7 Aug 2017

Beauty Report: MAC Cosmetics ‘Girls Collection’ Personality Palettes

Photos: Courtesy of MAC Cosmetics

MAC Cosmetics is known for spitting out limited edition items as quickly as a gal can blink her eye. At times it’s hard to keep up with the what the brand is doing next. For their new ‘Girls Collection’ palettes MAC seems to have joined the more mainstream approach to appealing to their customers.

While these personality palettes are extremely cute, they seem to be geared towards more of a younger demographic. Most woman over 30 (maybe even 25) don’t find the term ‘Basic Bitch’ that amusing, and certainly wouldn’t want it emblazoned on a an item they might pull out in public. I do enjoy the packaging on several of these palettes. Power Hungry and Mischief Mink in particular are quite eye-catching and fun. Prissy Princess is ultra girly, and a tad on the tween side. Rockin’ Rebel takes the camo route (which I found kind of odd) and Fashion Fanatic tackles bold graffiti. As for the shades, they seem to stay in the old Mac tradition. Lots of neutrals and cool tones, and a few shades that are super vibrant. I haven’t been able to try these out myself just yet, but MAC’s Global Senior Artist Ashley Rudder shared her swatches (which you can see in the gallery below) and the pigmentation doesn’t appear any different than what we have come to expect from MAC shadows. There’s definitely color pay-off there, but a lot of the shadows look like they will need to be built up. The only one that really appealed to me on the color scale is ‘Mischief Mink’. While most of the beauty world are complaining about how over warm tones they are, I still cannot get enough of them.

These palettes probably aren’t going to appeal to everyone. I have seen a lot of longtime MAC fans question the direction they are going lately, but the concept itself I really do like. I just wish they had came up with a few better names, and packaging concepts. In a world where twenty-something Youtubers are dominating makeup sales, I’m sure MAC is simply trying to jump on board and stay on trend. The thing is, you can’t forget the rest of your userbase and what they have come to expect.

Each palette comes with 8 eyeshadows and a complementing highlighter. These little beauties retail for $40 each ( a fair price for what all you get.) They are available now online at Saks, Macys, Dillards, Nordstrom, Ulta (4 of them) and of course MAC. Select stores and counters have them already, but you might want to call ahead first.

My verdict on these palettes is that I am excited to see all of them in person and form a more concrete opinion. In the meantime, you can find out what kind of Mac girl you are checking out all the info and photos below.

Mischief Mink:

V Frisky – muted gold (foil)
Natural Tease – bright yellow with gold shine (foil)
She-nanigans – radiant reddish-copper (foil)
Flaming Femme – dark clay-red (cream-matte)
Schemer – dark brown (cream-matte)
Mischief Minx – frosty bright orange (glowing satin)
Totally Trouble – purple-black (cream-matte)
Been There, Done That – dark brown with gold mother-of-pearl (glowing satin)
Stride of Pride – golden pink highlighter (opalescent)

Prissy Princess:

Prissy Princess – shell gray (cream-matte)
Sweet Tart – shimmery pale pink
Eternal Optimist – shimmering cool brown (glowing satin)
Good Girl & U Know It – grey toned brown (glowing satin)
Too Good to Be True – cool toned muted brown with silvery mother of pearl (foil)
Fabness – taupe grey (soft mother-of-pearl)
Spoil Yourself -dark brown (cream-matte)
Color Me Spoiled – very light pink (cream-matte)
She’s a Rainbow – rose highligter with silver undertones (opalescent)

Basic Bitch: