MAC Cosmetics x Disney Cinderella Makeup Collection Not Quite A Beauty Maven’s Royal Ball
Disney’s new live action Cinderella movie just hit theaters and, ever the overgrown child, I’m dying to see it. Unfortunately, my 10-year-old son said he’d rathe eat glue than watch a princess movie so, needless to say, we won’t be taking a family trip to the Multiplex any time soon, and I can’t quite bring myself to watch a movie primarily marketed to pre-teen girls all by my lonesome. Sadly, then, my crystal ball seems to indicate that I’ll be waiting until the film comes out on DVD. In the meantime, however, I can at the very least sing “Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo” while tinkering with some goodies from the MAC Cinderella makeup collection, a limited-edition release filled with delicate pink and purple tones, as well as pearlescent opal white and glossy taupe shades — all with plenty of sparkle as a nod to Cinderella’s fairy godmother and her shimmering magical wand.
The collection’s packaging heightens its allure, as all the offerings are nestled inside pearlized lavender blue tubes and compacts (or, alternatively, feature pots and jars with blue lids) stamped with “Disney Cinderella” in metallic gold lettering. But will the makeup products themselves fulfill your fairytale dreams, those wishes your heart makes? Well, based on my experience with three of the products in the collection, the answer is a vociferous “No.” Granted: I only had the opportunity to try lip gloss and two eye glosses, so I can’t speak on the entire collection (and the eyeshadow palette does look pretty if perhaps a bit nondescript), but my experience with the products I reviewed was jarring.
Read on about the products I tested to find out why my magical makeup carriage turned into a pumpkin well before the stroke of midnight.
MAC CINDERELLA EYE GLOSSES
Backstage during New York Fashion Week, I often saw makeup artists apply a dab of gloss to models’ lids right before they hit the runway in order to give their eyes a bit more sheen and heighten the desired “wet” finish. So, of course, when I saw the MAC Cinderella collection incorporated two eye glosses — Lightly Tauped and Pearl Varnish ($23 each at MACCosmetics.com) my curiosity was piqued! These eye glosses are billed as having a glass-like shine — which, admittedly, they do feature — and can allegedly be mixed with pigments to amplify their shine or applied directly to lids for a sheer but resplendent wash of color.
Now, first, take a look at the two shades:
As you’ll hopefully see, Pearl Varnish is an opalescent, frosty white shade with tons of iridescent shimmer, while Lightly Tauped is more of an almond nude hue with both iridescent and pink shimmer (the latter adding a daintier feel).
The problem? These glosses are hideously sticky! They’re nearly impossible to manipulate (even swatching them was tough) and wearing them is close to unbearable. Every time I wore them, it felt like my lower lid was sticking to my upper lid area, making it hard to perform the most basic of functions — like, say, blink! Also, the glosses don’t stay in place so that they crease, migrate, and clump as the day goes on — a drawback that’s all the more notable because of their glittery finish. At 10 am, you might start with an opalescent dab on the center of your lower lids but, come 3 pm, don’t be surprised if that viscous color winds up on the corners of your eyes.
This is quite possibly the worst MAC product I’ve ever tried out, so I’d strongly advise you to save your money. After all, there are plenty of other ways to give your eyes a bit of sparkle!
MAC CINDERELLA TINTED LIPGLASS
The MAC Cinderella includes two Tinted Lipglass shades: Happily Ever After, a near-sheer, cool-toned, soft pink with bluish pearls, and Glass Slipper, a whisper-soft, near-sheer, opalescent pink with magenta and clear pearls ($16.50 each at MACCosmetics.com). Now, when I first swatched the Glass Slipper Lipglass, I expected it to resemble the shade I saw in the tube. Instead, I saw a gloss with an essentially clear base and TONS of pink shimmer. It was like looking through a glass jar containing two tablespoons’ worth of glitter. See for yourself:
Now, the fact that the Lipglass itself doesn’t have a particularly pink base might not have been a deal-breaker in and of itself — after all, I could still wear the gloss atop a more robust lipstick — but, when combined with an infuriatingly sticky texture, the whole thing was just a debacle. If you apply this gloss to your pout, expect to feel like your top and bottom lips were glued together. And don’t be surprised if the gloss clumps and pills, requiring you to constantly rub your lips together in hopes of maintaining some type of even distribution.
Sadly, with these three products being my only barometer with which to judge the MAC Cinderella collection, I’m left with no choice but to say that this effort did not quite rise from the ashes. Instead of a glass slipper, it felt like I got a plastic one — or, even worse, one made out of clear Saran wrap.
