My MAC Lipstick Collection

Since the first time I laid eyes on a MAC lipstick, I've been hooked.  The sleek packaging, the ever-growing selection of shades and finishes, the pretty warm vanilla scent-- it all draws me in!  With over 150 shades and ten finishes (retro matte, matte, satin, amplified, amplified creme, cremesheen, cremesheen pearl, lustre, frost, and glaze)* that flatter nearly every skin tone, it really isn't hard to see why MAC is a favorite of beauty darlings and makeup artists alike.

*An extensive explanation of the finishes here!

My first MAC lipstick purchase was just under a year ago when Rihanna released her first line with the company, the wildly popular RiRi-Hearts-Mac Summer collection.  It featured three shades of lipsticks, a cool blue-toned matte red, RiRi Woo (a cult favorite, and my first lipstick purchase!), a dirty berry, Heaux, and a playful lavender, RiRi Boy.  It sold out in record time and became so popular that MAC has done a series of two more RiRi Woo launches, both in Fall and Winter 2013.  I managed to snag RiRi Woo the afternoon it went on sale online, and after three grueling days of waiting, finally received my new treat in the mail.  With one glance of Rihanna's signature printed with a flourish on the side of the incredibly matte lipstick itself, I knew I was absolutely hooked on this brand.

MAC's packaging, presentation, and quality have made me come back over and over again, resulting in a collection of 11 different lipstick shades from the brand.  (Let's not do the math on eleven lipsticks at $16 a piece... Yikes.)

But without further ado, I present to you my extensive MAC lipstick collection, along with wrist and lip swatches!  Enjoy!

For reference:  My skin tone is a MAC "NC-20", Cover Girl "Buff Beige", Bourjois "Light Beige".

I've gone in order from my nudes and pinks, all the way to the brighter colors like the reds and plums.

First up: Nudes and Pinks!

Top Row:  Honeylove (Matte), Creme Cup (Cremesheen)
Bottom Row: Please Me (Matte), Candy Yum-Yum (Matte)

Honeylove is a warm, peachy-toned nude matte, and I find it personally to be my perfect nude!
Creme Cup, another cult favorite, is a very wearable pink-toned nude.  It's got a lovely sheen to it and is the perfect pair with a dark, smoky eye.
Please Me is a soft blue-toned pink.  Perfect with a gloss or on its own as a matte color.
Candy Yum-Yum is the truest of all Barbie pinks!  A bright neon punch of color, it's perfect with a simple cateye, and is so fun for going out.  I always get compliments on this baby!

Next in line: Reds!

Top Row: Relentlessly Red (Retro Matte), RiRi Woo (Retro Matte)
Bottom Row: Prepare for Pleasure (Cremesheen), Viva Glam Rihanna (Frost)

*NOTE: (I apologize for the lighting in these pictures!  It was difficult to capture the true color in these, but the wrist swatches below help to differentiate!)

Relentlessly Red is a true retro matte, meaning it is the most matte formulation MAC makes!  It has a lovely shine free finish, and is a pink-toned red, lighter than the others.
RiRi Woo is my absolute favorite, go-to red!  It is a perfect retro matte, blue-toned red, and the blue tones make your teeth look even whiter, a definite plus!  My absolute favorite.
Prepare for Pleasure was from MAC's Divine Night holiday 2013 collection, and has gorgeous gold packaging (shown below).  It is a soft, shiny cremesheen formulated magenta-red.  Soft, glossy, and lovely!
Viva Glam Rihanna is my latest purchase!  Its frosted formula gives it a slight shimmer with small golden flecks in the blue-red lipstick.  Also, every cent from the Viva Glam collection lipsticks goes to helping men, women, and children everywhere with AIDS.  Wonderful colors for a wonderful cause!

And, finally:  The Purples!

Top Row: Heroine (Matte), Rebel (Satin)
Bottom Row: Diva (Matte), Full Collection in Packaging

*NOTE: (Again, apologies for the lighting and swatch quality!  Better color payoff in wrist swatches below!)

Heroine was just recently re-released by MAC after its enormous popularity in a past collection, and it is new to me as well!  It is a matte, true purple.  A definite attention-getter!  This color looks phenomenal on women with dark skin tones!
Rebel is a satiny, creamy plum.  My first dark lipstick purchase as well!  It goes on like a dream, and looks even better with a plum liner underneath.  I use Rimmel's Ravishing, but MAC's Nightmoth liner is also a perfect match!
Diva, the classic, killer burgundy-wine matte is a fantastic Autumn-Winter shade. (Or wear it in the Summer or Spring, who needs rules to wear lipstick?)  Paired with strong brows and a confident attitude, no one can go wrong with Diva.

Wrist Swatches!

L to R:  Honeylove, Creme Cup, Please Me, Candy Yum-Yum, Relentlessly Red, RiRi Woo, Prepare for Pleasure, Viva Glam Rihanna, Heroine, Rebel, Diva.

(Here's that pretty gold packaging I told you about!)

So for anyone looking for a high quality lipstick with great color payoff, or if you're just looking for a way to treat yourself, MAC is definitely the route I choose to go!

*NOTE:  All lipsticks were applied without lipliner, these are swatches just how they appear in the tube.