MAC x Rossy de Palma Pink Desire Blush Review, Photos, Swatches
Pink Desire
MAC Pink Desire Powder Blush ($23.00 for 0.21 oz.) is a vibrant, medium-dark fuchsia wit cool, blue undertones and a smattering of fine, fuchsia pearl. The finish was just barely shimmery, so it looked more luminous and satiny on the skin than overtly shimmery or frosted.
The consistency was smooth, finely-milled, and just soft enough that I could pickup product with a brush and not have to dig into the pan without getting too much product on the brush. It was extremely pigmented, so a little went a long way, and my best advice would be to use a lot less than you might normally use to make it easier to work with. I found the formula to be fairly blendable, but it was just pigmented and intense enough that it did take longer to soften the edges if I over-applied compared to a less intense blush. It stayed on well for nine hours before fading slightly.
FURTHER READING: Formula Overview for details on general performance and characteristics (like scent).
Top Dupes
- Tom Ford Beauty Narcissist (LE, $60.00) is more shimmery (95% similar).
- Coloured Raine Daydream (PiP, ) is less shimmery (95% similar).
- Sephora Hey Jealousy (17) (P, $14.00) is less shimmery (95% similar).
- Clinique Berry Pop (03) (P, $21.00) is less shimmery (95% similar).
- MAC Rhubarb (P, $24.00) is less shimmery, darker (90% similar).
- ColourPop Text Me (LE, $10.00) is less shimmery, lighter (90% similar).
- Make Up For Ever B218 (P, $23.00) is less shimmery, lighter (90% similar).
- ColourPop Pegacorn (DC, $8.00) is lighter, cooler (90% similar).
- ColourPop Seas the Day (P, $4.50) is less shimmery, darker, warmer (90% similar).
- Give Me Glow Pink Freak (P, $14.00) is less shimmery, lighter, cooler (85% similar).
Formula Overview
$24.00/0.21 oz. - $114.29 Per Ounce
Per the brand, the formula is supposed to "provide fantastic colour with ease and consistency" that "applies evenly, adheres lightly to skin." There are five distinct finishes within the range: Frost ("iridescent, lightly shimmering color"), Matte ("flat, matte finish... builds well"), Satin ("adds subtle highlights to the skin"), Sheertone ("sheer-on micro-refined powder ... that goes on faint"), and Sheertone Shimmer ("just enough shimmer to make light dance on your cheeks"). Their permanent blushes are available in compact form as well as pan-only (the latter will be cheaper).
The following overview has been updated to reflect the most current iteration of the brand's permanent range (whether or not there's been any official change) as I repurchased the majority of the permanent shades as of June 2018. I make a point to say that because I felt that the textures of several shades, particularly the frost finish shades, was noticeably different; they were much smoother and had more slip but were less shimmery/frosted (on average) and seemed to be a bit weaker in pigmentation (but still buildable). Some of the mattes felt like I've encountered in the past (a little drier, pigmented, and fairly blendable), while some felt more velvety and finely-milled.
MAC has a solid blush range but some shades are harder than others to blend out or diffuse, and as it does for most formulas (from any brand), it really comes down to some shades falling shy of expectations. The matte finish had a tendency to darken on my skin within five minutes of application; for most shades, I would recommend applying over a powdered face and/or avoiding applying on still-drying complexion products to make blending the easiest. The matte shades seemed to be semi-opaque to opaque, buildable, and long-wearing (about eight hours).
Only a few of the shades in the permanent range seemed to be particularly frosted/metallic on the skin; most shades that had shimmer appeared more softly luminous or pearlescent on the skin to the point where there was little sheen/reflection captured by my camera (I did a double take for a few and re-did swatches only to find the same finish captured yet again!). The Sheertone Shimmer performed most consistently with this: very subtle sheen, more "my skin but better" with having a slightly more noticeable sheen than matte. There were a few shades that had a strong sheen on the skin (like Peachykeen), though. The Frost finish just seemed to have stronger, larger shimmer in it, but the effect on the skin ranged being subtle to moderate. The same was true with Satin--some were more satin-like and some seemed more like a Frost (like Modern Mandarin).
Most shades were blendable, while pigmentation varied from sheer to opaque depending on the shade, but most had decent, builable coverage. The textures were firmer than the average powder blush of current times, but they don't have excess product kicked up in the pan at all. The wear ranged between seven and nine hours with deeper, intense mattes (like Fever or Film Noir) lasted longer.
Browse all of our MAC Powder Blush swatches.
