes with matte black on the outside and a shiny rim around the middle. They only contain 0.08 oz., which is less than their regular lipsticks, which are 0.10 oz.

Honestly, this collection has “permanent” written all over it yet everything is limited edition. The shades of the Mattenes seem so core and basic (which is not a criticism) that they would make for an excellent permanent selection of colors in the Mattene formula, which I think many readers have enjoyed over time.  I really do feel some improvement went into these new shades.  The only one that I had major issues with was Potent Fig.

MAC Posh Paradise Mattenes Swatches, Photos, Reviews

A-
8.5
Product
9.5
Pigmentation
10
Texture
9
Longevity
4
Application
91%
Total

MAC Fresh Amour Mattene
MAC Fresh Amour Mattene

MAC Fresh Amour Mattene
MAC Fresh Amour Mattene

MAC Fresh Amour Mattene
MAC Fresh Amour Mattene

MAC Fresh Amour Mattene
MAC Fresh Amour Mattene

MAC Naked Bliss Mattene
MAC Naked Bliss Mattene

MAC Naked Bliss Mattene
MAC Naked Bliss Mattene

MAC Naked Bliss Mattene
MAC Naked Bliss Mattene

MAC Naked Bliss Mattene
MAC Naked Bliss Mattene

MAC Potent Fig Mattene
MAC Potent Fig Mattene

MAC Potent Fig Mattene
MAC Potent Fig Mattene

MAC Potent Fig Mattene
MAC Potent Fig Mattene

MAC Potent Fig Mattene
MAC Potent Fig Mattene

MAC Rare Exotic Mattene
MAC Rare Exotic Mattene

MAC Rare Exotic Mattene
MAC Rare Exotic Mattene

MAC Rare Exotic Mattene
MAC Rare Exotic Mattene

MAC Rare Exotic Mattene
MAC Rare Exotic Mattene

MAC Seeds of Desire Mattene
MAC Seeds of Desire Mattene

MAC Seeds of Desire Mattene
MAC Seeds of Desire Mattene

MAC Seeds of Desire Mattene
MAC Seeds of Desire Mattene

MAC Seeds of Desire Mattene
MAC Seeds of Desire Mattene

MAC Unknown Pleasures Mattene
MAC Unknown Pleasures Mattene

MAC Unknown Pleasures Mattene
MAC Unknown Pleasures Mattene

MAC Unknown Pleasures Mattene
MAC Unknown Pleasures Mattene

MAC Unknown Pleasures Mattene
MAC Unknown Pleasures Mattene

94 Comments

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SatelliteDreamer Avatar

I think I need Potent Fig! Christine, did you wear that one for any amount of time, or just swatch and then remove?

I don’t like how it’s a bit streaky, but I’m in love with the colour, so it might be worth a bit of extra work.

The old mattenes sometimes dried my lips out horribly, or they would clump up when I tried to reapply. However, I enjoyed how long they would wear.

Someone, please, talk me out of buying this!

Mimi M. Avatar

I’ve been looking for a l/s to replace my Nude Rose when it runs out for soo long! I’m so happy this came out. I know the finish is different but I’m totally going to give it a try. Nude Rose is my HG nude lipstick so I’ve been dreading the fact that it will run out one day, since it was a LE.

Diana Avatar

OMG Naked Bliss, and Rare Exotic are mine!!!!! LOL! Love Rare Exotic! Thank you so much for always posting such AWESOME reviews and swatches you’re AWESOME!

Yazmin Avatar

rare exotic, Unknown Pleasures, Deliciously Forbidden, Eden Rouge, Legendary & Delectable must be mine! Thank god Ive decided against most of the paint pots after seeing the swatches! Most of the pain pots can be easily duped with my Nyx Jumbo eye pencils or Mac Shadesticks.

Melody Avatar

Yeah I’m not feeling these colors. I picked up Fresh Amour and Potent Fig at launch, but I held off on Unknown Pleasures because I was afraid it would be brown. And I was right. I knew I couldn’t trust the description of “red blue.”

