Alexander McQueen for M*A*C

M*A*C’s new collection (released today on counters in North America) is the first step in a new direction. Discontinuing the Icon collections of the past, M*A*C has chosen to create collections in collaboration with well known designers. The first designer to take the M*A*C plunge is Alexander McQueen…

The always newsworthy McQueen sent models stomping down the Fall/Winter 2007 runway wearing glorious shades of blue, green and teal from lash to brow, accented by bold and graphic black liner. The inspiration for the makeup was Elizabeth Taylor’s title character in the movie Cleopatra.
McQueen handpicked the colors in this collection, and they certainly reflect his edgy and fashion-forward style. Packaging in the collection is embossed with McQueen’s name leaving no doubt as to who came up with this dreamy set of products.

The collection includes:

• 2 lipsticks to create the signature pale lip without looking chalky
  • Masque – soft pearl pink in a traditional Satin formula
  • Archetype – gold in the sheer and shiny Lustre formulation
• 2 lipglosses
  • Nothingless -soft white gold Lipglass
  • White Magic – baby pink Lipglass
• 3 shadows, all are Veluxe Pearl (MAC’s jet-milled frost formula)
  • Pagan – yellow-green
  • Haunting – seafoam green
  • Nile – described as a “soft royal blue with white pearl”, to my eyes it’s a cornflower blue
• 3 cream shadows: the new fabulous creaseproof, waterproof Paint Pots with no shimmer/frost
  • Pharaoh – yellow green
  • Otherwordly – seafoam green
  • Electro Sky – cornflower
• 1 highlight powder: Mineralize Skinfinish
  • Welcome back New Vegas!!! A “golden beige with bronze frost”, New Vegas was originally introduced with Gold Play (2005) and is a cult favorite.
• 3 eyeliners – all the new Kohl Power formula: very pigmented, very smudgey
  • Jealous – black with green pearl
  • Black Karat – black with gold pearl
  • Feline – blackest black
• 1 brow definer
  • Velvetone – part of the standing collection
• 1 false lash set
  • # 20 half lashes made by Christina Smith (lash guru to the stars)

My review:

Frankly, I don’t adore this collection. Well, let’s put it this way: I think the colors are beautiful, but I don’t find it very wearable for real folks. So, here goes…

New Vegas, beloved by many, is too frosty and has very little color payoff in my opinion. By contrast, the shadows, cream and otherwise, are ridiculously pigmented, and in these colors that makes them fairly hard to wear. I do like to wear all of them under Club eyeshadow, or lightly with a grey like Print or with Carbon. My opinion of the Kohl Powers is poor, too. I can’t wear these without them ending up ringing my eyes, even with a base underneath! Yuck. I wore the half lashes, and they seemed somewhat choppy. Velvetone is too dark for me. The only things I will hang on to in this collection are Masque and White Magic, but they aren’t so great I’m buying duplicates…

Visit McQueen’s website to see the Autumn Winter collection in all its glory. Click here to see the whole show.