MAC Glitter and Ice Discussion
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Nimrod
Member
After all the parties Tuesday night there should be many swatches posted.
liba
Well-known member
Hi all -
I got a chance to see the collection yesterday, but it was very rushed since my store is moving into a brand new, bigger store in the same mall for tomorrow, the same day as the preview party. Besides everything packed up in boxes, the store was unusually crowded due to everyone rushing to the Apple store right across from the MAC store for the latest, greatest iPhone.
In any case, here are a few quickie thoughts:
The lipsticks were all quite a bit better than I'd been expecting (originally, I was doubting I'd get any of them). Instead, Soft Sable is utterly gorgeous - a genuine greyed out, light, taupe/mauve medium nude. This is the sort of complex color I've been missing since the 90's hehe - there's nothing like it in the MAC perm line at this point. Also it wasn't some robotic frost, it was quite soft and not metallic. Also, Double Spin gets a major shout out from me for being the cremesheen l/s version of Good Times lipglass - one that I loved the color, but didn't want a gloss of. So much more stylish and lovely as a cremesheen. Whirls & Twirls was a bit pinker and also has the sparkles in it - it's very pretty, but not for me. Such Flare was nice and bright, and not particularly warm - I'd say it's a touch on the blue side, but only just barely. It seemed a bit normal for my skintone, but I only swatched it on my hand - it'll be one that will have to be tried on, just like all other reds that either make you look fantastic or really old and washed out. The person who compared Such Joy to Rebel was right - it's a brighter Rebel - some folks may really like it a lot. The silver lipstick, Eloquent Air, seemed pretty good - it wasn't metallicy and looked pretty opaque for a glaze- but that's another that'd probably need to be tried and personally, I'm holding out for the grey nudes in the Gareth Pugh collection instead.
The MES are VERY SHEER applied dry. VERY. On top of any of the paint pots in this collection, however, one layer becomes dense and super color saturated, performing better than a lot of previous MES over paint pots. Then, they get a strong sheen, but without overt sparkles and without reading as metallic or unpleasantly frosty. I'd call it a "velvet sheen" or perhaps a "velvet frost" - this is another new finish for MES and again another improvement. I figured I'd only get the white one, but now I'm going to wind up getting that plus 2 or 3 more. Shimmermint is definitely similar to the crushed metal pigment from Surf Baby, except not as metallic and able to be applied opaquely without any hassle right over a paint pot. It's sheer dry, though, don't forget! The sheerest one dry was Frozen Blue, which looked like the faintest pale blue opalescence (very pretty). Over a p/p, it looked like a faintly bluish silver. However, the tester had zero veining. I even chipped into it a bit to see if there was anything under there and I didn't see anything. Hold That Pose looked almost the same as FB over the p/ps, but with a slight pink and mauve cast. The sample was much more veined, and it actually was a tiny bit less sheer dry - still quite a sheerish faint lavender pearl color. These 2 were so similar over p/ps that it almost seemed like a waste to consider getting both, but I might anyhow since FB dry is really beautiful, while HTP is a touch more versatile for a wider variety of eye and skin colorings. It's a tough choice, but might be simpler if you can get a FB that's veined with a lot of blue. Winterized is another very nice complex shade that we haven't really seen in an MES - it's more of a brownish plum dry (also more opaque dry than any of the others) and then goes a very intricate warm plum purple/cool medium eggplant over a p/p with a touch of a brownish edge and some gilded sparkle. It's certainly got sparkles with the most noticeable color contrast - it's not that it's more glittery, but you will notice the sparkles more since they're light inside of a dark base color. Anyhow, it's a very multi-layered color that shifts with the angles of light. I'd call it a more purple MES equivalent to Bloodline pigment, which i adore, so it's getting bought.
Fresh Ice is indeed a gorgeous pure white that also manages not to be a glaringly bright white while still being a pure snow white and not tinted beige or pink or gold etc. If you're afraid of white shadow, check this out - it will look fantastic on any skin color and I will bet money that it's not going to look ashy on anyone, even applied densely over a p/p. I'm sure there will be more white shadows to come this spring, but this one is a mega-winner for not being too over the top or too faint to be worth it. Snow Season, on the other hand was a little bit uninteresting. If you have Mineral Mode, you don't need this one. If Mineral Mode is an HG for you, though (as it is for a friend of mine), this might possibly be even more of an HG, due to the less shiny texture. I'm gonna skip it but I'm sure some will go nuts over it. All in all, don't be afraid of how sheer these swatch dry - they get richer fuller color over a p/p than any other MES texture I've encountered.
