MAC limited editions collections tend to be overwhelming, rather frequent, bountiful but frighteningly splurge-inducing. MAC was my first makeup love and no matter how many collections have gone by without impressing me, they never fail to excite me. Certain collections that MAC releases are hit and miss, certain collections are merely repackaged permanent products in new packaging and a cost mark up but certain collections are gorgeous and lust-worthy. Some of these worthwhile collections tend to be their big summer release in May, this year which is Wash & Dry, along with their holiday releases. With my long term knowledge of MAC as a brand and experience with their collections for a good number of years, I figured I would give a lowdown on my approach to these collections.
1. Identify the season and what to look for:
For instance, every May Mac Collection has a focus on fun summery packaging, bronzing products, one specialty coloured powder and bright lipsticks and I believe that it’s key to focus on the more interesting products that appear seasonally that MAC does particularly well. As MAC’s Summer collections tend do, Wash & Dry, this year’s collection, modeled after a bright vintage laundromat, features different limited edition bronzing products, a gorgeous highlighting powder, an assortment of bright lipsticks and glosses along with some intriguing cheek products. Basically, MAC collections follow a formula and it can be key to understand the general formula of seasonal collections in order to make smart shopping decisions.
2. Glance at reviews:
I’m not saying to take the thoughts of others as absolute truth, but although MAC has a variety of kind of amazing products, they have a reputation for releasing less-than-stellar products with collections and are known for being generally hit and miss so reading some thoughts about others can help to narrow down what products to keep an eye on. Pretty much, this research keeps you from buying questionable products with intriguing packaging and marketing hype – at least to a certain extent.
3. Question yourself, ‘what would you buy if it wasn’t limited edition or in special packaging?’:
It’s just so easy to fall into the trap of buying everything in sight because you will not be able to access it in the future and I think we’ve all been there, so as painful as it is to do so, take a step back and think about whether you are considering the product for its allure that you have to buy it now, it’s pretty packaging or just general marketing. This keeps you from amassing a quantity of items that you will regret succumbing to later and acquiring a good amount of makeup that you quite honestly should not have bought.
4. Make a list:
Before heading into the store (or getting online shopping happy), it’s beyond helpful to make a list of the products that you are interested in after doing research and thinking on, so that you aren’t again swayed by the allure of limited edition products and beyond beautiful packaging and are working from a list created by a level head.
5. Compare to existing items in your collection:
No matter how interesting a product’s packaging is or how well it performs, it’s useless buying products that are essentially identical copies to numerous items that you already own. We’re all prone to certain buying obsessions (including coral blushes for me) and while it’s certainly fine to indulge in some of your favourite kinds of purchases, I know that I really need to stop buying a million of seemingly-identical variations on the same sheeny coral blush. At the same time, it isn’t smart to buy something simply because it’s different from what you have in your collection; after all, you might not own many of a certain colour family in a product because you don’t like it in combination with your skin tone so it would not be wise to merely buy what you don’t own already.
My Potential List
(i) MAC Powder Blush in Hipness ($24.50 US/ $29 CDN): I’m a blush lover and this popular returning favourite has caught my eye, especially since it has returned again after being included and loved in 2008’s Fafi collection. It’s a warm peachy coral shade without much in terms of shimmer and a great formula and therefore deserves consideration.
(ii) MAC Bronzing Powder in Refined Golden ($27.50 US/ $33 CDN): This bronzer is merely a permanent product being re-released in gorgeous packaging, however, I have read promising reviews of this sheeny golden bronzer but have never tried it and I’m interested, especially given how summer is approaching.
(iii) MAC Studio Sculpt Defining Bronzing Powder in Delicates ($35.50 US/ $41 CDN): This is another example of how I use my expectations of collections to create my lists, being yet another bronzer and all. MAC’s limited edition bronzer offerings are something that I have heard amazing things about and I’ve almost bought and kept one of these new silky formula powders and plan to try them out in the future. I also liked the deeper less-orange offering.
(iV) MAC High-Light Powder in Freshen Up ($35.50 US/ $41 CDN): This year’s collection features one of MAC’s famous limited edition highlighting powders and the golden coral hue has been reported to have great pigmentation and texture. I can’t resist and have skipped these most years in the past…
(V) MAC Lipglass in Laundry List ($16.50 US/ $20 CDN): I’m not usually a lip gloss kind of girl on account of the stickiness but I’ve been getting more intro glosses as of late so this vivid orange is intriguing. It also helps that it’s a gorgeous summer hue and has stellar reviews.
(Vi) MAC Satin Lipstick in Steam Heat ($17.50 US/ $21): Summer collections are known for having gorgeous bright lipsticks in stellar formulas and this orange-hued red has me kind of excited. I love MAC’s lipsticks in generals and Satins are particularly nice.
beautylit& ramblings 