Product Reviews

nce upon a Tartan’s Tale, I peeped eye colors I would regale, but not so many, I’m sad to say, as I had hoped earlier today.

The Pearlglides are, without a doubt, my favorites from the tale no doubt, but I await, so patiently, the final act, let’s call it three. 🙂

From what I’ve seen of the collection’s eye products so far, and I’ve only seen about a quarter of it, nothing’s completely stolen my heart (but the Pearlglides have it on layaway).

A lot of what I’ve seen has been surprisingly sheer, which I guess would be cool if we were talking about Clinique, but this is MAC. In other words, where’s the beef pigment?

But this tale’s far from over, and there’s much more to swatch and see. I guess only time will tale, haha! For now, I won’t rule out falling in love.

For the single product eye shadow pics that follow, I applied one layer using a dry brush head.

MAC A Tartan Tale: The Eyes Have It

• Eye Shadows in Golden Crown and Enviably Fun: Both are pretty to look at (I’m a sucker for plaid), but performance-wise, they let me down. Shimmery Golden Crown lives up to its name but falls way short on pigment. That, and it leaves a lot of fallout beneath the lash line, bluh. Shimmery greenish gold Enviably Fun packs more pigmentation into a smoother texture that suffers from less fallout, too. To bring out more of the color in the look down below, I applied both colors with a wet brush head. $19.50 for a 0.10-oz. pan.
  Makeup and Beauty Blog Rating: B-
• Pearlglide Intense Liners in Undercurrent and Black Swan: LOVE these liners. Undercurrent’s an intense dark green with golden shimmer, and Black Swan’s a deep black with silver glitter. Both of them skate along skin with loads of pigment and stay put for hours. They should make great bases for the shadows, too. $14.50 for a 0.04-oz. liner.
  Makeup and Beauty Blog Rating: A+
• 5 Cool Thrillseekers Pigments/Glitters: Yargh! Applied alone with a dry brush, these shades are all but invisible on my NC35 skin. Applied with a wet brush, however, the colors come out of their shells, but then the shadows end up looking thick and heavy. Lighter lovelies applying them dry might have better luck. Oh, and I’m not a fan of the little jars; I find them hard to work with, and I keep spilling the products by accident. $32.50 for five small 0.09-oz. jars.
  Makeup and Beauty Blog Rating: B-
• Pigment in Moonlight Night: Here’s a promising development. 🙂 Wouldn’t this sheer black with green shimmer look pretty layered over a black liner? It’s an interesting color that I can see using to add a fun twist to standard smokey eyes. $19.50 for a 0.15-oz. jar.
  Makeup and Beauty Blog Rating: B+
• 6 Dashing Lassies Eye Shadows: I like the design on the compact, but I could probably live without the colors inside. When applied with a dry brush, the three lighter shades were disappointingly sheer, and the darker colors were only a bit more pigmented. Yet again, I ended up using a wet brush to coax out the colors. Unless your shadow collection’s missing a bronze, dark brown and a beige, I’d probably pass. $36 for 0.19-oz.
  Makeup and Beauty Blog Rating: B-

Eye Shadows in Golden Crown and Enviably Fun

Eye Shadow in Golden Crown

Eye Shadow in Enviably Fun
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“Number 5 is Alive!” — Johnny 5, Short Circuit, 1986

Five is not my lucky number (nine is), but apparently someone over at MAC has a thing for it. It’s the unofficial magic number in MAC’s Land of Tartan-ian (my word) Lipstick and Gloss. The MAC A Tartan Tale Collection is rife with fives — five MAC Lipsticks, five Dazzleglass Cremes and sets of five Sassy Lassies Lipglasses (with five Lipglass minis each).

Coincidence? Or subtle homage to 1986’s Short Circuit?

The world may never know, but what we do know is this: MAC A Tartan Tale comes with A LOT of fives and lip colors.

Glaze Lipstick in Courting Lilac ($14)

NOTE TO SELF: Bring bagpipes down to the MAC counter next Thursday, October 28. That’s when the collection arrives in the U.S. International bagpipers will have to hold on a little longer (November 11).
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