MAC Cosmetics is just on the verge of launching an absolutely behemoth-sized collection on us: Kabuki Magic!
Available online on January 19, 2016 (it does say select MAC locations, but I’m not sure if they mean regional online for that launch date, or in stores regionally), the Kabuki Magic collection boats roughly 50 products in its lineup!
“The heart and soul of M∙A∙C Cosmetics comes alive backstage at the 34 Fashion Weeks throughout the world. We pride ourselves on discovering and nurturing new talent and working with the industry leaders who innovate iconic beauty styles. In January, M∙A∙C teams up with three adored makeup maestros – Diane Kendal, James Kaliardos, and Kabuki – to create colour collections reflecting each artist’s signature style.”
The collection stays true to MAC‘s traditional black packaging, but adds a little bit of extra flare with some layered gold lettering on the exterior packaging as well as on the products themselves.
I’ve got two pieces from the collection, so let’s run through them.
The lipstick Jasper is described as a deep reddish-brown with a satin finish. I’d say that description is fairly bang on!
Satin is one of my absolute favourite lipstick finishes by MAC as it has a lot of staying power, so I was really happy to see a shade like this in that finish. Jasper was easy to apply (although obviously not as creamy as an Cremesheen or Amplified) and the colour impact was there right at the get go. Beautiful, beautiful colour!
I was really excited to try out The Shining Hour dazzleshadow quad from the collection. I love me a good glitter shadow and I had never tried out MAC’s dazzleshadow formula before.
The quad as a whole is called The Shining Hour, but the shades each have individual names.
- Letty Lynton White pearl with white reflects
- Heaven Loves You Gold pearl with gold reflects
- Last Dance Light pink pearl with duochromatic violet reflects (repromote)
- Humoresque Light burgundy pearl with teal reflects
Sadly… I wasn’t impressed. These are very light and not that pigmented. They felt almost like speckly… fluff? Dusty? I’m not sure how to describe it other than that I wasn’t really happy with the colour payoff.
In the end, I opted to do a full eye look using only the shadows available in The Shining Hour quad, but I’m starting to think I did us all a disservice by doing that. These dazzleshadows are accent colours – you can’t truly build a singular eye look off of them unless you’re using one colour as a wash of pigment across your lid.
- In the look above, I made sure to use a sticky eyeshadow base. I applied Last Dance on the lid, Humoresque on the outer corner and through the crease, Letty Lynton on the inner corner of the eye, and Heaven Loves You rimming the entire lower lash line.
I personally see these dazzleshadows as more of a eyeshadow topper to add a punch of shine to the center of your lid, or to the inside corner. I wouldn’t suggest you use them as I did because the effect is not that great.
In the end? Huge thumbs up on the Jasper lipstick, thumbs down on The Shining Hour quad.
The products featured in this post were sent to me for consideration.
The quality doesn’t look that good on this, your probably right that this is more of a topper then full eyeshadow.
I like the lipstick shade, though.
I think I’ll pass on this collection.
Yeah I was so sad about the palette. I was expecting more overall.
That lipstick shade is absolutely beautiful! Too bad that the eyeshadows don’t deliver by themselves.
Chantal recently posted…Pacifica Island Vanilla Perfume Roll-On Review
The lipstick was a definite winner and the shadows were just so… lackluster. 🙁
In the past, Mac palettes have been a disappointment for me. After a while, they loose all pigmentation from ‘hard pan’ so you have to remove the top layer. I think they need to work on that.
Oh shoot! Premade palettes in particular? I mostly own single pans so I don’t have a ton of pre-made ones!
The lipstick is actually not the Kabuki collection but it is gorgeous! The eyeshadow palette is definitely disappointing, too bad when you know MAC can make great shadows!
Zoe recently posted…January Reads
I totally messed up the launch details. I thought the WHOLE thing was Kabuki Magic. Oops. Too late to change the post title and URL now though. Ugh.
Is nice but u need to apply it better I have the peachluxe and I find it is not nice but their lipstick is good
Well my eye swatches were extremely heavily packed on and that’s the best colour pigmentation I could get. I’m not really looking for something so difficult to use, you know? And yes – the lipstick is wonderful!