MAC x Maleficent “True Love’s Kiss” Lipstick: Swatches and Comparisons

“…gold of sunshine in her hair, lips that shame the red, red rose. In ageless sleep, she finds repose.”

Who is hella excited for this movie? Hint: me. Like most Disney loving beauty bloggers, I was super excited to hear of this collaboration between Disney and MAC, and like most Disney loving beauty bloggers, I was pretty damn disappointed. The colours were pretty boring, and most items are available permanently anyway. To add insult to injury, MAC have repeated the lazy packaging ethos they rolled out for the Venomous Villains collection. However…. I got the lipstick anyway. What can I say? I love a red lip and I love Disney.

This is not special packaging really, is it? I find the high shine on it actually makes it look cheaper than the regular MAC casing in my opinion. Bear in mind this costs £16.50 compared to the regular £15 for a lipstick. I mean… the Maleficent logo is pretty cool and all, but they could have done SO much more with this. So much. Le sigh.

Anyway. On to the colour itself. Not as deep or blue-based as many of us might have guessed this to be, MAC describes this as a ‘clean, bright red,’ which is spot on. One would guess this is meant to pay homage to Aurora, rather than Maleficent. It has light shimmer throughout and is an amplified formula, giving it a slightly glossy look. Gorgeous.

L-R: True Love’s Kiss, Russian Red, MAC Viva Glam Rihanna, MAC Viva Glam I.

Just a quick swatch of a couple of reds from MAC for comparisons sake. VG Rihanna is indeed pretty similar in terms of base shade, although the VG is a frost finish and has a lot more shimmer, giving it a much more vibrant look on the lips.


So…should you get this? In all honesty, probably not. Even though this is one of the limited edition items in the collection and not a re-promote or a permanent item, it’s not all that super special. While perfectly lovely, the packaging is a bit lazy and it’s similar enough in my eyes to the MAC Viva Glam Rihanna that if you wanted a MAC lipstick specifically, I’d send your money in the direction of charity and save yourself £1.50 in the process. If you’re absolutely bonkers for Disney like I am, it’s a nice little addition to a red lipstick collection.

What’s your favourite MAC – or any! – red?

Detox, VIcky Vox and Willam!: LOTD with OCC Black Metal Dahlia

What does one wear on one’s face when they’re off to see their favourite drag queens? The same shit that they hawk themselves, naturally – a little OCC!

 

 

My hair was setting, I didn’t go out like this!

Eyes: Illamasqua Neutrals Palette and Scribe Liner, MAC Reflects Gold Glitter, Kiko Precision Brow Pencil in Shade 03
Lips: MAC Vino lipliner, OCC Black Metal Dahlia
Cheeks: Sleek Contour Kit in Light, Sleek Suede blush

Black Metal Dahlia is super gorgeous, but it takes a little work so putting it over a deep lip liner is my favourite way to wear it. This is easily one of my favourite looks I’ve done all year.

 

And here are the lovely ladies we spent all our rent money on going to see!



DUCK FACE WITH DETOX. It was so hot in the little venue we were in my hair dropped right out, boo! I am 100% ridiculously in love with her. I was always rooting for Detox on RDPR but having met her and seen her perform I can’t even. She is just a perfect being and I want to be her slave or some shit. Absolutely beautiful.

 

SO QUICHE. I’m sad that this is the photo we got because I am standing at a way dodgy angle which makes me look like a brick. I mean, bricks are fine and all, but I don’t want to look like a brick next to Willam. The boy people in the photo are my cousin and his boyf. Anyway, they were flawless, it was flawless, too fucking flawless. If you get the chance to see them, go. They got it down pat, and they sing and rap pretty damn well!

#byefelicia

Quickie Review: Rimmel ‘Kate’ Waterproof Gel Eyeliner in Emerald

Rimmel have added some new items to their Kate Moss line this time we’re being treated to some eye makeup. The gel liner in ‘Emerald’ immediately caught my eye – I’ve always loved green liner and in my early twenties, green glitter eyeliner was a staple look of mine. The outer packaging looks very similar to the Maybelline gel liners too, so I was interested to see how they compare.