Snow Globe you will have to try in person - it's not going to swatch well for photographs. I found it had a bit of a frosty/sheeny texture, but in this new way - it's very subtle. I'd call it less of a highlight, but more than just a standard powder. If you hate overt highlighters but wish a tiny touch of something out there could give you just a teeny weeny little pop of oomph, this is drastically for you. Same thing goes for the darker shade, which is just a wee bit darker in a hand swatch but will be for all the darker ladies for sure. I don't foresee any ashiness issues at all. I'm probably going to pass on these, but then again I might wind up with one if the Gareth Pugh one isn't much more awesome. I might go back when i can try it all over my face in peace with a 187 and reassess, since I'm a sucker for anything with a brand new finish or texture and this is NEW - it's sort of retro and modern at the same time and certainly engineered for a subtle high-tech effect.
Even the pearlized Technakohls are waterline-safe - I asked. This is a useful thing! I'll be getting the gold and the silver one makes a great base for the MES. You can't see the pearl effect in the black one, but it is a very rich black, which is great if you like this formula. In the past, Technakohl was the only MAC pencil that didn't run and smudge on my watery eyes, so these are worth a look if you normally smudge.
I didn't get to see all the D/Gs, but they were unusually sheer this time out (other than the repromoted colors). Subtle Dazzleglass? Well, I dunno if I have much to say on it, except that I got a lot of use out of She-zam the last time it was out, but I don't really feel the need to get a new tube...I'm sort of over it.
The glitter n/l is a bit of a brain twister for me - the glitter is uniform in size and quite dense in application. Some folks might think it's a cheap knock off of Deborah Lippman because of these factors, but I actually rather like the result - it looks a bit like dragon scales or a miniature pebbly beach on your nails. I layered it over the dark green polish i already had on and it's a neat effect that way. It's not a kiddy-style irridescent glitter polish, that's for sure.
I got a chance to see the collection yesterday, but it was very rushed since my store is moving into a brand new, bigger store in the same mall for tomorrow, the same day as the preview party. Besides everything packed up in boxes, the store was unusually crowded due to everyone rushing to the Apple store right across from the MAC store for the latest, greatest iPhone.
In any case, here are a few quickie thoughts:
The lipsticks were all quite a bit better than I'd been expecting (originally, I was doubting I'd get any of them). Instead, Soft Sable is utterly gorgeous - a genuine greyed out, light, taupe/mauve medium nude. This is the sort of complex color I've been missing since the 90's hehe - there's nothing like it in the MAC perm line at this point. Also it wasn't some robotic frost, it was quite soft and not metallic. Also, Double Spin gets a major shout out from me for being the cremesheen l/s version of Good Times lipglass - one that I loved the color, but didn't want a gloss of. So much more stylish and lovely as a cremesheen. Whirls & Twirls was a bit pinker and also has the sparkles in it - it's very pretty, but not for me. Such Flare was nice and bright, and not particularly warm - I'd say it's a touch on the blue side, but only just barely. It seemed a bit normal for my skintone, but I only swatched it on my hand - it'll be one that will have to be tried on, just like all other reds that either make you look fantastic or really old and washed out. The person who compared Such Joy to Rebel was right - it's a brighter Rebel - some folks may really like it a lot. The silver lipstick, Eloquent Air, seemed pretty good - it wasn't metallicy and looked pretty opaque for a glaze- but that's another that'd probably need to be tried and personally, I'm holding out for the grey nudes in the Gareth Pugh collection instead.
The MES are VERY SHEER applied dry. VERY. On top of any of the paint pots in this collection, however, one layer becomes dense and super color saturated, performing better than a lot of previous MES over paint pots. Then, they get a strong sheen, but without overt sparkles and without reading as metallic or unpleasantly frosty. I'd call it a "velvet sheen" or perhaps a "velvet frost" - this is another new finish for MES and again another improvement. I figured I'd only get the white one, but now I'm going to wind up getting that plus 2 or 3 more. Shimmermint is definitely similar to the crushed metal pigment from Surf Baby, except not as metallic and able to be applied opaquely without any hassle right over a paint pot. It's sheer dry, though, don't forget! The sheerest one dry was Frozen Blue, which looked like the faintest pale blue opalescence (very pretty). Over a p/p, it looked like a faintly bluish silver. However, the tester had zero veining. I even chipped into it a bit to see if there was anything under there and I didn't see anything. Hold That Pose looked almost the same as FB over the p/ps, but with a slight pink and mauve cast. The sample was much more veined, and it actually was a tiny bit less sheer dry - still quite a sheerish faint lavender pearl color. These 2 were so similar over p/ps that it almost seemed like a waste to consider getting both, but I might anyhow since FB dry is really beautiful, while HTP is a touch more versatile for a wider variety of eye and skin colorings. It's a tough choice, but might be simpler if you can get a FB that's veined with a lot of blue. Winterized is another very nice complex shade that we haven't really seen in an MES - it's more of a brownish plum dry (also more opaque dry than any of the others) and then goes a very intricate warm plum purple/cool medium eggplant over a p/p with a touch of a brownish edge and some gilded sparkle. It's certainly got sparkles with the most noticeable color contrast - it's not that it's more glittery, but you will notice the sparkles more since they're light inside of a dark base color. Anyhow, it's a very multi-layered color that shifts with the angles of light. I'd call it a more purple MES equivalent to Bloodline pigment, which i adore, so it's getting bought.
