Ever since a good friend of mine turned me on to MAC makeup and cosmetics, I have been fortunate enough to try a variety of their products, and am happy to give them rave reviews, as there is not one of their products I've tried thus far that is even mediocre. They have all been great experiences, and have made me come back again and again to try yet more colors and different lines. MAC is known for it's slightly over the top glamazon approach to marketing.
For example, some of the faces of MAC makeup in the past have been Dita Von Teese, the burlesque dancer turned fashion model, Fergie of the Black Eyed Peas
and now famous in her own right, and even Pamela Anderson, herself known for ther over the top sense of style.
But for me, a girl who is not over the top in the way I dress or behave, MAC offers excellent color choices. I can be bold with blues and purples, or I
can purchase their browns, which are rich, vibrant and long lasting as eyeshadows go. MAC cosmetics are also long lasting and have a great depth of color that you just don't get from drugstore brands of makeup, and often not even from a lot of the higher priced cosmetics that you can get at your local Dillard's or Macy's.
One example of this, and I'm happy to report that MAC is the superior, as well as the more fairly priced, product in this case, is my experience recently with the new Lancome line of long wearing lip glosses.
I was walking through Macy's at the mall, and was approached to try this brand new line of lip gloss. I happily obliged, and the technician enthusiastically applied a pretty light pink color to my lips. I noticed that the tube was considerably smaller than my favorite MAC Plush Glass lip gloss, and I also noticed that the price she quoted was higher at $24 a tube. I really liked the color, but the real test was how long it would last since it was called "long lasting". I got in my car and continued on my merry way.
I noticed that it dried kind of weird on my lips, almost to a gummy sort of texture, and it faded quicker than my treasured MAC Lip Glass and Plush Glass glosses did, so right there was one of the reasons that I will continue to stick to my theory that MAC has the upper hand when it comes to long lasting cosmetics.
The two lines that I love as far as MAC lip glosses go are the Plush Glass and Lip Glass lines, although I am more partial to the Plush Glass, even though it is a couple dollars more expensive. I find that the Plush Glass seems to have a better texture, and I like that it has a sponge applicator instead of the brush applicator, which I don't really care for personally.
As far as colors go, the sky's the limit - that's one thing about MAC makeup also, they have great color selection, from reserved and understated yet elegant, to bold and colorful and a little "out there". I dare say that once you have tested and used their glosses, you may never go back to using another type of lig gloss.
I, of course, will continue to experiment here and there because that's what I do, but I will always have these in my purse, and nothing compares to them thus far. They go on smooth, are never sticky, the color is great, and it doesn't dry out your lips, yet lasts and lasts.
Now, onto the eyes. MAC has several choices in eyeshadows as well, with a rainbow of colors. The most recent ones I tried were their eyeshadow suite in a brown tone with a light off white pearlized tone, part of their holiday time colors. The glide on smoothly and also last all day without creasing or fading. One thing I notice about their eyeshadows is that they go on bold, and don't quit.
While other eyeshadows, particularly drugstore brands, require that you sweep them on again and again for a desired depth and boldness, you can pretty much get that out of one or two sweeps of MAC eyeshadows. You use less and get more oomph for sure.
The same review goes for MAC eyeliners. I can't begin to tell you how much I really like their eyeliners. They glide on easily and the color is so bold that you almost have to be careful not to apply them with too heavy a hand unless you are going for the sexpot dramatic look. The only thing I would improve about their stick eyeshadows are that they are a little hard to sharpen to a sharp point, unless you waste a lot of product, because the pencil pares down very quickly and the point is not all that sharp.
You might do better to get a MAC brand pencil sharpener, which I do not have. I have tried their brown and black colors of liner and both give superior color and last all day without running or fading. Again, same thing where I would have to apply other brands in a very hard manner to get the same outcome as one swipe with MAC.
Now, onto a review of MAC eyebrow shaper. This is simply a clear gel that you use to shape your eyebrows. It comes with a brush and is relatively inexpensive for a higher tiered cosmetic brand. This pretty much works like your standard brow shaper since it is simply a clear gel that shapes and holds.
It may have held my eyebrows in place a little better than other brand of eyebrow gels with shaping brushes, but there was little difference, not enough for the ten dollar discrepancy, so this is one product that I wouldn't necessarily recommend by MAC since you can buy such a similar product at department stores for a fraction of the cost.
There you have it, I've reviewed all the MAC makeup products I've used thus far. I have yet to use the foundations, which I have heard are great, but I actually like the current mix of foundation and skin brightener that I use, so I'm going to hold off on trying and reviewing the foundation until such a time I run out of my current ones.
