Your MAC Collection Development

[celestia]

What I started with in MAC
I started in late 2001-2002. I started with nothing but lists and plans of what I wanted to get. I was still in highschool at the time and affording high-end brand was sort of.. out of the question. (Keeping in mind that MAC in Australia has kept a dearer price tag) My mum hated cosmetics, my sister had no idea what it was... and most my friends usually looked to me because they thought I knew what I was doing (not that I didn't! but it wouldn't compare to the sort of knowledge I have now). I sort of had to pioneer through because there was very little in the way of knowledge available to me.

At about the end of 2002 or 2003.. I can't even remember! I saved up for my first MAC eyeshadow, Pink Venus. I still actually LOVE this eyeshadow, it has helped me pull through so many looks that just didn't exist back then and unlike many of the reviews I see nowaday, the pink showed up! Glitter fallout was micro- not massive- and actually looked GOOD (like little freckles scattered around the top of my inner cheeks and noses)

I used to wear red lipliner and smudge that for eyeshadow and have pink venus's cotton candy shade layer the color payoff from that. Even though they may have existed, MAC flammable and theatrical make up didn't exist to sales-assistants' knowledges (or mine!) so looking back, I guess that was out too.

In any case! The reason I stuck to MAC was to wait for the perfect red eyeshadow. Although I've since found peace with my originally intended purchases (that ended up being all but MAC, with one exception which I also only purchased recently, I might add!), I have since stalked MAC, hanging out for certain colours and products I have not seen done better elsewhere.

Where are you now and how long did it take for you to get here and where do you see yourself in five years?
I'm the kind of person who waits and waits for the perfect item to be released before purchasing. It's taken close to 7 years to get to where I am and I have made VERY FEW purchases. I've also spent my money in various other money-eating hobbies during this time, mind you, but in 5 years I plan to have already visited Canada and the US to purchase my MAC fix and buy any outstanding 'wants' from past collections with forumites who only ship to the US.. haha. (That way I have it all at once!)

I guess the major influx of hauls in a relatively small timeframe are still yet to come, but I couldn't say the real developing-of-my-MAC-collection has not taken off yet either. Planning has always been, is, and will always be a HUGE part of my developing what-to-purchase-and-when process.


Sorry if this post was confusing. I'll come back to restructure it so that it is more reader-friendly.

 

[Miss Dynamite]

My first items were 3 eyeshadows and 1 Dazzleglass. I think this was around June or July of 2008. Now I have
20 Pigments
33 Eyeshadows
1 Mineralized Eyeshadow
1 Eyeshadow Suite
1 Paint Pot
4 Shadesticks
12 Eyeliners
15 Lipsticks
20 Lipglasses
3 See Thru Lip Colours
13 Dazzleglasses
1 Cream Colour Base
3 Beauty Powder Blushes
1 Mineralize Skinfinish
1 Lustre Drops
2 Glitters
4 Palettes
1 Trio
2 Quads
1 Pigment Set

Hopefully in 5 years, I'll have my current want list of past items and perm items killed off...but who knows if that will ever happen when I always want so much from new collections. I definitely want more Dazzleglasses, Shadesticks, Paint Pots and MSFs, those are some of my favorites.

 

[PurpleOrchid]

I started with the Summer 2006 AMuse collection, which introduced a lot of MES e/s duos, and a few new MSFs. Back in those days, I pretty much bought every type of product that came out in each collection. Since then, I've gotten much more picky. For example? I tend to bypass every single pigment. Back then, pigments got huge raves (and probably still do with some people), but I totally hate loose anything, and I resented that you needed to use like 5 different products in order to make the pigments workable. I pretty much figured this out by the time Hullabaloo came out in Spring 2007.

Between AMuse and late 2007, I kinda reached my peak of products, maybe totaling 85 products. Since then, I've scaled down a lot, either by ebaying unused stuff, or swapping it, or B2Ming things that were complete mistakes.

Now I'm really discerning about what I buy from collections (I most buy from the LE collections, then dabble in the perm stuff). I go months skipping LE collections now, because I'm over the hype of it all. What does get me is LE packaging, so I went kinda crazy with Hello Kitty, but since then nothing has appealed to me, save a few things from Honey Lust. I'm not planning on buying anything until Style Black, which I am really excited about! I'm probably down to about 35 products total now, and I'm trying hard to "shop my stash."

The only tried and true perm product from MAC that I consistently buy is Prep & Prime SPF 50.

Where do I see myself in 5 years? Well I'm actually trying to transition into different brands. I've discovered that Laura Mercier e/s mosaics are divine. I'm also in love with Guerlain palettes. Sure they cost a hell of a lot more, but my plan is to splurge on 1 thing, and keep a small stash. Even with my purging, I'm genuinely embarassed by how much I own, and wish I could erase half of what I bought.

 

[bebs]

I remember back in high school we would always go to the shops and most of my make up at that point was low end stuff like cover girl and what not.. but I loved the higher end makeup.

my first time I walked into a mac store was in feb. of 2001 with cocktails I believe, I was in make up heaven. I however at that point was in high school and face it I'd never worked a day in my life so there for couldn't get anything, but I remember those colors and telling my self that I would get some sooner or later.

it however wasn't until early 2004 with taste tease that I got up the nerve to walk into mac again (it was always so scary those first few times, I don't know why that it is but I remember it was) I loved those little flavored things and had them up to the point where they started smelling off and I had to dump them. I shopped on and off with mac until the shade sticks and rococo came out, and then I was hooked however money was still tight. It wasn't until D'Bohemia that I found my love of pigments that I was really really hooked.

now I have damn I dont even know how many there are but I have every pigment mac has ever made, I have all the shade sticks, all but one paint, way to many blushes and 4 shadow pallets, msf's to many lipsticks and lipglasses to count.

I will admit I go through stages where I buy a lot of make up and others where I only pick up say le blush and pigments. I buy what I use and well thats all there is to it. I really dont want to go looking into what it is worth... or how much I've spent.

as for in five years? I really don't know. I really do love mac, however other brands do capture my eye such as dior, nars and a few others that do have higher quality products. I think it really depends upon the quality, how much mac's prices go up as well as even what the other company's come up with.