Juniper
Juniper’s guest reviewer who wishes to be known only as The Blue Flamingo, is a die-hard MAC addict who has been a fan of MAC far longer than MAC has been around in Malaysia. She has been passed some MAC products from the latest Semi Precious Collection and there is no better qualified person than her to review MAC products as her knowledge of MAC Collections and products is enviable. She uses MAC products everyday and she can talk about MAC for hours!
This is her review:-
The latest incarnation of MAC’s Mineralize eye shadows and Mineralize Skinfinishes (MSFs) can be found in the Semi Precious collection out now. And yes, these eye shadows are indeed a beauty to look at, almost like little round marbelised gemstones. Despite what has been said, I believe MAC has indeed made several improvements to the formulation of its Mineralize range throughout the years.
The present Semi Precious range of Mineralize eye shadows is said to be infused with four finely milled gems which have been refined into a powder finish. I first fell in love with MAC’s Mineralize eye shadows when they made their appearance in the Antiquitease Holiday Collection in 2007. My favourite Mineralize duo eye shadow at the time was Family Silver. Family Silver was later included in MAC’s permanent Mineralise eye shadow duo range but unfortunately it has now been discontinued.
The last MAC Mineralize eye shadow I bought was She Who Dares, which was from last year’s Venomous Villains collection. She Who Dares contained two crescent halves, one which was a metallic navy blue black and the other was a deep metallic greenish black.
The sample of eye shadow from the Semi Precious collection which I received for this review is Blue Sheen, which is described as containing a mixture of the following colours, black, blue and peach. The peach in Blue Sheen in fact looks very much more to me like copper brown. Whenever I look at Blue Sheen it seems to bring to my mind another one of Mac’s Mineralize eye shadow duos, Sea & Sky. Sea & Sky was one of the Mineralize eye shadows in MAC’s Electroflash collection from 2008. It also used to belong to MAC’s permanent Mineralize collection together with Family Silver but has also now been discontinued.
How does Blue Sheen compare with the blue half in She Who Dares? Well, the deep navy blue half in She Who Dares leans more towards black than blue, almost like the Mineralize eye shadows from the Style Black collection which came out in 2009. For those who are a fan of the Style Black Mineralize eye shadows and would like something similar, do check out the following eye shadows from the Semi Precious collection as they are also black based colours, for example, Dark Indulgence, Smoked Ruby, Golden Gaze and also Blue Sheen.
The beauty of these Semi Precious Mineralize eye shadows lies in their veining. I recently found this out from reading specktra.net’s Semi Precious Discussion thread. Therefore the key to the Mineralize eye shadows and MSFs from this collection is to pick the one which has the most veins of the colour of your choice.
Depending on the number of coloured veins that it contains, the colour swatch which you get can vary. Depending on the veining, for example, Blue Sheen when swatched, can vary between dark blackish blue and a lighter copper blue. Since all these eye shadows are hand made and then carefully baked in Italy, no two are the same.
The sample of Blue Sheen which I received for this review contained more blue and black veins than brown veins running though it and so it is more blue black than peach/copper brown. Depending on the veining of each one, and which part of the pan you swatch, the colour which you get will be different. One can discern at least 4 coloured veins from some of these eye shadows. So for example, if one prefers a more intense blue rather than a peach/copper blue, then pick one which has more blue and less black in it.
The same goes for the MSFs from this collection which have a “blob” in the centre. If one likes the colour which is in the centre “blob”, choose one with a bigger centre “blob”, if not then choose one with a smaller centre “blob”. Amazing isn’t it? After years of using MAC’s Mineralize eye shadows and MSFs, one can still manage to learn something new.
The finish and the intensity of these eye shadows can also be varied if you use them wet, for example, with a squirt of MAC’s Fix+ on the brush. When used wet, the finish becomes more intense and vibrant. The finish is much more sheer if they are used dry. So, wet or dry it can be used according to one’s preference.
The Semi Precious eye shadows and MSFs are limited edition colours and so do check them out at your nearest MAC counter before they are all sold out. The eye shadows retail for RM85 (3.2g) and the Mineralize Skinfinishes for RM115 (10g).