Fresh Ice is indeed a gorgeous pure white that also manages not to be a glaringly bright white while still being a pure snow white and not tinted beige or pink or gold etc. If you're afraid of white shadow, check this out - it will look fantastic on any skin color and I will bet money that it's not going to look ashy on anyone, even applied densely over a p/p. I'm sure there will be more white shadows to come this spring, but this one is a mega-winner for not being too over the top or too faint to be worth it. Snow Season, on the other hand was a little bit uninteresting. If you have Mineral Mode, you don't need this one. If Mineral Mode is an HG for you, though (as it is for a friend of mine), this might possibly be even more of an HG, due to the less shiny texture. I'm gonna skip it but I'm sure some will go nuts over it. All in all, don't be afraid of how sheer these swatch dry - they get richer fuller color over a p/p than any other MES texture I've encountered.
Snow Globe you will have to try in person - it's not going to swatch well for photographs. I found it had a bit of a frosty/sheeny texture, but in this new way - it's very subtle. I'd call it less of a highlight, but more than just a standard powder. If you hate overt highlighters but wish a tiny touch of something out there could give you just a teeny weeny little pop of oomph, this is drastically for you. Same thing goes for the darker shade, which is just a wee bit darker in a hand swatch but will be for all the darker ladies for sure. I don't foresee any ashiness issues at all. I'm probably going to pass on these, but then again I might wind up with one if the Gareth Pugh one isn't much more awesome. I might go back when i can try it all over my face in peace with a 187 and reassess, since I'm a sucker for anything with a brand new finish or texture and this is NEW - it's sort of retro and modern at the same time and certainly engineered for a subtle high-tech effect.
Even the pearlized Technakohls are waterline-safe - I asked. This is a useful thing! I'll be getting the gold and the silver one makes a great base for the MES. You can't see the pearl effect in the black one, but it is a very rich black, which is great if you like this formula. In the past, Technakohl was the only MAC pencil that didn't run and smudge on my watery eyes, so these are worth a look if you normally smudge.
I didn't get to see all the D/Gs, but they were unusually sheer this time out (other than the repromoted colors). Subtle Dazzleglass? Well, I dunno if I have much to say on it, except that I got a lot of use out of She-zam the last time it was out, but I don't really feel the need to get a new tube...I'm sort of over it.
The glitter n/l is a bit of a brain twister for me - the glitter is uniform in size and quite dense in application. Some folks might think it's a cheap knock off of Deborah Lippman because of these factors, but I actually rather like the result - it looks a bit like dragon scales or a miniature pebbly beach on your nails. I layered it over the dark green polish i already had on and it's a neat effect that way. It's not a kiddy-style irridescent glitter polish, that's for sure.
UrbanSweetheart
Well-known member
thank you so much for your thoughts on the products liba! I can't wait to see swatches of Such Joy!
princess sarah
Well-known member
I have my order sorted and ended up with she-zam, let's skate and shimmermint. I even grabbed a shimmermint for my friend to go with her Xmas present, I wasn't going to get a MES but I wanted a lip and even item because I'm starting to become a bit of a collector.... And paint pots are just winners no matter what!
Richelle83
Well-known member
Man, these reviews are killing this collection for me! Oh well. I'm way more excited about Gareth, Daphne and Naturally.
elegant-one
Well-known member
commandolando
Well-known member
I thought we weren't going to be able to get this with the pro discount?! is it a mistake on the site?
RayannaBanana
Well-known member
Are the BP formulas anything like the Stylishly Yours ones?
I don't know if I really want SnowGlobe if it is that sheer. Maybe How Beautiful would be a better choice.
I don't know if I really want SnowGlobe if it is that sheer. Maybe How Beautiful would be a better choice.
shannnybannny
Well-known member
How do you think Soft Sable will look on NC15 skin? Is it darker than Viva Glam Gaga 2? Thanks for the great review!
shannnybannny
Well-known member
For anyone that went and saw this in person, is soft sable darker than Viva Glam Gaga 2? Would it be too dark for NC15 skin?
duckrodeo
Well-known member
Quote:
Originally Posted by shannnybannny
For anyone that went and saw this in person, is soft sable darker than Viva Glam Gaga 2? Would it be too dark for NC15 skin?