Ingredients
TALC, OCTYLDODECYL STEAROYL STEARATE, ZINC STEARATE, ISOSTEARYL NEOPENTANOATE, TOCOPHERYL ACETATE, CAPRYLYL GLYCOL, HEXYLENE GLYCOL, PHENOXYETHANOL. MAY CONTAIN: SILICA, MICA, TITANIUM DIOXIDE (CI 77891), IRON OXIDES (CI 77491, CI 77492, CI 77499), BISMUTH OXYCHLORIDE (CI 77163), BLUE 1 LAKE (CI 42090), CARMINE (CI 75470), CHROMIUM HYDROXIDE GREEN (CI 77289), CHROMIUM OXIDE GREENS (CI 77288), FERRIC FERROCYANIDE (CI 77510), MANGANESE VIOLET (CI 77742), RED 6 (CI 15850), RED 6 LAKE (CI 15850), RED 7 LAKE (CI 15850), RED 28 LAKE (CI 45410), RED 30 LAKE (CI 73360), ULTRAMARINES (CI 77007), YELLOW 5 LAKE (CI 19140), YELLOW 6 LAKE (CI 15985).
Disclaimer: Ingredient lists are as available by the brand (or retailer) at the time of publishing. Please always check product packaging, if it exists, for the ingredient list applicable to the product you're purchasing, or the brand or retailer's website for the most up-to-date ingredient list.
WOW! That pigment! I’ll wait for the other one to see if I get both! Curious how this cool tone is going to look on my cheeks too!
It is intense! Keep me posted on how you like it on your skin tone, Indya 🙂
I wish you hadn’t tested it with the orangey peach as it clashes & makes the blush reeeeeeeally stand out & not in a good way. Sorry ?
I’d love to see it with different eye make up & lips if possible?
Hi Suze,
The photo is to show you what it looks like on the skin (patchiness, color, blendability, etc.) – it is not at all about creating a look surrounding the product reviewed. My focus is on reviewing the quality of as many products as I can, and quality has nothing to do with how it pairs with the rest of what I’m testing at the moment! If you’re looking for inspiration on looks, I’m certainly the worst possible choice and I recommend finding bloggers that focus on that instead since I will be of no use to you, unfortunately!
I shot ~800 photos on this day, and I can’t redo my makeup so each product I’m swatching coordinates perfectly, as in this launch, the shades were really all over the map. I try hard to find a happy medium where the products will coordinate well enough with the bulk of what I’m photographing but not everything will as most collections have a mix of warm and cool tones, bolds and neutrals. I can’t break photos into smaller sets as I’m shooting about ~500 photos almost daily for the last three weeks, and I’m still behind. I wanted to do everything I could to get swatches up of the MAC x Rossy de Palm and NARS x Man Ray collections up ASAP since they had already launched by the time I received product.
Lolt that would be the norm here, and not in a bad way as this is the place to get the most consistent color swatches. You can actually see how pigmented this blush is and how far you can take it. Other blogs tone it down in looks where you can not even see the real color anymore, its full, drag queen potential.
That sure is PINK!!!! I have MAC Rhubarb and I also have Her Blooming Cheek (I think it was from A Tartan Tale) which I think might be very close also, though I’m surprised you don’t have a swatch for it because I know you reviewed it on your youtube channel. Also, since getting the Dior Rosy Glow blush, I honestly haven’t used a single other blush.
There was a cut-off on swatches put into the Swatch Gallery due to wanting to meet a certain level of quality for consistency going forward – anything beyond a certain time point (I think mid-2012 or 2013) was not included. I don’t remember off the top of my head when that collection was, but it’s likely due to that cut off!
Okay, that makes sense. From a viewer point of view, it’s always a bit of a “awwww” moment when a swatch doesn’t magically appear 🙂
Too intense for my fair skin, I think it would be hard to keep this from being too much.
Definitely understand that, Betty!
PIIIIINK!!! Wow, that sure is bright enough to blind the sun! ?
I’m loving it, though. Brings me right back to my glory days in the 80’s when this was my near constant blush shade.
Did you ever pan a blush like this, Nancy? 😉
Scary, but yes, I actually did, Christine!
LOVE hearing that 😀
I’m darker than you Christine but this may be a bit bright for me but I’m willing to try it with the red.
Honestly Christine I don’t know how you keep up with all of it! You’re a doll!
Let me know how the red one works out!
A bit intense for my skin tone but wow that’s gorgeous. Wish it suited me, I’d snap that beauty up.
I hear ya! I love that shades like this exist but don’t wear them much!
God, that’s gorgeous. *sigh*
This would be crazy arsed doll cheeks on me, but wow would be so totally delicious on women with gorgeous deep tones.
This is gorgeous!!! I love it!
Do you have a rec for a shade similar to this, but with more shimmer? It looks like the perfect replacement to my beloved (long d/c) Lancome ‘Pink Pool’ blush. The replacement ‘Shimmer Pink Pool’ lost the impact of the deep pink in favor of being more shimmery. I want both – deep impact AND shimmer. (LOL)
You can find any color + finish product through the Swatch Gallery: https://www.temptalia.com/swatch-gallery/#color
e.g. Blush , Fuchsia, Permanent Only, Shimmer Level = 3+
https://www.temptalia.com/swatches/?c%5B%5D=Fuchsia&t%5B%5D=12662&a%5B%5D=p&shimmer_l=3&shimmer_h=10&sorting=colors_asc
Might be quite pretty with a very light amount of product on the apple of the cheek.