To continue my story, I and eight other beauty bloggers whose shades were chosen to be part of the Bloggers' Obsession Collection (Amber, Christine, Ellen, Karen, Lianne, Lily, Patrice, Wendy) were flown to Toronto, Canada to tour the MAC production facilities in Markham, Ontario, and to personally mix our shades for the products. I will make a separate entry on the MAC production facilities in Bentley and what we did in Toronto. This account shall be on how the Sonoran Rain lipglass was created with the help of the amazing Stella, my MAC chemist, and her assistant Kate.
The first two prototypes of Sonoran Rain
When I saw the first prototype of Sonoran Rain, it was very far from what I had envisioned. It was very electric coral in hue and it wasn't what I had wanted at all. Stella was very accommodating even though I had to have the formula changed many times. I envisioned a coral red base with lots of red undertones to depict the red rocks of the Sonoran desert. We added more red pigment to the base to come up with the base color that was in my head. This happened several times until we achieved the redness that I'd wanted.
Cooking the lipglass on a stove
Sonoran Rain ingredients: gold, silver, red pearls, dual pink/gold pigments, and red, yellow and pink pigments
Stella talking to the group on how the lipglass was made
Stella used a combination of small particle red and gold pearls to help build the undertone of the base colour. She added a very shiny, clean, brilliant gold pearl and a bright, clean white/silver pearl, both of which are larger in size. A dual coloured red/yellow pigment and a dual pink/gold pigment were added. These pigments allow you to see the various colours of the pigment depending on the angle you look at it. The combination of pearl pigments with other "flat" pigments in the base gave the final shade.
After all ingredients are added, the lipglass is placed in a hot water bath to "cook" the concoction, making sure that all pigments, pearls and other ingredients are seamlessly incorporated into the product.
Large batches of the Sonoran Rain prototype
Remember, you can purchase the items from the MAC Bloggers' Obsession collection exclusively online at www.maccosmetics.com starting June 21, 2011 for $14.50 U.S. /$17.50 CDN. It is only available in the North America (U.S. and Canada).
5 comments
oh nooooo why won't this be available internationally! such amazing colors!!!!!whyyyy???
kasiaj85- yeah I wish they were available internationally too :(
CONGRATULATIONS! I read your blog regularly, and you are so deserving of this - especially because of the colour story you built (what an image - silver rain against red red desert against a golden sunset - wow).
On a tangential note, I hope young girls read this and think: Wow, I never knew studying science / chemistry would lead to working with MAC! And creating colours!
GORGEOUS! I can't wait to get this gloss, such a beautiful shade!
P- aww thank you, you made my day! :) I really wanted to convey exactly how I conceptualized Sonoran Rain, right down to the reason for the pearl colors. And yes, there is a lot of science and math going on in makeup creation. Take a look at the calculator beside the prototype. It was our most helpful tool. :D
Vanessa- thank you! I am glad you liked it!
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