Dry lips, be gone! I will not have ye! — ’cause, honestly, I don’t want any flakes up in my mix when I’m wearing these new MAC Metallic Lipsticks, because flakes + metallic finishes equal nooo!
Metallic lips are back. In the event that you’ve been taking the longest cat nap ever (in which case, I’m so jelly because: naps!), they’re back in style and 100% Rosie-the-Robot chic.
If these are tickling your memory chips, you might be recalling the Metallic Lipstick launch from earlier this spring (remember the cray-cray green?). That was an LE collection, and so is this one, which will be available at all MAC locations and online from June 22nd to August 3rd.
Of the 17 shades, 10 are re-promotes from that earlier launch — deep royal purple Royal Hour, bright bluish pink Foiled Rose, cool reddish burgundy Hades Fire, cool neutral pink Pale Rose, silvery Silver Spoon, warm neutral In Lust, bronzy Jupiter, white frosty Pearly One, deep burgundy red wine Disobedient and blackened blue Anything Once. For swatches of those cuties, click here.
The other six shades are new. A few are bright and densely pigmented, making them perfect summer shades, like golden orange Coral Optix, bright fuchsia Ionized Iris, brick red Forbidden Romance and silvery rose Wild Nectar (the one that handles my not-so-perfect lip flake situation the best).
My lips, however, look a tad textured when I wear the less pigmented pinks and neutrals, like mid-toned pink Rose-dipped, light pink Love’s a Gamble and pale golden beige Metalwork.
Finding kick-@ss metallic lipsticks that don’t make my lips look and feel dry and eons older than they are isn’t easy, but these are pretty good… Maybe not as epic as the Tom Ford ones, which I love 1,000x. Those are sensationally smooth and moisturizing, and the pearl particles are ridiculously foine.
But these are a good mid-range alternative.
Metallic lipsticks generally aren’t mega moisturizing. In fact, most of them are downright vampiric in terms of sucking the moisture out of your lips, but these are better than most, which doesn’t make them moisturizing…but they probably won’t make a parched pout even worse.
I’ve also noticed that most metallic lipsticks don’t glide as smoothly as creams or glazes do, and some of them feel heavy, like old-school ’90s mattes… They feel like you’re putting raw flower on your lips.
The MAC Metallics Lipsticks, by contrast, slip and slide, and their pearl particles apply evenly, as opposed to seeking out your vertical lip lines and flakes.
Unfortunately, that probably leads to their mediocre wear time. They don’t last as long as thicker metallic lipsticks, but that’s fine with me. I’d rather have to reapply one of these every few hours than have dry-looking robot lips.
Final verdict
These may not be as luxe as Tom Ford’s metallics (to me the gold standard in metallic lippies), but I think they’re great for 17 bucks. They’re cute, comfy, and they aren’t drying. Coral Optix, Forbidden Romance and Wild Nectar are my faves from among the new batch.
I feel it coming…
I spent a lot of time driving all over the Bay Area last weekend, and FYI, don’t even think about relying on Siri when you’re driving around SF, because homegirl will take you on a messed up driving adventure.
Anyway, while I was zipping down the 101, I kept hearing the same song over and over again on the radio, and it’s still stuck in my head…
GOOD LUCK getting that out of your head now, LOL! 🙂
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
I have a few older MAC metallics from LEs a few years ago, like Bronzilla, and love them for summer. These look equally amazing and I think I will stick to them rather then Tom Ford, simply because I would not want to get addicted to those…
I have to admit I’m not a metallic lipstick person. I don’t like the finish and they just aren’t the most flattering on my dry lips. So, whilst I’m not MAC’s target customer for these, I can totally appreciate the range of shades and especially the brown and beige shades which I feel have been recently neglected by brands in general. I think Coral Optix looks so good on your skintone xx
I REALLY like that forbidden romance one and the wild nectar– i saw the first and was like oh NO, that’s more $$ i’ve gotta spend… then I saw that pretty plummy nectar one and it was a done deal, i’ll just hand them my wallet, lol! 🙂 I still need to pick up that brush that came out with their next to nothing campaign… (and probly the powder and possibly even the foundation! I’m a sucker for the barely there texture!!) looks like a trip to MAC is in order, but i guess i can wait till these come out! (maybe!) ha…
OMG Coral Optix!
I just ordered one of the new Maybelline Matte Metallic lipsticks that came out, it should arrive on Friday, I’m excited. I’m into metallic lips lately, though I don’t wear lipstick all that often, mostly for shows. I have a show on Saturday so hopefully it works for me!
I like Coral Optix and Forbidden Romance.
Coral Optix is so summery. Love it!
I love how wearable a lot of these are! So stunning. They’re the most fun to play around with lip toppers, too!
Hi Brooke,
Yes, me too. It’s really nice to see trends come back in such a wearable way.
I’m so happy these will be back! I missed out getting any the first time around.
I like Wild Nectar and Rose Dipped. These remind me of lipsticks I wore in the early 80s.
Haha, I wore a metallic pink like Rose Dipped to the eighth grade dance. It was by Wet ‘n’ Wild. LOL!
Oh god, I am so old. I had already graduated college and moved to NYC for work. I had a red lipstick that was somewhere between Forbidden Romance and Wild Nectar that I bought at Bloomingdale’s on Third Ave. I’ve been searching for a similar color ever since.
I have lipstick colors that haunt me, too! You’re not the only one. I used to have a beautiful warm pink gold that I wore in ninth grade. I think it was by Covergirl? I wish I could remember the exact name because I’ve never been able to find anything quite like it. Le sigh…
How long did you live in NYC? It was always one of my dreams to live there at least once in my life, but I think that time has passed (for now, at least). Maybe after Connor leaves for college I’ll get my chance to do a stint in NYC!
I lived there for five years and never really made enough money to truly enjoy the city. Then one of my college friends was working for MAC World Magazine in SF asked me to come out and work with her while one of her employees was on vacation. So I took a vacation from my job and worked with her and interviewed for jobs that week too. I lived in SF for about a year and I was set to move back to NYC when I met Dear Husband. I fell really hard for him and never moved back to NYC.
Oh! I sure do enjoy a love story with an element of moving and timing! Something similar happened with my friend Jen and her husband. He was just about to leave the Bay Area and move back to Florida (where he’s from originally) and he met Jen, I think, a week before he was supposed to go. He still ended up moving, but came back to the Bay Area a couple months later.
Do you think you’ll ever move back?
I love the look of these shade, they look very wearable and so pretty. Love a good Mac lippie collection !
I don’t really like/buy metallic lips for myself, but I might be getting Coral Optix!
I bought a few of the original release, and I really love them. The new shades look really pretty.
Hi Rachel,
Yes, I liked them too, even the crazy colors! Happy Friday to you. 🙂
Ooooohmygod, I cannot wait to get my fingers on these. #grabbyhands !