Archived Post

Round-up: MAC A Novel Romance Collection Overview & Report Card

Reviews
Contains: Sample Provided
Christine |

MAC A Novel Romance Collection
MAC A Novel Romance Collection

MAC A Novel Romance Collection will launch online on August 14th and arrive in-stores and at-counters on August 21st (North America); later on in September for international locations. It’s a very large collection featuring eyeshadow quads, lipsticks, lipglosses, blushes, eyeliners, and nail lacquers.  There were hits and misses with products getting As as well as one product getting a D+.  Some of the lipsticks, lipglosses, and eyeshadows seem more dupable than not, so you might want to check your stash for similar shades from past launches.  I was really happy to see that the three eyeshadow quads performed fairly well.

Report Card

Any favorites? What’s on your wish list? Are you skipping entirely?

Explore Temptalia

We're here to help you make better beauty purchases that you'll enjoy and love! We recommend signing up to take advantage of personalized features like tracking products you own, viewing dupes that you already have, and more!

Here are some useful resources for you:

Foundation Matrix™

Find your next foundation or concealer match!

The Dupe List™

Find a product dupe or compare two palettes.

Swatch Gallery™

Find swatches by color, product, formula, etc.

Compare Any Two

Curious how two shades compare to each other? Type in the shades below to get instant side-by-side swatches!

40 Comments

Comments that do not adhere to our comment policy may be removed. Discussion and debate are highly encouraged but we expect community members to participate respectfully. Please keep discussion on-topic, and if you have general feedback, a product review request, an off-topic question, or need technical support, please contact us!

Please help us streamline the comments' section and be more efficient: double-check the post above for more basic information like pricing, availability, and so on to make sure your question wasn't answered already. Comments alerting us to typos or small errors in the post are appreciated (!) but will typically be removed after errors are fixed (unless a response is needed).

We appreciate enthusiasm for new releases but ask readers to please hold questions regarding if/when a review will be posted as we can't commit to or guarantee product reviews. We don't want to set expectations and then disappoint readers as even products that are swatched don't always end up being reviewed due to time constraints and changes in priorities! Thank you for understanding!

Comments on this post are closed.
Christine Avatar
Christine
Light Medium, Neutral, slight yellow undertones. Normal-to-Dry skin. View Christine Full Profile

I don’t know exactly why, but my best guess is that as a cream product, it may hit a melting point when on its way to me, since it is 100+ degrees where I live. It was an issue when it launched, and it’s something that I have had happen with Dior, Chanel, and Buxom’s formulas (all similar in texture).

jos Avatar
jos

The eyeshadows are a repromoted formula called electric cool. They are a hybrid of powder and liquid with a cushiony feel and lustrous finish.

Rikki Avatar
Rikki
Light Plus, Neutral undertones. Normal-to-Dry skin. View Rikki Full Profile

I do like the look of one of the quads, but I am trying to not buy anything makeup wise (except perhaps a tinted moisturizer since I’m trying to lean off the foundation since it’s too humid for it) at least until Christmas so I can make a dent in my collection.

Mariella Avatar
Mariella
Very Light, Pink undertones. Normal-to-Dry skin. View Mariella Full Profile

Such a helpful review (though NOT so helpful for my “no buy”). I really want Water Willow and Yield to Love (actually, there are several of the liners I really like but I’m trying to be restrained, especially since I’m picking up the MUFE palette if it’s in-store on Wednesday). I might have missed this entire collection had it not been for your reviews (and perhaps the lesson for me is that if I truly want to do a “no buy”, I need to STAY AWAY from Temptalia for a month!)

Helene Avatar
Helene

The round ups are such a good short remainder to have, I really like that you do them. It’s a lot easier to look at before going shopping than the in depth reviews, and I need lists as I tend to forget names, and what brand did what. Could be age, or the fact that tere are so many brands doing so many launches. Either way, I think it’s excellent.
So, thank you Christine for all the hard work you do here, it sure is awesome!

Lily Avatar
Lily

I feel like I’m reaalllyyy getting confused on MACs new collections. I keep seeing posts on Instagram about a lipstick called “Romantic Breakdown”, but it’s not in this collection so I’m not really sure what’s going on here! Haha!

DeAnn Avatar
DeAnn

Wrong Spell is my all-time favorite MAC lipglass. I got a couple of Modern Lure but it just didn’t have the purple mystery/pop of Wrong Spell.

How would you say Talk Sexy compares? I’d love your fabulous insights.

And of the quads, which do you think is the one you would most recommend? I’m leaning toward Talk Sexy and a couple of quads and maybe another lipglass or lipstick or ….heck not sure. I spent too much on Maleficent and Aquatics…..thank goodness nothing in the Nordstrom #nsale called my name….but there is so much in this new collection I’m salivating over.

Huge fan of your site, first time questioner/commentator 🙂

We try to approve comments within 24 hours (and reply to them within 72 hours) but can sometimes get behind and appreciate your patience! 🙂 If you have general feedback, product review requests, off-topic questions, or need technical support, please contact us directly. Thank you for your patience!