MAC Heirloom Mix Sweet Sentiment Mineralize Blush Review, Swatches and Photos

The last two weeks have been a blur of researching, planning, listing, debating, swatching, attempted purchasing and (FINALLY) purchasing a mega haul of products from Sephora's VIB/VIB Rouge sale. Because of the engrossing nature of this sale and it's accompanying problems (re: the website crashing and burning mere hours into the sale then remaining inoperable for days), the MAC Heirloom Mix holiday collection completely slipped by under my radar.

MAC Mineralize Blush in Sweet Sentiment

I only picked up one thing from Heirloom Mix, the Mineralize blush in Sweet Sentiment (LE $35.00 CA, $30.00 US). Sweet Sentiment is described as a "rosy pink", it's a finely milled, medium cool pink with lilac overtones. It has a natural sheen, with no glitter or shimmer and good pigmentation.

Like most Mineralize blushes, Sweet Sentiment kicks up quite a bit of product when you run your brush over it, so I suggest patting your brush on this product as opposed to swiping it. Because it has good pigmentation, you won't need a lot of this blush to get good color payoff. Photos in natural light, swatches on NC 35/40 skin.

MAC Mineralize Blush in Sweet Sentiment

Like all the other Heirloom Mix offerings, Sweet Sentiment comes in special black and silver glitter packaging, which pushes the normal Mineralize blush price up to $35.00 CA from $32.00 CA. Interestingly, the holiday blushes are packaged in the old, smaller blush compacts, not the new larger ones. Sweet Sentiment is blendable with buildable color and wears well throughout a regular 8 hour day.

At the time of writing this post, Sweet Sentiment is still available online at MAC.

Grade: A-

MAC Floral Fantasy Mineralize Blushes Azalea in the Afternoon and Petal Power Review and Swatches

It's been much too long since I've posted, so today I have something new, pretty, and springy for review. MAC's spring collection Floral Fantasy just hit counters yesterday and I have the two new LE Mineralize blushes for review, Azalea in the Afternoon and Petal Power ($29.50 CA/$25.00 US.) 

All photos in natural light, swatches on NC 35 skin - please excuse the dramatic shadows as I took them in the late afternoon.

MAC Mineralize Blush: Azalea in the Afternoon and Petal Power

Azalea in the Afternoon

Azalea in the Afternoon - A light, slightly cool pink that has a strongly frosted finish. On my NC 30/35 skin this will act more as a tinted highlighter than a cheek colour. Although it looks more yellow toned in the pot, it applies cooler on my yellow toned skin due to the high level of white toned frost. Very similar to MAC Mineralize Blush in Dainty although I think Dainty is less frosty. I think this could work as a blush for paler skins though it's never going to be highly pigmented.

Petal Power

Petal Power - A medium rose with gold shimmer and a strong duochrome finish on the skin when the light catches the gold shimmer. SO PRETTY! I predict this is going to be one of the first sell out products from this launch. It's highly pigmented but blendable and smooth. If you love coral blushes like Nars' Orgasm or Tom Ford's Love Lust you NEED this. Trust me.

Azalea in the Afternoon and Petal Power

Like other Mineralize Blushes these have a powdery texture, but they apply relatively well. Petal Power has to be one of the prettiest blushes MAC has put out in a while regardless of finish. If you even think you might want it - run, don't walk to your nearest counter! Azalea in the Afternoon is pretty but ultimately dupeable, not as pigmented and a tad too frosty for my liking.

Grades: Azalea in the Afternoon, B-

                Petal Power, A

MAC Divine Night Mineralize Blushes Review, Swatches and Photos

MAC's Divine Night holiday 2013 collection, features three LE Mineralize Blushes: Lured to Love, Talk of the Town and Lavish Living ($32.50 CA/$27.50 US). These LE blushes are housed in matte black and gold packaging special (and more pricey) for the holidays. Photos in natural light on NC 35/40 skin.

MAC Mineralize Blush: Lured to Love, Talk of the Town and Lavish Living

Lured to Love - Described by MAC as a "coral pink base with pink frost", Lured to Love is a light pinky coral blush with a satin (not frost) finish. The texture is fairly powdery and the finish subtle but fresh on my medium skin tone.

Talk of the Town - Strangely described as a "warm brown base with yellow bronze" by MAC, I would describe this as a frosty pinky beige highlighter with iridescent pink pearl.This blush will not give much colour to most skin tones, and because of the heavy frost, you won't want to build this product up of the skin. Pretty, but a light hand is warranted.

Lavish Living - Aptly described by MAC as a "violet with silver pearl base with gold pearl", this blush is medium dark plum with slight grey overtones and fine silver shimmer. The most strongly pigmented of the three, this blush is also the most unique in terms of colour - I can't think of another blush like it. This blush will be amazing on darker skin tones.

I like that MAC offered three blush shades in one collection that are all very different. I also appreciate that they explored the darker end of the blush spectrum, though my feeling is Lavish Living will prove a challenging colour on most. My reservations are that the formula is powdery and the finishes of Talk of the Town and Lavish Living are very frosty for everyday wear. 

Grades: 

Lured to Love: B -

Talk of the Town: B-

Lavish Living: B

MAC Naturally Preview

Hey, Nature Girl! For a look that is simple, sensuous and understatedly sexy, here are nothing-to-hide hues that make you look fresh, relaxed, gloriously “undone.” Brilliantly sheer, high-mineral Skinfinish make your look fresh-as-the-sun radiant. Lipsticks and Lipglasses lushly tinted to reflect the wholesome. Eye Pencils with a touch of jojoba, mango and meadowfoam seed oils.  M·A·C, Naturally is just what you need to do your own thing and keep your look, dreamily, down to earth…

MAC Naturally is available at MAC stores and counters in North America on January 5, 2012.

