MAC Wonder Woman

Wonder Woman is MAC’s big spring collection — big in that the collection is vast, and also in that several of the pieces are supersized. I mean, “of heroic proportions.”

It’s tricky to take on a comic book theme. The “American heroes” of the DC universe tend to dress in primary colors (which are not necessarily what everyone likes to wear on their face). But I think MAC’s collection was true to the concept, wearable, and fun.

Starting with the regular sized makeup, there are three eyeshadow quads (each $40. MAC owes royalties to DC Comics, which accounts for the slightly increased prices).

In terms of texture, I thought the Lady Justice quad (blues) was the best. Its shades are Lady Justice (a cool white frost, which produced slight fallout), Insurmountable (a cool whitened grey matte. This had an awesome, smooth, creamy texture for a Veluxe finish), Deep Truth (a deep, “justice” blue shimmer), and Bold Babe (a more denim, or more “blueberry” blue shimmer).

The Valiant quad (greens) features warm, golden-white shimmer Manila Paper, sheer, spring-green shimmer Valiant, sheer, somewhat chalky, matte forest green Diana Undercover, and slightly chalky, goldeny olive-brown satin Spinning Transformation.

The Defiance quad (pinks) features milky pink with a slightly opalescent sheen Defiance, matte peony pink Paradise Island, orchid/pink-purple Star Studded, and burgundy Real Drama.

There are two pigments (each $21). Bright Fuchsia (pink red) and Marine Ultra (matte cerulean blue). I swatched these dry on a bare arm.

There are also two glitter reflects (also $21 each). Bright white-silver shimmer Reflects Pearl and bronze Reflects Bronze were both recently featured in MAC’s holiday pigment sets. I swatched these over moisturizer, because they don’t swatch well dry.

There are four Wonder Woman lipsticks ($15.50 each). Marquise d’ is a warm pink Lustre. Heroine is a shimmery, warm cocoa red-brown with silver sparkles. Spitfire is cool orchid (almost magenta). Russian Red is a vibrant red… it’s usually identified as warm, but I really think it changes, depending what it’s next to or whose skin it’s on.

The lipglasses are supersized (and they’re $20 each). I confess, I don’t see the appeal. In the name of science, I tried on Emancipation, but I found the oversized applicator to be unwieldy, and the formula felt (to me) stickier than usual for MAC. The shades correspond to lipsticks. Wonder Woman is a bright, warm cherry red with gold sparkles. Athena’s Kiss is orchid with blue sparkles. Secret Identity is a warm toffee brown with multicolored sparkles. Emancipation is warm pink with multicolored sparkles.

Wonder Woman also includes four colored mascaras (these don’t really swatch well, but I thought I’d try to at least give you a sense of the colors). They’re the Opulash formula, $15 each.

Bad, Bad Black is self-explanatory. Themyscira is sapphire; Victorious is royal purple; Army of Amazons is jewel-tone green.

There are two nail polishes ($15). Spirit of Truth is democrat blue and Obey Me is republican red. I am really digging dark blue nail polish right now, so Spirit of Truth (a great name to boot) is on my must-have list.

This collection also features an oversized Penultimate eyeliner marker, and every single person who’s said anything to me about it has crowed, “it’s like a Sharpie for your eyes!” I have yet to understand why that’s desirable. The Penultimate testers I found were pretty well loved… the tips were a little beat up, and that made the swatches thicker than they would have been otherwise. On account of its big size, the marker is $19.50.

There are two blush duos ($24 each). I thought you might be curious, so I swatched the two shades individually (with an eyeshadow applicator), then blended then with a triangle sponge to make a “blush” swatch. In both cases, the smaller, “accent” color (the second “eyeshadow” swatch) is rather sheer. I really had to build those up.

Anyway, here are the blushes swatched lightly:

And here’s a heavier swatch. Mighty Aphrodite is a warm, watermelon pink. Amazon Princess is orchid pink.

There are two Mineralize Skinfinishes. These are enormous, like salad-plate-sized. They’re $35 each, and contain three distinct colors. Because each color section is so large, I felt like you could easily use them as eyeshadow. So I swatched the individual shades with eyeshadow applicators before blending to make a “blush” swatch.

Here are the light swatches:

Here are the heavy swatches. I know they look similar, but Pink Power is more peachy pink (intended for lighter skintones). Golden Lariat more golden, bronzey peach (meant for darker skintones, I think). Both are shimmery, but I kind of want to use them as blush.

I know this collection’s already been out for a week — what did you pick up? Did you love it?