I did a small swatch of Soft Sable when I checked out the colors the other day. I wouldn't say Soft Sable is as nude as Gaga 2, in contrast Soft Sable leans toward being more of a charcoal-ish brown with a lot of frost (so yes, darker than Gaga 2). It is a pretty gorgeous color but I have NC15 skin, too (with brunette hair) and I thought that the color might make my lips look lifeless, which could just be personal preference.
Originally Posted by shannnybannny
For anyone that went and saw this in person, is soft sable darker than Viva Glam Gaga 2? Would it be too dark for NC15 skin?
I did a small swatch of Soft Sable when I checked out the colors the other day. I wouldn't say Soft Sable is as nude as Gaga 2, in contrast Soft Sable leans toward being more of a charcoal-ish brown with a lot of frost (so yes, darker than Gaga 2). It is a pretty gorgeous color but I have NC15 skin, too (with brunette hair) and I thought that the color might make my lips look lifeless, which could just be personal preference.
I went back to the MAC counter at Nordstrom and re-arranged my pre-order list. I brought along the two red MAC lipsticks I own - Eden Rouge and Runaway Red - to see how they compare to the Glitter & Ice Kanga Rouge and Such Flare (I saw particularly a few pages back there was some interest to see Runaway Red compared to Glitter & Ice reds). Additionally, I brought my Rebel lippy along with me to see how it compared to What Joy...
The reds from left to right: Kanga Rouge followed by Runaway Red, followed by Such Flare and on the end is Eden Rouge. Eden Rouge looks like Such Flare and Runaway Red had a baby and Kanga Rouge is a bright true red. I passed on Such Flare and Kanga Rouge because they didn't seem like wow factor reds any more than Eden Rouge and Runaway Red are for me.
On the bottom is What Joy on the left and Rebel on the right. I layered She Zam on top of Rebel so that's why it looks extra glossy. I skipped on What Joy because I barely wear Rebel and so I know it will last me a while whereas What Joy being more of a plummier version of a Rebel dupe wouldn't be a necessary purchase for me at this time.
The random brown swatch is Soft Sable.
For those wondering about Whirls & Twirls: my suggestion is to not follow the online swatches for the frosty/glaze lipsticks in this collection. They are much better swatched in person to see the full depth of color. I initially saw Whirls & Twirls swatched online and went - eeehhhhhhh ewww - because it seemed like it barely showed up. When I swatched the lipstick on my skin in person it turned up as a muted coral pink with a slight shimmer - completely and totally different than I expected it to be. In contrast to my original feelings, that's the only individual lipstick I'm walking away with from this collection.
My final list:
Gaga Lip kit
Sultry Lip kit
Whirls & Twirls l/s
Shimmermint e/s
Dressed to Dazzle glass
Snowglobe b/p
All three paint pots (I had to go broke or go home with the paint pots - they are absolutely gorgeous!)
shannnybannny
Well-known member
Thank you SO much!!!!!Quote:
Originally Posted by shannnybannny
I did a small swatch of Soft Sable when I checked out the colors the other day. I wouldn't say Soft Sable is as nude as Gaga 2, in contrast Soft Sable leans toward being more of a charcoal-ish brown with a lot of frost (so yes, darker than Gaga 2). It is a pretty gorgeous color but I have NC15 skin, too (with brunette hair) and I thought that the color might make my lips look lifeless, which could just be personal preference.
shannnybannny
Well-known member
I really wanted to love one of the lipsticks because I love white packaging... bummmer 
LeeleeBell
Well-known member
I thought What Joy! was a lot closer to Hang-Up than to Rebel...I swatched it next to Hang Up and Rebel at the counter. WJ just has more berry to it than Hang-Up. I probably have something similar in my collection (tho I don't own Hang Up) but I couldn't resist it.
mtrimier
Well-known member
pro discount on color collection, no discount on bags and kits, the exclusives or the snow globe palettes.
liba
Well-known member
I'm NC15 - it's not darker than Gaga2, if you ask me, but it is a lot cooler. If you're wondering if it will make you look dead or not, it'll depend on your natural lip color. If they're very red, the grey is going to cancel out the redness while the mauvish undertone will still keep things balanced and you will wind up with a perfect nude for you! Paler lips will probably bring out the browner aspect of the color. Either way, it'll read more medium than pale on a light skin color. I'd say try it out if you can before you buy - it isn't a girly color, so keep that in mind too.
