878 new posts since this morning???? Oh helllllllllz no to reading all of it before posting.
I did see the whole collection today and will be somewhat brief:
First off, I dunno…the COMPACT didn't thrill me to death. Honestly preferred the Proenza packaging. I think I liked the way the packaging worked the best on the lipsticks, to tell the truth. But, packaging be damned - it's what in them that counts (to me!)
So, Aphrodite's Shell: I loved it. It's not quite as wonderful as my dearly beloved Lush Light Bronze, but it didn't pull orange on me at all (NC15), nor was it unmanageably dark, stiff, hard to blend or shimmery, glittery or even sheen-y. It's a fine addition to the Extra Dimension line. I wasn't going to buy a bronzer, but AS was really excellent, especially the finish on the skin, which was super duper natural, even less light reflective than the Careblend bronzers, but not matte or heavy looking at all. For someone who hasn't bought a new bronzer since Surf Baby and LLB, and wasn't planning on buying another unless I was very impressed - well, I'm buying it! It is good. It had a very classy and realistic, nude pink pale tan effect on me - even more subtle than LLB, in fact. I was sold.
I was really hoping Delphic would work too, since it doesn't look orange-y in the pan, but it did in fact pull a little too orange on me. My MA liked it, but I much preferred AS. Another gal was in there trying things on who was NC35 and Delphic looked PHENOMENAL on her - it was so beautiful on her. If you are NC35 or NC40, Delphic is for you and you will go bananas over it. These are the nicest bronzer finish MAC has come out with since the Careblend ones, imo.
The lipsticks didn't much work for me, sorry to say. Mystical had just a twinge too much brown although it was SO CLOSE to being a fantastic MLBB like my favorite One of a Kind. It could be dealt with with a pale pink lip pencil, but I don't need to hassle with that. If you're more medium skin toned, it'll be great and it will definitely look much pinker on deep skin tones for sure.
Siren Song reminded me very very much of Tropical Mist from Carine Roitfeldt. That wasn't the perfect nude for me and SS wasn't either, but if you are NW and fair, you will love it. It will be an excellent replacement for TM, perhaps just the teeniest bit warmer than that one, but not so much it'd be bad for NW.
Enchanted One was very similar to Cozy Up, but a little bit browner and darker (just by a hair). Cozy Up is better on me than EO, which is going to be a HG matte nude for people with deeper skin than mine. Again, if you're NC35-40, or even darker, this is one to give a major major look at. It might be OK for fair NC people if you wished Cozy Up was a little browner and less peachy - it's going to look more orange on NW, but not necessarily in a bad way - but buyer beware and try before buy and all that. Personally, I love Cozy Up, but Runway Hit is even better for me and I don't need EO.
Pet Me Please is the same old PMP - I love this one very much and it will look especially awesome under the very pearlescent lip glosses in this collection. I already have a tube of it from its first release, though. I've used quite a bit of it, but I'm not sure I need a BU. I'm considering it, since PMP is quite unique in it's frostiness and grey nude lilac undertone. It's best under lip gloss, but it's not a dry frost, it looks and feels moist.
I did looooove Goddess of the Sea, though. It's the only lipstick of the whole bunch I am going to get. On my pigmented lips, it looks the way my dearly beloved Flaunting It does, but with more violet and less brown. It's like a cooler, more violet Flaunting It or a less reddish, softer Bust Out, and for this, it is LOVE LOVE LOVE. Super soft and pretty and smooth. Looks amazing under some of the glosses, like Clear Water and Modern Lure. This is the lipstick for me!!
Those glosses….let me just say, this is the first MAC collection I can recall where I loved the glosses MORE than the lipsticks. Who would've thunk it? All of them, other than Peachstock, are either highly pearlized - like massively more than any others with that finish (which I love) or super glittery - they all reminded me of Lip Gelee style. Peachstock was the one I wasn't going to bother with, but after I tried it on, I decided it was on too - it's outrageously pigmented, didn't settle into the lip lines, looks like a wet look lipstick almost. I just ate dinner with it on and it's stayed on! I'll go on about everything else in the next post.
