MAC Sweetly Smoky Crushed Metallic Pigments Set Review, Photos, Swatches

Christine — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 13:00:59 +0000

MAC Sweetly Smoky Crushed Metallic Pigments Set

Pink and Purples Abound in This Set

MAC Sweetly Smoky Crushed Metallic Pigments Set ($32.50 for 0.40 oz.) consists of four shades: Maribu (lilac frost), Prettified (mauvey frost), Femininity (cool pink frost), and Dusty Desire (rich purple frost).

Maribu is a pale, soft pink with a frosted, metallic finish. The color payoff is decent, and it is the same both wet and dry. MAC Ready to Party is cooler-toned. Dior Fairy Golds is similar but warmer. MAC Invisible Light is warmer. MAC Young Venus is a touch cooler-toned.

Prettified is a barely mauve-tinged, medium brown with subtle burgundy tones. It has a very, very metallic finish and chunky sparkle. Applied dry, there was very little color, but it did pop a lot more when applied damp. Bare Escentuals Most Requested is similar to the base color but is mostly matte. MAC Supersweet is similar but a bit darker, less metallic.

Femininity is a vibrant fuchsia magenta with an iridescent purple shimmer-sheen. It is a bit sheer when used dry, but it comes together better when applied damp. Urban Decay Infamous is pinker and doesn’t have the iridescence. Wet ‘n ‘Wild Shimmer the Night Away is similar with a subtler sheen. Urban Decay Fishnet is less metallic. MAC Stars ‘n Rockets is very similar. MAC Aurora is less brown and metallic but similar.

Dusty Desire is a rich, dark purple with a subtle cool undertone. It was smoother than the other three shades, so it was more forgiving on the lids. It had good color payoff dry, but it had excellent pigmentation when applied damp. MAC Drawn to Drama is darker. L’Oreal Perpetual Purple has a stronger red undertone. Urban Decay Psychedelic Sister also has a stronger red undertone.

Prettified is really hard to work with, and I had problems with fall out during wear, even when I used it wet. Dusty Desire was the easiest to use and smooth out. Maribu and Femininity are somewhere in-between; noticeably chunky and need a fair amount of smoothing to be manageable, but they didn’t have fall out problems like Prettified. You can see how it really accentuates the texture on my lids when I wore this set for testing, unfortunately! I find this product tends to work best when paired with mattes and satins; use one or two as your focal point, then build around it with less metallic and frosted textures.