MAC Stroke of Midnight/Pink Lip & Cheek Bag Review, Photos, Swatches

MAC Stroke of Midnight/Pink Lip & Cheek Bag
MAC Stroke of Midnight/Pink Lip & Cheek Bag

MAC Stroke of Midnight/Pink Lip & Cheek Bag ($59.50) includes a travel-sized Beauty Powder Blush (0.09 oz. vs. 0.21 oz.), full-sized Lipglass (0.17 fl. oz.), full-sized Lipstick (0.10 oz.), travel-sized #129 brush, and a slim mirror. The set contains $9 worth of blush, $15 worth of gloss, and $15 worth of lipstick for a total of $39 in color products; then there is some value for the #129SE, mirror, and bag–all of which are hard to value. The #129SE brush felt really floppy; the brush head seemed a lot longer than the full-sized #129, and it was also somewhat scratchy. The mirror works as it should, but it’s all mirror, so it’s easy to smudge and get fingerprints on it when removing it from its pouch. The bag is a good size and will fit several products easily.

Formal is described as a “soft pink.” It’s a light-medium pink with neutral-to-cool undertones and a barely-there satin finish. It had decent to good color payoff, and the texture was soft, silky, and finely-milled, but it was a little powdery so it’s best applied in layers. It wore well for seven and a half hours and was lightly faded after eight hours of wear. Too Faced Lollipop (LE) is more shimmery. Too Faced Raindrops on Roses (LE) is also more shimmery. Urban Decay Temper (LE) is similar. MAC Pure Femininity (LE, $21.00) is cooler-toned. theBalm Houndstooth (P, $22.00) is darker. MAC Stay Pretty (P, $23.50) is a touch lighter. MAC Easy Manner (LE, $21.00) is less cool-toned, more shimmery. Illamasqua Naked Rose (P, $26.00) is a little lighter. See comparison swatches.

How Darling! is described as a “warm pink cream [with a Cremesheen finish].” It’s a medium pink with neutral-to-warm undertones and a soft, luminous sheen. It had mostly opaque color coverage, but the texture was a little gummy–thick in a way–and tended to cake up somewhat on the lips as I applied it. It lasted for four hours on me and was neither drying nor hydrating. Chanel Radieuse (217) (LE, $34.00) is more frosted, sheerer. Urban Decay Native (P, $22.00) is warmer. MAC Dreaminess (P, $22.00) is lighter. MAC Vivid Imagination (LE, $15.00) is very similar. MAC Angel (P, $15.00) is similar but slightly frosted. See comparison swatches.

Soft Spoken is described as a “soft pink with red frost.” It’s a clear gloss with iridescent pink and copper shimmer. It has a moderate amount of shimmer and provides no color to the lips. It wore for three hours. MAC Impossibly Sweet (LE, $15.00), MAC Like Venus (P, $20.00), MAC Pleasure Principle (LE, $20.00), and Chanel Petillant (P, $29.50) are all similar. See comparison swatches.

MAC Stroke of Midnight/Pink Lip & Cheek Bag
MAC Stroke of Midnight/Pink Lip & Cheek Bag

MAC Stroke of Midnight/Pink Lip & Cheek Bag
MAC Formal Blush

MAC Stroke of Midnight/Pink Lip & Cheek Bag
MAC Formal Blush

MAC Stroke of Midnight/Pink Lip & Cheek Bag
MAC Formal Blush

MAC Stroke of Midnight/Pink Lip & Cheek Bag
MAC Formal Blush

MAC Stroke of Midnight/Pink Lip & Cheek Bag
MAC Formal Blush

MAC Stroke of Midnight/Pink Lip & Cheek Bag
MAC Formal Blush (MAC Colour Saturation + Dressed to Dazzle on lips)