Very similar to the Maybelline, no?

Like the Maybelline one, this also comes with a brush. Sadly, the brush isn’t as nice as the Maybelline one at all, though it looks very similar. It’s hard to achieve a fine line with the Maybelline one but it is possible and I actually quite rate them, especially for lipstick and spot concealing. I really struggled with the Rimmel one, as you’ll see below.

The liner itself is the main event though. Unlike a lot of other high end and ever drugstore gel liners, the Rimmel comes in a cheaper looking plastic pot, with Kate’s signature on the top. I don’t really care about the packaging of an eyeliner looks wise, but in my experience products like this that are in glass jars simply last longer and don’t dry out as fast. It’s a shame considering that other liners at the same price point do have glass jars.

‘Emerald’ is a slightly misleading colour – this is a blackened green. I was expecting from the picture on the packaging for it to be a green matte, and this has a good amount of shimmer. Expectations aside, this is still a bloody gorgeous colour and very wearable! I’m excited to have a pretty liner I can pull off at work. The downside is, as with a lot of more shimmery gel liners, that you do sacrifice full opacity and you may have to go over areas once or twice to prevent patchiness – this is pretty opaque but not 100%.



A very quick application with the brush – the brush is just not great, folks. However, the liner applied smoothly, gliding across the lid really nicely, and it sets fast – this isn’t going anywhere anytime soon! I have to touch up a few tiny places where it looked less opaque, but


While this isn’t a totally perfect liner, it’s very pretty and not a purchase I regret one bit! ’Emerald’ costs £6.99 and is available from Boots and Superdrug.

Who makes your favourite gel eyeliners?

MAC Alluring Aquatics Swatches: Goddess Of The Sea and Seduced By The Sea

Alluring Aquatics came out last week, seemingly hitting the UK shelves before the US, yadda yadda yadda. I’m going to give you the TL;DR version straight up – average MAC products, AMAZING PACKAGING. I could leave it there but that’s the general gist.

LOOK AT THIS SHIT. Each item in this collection is a shiny blue metallic packing, covered in 3d fake water droplets. FAKE WATER DROPLETS. I didn’t realise this until I opened it – I thought they were embossed somehow and when I opened the packaging I was like IS THIS REAL LIFE? If you’re a makeup collector you need at least one piece from this collection, man. It’s really, really cool. Like every woman my age who is pissed off that we actually have to be adults now and give a shit about things, I want to be a mermaid and this collection I feel helps a little with that. Is it cool enough to warrant the extremely cheeky price raise to £16.50 on the lipstick? If this collection wasn’t released on payday I may have had a different answer to that question, but I think yes.

 

L-R: Extra Dimension Blush in Seduced At Sea, Cremesheen lipstick in Goddess Of The Sea. More water droplet action, and the MAC logo is inlaid in some fancy blue pearlescent writing.

L-R: Blush in Seduced At Sea, cremesheen lipstick in Goddess Of The Sea

Goddess Of The Sea. I totally am the Goddess Of The Sea but I’d probably pick Illamasqua’s Apocalips for my official duties. Described as a ‘dark vibrant violet,’ I was expecting this to be a little less wearable and quite frankly darker. Not what I was expecting but lovely nonetheless. I do like the cremesheen formula so I expect I’ll get a good bit of wear out of this one.

Here I am wearing Seduced At Sea on the cheeks. Described as a ‘mid tone neutral plum’ which is quite frankly absolute bollocks. This more like a light, burnt orange to me. I wished when it arrived that I’d ordered the coral, but applied this is actually rather lovely. I’d apply with a light hand to avoid looking like an Oompa Loompa. A nice colour for medium skins or tanned lighter skins.

The products themselves are very nice – I love the extra dimension blushes and wish they were a permanent fixture because I would sop them up with a biscuit. They’re just lovely. And a cremesheen lipstick is always a winner. While I only got two items, I don’t think there is one overall standout from this collection. Everything is nice, wearable, something you’ll get use out of. That’s fine, but this collection in my opinion is outshined by the absolutely banging packaging.


Almost everything seems to be sold out at the moment, but will you be picking up anything from this collection?