MAC Dare To Wear Swatches and Review

More Dare To Wear Swatches and Review after the jump

I was able to swatch the MAC Dare To Wear shades last week, and I was pretty impressed with the pigmentation of these babies. Note that most of them are matte, but even then, the color pay-off is amazing. This collection was inspired by Lady Gaga, but even if you are not into the Gaga look, you will still find some products that will work well for daytime looks. However, most are obviously into the screaming color category.

I think I am kind of mellowing down when it comes to loud colors, maybe because I'm getting older? Whatever the case may be, I still love the occasional non-neutral and non-boring eye look, so I will definitely be getting some of these, especially Shock-a-holic, which is a gorgeous matte purple that would work great with my lilac and pink eye looks.


Going Bananas

Going Bananas is a repromote from the 2007 collection C-Shock. It is described by MAC as a soft lemon yellow, but it's not matte but a frost. As I'd mentioned in my review when I got this during C-Shock's launch, it is neither gold nor cream, it is a true, clean yellow with subtle sheen. Even with its eye-popping shade, this would look great with browns, coppers, bronzes, greens.


Crazy Cool

Crazy Cool is my kind of color. I regularly use soft lilacs on my lid when I wear lilac, purple or even pink clothes to avoid them clashing with each other. However, I have not found a rather pigmented cool lilac to use on my lid, so I almost always use my MAC Quietly pigment for that. Sometimes, though, I need a pressed eyeshadow in that color especially during manic mornings when my pigments can spill. Crazy Cool is the answer to that, a beautiful light lilac in the veluxe pearl formula.  Even with its eye-popping shade, this would be the perfect lid color to go with something like Shock-a-holic on the crease or outer lid.

Zingy is a beautiful matte sky blue.  I don't wear too much blues so this would be a skip for me, but the pigmentation is divine.  A great summer color.

Free To Be is a creamy true coral that is also matte in formula.  This would make a great lid color with Coral Crepe paint pot underneath for a true sunset eye look.

Sassy Grass is a bright matte grass green.  Weee!  I love grass greens!  I already do have Wondergrass from C-Shock that looks somewhat like this, but I gotta admit that Sassy Grass is a lot more pigmented and smooth.

Louder, Please is a matte bright fuchsia.  As always, great pigmentation if you are into these kinds of colors.

Lime is a matte lime green that I am really thinking of getting, but I have a bajillion greens so I think I know the answer to this, lol.

Aqua is a subdued, pale greyed aqua in the matte formula.  I really like how it is a pale, subdued color and not the screaming aquas I've seen in other collections.

Atlantic Blue is a bright matte violet blue.  Now this is a beauty.  This is one of my favorites, because since it is a hybrid of two colors, you can use this both for purple and blue looks.

Sky Blue is a robin's egg blue that is not matte but frost in formula.  I hardly wear robin's egg blue shadows so this is also a skip for me.

Winkle is short for periwinkle (a favorite color of mine), a mid-tone cornflower blue in the satin formula.  If you like these kinds of colors, I would suggest you get this shadow as it is really very pretty.

All in all, if you are into bold colors, this collection delivers. I also love how they are on the matte side which reminds me of one of my favorite MAC eyeshadow formulas, Matte² (matte-squared).  I know some people would totally skip this collection as they are not into brights, but I hope MAC can make more pigmented, unique matte neutrals for everyday use.

The Shades Of U Rating for DTW Eye Shadows: 4.25 out of 5 stars

Dare To Wear Lipglasses:


Dare to Wear should read Dare To Dare

These are newly formulated, special edition lipglasses in special packaging. They are technically, for me, dazzling liquid lipsticks. They are housed in these really slim tubes with sponge-tip applicators. These are unbelievably pigmented lipglasses with micro-glitter (MAC calls it holographic pearl), not the chunky ones you saw in the Superglass, but really very miniscule particles that won't make your lips feel gritty.

I call them liquid lipsticks because the pigmentation is that of a lipstick: they apply very opaque and the staying power is that of a lipstick as well. I ate while wearing Ban This!, a deep purple with multi-pearl, and the color survived, but of course in the end you have to reapply if you want the true color to stand out. Once the color partially fades, however, you get a just-bitten lip look that is quite engaging.

Dare to Dare is a light blue pink with multi-pearl that is the most subdued from this collection.  Bold & Brash is the boldest and brightest of the bunch, and I really want to get this to create the pin-up girl look: neutral eyes and red, bold lips.  It is a bright red with multi-pearl that will take guts for me to wear on a daily basis, but would be absolutely breathtaking for a special event.

So Bad is a mid-tone coral orange with pink and gold pearl.  Gimme That is a bright fuchsia pink with pink pearl, and if you like hot electric pinks, this one's for you.  Wind Me Up is a dirty bronze with pink and gold pearl which I think would look great on deeper skintones.

All in all, the new Dare To Wear lipglasses are innovative and are saturated with color and shine, so if you want your lips to be unobtrusive, stay away from these lipglasses.  If you want the puckers to be the central focus, however, you know what to try.  I am still getting used to my blingy purple lips when I wear Ban This!, but I honestly like it.  The only downer for me is the price; it retails for $18 for a 5 gm/0.12 oz of product.  And sorry ladies, you can no longer Back-to-MAC for special edition lipglasses and those in special packaging.  The glorious "look at me" lips can be worth it, though, especially if you don't use these pretty often and reserve the Dare To Wear lipglasses for those special occasions. 

The Shades Of U Rating for DTW lipglass:4.0 out of 5 stars