Michelle Avatar

how does rare exotic compare to show orchid? i’m really not into bright colors, especially pinks but i want to at least have it in my collection to wear it if i can pull it off, lol. and show orchid is coming up in the next collection release so i wanted to know if i should just wait (or go to pro store since it’s a pro product) to get it. i am medium skin tone, btw.

Judy Avatar

Love your swatches Christine! I’ve been drawn to Potent Fig since I heard the description of it. I just can’t get enough of them purple lipsticks. I ordered Deliciously Forbidden, Potent Fig & Fresh Amour. I can’t wait to get my stuff. 😀

Italia Avatar

What I love so much about this collection of lipsticks is their varying shades! Sometimes collections have shades that are too similar… not this on! Incredible!

Emily O. Avatar

Many moons go, when Nordstrom had a Hard Candy counter, I had a beloved lilac mermaid- monikered lipstick. I wore it all the time with MAC Grape l/l. I have searched for a dupe for close to 12 years. I was robbed of my chance at the Quite Cute lippie and am really hoping Fresh Amour is it. Plus Potent Fig reminds me of the original Cyber lipstick, which was very deep and practically matte. I love these unapologetic lipsticks. It reminds me of all the gorgeous opaque lips in the 90’s. The trend toward glossier and sheer seems to have highjacked the Fearless Feminine painted mouth in past years. I love love love these!

Ashley Avatar

These are great! I’m about to order mine now. How do you apply the color so evenly without any bleed? Even when I use a brush it still never looks this flawless.

Shi Avatar

Christine, how does Naked Bliss compare to Shy Girl? Sadly, I’ve never had a chance to get Innocence, Beware! or Nude Rose. As always, thanks for the swatches!

Stacy Avatar

I got seeds of desire also, and Im normally a gloss girl, but I work at Sephora and I do wear dark lipstick while Im at work, sometimes, my mom thinks its too dark for me, but I usually don’t do a neutral eye, so maybe its too many dark shades together, cause I wore this lip color with a sketch eye shadow look, Im a c3 in studio fix powder.

Jetta Avatar

I received today Unknown Pleasures and legendary OMG I love them.. I just placed another order with the rest of lipsticks (except potent fig and Fresh Amour) I am in love with the ones I got!!!

Shayna Avatar

Hey Christine, I recently bought Fresh Amour, and I love love love it! I’m trying to find a good lip gloss for it, and right now I’m trying to decide between Good Times and I <3 U from the quite cute collection. Do you have any recommendation about one or the other?

Also, I'd like to report that Fresh Amour over the Bat Black CCB creates a lovely deep color.

Jill Avatar

Rare Exotic is so gorgeous on you! It looks more red-berry on me (I’m NC15), it’s still flattering, but I was hoping for a bold pink like it appears in the swatch.

Naked Bliss is probably my favorite of the mattenes – it’s so versatile and even by itself I love it. My latest craze is Naked Bliss with Oversexed Plushglass on top – it turns into a neutral mauve – gorgeous! I may need to buy a back-up of NB 🙂

annie Avatar

Dear Christine,
could you please try to compare Unknown pleasures with Media because I am not sure which one to get, I would prefer more redness in the hue.
Thanks xoxo

Rania Avatar

I’m really loving the Rare Exotic on you since I’ve been looking for this kind of shade for some time. This one looks perfect but I was wondering if you had any info on the distribution regarding the Middle East? or is it limited to the US only? Thnx

Sarah Walters Avatar

Wow, these are all so nice! At first whenever I saw the collection on the MAC website I was really tempted to buy Unknown Pleasure purely based on the fact that it’s also the name of a Joy Division album – and it’s so gorgeous! I really love Desire as well!

Sloh Avatar

Hi Christine what the difference between Endless drama and Unknown pleasures ?
I don’t know which one to buy and find them really similar 

Linda Avatar

I must get my hands on Fresh Amour! Ugh, so sad that they didn’t add this to the permanent collection. I’m looking for a good, matte lavender lipstick that isn’t too pink 🙁

Sloh Avatar

Hi Chrisine I see someone wearing Rare exotic on a picture and it looks like is purple I mean like Rebel , So I just want to know if it’s right or not ? I’m a NC50 and I looking for a Fuschia lipstick which suit me .

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