When it comes to makeup, lipstick has to top the list as my must-have item. I have annoyingly pale lips which look odd against my slightly lighter than olive skin so I need a bit of colour on them to perk up my complexion. My makeup collection consists of lots of lipsticks and generally speaking, MAC is my go-to brand, due to their vast colour collection and the variety of finishes that they offer. Although Maxfactor's tagline is "The Makeup of Makeup Artists", it would really be better applied to MAC, as I've yet to come across a Makeup Artist who doesn't rave about the range and have a box stocked to the brim with hundreds of pots of MAC colour. The colour is the real selling point of the range: unlike other brands, they focus all of their energy on makeup rather than sidelining in skincare, which means that the sheer variety of colour extends to every shade of the rainbow, however weird or wonderful.
MAC lipsticks are generally regarded as their most iconic product and the sheer variety
of colours you can choose from is incredible. Fancy a bright orange to be right on trend this season? How about their Morange - a bright orange that looks great against darker skin and yet somehow is very wearable and doesn't leave you looking like a clown! MAC are also renowned for their selection of Dita von Teese-esque reds - from bright scarletts to blue toned reds, to more pinkish reds, there's bound to be a red to work for everyone.
Packaging
The packaging is iconic - a black bullet shaped tube with silver edging. I love that unlike lots of other lipstick cases, these are really durable and don't get scratched when carrying around in your handbag so look just as good when you come to the end of the lipstick as they did at the start. Each lipstick contains 3g of product.
Textures
The lipsticks come in a variety of textures which I find drastically affect how the lipstick performs on the lips:
Matte
Matte, as you would expect, gives a fantastic retro look. The lipstick is highly pigmented and lasts for ages on the lips but I do find the mattes very drying on the lips and if you want a really polished look then a lipliner and primer are great partners for these as they can tend to bleed slightly. I love mattes for my reds as I love the perfectly defined 1940s look - my favourite is Ruby Woo which is the perfect vintage '40s blue based red and so matte it's like scraping chalk against your lips! MAC's lipliner in Cherry is a great match for this.
Satin
Satin is one step up from the matte formula - a semi-matte that is again highly pigmented but has a little more sheen to it to give a more classic rather than retro look. I find these are far less drying than the matte range, lasting just as long and still giving great colour payoff.
The Amplified Creams are lovely - rich, opaque colour and a fantastic creamy texture - and MAC's newest formula, Cremesheen is Amplified Cream's younger sister - slightly more of a modern take on the crème finish with more shine to them. Both the Amplified Creams and the Cremesheen I find are nice and moisturising on the lips and contain wheat germ and olive extract to aid moistureretention. Although the cream finishes feel thick and creamy, they are nice and light on the lips and have a good amount of staying power. My favourite Amplified Creme is Craving, a deep and bold pink.
Glazes and Lustres
The Glaze and Lustre finishes give a high shine finish and a far subtler wash of colour than the other textures. I find the look is more like a cross between a lipstick and a gloss and I love this as I often apply gloss over lipstick anyway. The glazes have no shimmer to them, while the lustres often have a teeny amount of shimmer to them. The Lustre range includes my absolute favourite everyday lipstick shade, Capricious, which is a pinky plum colour with no shimmer. The downside to the glazes and lustres is that the subtler colour and shine finish means that the staying power is not good and I find I need to reapply these probably every hour. They feel nice and moisturising on the lips though, almost like wearing a lip balm.
Frost
Finally the Frost finish. This is my least favourite of the textures as I'm not a fan of lots of shimmer and these have a noticeable level of glitter in them and give a glittery / metallic finish which doesn't work with my skintone. I find these feel odd on the lips, almost gritty, and are not pleasant to wear.
Back in '94 MAC created the Viva Glam range, which donates 100% of the profits to the MAC AIDS fund. A fabulous idea, some wonderful products, and they always have a celebrity fronting the campaign, which have in the past included celebrities ranging from Pamela Anderson to Dame Edna Everage!
Price and availability
At £12 each, MAC lipsticks fall somewhere in the mid range price wise - more than Bourjois, but less than Dior or Lancome - and I think they are well worth the price. I would avoid buying MAC products from online discount stores or eBay, as there is a huge business in fake premium makeup products and MAC products seem to be more prone to fakes than most. If it's that cheap, it's probably because it's not MAC! I sometimes read negative reviews of MAC products that completely contradict my own experience with the product and you pretty much know that they've used a fake, but for the person who has not used the product before they write it off after this bad experience.
Back to MAC
MAC's Back to MAC program is also a great bonus for me - for every 6 empty MAC items you return to the store, you will get a free lipstick! You can't say fairer than that! My only worry at the moment is that I've heard rumours that MAC's recycling companyin the UK have gone bust and they are gradually trying to withdraw the B2M programme so if you have any empties lying around get them in now!
Ingredients
For those who need to know, the ingredients in MAC lipsticks are: castor oil, trioctydodecyl citrate, glyceryl triacetyl hydroxysterate, candellla wax, octydodecanol, silica, jojoba oil, beeswax, sesame oil, ozokerite, carnauba wax, cetyl ricinoleate, microcrystalline wax, ascorbyl palmitate, tocopherol, vanillin
Summary
As you can probably tell, I love MAC's lipsticks. The sheer range means that there is an endless colour supply and the range of textures means that you can choose finishes that will work for different occasions. I have often spent up to an hour browsing for a certain shade and texture of lipstick and the assistants are always really helpful in my quests for that elusive colour! It's all about experimenting to find the perfect colour and finish for you, and when it comes to lipstick, I love to experiment!
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Advantages: (+) HUGE colour and finish range, more colours in USA (+) sexy packaging (+) recycling scheme (+) lasts Disadvantages: None in particular, heavy price tag but sooo worth it!
verna-carina88x 16.07.2007 (16.07.2007)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of MAC Lipstick
Advantages: (+) HUGE colour and finish range, more colours in USA (+) sexy packaging (+) recycling scheme (+) lasts Disadvantages: None in particular, heavy price tag but sooo worth it!
verna-carina88x 16.07.2007 (16.07.2007)
·
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of MAC Lipstick
exceptional by (3%):
very helpful by (97%):
