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Space. The final frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise…

Wait — no they’re not. This isn’t a voyage. It’s actually a review of the new MAC Nebula Pigment ($20). I guess I just had a random Trekkie moment, like that time at the gym back before I’d met El Hub. I was running on the treadmill when a cute boy climbed up on the one next to me, turned my way and said, “Hi.”

My witty response: “Live long and prosper.”

Oh, yeah. It was smooth… 🙂

Seriously, though, I might not have had game, but I did know a lot about Star Trek.

Of course, something tells me that neither MAC nor Daphne Guinness were channelling Starfleet when they dreamed up this particular loose eyeshadow, even though I can picture makeup-loving cadets reaching for it faster than you can say, “Prepare for warp speed.”

So far, my warm skin tone and I haven’t fallen for many of the cool-toned colors we’ve tried from Daphne Guinness for MAC, but shimmery grayish brown Nebula toes the line between cool and neutral in a way that makes it mighty wearable for both warm- and cool-toned babes.

Plus, it’s called Nebula, and how cool is that? I was starstruck the first time I saw the color twinkling back and forth between gray and brown.

Nebula reminds me of a longtime MAC favorite of mine, Club, except without the teal and blue. Yes, the formula is loose and messy, and it’s only a matter of time before I spill it on the carpet, but I do love how complex and smokey it appears.

In these pics, I’m wearing it by itself all over my lids and along my lower lash lines. Just a very simple smokey look.

I also tried something a bit more dramatic with it, adding a dark gray liner along the water line, and liked the way it turned out. If you decide to give that a try, I recommend Laura Mercier’s Kohl Eye Pencil in Stormy Grey, a gunmetal gray that flashes a subtle blue from some angles.

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Wearing MAC Cremesheen Glass in Japanese Spring on my lips

The Cremesheen Glasses ($18.50 each) in the new Daphne Guinness for MAC collection are among my favorite pieces in the release because I think they’re also among the easiest ones to wear.

The collection catapults onto North American counters December 26 and internationally a little later in January with four Cremesheen Glass shades — Borealis, a pale grayish pink with iridescent pearl; Japanese Spring, a pale dirty pink; Narcissus, a dirty eggplant; and Richly Revered, a deep plummy brown. I’ve been wearing two of the four this week, Japanese Spring and Richly Revered, and because of how sheer they are, we get along just great.

Japanese Spring looked familiar to me when I met it, but it took me a little while to place. MAC Ever So Rich — that’s what it reminds me of — one of my favorite Cremesheen Glasses of all time.

I think Spring’s light touch of pink is what keeps it looking natural, and I like the subtle kick it gives to pink and purple lipsticks when it’s worn on top.

Sheer plummy brown Richly Revered, the second shade I’ve been wearing, strikes me as a good work shade. I like that I don’t have to wear it with a lip liner, which is something I feel I usually have to do with more pigmented glosses.

Japanese Spring on top and Richly Revered on the bottom

Swatches of Japanese Spring on the left and Richly Revered on the right
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Wearing MAC Blush Ombre in Azalea Blossom on my cheeks

Dang, you have a great memory for MAC makeup! I should call you “Total Recall.” 🙂 Forget Sudoku and crossword puzzles; trying to recollect the first time MAC colors launched is a great brain exercise for beauty buffs.

And yes, you’re right! Two of the new Daphne Guinness for MAC Blush Ombres ($26 each) appeared last year in the Spring Colour Forecast collection. Azalea Blossom (a light cool pink) and Vintage Grape (a mid-tone violet pink) are staging a comeback, except now they cost $1 more than they did in 2010 (a sign of the times, yo).

If you missed ’em the first time around, you get a second chance. They offer the same moderate, buildable coverage they did back then, in a finish about halfway between shimmer and matte.

Each one combines two colors in the same pan, and as far as I can tell, the gradients aren’t an overspray. Swirl the two colors together to create a single shade, or keep them apart and use separately. I’m partial to wearing the lighter halves as blushes and highlighters and the darker halves for contouring.

I just love how these look on the skin. The grains are so fine that they’re almost undetectable!

Blush Ombre in Azalea Blossom

Blush Ombre in Vintage Grape
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I just can’t say no to MAC’s Pro Longwear Lipcremes! — not even when they’re in colors I don’t normally wear, like the cool-toned shades in the new Daphne Guinness for MAC collection. I feel like this batch caters to cooler skin tones, but that doesn’t mean warmer ones can’t try to make ’em work. 🙂

When MAC introduced these long-wearing lipsticks last fall with the Styledriven collection, I fell in lurve! They were everything I wanted, everything and more. Smooth, with a slightly shiny finish and plentiful pigment, they quickly became a favorite of mine.

The Daphne Guinness collection brings four more shades to the Lipcreme line, three of them I’m wearing here — Warp Speed (a light silver), Red Dwarf (a blueish pink) and Approaching Storm (a deep rose). MAC describes the fourth shade, Seasoned Plum, as a mid-tone lavender.

MAC Pro Longwear Lipcremes from the left: Approaching Storm, Red Dwarf and Warp Speed

Red Dwarf

Warp Speed
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I love it when life imitates art, or seems to, like it did yesterday when a storm passed overhead while I was contemplating the Eyeshadow X4 quad in Interior Life ($38).

The gray clouds came out of nowhere — clear skies one minute, a downpour the next — and when a blast of thunder roared, I was clutching the quad and its four cool-toned shades.

Remember this scene from the end of the first Terminator movie?

Looking up at the sky and then down at the quad, I realized that both of them were cut from the same cloth, a shawl of moody grays, purples, blues and pinks…

Now, I like these colors. I do. They’re just not the easiest shades for me to wear, and if you’re a damsel with a darker skin tone like mine, you might find that these shadows appear quite sheer when applied.

Who is Daphne Guinness?

The Honorable Daphne Suzanne Diana Joan Guinness, the Irish heiress to the Guinness brewery fortune, is a style icon and world-renowned fashion journalist. Tom Ford once called her “one of — if not the — most stylish women living.” She was also the inspiration behind last year’s holiday collection from NARS.

This year, MAC joined forces with Daphne to develop a 21-piece collection for eyes, lips, cheeks and nails in a mostly cool-toned palette of gray, pink, brown, taupe, charcoal, blue, green and lavender.

I’ve played with nine of the pieces so far, and from what I’ve seen, this release looks stunning for lighter lasses who wear cool-toned grays, pinks and purples well.

With Interior Life, MAC continues to play with sheer pigments. In comparison to Miss Piggy Pink, I think these shades offer a touch more coverage, and while I can appreciate MAC wanting a change of pace, I can see why it might ruffle the feathers of MAC fans addicted to pigment.

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