Clouds rolled in before I could complete my swatches of MAC’s To The Beach collection, but I didn’t want to waste any time getting the swatches out to you, so I’ll break the collection into two parts. Click here to see part 2 (the lipsticks, glosses, lip pencils, luminizers, and brushes).
To The Beach is definitely… beachy. I think I’d like a shirt with stripes the colors of these five eyeshadows, but I’m not personally brave enough to wear them on my eyes. They all have good texture and pigmentation — Sand & Sun is definitely one of MAC’s better Mattes. Veluxe Pearls Firecracker, Sweet & Punchy, and Shimmermoss are all frostier than Frost Humid. Shimmermoss and Humid are repromoted shades, and the shadows are $14.50 each.
The eye kohls (suitable for waterline, not waterproof) are also $14.50 each. Rosemary & Thyme is a repromote of a permanent shade; Float On By is new and limited edition.
The two polishes are also new and limited edition ($12). In the Buff was billed as muted taupe avocado creme… it’s hard to see the green. It’s the color of an avocado that’s oxidized. Scorcher is a screamingly bright red coral.
I did light and heavy swatches of the blushes and highlight powder — I probably could have made my “light” swatches lighter still.
Hipness is a gorgeous peach pink (last seen in Fafi, and I’m happy to see it return). Get-Away Bronze is a frosty copper (it looks slightly rosy in a lighter swatch). The powder blushes are $18.50 each.
Marine Life is a “highlight powder” — I would have called it a blush. Its embossed seahorse design definitely attracted the most early buzz (and many have proclaimed that they will buy it and never use it). But the colors are curiously backwards in this promo picture. The larger part of the two-toned powder is coral; the smaller part is light pink. The veneer of gold overspray is so thin I was unable to swatch the color individually with a sponge-tipped applicator. Marine Life is $26.
I also swatched the bronzers first lightly, then heavily. The cream bronzers are $25 each, and both sparkly. Beach Bronze (the lighter shade) is more sparkly, and the sparkles are golden. Weekend (the darker) contains pink sparkles.
Both powder bronzers are repromotes from the permanent line. Golden is preferable for lighter skintones, and it’s matte. Even in a heavy swatch, Golden doesn’t get very dark. Refined Golden is better for darker skintones. It contains some gold sparkles, but is not as sparkly as the cream blushes. The powder bronzers are $22 each.
The rest (lipsticks, lipliners, glosses, luminizers, and “extras” like the tote bag and brushes) are to-be-continued.
Yay lovely swatches! Sweet & Punchy, as well as Float on By look gorgeous. I have Shimmermoss already and like it
Awesome! love the swatches. Hipness and Marine Life will be mine
Also, Scorcher nailpolish looks ahhhmazing
MAC has not been getting my interests for ages but that seahorse Marine Life is calling my name. i like when you said it’s more a blush as i prefer coloured highlighter. the colour is beatiful too. The eye shadow lot looks a bit scary. i’d stay away from such bright colours. i am too old for fun eye stuff.
I loke scorcher because it looks like a polish I wore last summer… but that other one I got at H&M for about 2-3 dollars!
I’ve been looking forward to this collection and reading everything I can find about it. This post is the best one I’ve found so far. Thanks for everything you do, Karla. Your site is a daily oasis for me.
Hi Karla!! Do you think that sweet&punchy eyeshadow looks like lucky green?? I cannot see it in my stand because it was sold out the first day, and I’m looking for a dupe.
Thank you very much!
Are these out in the stores, yet? Pro Stores & Counters?
The collection is supposed to release May 27th.
Hi Karla!! I love your blog and these swatches are great!!
I’ve heard a lot of talk about Sand & Sun not being very pigmented. In fact a lot of people are saying to skip it, but you say it’s quite pigmented. What are your thoughts on color payoff?
I thought it was pretty good for a Matte; there have been some shades in recent collections that have definitely disappointed, but I didn’t feel that way about Sand & Sun.
I DO swatch heavily…
humid is a must have!
I purchased hipness blush easy lounger lipgloss and the golden bronzer, the lipgloss is pretty but not WOW… but hipness looks really pretty, not too bright and not ‘dirty’ like some corals can look, perfect for this time of year! I have tried the bronzer yet, I’m pretty fair skinned, so I’m a little scared. Ill give it a whirl tomorrow.