Seasonal leftovers from MAC

I've always been a fan of MAC for their drama, and although they're not the only drag-queen-friendly makeup company on the block these days, they are still churning out fun and interesting stuff, plus their sales people look better than anyone else in Nordstrom which is most encouraging. Last year I got my daughter their glittery eyeliner set for the hols, which was lovely. This year I have tested some of their holiday specials, which arrived a little late for the X Mass, but are still available for a New Year's treat if you need cheering up or have Nordstrom notes to spend (I know no other storecard with as generous a points system). (The makeup was freebies, Nordstrom paid me nothing).

First the not-so-great: Mineralize eyeshadow trios- two colours plus a glitter down the middle. Now, I am a big fan of glitter, and wear it all the time, being an extravagant maker-upper, so I double-tested the blues and silver Persuasive set on me and my daughter; but we didn't fall in love as expected. Glitter-as-highlighter definitely looked wrong, glittering up the blues seemed complicated, and all in all it just seems easier to choose shadow that happens to be glittery in the first place. There's still plenty of that coming from the wilder companies (Urban Decay and Barry M I have posted about before). Also the glitter in the Mineralize trio is big and lumpy, presumably to say "Party!" louder, but the pigments were no way strong enough for our fun-loving tastes.

Anyway, since it is the most poverty-stricken January in living memory apparently, for those under 35 at least, you may find glitter a bit inappropriate at the office just now.

That's the bad news over. Everything else from Passions of red and "Red" she said was worthwhile. Not all of it is still around unfortunately- the dazzleglass lip colour is only left in Miss Dynamite, which is much more orangey than the picture implies, like copper enamel paint- but it's hard not to love the best red eye collection, which is infatuating rose, six pinks and mauves you could wear all sorts of ways, all year round. They also have some lip sets, which are nice if you don't mind the general hassle of lip sets. Both have pretty jewel encrusted boxes made of real snakeskin and rubies... just joking, but they are rather nice and limited edition packaging is fun, so if you want this particular turkey sandwich (and I mean that in a very delicious way) it's probably best to get moving a.s.a.p.

And a final big surprise was the Mineralize sheersheen loose powder in silver aura, which instead of making one look like a vampire actually has the pleasing effect of creating a faux-healthy shine where pallor was before. Amazing, isn't it. Whether this would work on healthier complexions too I'm not sure, silver is a very pale colour so it would be hard to recommend that with a conscience.