MAC Stroke of Midnight/Pink Lip & Cheek Bag
MAC How Darling! Lipstick

MAC Stroke of Midnight/Pink Lip & Cheek Bag
MAC How Darling! Lipstick

MAC Stroke of Midnight/Pink Lip & Cheek Bag
MAC How Darling! Lipstick

MAC Stroke of Midnight/Pink Lip & Cheek Bag
MAC How Darling! Lipstick

MAC Stroke of Midnight/Pink Lip & Cheek Bag
MAC How Darling! Lipstick

MAC Stroke of Midnight/Pink Lip & Cheek Bag
MAC How Darling! Lipstick

MAC Stroke of Midnight/Pink Lip & Cheek Bag
MAC Soft Spoken Lipglass

MAC Stroke of Midnight/Pink Lip & Cheek Bag
MAC Soft Spoken Lipglass

MAC Stroke of Midnight/Pink Lip & Cheek Bag
MAC Soft Spoken Lipglass

MAC Stroke of Midnight/Pink Lip & Cheek Bag
MAC Soft Spoken Lipglass

MAC Stroke of Midnight/Pink Lip & Cheek Bag
MAC Soft Spoken Lipglass

MAC Stroke of Midnight/Pink Lip & Cheek Bag
MAC Soft Spoken Lipglass

37 Comments

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Christine Avatar

I use clindamycin, which is a prescription topical antibiotic used to treat acne prescribed by my primary care physician (didn’t need to see a dermatologist for it) 🙂 I’ve been using Differin (generic, though) for the past few years to treat acne, in general, but I’m using the topical antibiotic specifically to help with cystic acne brought on by hormones (per my doc!).

xamyx Avatar

This set is the only one in which I would use all the products, but between the hassle of trying to get it, and the “value”, I’m definitely going to pass. I do like the bag, too, but when it comes to these types of sets, I personally don’t place a monetary value on the “extras”, especially around the Holidays, when just about every other brand throws them in as a bonus. To me, this is yet another way MAC has insulted me as a consumer.

Christine Avatar

I’m with you, Amy – the bag is minimal value at the end of the day as the majority of holiday sets come with some sort of “special” container. If you need a makeup bag, then it might be a nice bonus – I just don’t think it’s special enough to really add real value to the kit. I don’t think most look at any of these kits and are buying it for the bag. A lot of MAC’s holiday kits/sets are weak on the value proposition relative to other major brands, with the exception of their gloss sets which are usually an unreal value (since they are, for some reason, full-sized). Pigment sets are a good size compared to the price-per-ounce now but obviously less so prior to the price increase/quantity decrease.

Lynda Avatar

Pop-up ads. I absolutely loathe them. I hope this isnt for every page view on Temptalia now 🙁 Other than that the first lipstick is so pretty!!!

Christine Avatar

Hi Lynda,

We don’t allow pop-up ads on Temptalia, actually. The only pop-up I think that may ever generate is for a survey, which is actually for advertising/consumer behavior (relevancy of ads, etc.), and I don’t know of a single ad network that would let you opt out of those (they don’t make us any money, they’re not even technically an ad) – I know that you shouldn’t see it very often, some may never see it at all.

Erika Avatar

That’s odd—I have never gotten a pop-up ad on Temptalia before. I’m using Safari on Mac OS X Mavericks with the pop-up blocker turned on, BTW, but I’ve been on Temptalia since Mac OS X Mountain Lion and even longer before that back when I didn’t have an account, and I still hadn’t gotten any pop-ups.

The pop-up ads Elisa and Lynda are encountering could be because of a virus or adware/spyware, assuming they are on Windows computers. I used to get lots of those when I was still using Windows because I used to install browser toolbars that had spyware/adware in them w/o my knowledge. 😐

Erika Avatar

Hi Christine! Regarding the brush—how does this particular #129SE fare compared to the Sigma F40 large angled contour (SS168 in your review here: http://www.temptalia.com/sigma-brushes-review-photos)..?

I’m kind of disappointed with the #129SE brush included in this set as per your review, but the colors and the makeup bag look lovely, regardless. I can’t wait to get my hands on them! 🙂

Christine Avatar

Hi Erika,

I’m not sure if Sigma has changed their brushes at all (I have been told that they have), and I don’t have even have the original Sigma brushes in possession (I donated mine) so I really couldn’t compare (it’s been too long!). I would imagine it’s probably at least somewhat better as the #129 is a scratchy brush to begin with, let alone when it’s the SE edition.

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