Press Sample
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| L to R: Tailored to Tease (also on lips); Oh, Lady; Back in Vogue |
MAC Retro Matte Liquid Lipcolour
MAC has put the Retro Matte Liquid Lipcolours on their site as "coming soon" and the beauty world is buzzing! I did some "fast & dirty" swatches for you guys on Instagram and thought it might be helpful to discuss my thoughts on the formula, since people are dying to know how they compare to other formulas.The lip swatch above wasn't edited in any way. When I say "fast and dirty" I mean that I swiped it on, snapped a shot with my phone, then posted it without any editing of any kind. I didn't even do any sort of clean up before snapping the shot and I did use the applicator instead of a lip brush (which would normally be my preference). I wanted to give you guys a "raw" look since it's a new formula.
Initial Thoughts
For starters, I personally feel like most liquid lipsticks are totally hit or miss. They either knock your socks off or they make your lips feel like they're ripping themselves off your face. Granted, I'm incredibly particular when it comes to my lips and tend to be a bit more sensitive to even a smidge of dehydration, I do feel like there's an acceptable and unacceptable threshold of slight dryness when it comes to mattes. With the exception of a select few formulas (some OCC lip tars, Lipstick Queen's mattes and a couple MAC mattes), I find almost every matte shade drying to some degree--especially with wear.
Application
These applied very smoothly for me. While it seems that different shades have applied differently based on reviews by bloggers that received a broader variety of shades (often the case with most lipsticks), I found that the 3 shades sent to me were actually really decent to apply. The formula had a light, mousse-like consistency that gave me a reasonable amount of control. Coupled with the pointed end of the teardrop-like shape of the applicator, I think these were some of the easiest liquid lipsticks to control that I've played with to date. I also found that while these did set fairly fast, they didn't dry so quickly that they set before I finished applying. These were also easy for me to layer and didn't pull up previous layers when new layers were applied.
Wear
While these were a bit drying with wear, they were not painfully drying to the point I felt the compulsion to remove them. I do recommend applying to well-prepped lips (exfoliated, moisturized), but overall they weren't evil by any means. I also found that these did not crack on me, even when I went to great lengths to contort my mouth and open it as wide as possible--not sure why you'd do this on a regular day, but I figured I'd give it a shot. The formula seemed to have a really decent amount of flexibility, which was nice. I did notice that after playing around for a bit when I relaxed my mouth it wrinkled more than it had prior, but that's to be expected in my opinion after the lengths I went during my lipstick "stress test".
I had no feathering at all (I typically don't with this type of product), thought I didn't eat anything with any sort of oil in it.
Removal
These removed easily for me with oil (I use Argan oil for just about everything), but I found a regular makeup removing wipe struggled a bit to take everything off.
Packaging
Normally I wouldn't spend too much time discussing a MAC lip product's packaging as they tend to be very consistent, but since these are new and I've seen a LOT of people discuss the packaging, I thought I'd throw my 2 cents out there. I don't mind the packaging. It did take me back for a second when I saw them--the combo of a gloss tube with a traditional MAC lipstick top--but I actually kind of like them. I don't think they're super attractive per say, but I like that it distinguishes them from my MAC glosses. I also think it's a tad clever that they mixed a traditional lipstick tube with a gloss tube for a liquid lipstick. Love it or hate it, the packaging is totally functional, as easy to store and carry around as any gloss or lipstick and certainly not such a big deal that it would make or break my experience with the formula or applicator.
I'm really curious to get my hands on a few other shades. I have my eye on Personal Statement, To Matte with Love, Feels so Grand, Dance with Me. Overall, impressed with the formula so far and looking forward to seeing how others feel about them!
What shades are you planning to buy once they launch?
Note: Products in this post were provided by PR/the brand. All opinions are my own.
