So let me take a moment to get real about two main topics in this post- Maleficent/Sleeping Beauty & MAC. Aurora (aka Sleeping Beauty) has always been my favorite princess. I loved her as a kid which is quite ironic since her & I are likely the least alike. I’m very much a book nerd (like Belle), speak my mind loudly ( like Jasmine ), & am a big time lover of animals & hate cleaning floors (like Cinderella). For whatever reason she is my princess & Maleficent had ALWAYS been my villain.
I was wary of the whole movie thing- it really could go either way with childhood loves. Then I heard MAC was coming out with the collection… Half of me was excited & the other half was depressed because that meant no one else would pick it up. I’m not a MAC girl…at all actually. I have a few random things from over the years but I don’t even have anything limited edition or that I use regularly. Certainly nothing I consider holy grail. I know MAC was a lot of girl’s first makeup purchase but I never had the connection nor the excitement over the brand itself. They put out some pretty things but not a lot that gives me that buying rush.
This is the first MAC order I’ve ever made & I bought this lipstick, a pigment sample I’ve always heard was nice, a couple of makeup cases on sale, & the MAC Pro Longwear Concealer which you can see my thoughts on in my most recent video here. I only bought the lipstick- there just wasn’t anything else that wowed me. Even the lipstick seems dupeable although nice. I know the makeup in Maleficent (which I went to see recently & I’ll have a makeup look of soon!) is really neutral besides the lips but they just didn’t appeal to me. Plus most of the products were re-promotes or part of the permanent line…just with higher price tags for the packaging. Actually the packaging didn’t really do it for me either. Honestly from a distance I could easily confuse it with Batman. Meh. Anyway- onto the lipstick itself!
True Love’s Kiss is one of those reds that will likely look different on varying skintones. On me I think it pulls more strawberry than in looks in the tube & also not as deep. I found the formula to be somewhere in the middle- not too drying but definitely not moisturizing. This shade is an Amplified color & I needed a few swipes straight from the tube to build up the opacity.
I ended up preferring to apply this one with a lip brush so I could get a nice, clean line. Although not fully opaque here on my lips this is how I’ve been wearing it most often. I think I like it better because it doesn’t look as warm.
I categorize the shade itself as a neutral/warm leaning medium brighten red with very fine red shimmer. I think it looks more moisturizing/slightly wet on the lips than it actually feels. I found it wore about 5ish hours then left a stain behind which was a nice overall effect & something to keep in mind. After testing the next few times I topped this with gloss about 2 hours in since I prefer a more moisture-rich feel. I do like the vanilla scent- that’s nice.
So overall I’m happy with my purchase but the price was a bit steep for not all that impressive packaging. The color is nice as something I’ll look back on with my favorite villain on it but not something that I find super flattering all the time either. I like reds but I don’t wear them as often as other shades. Will that stop me from buying more MAC lipsticks? I honestly don’t think so- I’m sure something will come up again someday & I’ll give them another go. I’m happy with my purchase but also glad I didn’t go batty over this collection. From what I can see this shade is sold out online (there was only one shade so I’m not surprised) but you might be able to snatch it up at your local MAC counter.
What do you think of this shade? How about the Maleficent collection overall? Any MAC shades you consider holy grail or formulas your especially love?