Eye pencil in Coffee
Muted brown
$17 CDN/$24 US

Eye pencil in Ebony
Soft black
$17 CDN/$14 US

Lipglass in Fresh Air
Light pink
$17.50 CDN/$14.50 US

Lipglass in Hot Spell
Bronze with multicoloured pearl
$17.50 CDN/$14.50 US

Lipglass in Naked Space
Creamy mid-tone nude peach
$17.50 CDN/$14.50 US

Lipglass in The Wee Coquette
Naked neutral pink
$17.50 CDN/$14.50 US

Lipstick in A Perfect Day
Light neutral pink (amplified)
$17.50 CDN/$14.50 US

Lipstick in Beach Sand
Light tan (creamsheen)
$17.50 CDN/$14.50 US

Lipstick in Pillow Talk
Mid-tone rosy pink (creamsheen)
$17.50 CDN/$14.50 US

Lipstick in Sweet Sunrise
Light neutral peach pink (lustre)
$17.50 CDN/$14.50 US

Mineralize Blush in Fresh Honey
Warm apricot
$26.50 CDN/$22 US

Mineralize Blush in Early Morning
Peachy pink
$26.50 CDN/$22 US

Mineralize Blush in Subtle Breeze
Blue pink
$26.50 CDN/$22 US

Mineralize Eyeshadow in Cloudy Afternoon
Cream with gold, grey and pink veining
$24 CDN/$20 US

Mineralize Eyeshadow in Daylight
Peach with dirty blue lavender veining
$24 CDN/$20 US

Mineralize Eyeshadow in In the Sun
Gold with violet veining
$24 CDN/$20 US

Mineralize Eyeshadow in Summer Haze
Palest gold with deeper gold veining
$24 CDN/$20 US

Mineralize Eyeshadow in Twilight Falls
Cool brown with bronze veining
$24 CDN/$20 US

Mineralize Skinfinish in Blonde
Soft pink to rose degrade
$33.50 CDN/$28 US

Mineralize Skinfinish in Redhead
Gold to Salmon pink degrade
$33.50 CDN/$28 US

Zoom Fast Black Lash
Carbon black
$18 CDN/$15 US

286 Duo Fibre Tapered Blending Brush
$36.50 CDN/$30 US

187 Duo Fibre Face Brush
$50.50 CDN/$42 US

MAC Quite Cute Mineralize Blushes Review and Swatches

I'm usually not one for pastels, but I couldn't say no to MAC's darling Mineralize Blushes released with their Quite Cute collection. These blushes are LE ($27.50 CA/23.00 US).

Clockwise from bottom left: Miss Behave, Sakura and Giggly

Each blush consists of a main body of mainly matte colour with a frosted accent heart in the middle. The overall finish of all three blushes is sheer satin. Swatches done indoors without flash on NC 40 skin.

From left: Miss Behave, Sakura and Giggly

From left: Miss Behave, Sakura and Giggly

Miss Behave -  is a very light beigey peach with a cool white shimmer, which comes from the mint coloured heart. I see this shade working as a highlighter for most people, especially because the shimmer is quite white. Only perhaps the palest out there could get some colour from this. I would hazard to say this would be chalky on darker skintones.

Sakura - a very cool lavender toned pink, but wearable even on yellow toned skins (such as mine). The most pigmented of the bunch, this is a rather unusual shade. Works nicely as a pop of colour on the apples of the cheek.

Giggly - a yellow toned medium pink which isn't the most unique colour but very wearable. This is a nice colour for spring, and the satin finish gives it a little bit of light.

General Comments

These three blushes are very sheer, especially for the Mineralize Blush formula which is usually highly pigmented. As well, the texture of these blushes is extremely powdery which means that to build colour the user will have to apply multiple layers of product. While this factor might be annoying for some, I don't have too much of a problem with it. I think these blushes are designed to be subtle washes of colour, and in that respect they succeed. The best of the three are Sakura and Giggly, with Sakura being the strongest colour. The weakest is Miss Behave which is too pale to function as a blush alone for most. As a highlighter though, Miss Behave works well enough even if it is a tad chalky.

J

MAC Wonder Woman Mighty Aphrodite Blush Review

MAC's Wonder Woman collection is in stores now. I only picked up one item, the Mighty Aphrodite blush that was recommended to me by Jill. It's a dual-blush, with a large shimmery peach bit and dusty bright shimmery rose bit.

The official description is Warm peach coral with gold pearl/Bright coral pink with gold pearl (satin/frost).

Let's take a look at the packaging which is, well pretty spectacular.

This collection has bright, cartoony packaging which doesn't appeal to me particularly but is certainly fun and very American!

I like the reflection on the surface of the blush - it's like Wonder Woman's golden lariat.

The peachy portion is about twice the size of the coral portion. Both are shimmery with gold pearliness but the peachy portion has more shimmer. 

Mighty Aphrodite swatched on NC15 skin, coral on the left, peach on the right.

It's difficult to use just the coral shade since it's so small, but you could use a small brush, with a lighter amount on the brush. I've been wearing it blended, by swirling the brush and twisting it in the palette so that I get an even amount of each colour. It's a sheer, shimmery blush so it's not intimidating to wear at all. It's meant to go on almost like a bronzer, which makes it a good blush for fair skin and a pretty pop of highlighter colour for darker skin. It's definitely a blush you can build up or wear softly, like I am below.

Mighty Aphrodite on me, NC15 skin.

Not to mention that the Wonder Woman blushes are twice the size of a regular blush. They're $29 CDN/$24 US while regular MAC blushes/Mineralize MAC blushes/MAC Beauty Power blushes are about $24 CDN. How's that for value?

I recommend Mighty Aphrodite - check it out!

C.