MAC Cham Pale

With Christmas safely behind us (well, practically), it’s time to turn to the post-holiday collections. MAC has three collections coming out December 26: Cham Pale, Stylishly Yours, and False Lashes.

False Lashes isn’t really a collection; it’s the official release of MAC’s newest mascara formula. As I mentioned in Marcel Wanders, False Lashes is, by all accounts, the reincarnated Prescriptives False Eyelashes (a mascara I truly adored).  The Marcel version is the same formula in special packaging — for the same price ($18).

Anyway, Cham Pale is SO New Year’s! It’s pale and shimmery and festive (just don’t wear too many of these products together).

For me, in this collection, the “eyes” have it. I first fell in love with the Caviar Dreams eyeshadow quad when I saw it in action at Fashion Week. I didn’t know the shade names at the time, and I was sort of disappointed when I learned it had so many repromotes. But swatching it now, I still like its subtle color combination. I think it’s going to give me a pretty, sophisticated look.

Brule (Satin, a permanent shade) is a matte “flesh” tone for light-skinned girls. It’s a nice, understated my-lids-but-better shade on me. It’s also the most pigmented shadow in the quad. Retrospeck (Lustre, a permanent shade) is a sheer, shimmery gold pearl. Et Tu, Bouquet? (Frost, a repromote from Rose Romance) is a sheer, shimmery pink pearl. Caviar Dreams (Lustre, a new shade) is a sheer, pearly, cool brown. The quad is $36.

There has been a LOT of excitement over the new Paint Pots… but these four are a little outside the normal Paint-Pots box. Most Paint Pots are cremes (e.g., Painterly) or shimmers (e.g., Bare Study). The Cham Pale Paint Pots are VERY sparkly. In fact, if you sheer them out, you can buff them right down to just-sparkle.

I thought I was going to love Dangerous Cuvee best… but oyster gold Chilled on Ice captured my heart. I want to wear it as a cheek highlight on New Year’s Eve. Vintage Selection is mauve pink beige; Dangerous Cuvee is gunmetal; Let Me Pop is peach-copper. The Paint Pots are $16.50 each.

Let’s finish up with the eyes. There is a new Eye Kohl: pearly, metallic pink I Get No Kick. I saw this one in action at fashion week too, and I was absolutely tempted to snatch it right out of an artist’s hand and run for the door. Use it on your waterline as a brightener (it’s less harsh and obvious than white). It gives any eye look this amazing, pearly luminosity.  Gorgeous!

This collection also repromotes MAC’s blackest pencil eyeliner, Kohl Power pencil Feline. And though they’re permanent to pro, the collection repromotes two Chromagraphic pencils, NC15/NW20 and NW25/NC30. You can use these on your waterline, to highlight your brow, around the outside of your lips to emphasize your pout — anywhere you care to highlight. All four pencils are $14.50 each.

I made a swatching mistake, too. Zoom Lash in New Hue (a new, limited edition berry/plum mascara) belongs with Stylishly Yours.  I accidentally swatched it with Cham Pale. It’s $14.

Also of note in this collection: two Special Reserve Highlight Powders (swatched heavily). These are $28 each and come in two shades. Chez Chez Lame is a yellow champagne gold; Rose Ole is pink-gold. I wasn’t expecting to love Rose Ole, but I do — I love them both.

There are two nail polishes (both $13). I really prefer the micro-glitter finish of rose-bronze Soiree, though I preferred the color of frosty pewter (cool gold) Very Important Platinum. I couldn’t avoid brush-strokes in my tape swatch of Very Important Platinum; those might be a problem on the nail, too.

There are four lipsticks and four sparkly Lip Gelees (in the mold of Lillyland). Flustered (Frost) is new, a light toffee with silver sparkles. Quiet, Please (Lustre) is a repromote from Red She Said, a shimmery, sheer, neutral pink. Tanarama (Frost) is a permanent shade, a pale, silvery, frosty white-wheat. Gel (Frost) is also permanent, a frosty, rosy-peachy copper.

Bubble Lounge is a super sparkly pink-brown (with pink and silver sparkles). Straight to the Head is a super sparkly brown with pink and gold sparkles. Sin-tillation is a super sparkly silver with pink, blue, and silver sparkles. Luxure is actually very similar to Sin-tillation, except it’s a bit more sheer and a little less sparkly. It has pink and silver sparkles. All eight lip products are $14.50 each.

Cham Pale is sort of like last year’s Warm & Cozy in that it offers a color collection and a skincare collection. The “theme” of the skincare collection is lavender — we have a Fix + Lavender ($19), a Lip Conditioner SPF 15 + Lavender ($14.50; it’s clear), and a Tinted Lip Conditioner SPF 15 + Lavender in a color called Calm Mode.

Calm Mode is also $14.50, and it’s a very, very sheer pink — invisible on my lips (though it does feel nice). It doesn’t exactly smell like lavender, though — I smelled peppermint and maybe eucalyptus layered over the lavender. And the TLC doesn’t have the same scent as the Fix +.

There’s also a new Complete Comfort Creme, which one sales associate thought might be replacing Moisturelush. The Complete Comfort Creme is $32 and will be limited edition in Asia. (But, as far as I know, permanent in the U.S.)