7 March, 2012
Beauty

Sassy Review: MAC Shop Cook make-up collection, domestic goddess glam!

7 March, 2012

If you have been to a MAC counter recently and spotted all the make-up assistants wearing rather fetching pink gingham pinnies, fear not… they have not branched into cooking just yet! Instead, it’s a super-cute tie-in to their latest collection, MAC Shop Cook – and in my opinion, it’s one of their strongest collections yet.

The retro-tastic visuals are Mad Men/Stepford Wives on acid; gorgeous bursts of colour (let alone the charming cute-kitsch packaging!) mean that MAC Shop Cook will be a huge hit with all of you looking to brighten up your make-up leading in to summer.

There are so many highlights of this collection that it’s difficult for me to know where to start! I am absolutely loving my Colour Added Eye Shadow Quad ($325), which includes four shades: Laundry Daze (a pale white-yellow), Colour Added (a bright sunflower yellow), Pre-Packaged (a gorgeous peacock teal with sparkle) and Self-Serve (the obligatory boring grey but good for contouring). I love palettes because they provide a super-convenient way of putting together an entire eye look with ease, so here’s what I cooked (geddit?!) up with mine.

I used Colour Added on the inner part of my eyelid, blending out to Pre-Packaged on the outer corner, with a final dusting of Laundry Daze (a great highlighter shade) all-over and especially on the arch of my brow. All these shadows are a joy to apply, soft and silky, and in the case of Colour Added, superbly-pigmented too – that shimmery sparkle is just wonderful. I love how tropical yet still wearable this turned out!

My other favourite item from MAC Shop Cook are the Tendertones ($130). No, not one of the choirs on Glee but instead, they’re these amazing luscious pots of buttery lip balm. They contain SPF 12, make your lips feel plump soft and amazing, have this delicious fruity strawberry-kiwi scent that means you’re in for a sweet treat every time you apply and are tinted too, for just a little flash of natural-looking colour. I went out and bought the whole set! Hot n Saucy is the most pigmented, a bright cherry red; Purring gives you a warm light orange glow (I’m wearing it in the eye look photo) and my personal fave, Hush Hush, is a lovely gold with a hint of sparkle that makes for a perfect ‘my lips but better’ look. With all the luscious shine of lip gloss but none of the stickiness, these are a true hero product and will be taking up permanent residence in my make-up bag!

In the photos, I’m also wearing the Cremeblend Blush in Florida ($180). I was pleasantly surprised with this product – in the past, I have found cream blushes too intense and greasy but this was so so so easy to use. It practically glides from pan to cheek and is incredibly light on. What’s more, it’s nowhere near as scary as the neon cerise it appears; it is very pigmented, so tread lightly and blend it in with your fingertips, but it is possible to achieve a very soft pretty pink flush.

Another interesting product I hadn’t tried before are the Kiss-able Lip Colours ($175).  These are supposed to have the shiny finish of a lip gloss whilst feeling as comfy as a regular lipstick and it’s true – no stickiness guaranteed! The formula is very liquid-y and applies almost like a felt tip or paint; I tried Scan-delicious (awesome name!), a luminous amplified fuchsia colour. As you can see, it’s insanely bright! It’s super-opaque and wears so long to the point of staining, but it does feel absolutely feather-light on the lips and has a real mouth-watering juiciness to it. (For those of you that prefer your lippies more conventional, there are six scrumptious shades of regular Lipstick, $140, on offer – my personal picks are Watch Me Simmer, a gorgeous vivid colour-pop coral, and the always-classic Runway Red).

Finally, a Nail Lacquer for you – Al Fredo, a squishy acid-yellow ($110). Yellow nail polish is notoriously hard to pull off and this was no exception, although it did dry a somewhat more wearable sunshine gold; it has a slight jelly finish and was difficult to build to opacity (this is four coats and you can still see VNL… visible nail line and very much the equivalent of VPL in the polish world!).

Nail lacquer aside, MAC Shop Cook is a stellar collection. As ever, I’d advise you to go with bright colour in just one area of your face to ensure you don’t look like you’re about to run away with the circus, but Shop Cook provides you with so many options and colours, that you’ll be spoilt for choice!

Delicious, delectable, divine and de-lovely… being a domestic goddess never looked so good!

The MAC Shop Cook Collection is available at all MAC counters now. See here for all MAC locations in Hong Kong.

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