MAC A Tartan Tale Mini-Haul Review and Swatches

I was invited to the preview event for MAC's A Tartan Tale in the week before it was released. The MAC Bloor store was packed with eager shoppers and they had handsome, kilted waiters serving cocktails, hors d'oeurves and a fiddler playing for us. On display and available for purchase was the A Tartan Tale holiday collection as well as everything else normally on sale.

I picked up one of the lip bags from the gift collection (and intend to go back for more), one of the pearlglide liners and two of the eyeshadows. Pictures! Details! Review! below...

The Vain and Glorious lip bag

I adore the little bags the gift sets come in. I want them all! The larger brush sets come with straps so they can be used as purses. They're well-made and totally adorable and are well-sized. The lip pencil, lipstick and Dazzleglass are soft pink and very, very wearable. Photos!

The Vain and Glorious lip bag contains
In Synch lip pencil, Baby Sparks dazzleglass and Mellow Mood lipstick

Mellow Mood lipstick

Baby Sparks Dazzleglass

Close-up of Baby Sparks Dazzleglass wand

In Synch lip pencil

Swatches from L-R: Baby Sparks Dazzleglass, Mellow Mood Lipstick and In Synch Lip Pencil

Swatch of L-R: Baby Sparks alone, Baby Sparks on top of Mellow Mood and Mellow Mood alone

MAC Pearlglide Intense Eye Liner in Undercurrent

Pearlglide Eye Liners are very smooth and go on very easily. Many eye liners are hard and I hate things that pull at the skin of my eyes, but these are antastic eye liners and have made me into a pencil eyeliner lover.

Close-up of Undercurrent

Undercurrent swatched lightly on the bottom and heavily on the top.

And check out the colour! Look at that teal. Really gorgeous and an easy way to add a pop of colour to any eye look.

Now for the plaid eyeshadows and these are really cool. They're larger than the regular MAC eyeshadows and closer in size to the Mineralize eyeshadows. I picked up the silver (Glamora Castle) and the plum-purple (Semi-Precious).

I admit that it was the plaid that sold me on these. Unfortunately, the blue of Glamora Castle and the bronze of Semi-Precious do not go all way through so only on the first few uses of this eyeshadow will you get a blend of the colours.

Eye Shadow in Glamora Castle

Close-up of Glamora Castle

Glamora Castle swatched

I'm a sucker for greys and silvers and love the sheer medium-dark silver of Glamora Castle. I'll be wearing this a lot. 

Eye Shadow in Semi-Precious

Close-up of Semi-Precious

Semi-Precious swatched

Semi-Precious is a rich aubergine purple and like Glamora Castle it goes on quite sheerly. This shade looks great with rich browns in a smoky eye and on darker skin could be worn on its own (on my skin (NC15) it makes me look a little sick).

So there you have it, what I couldn't walk away from from A Tartan Tale. What are you hauling? What are you craving? Tell us!


To see the complete A Tartan Tale colour collection, click here. To see the A Tartan Tale gift sets and kits click here and here. To see the wonderful A Tartan Tale exclusives click here.

C.