MAC - Semi Precious Discussion

liba

Well-known member
Liba, I bought Trophy Big Bounce today, I tested it on my hand and it stayed put really well in today's humid weather and on the tube. I also washed my hands and rubbed it and it was still there. I haven't tried it on my eyes yet so I hope it works well for me. I mainly bought it for your descriptions of how the MES work on top.
Something funny about my Big Bounces - when I first got them the week they came out, they were all tricky to apply and awfully liquidy - once you got them on, though they'd stay put - Trophy's definitely one of the very best of them for that.

The funny thing is: either I've gotten better at using them or they are starting to change texture slightly from being opened for use, but i'm finding all of mine are easier to apply now and go on more smoothly without that danger of crumbling or streaking if you try to put more on that they originally had. I guess I better start keeping mine in the refrigerator if their texture is going to start changing around a lot on me.

I hope MAC figures out a way of keeping a product like Big Bounce available - either a new type of paint pot or a new improved Big Bounce etc, because I love them as a strong but sheer base that adds sheen and a touch of sparkle.
 

romi79_2008

Well-known member
The only thing that I might get from this collection is the blush brush. Even that not without reviews first, most probably this will be a complete skip for me, yeay for my wallet!
 

Wandalemur

Well-known member
I really love the way Rare Find looks on the vampy varnish site.It's crept onto my list. I think I'm gonna end up with two MSF's and Rare Find.
 

missah

Well-known member
Liba, you are so bad for my wallet><"
You've just made it 100 times harder to stick to my 5 mes limit!
Oh those shadows! It's pretty ridiculous how swatches of these are more confusing than helpful except for the sheen-only colors. I know my posts about them were pretty long-winded so here's my attempt at a Quick Guide version:

Sheen-only texture: Blue Sheen, Golden Glaze, Dark Indulgence, Smoked Ruby, Faux Gold. These will be the easiest to apply and will look the most similar in or out of the pan, wet or dry, no serious need for a base to bring out the color, no fallout.

To order them from best (most unique, wearable and day + night versatile) to least, I'd say Golden Glaze, Dark Indulgence, Faux Gold, Smoked Ruby, Blue Sheen.

Veins + sheen texture: Mineral Mode, Unsurpassable, Jade's Fortune, Rare Find, Hint of Sapphire. These go from muted when dry to subtly colored when wet to really vibrant when used with a Big Bounce shadow as a base or try some other bases and see what happens. The veins are very pigmented so look for a pan with veins on half the pan and you will be able to get a no vein color, a vein color or a mixed color out of them. Rare Find is the least veiny of all of them, but is still in this category instead of the sheen-only. There is some sparkle in all of these - Mineral Mode has the most, Rare Find has the least.

Best to least (most unique, wearable, day + night AND with good color variety in the pan is best): Hint of Sapphire, Unsurpassable, Mineral Mode, Rare Find, Jade's Fortune.

Sparkly texture: Clarity, Quartz Fusion. These have noticeable glitter. Clarity is smaller glitter but also sheer when dry. QF has large white glitter but has good color density when dry, like the sheen-only ones. Mineral Mode has glitter equal to Clarity but only in the vein parts so it goes in the other category. No best or worst - Clarity can look pale or greyer depending on how much black veining you pick. QF is a very nice pink, especially for hazel and green eyes but you may already have a color like this.

My personal favorites from each category are:
Golden Glaze - unique AND easy to apply
Unsurpassable - I got 6 totally different looks and 3 dramatically different colors out of one pan - extremely vibrant and intense with Trophy BB underneath. A brilliant green that will look good on anyone.
Clarity - beautiful sheer sparkly opalescence, like a butterfly wing - perfect when dry as a gorgeous brow highlight (especially in a pan without a lot of black)

My second favorites in each category:
Dark Indulgence - a dark green that doesn't clash with even green eyes and yellower skin, which I've always had a tough time finding. Unique.
Hint of Sapphire - you can get a variety of clear, vibrant and flattering blues, silvers and greys from this, depending on application.
Mineral Mode - since this is almost in the glittery category, but much better control, it's my 2nd pick for this category

Special mentions:
Rare Find - harder to get a variety of color out of this one and there's sparkle, but as someone else said, it's a great near-dupe for Adzuki Bean
Jade's Fortune - if you can never find a yellow that looks good on you, you'll love JF as finally a flattering solution, but you'll need care in application or it might look too grey or muddy.
Quartz Fusion - I love this color, but be aware of the big, rough white glitter - this is the one I had noticeable fallout with out of all of them.

Skippable:
Smoked Ruby - you don't need this if you have one of the brown Mega Metals
Blue Sheen - really gorgeous and might be some people's HG shimmering blue, but you might already have something good enough
Faux Gold - very pretty peachy muted copper and easy to apply, but you might have something like this already - similar in color and effect to Trophy BBshadow.

My 100% top 3 favorites are Clarity, Golden Glaze and Unsurpassable.

Good luck with these - best to go into a store and play!!!
Does anybody know if Smoked Ruby is comparable to Fyrinnae's Monarch Butterfly? I might skip Smoked Ruby if Monarch butterfly is comparable, since its cheaper too. Then I'll be able to get Hint of sapphire.
 

hoshiakari_

Well-known member
Thanks for the quick guide, Liba! I'm curious, in order to bring out the purple-y tones in Rare Find, what do you suggest I use as a base?
 

liba

Well-known member
Thanks for the quick guide, Liba! I'm curious, in order to bring out the purple-y tones in Rare Find, what do you suggest I use as a base?
Well, Trophy Big Bounce shadow under Unsurpassable made it look crazy intense emerald green, so that'd be a good place to start. I think I'm going to try it with Luxury Touch too, since that's a nice mauve purple.

I will say that it's somewhat veined, so you could try to pick one out with extra purple if you're buying it in person. Just applied with Fix+ (which is how I tested this one out after trying it dry), it was very Adzuki Bean, with a noticeable purple cast - so maybe if you like a smokey color you won't even need the base.
 

hoshiakari_

Well-known member
Thanks, Liba! Will swatch Rare Find over Trophy and Luxury Touch come the 7th. :D
Sounds like my dream purple, been searching high and low for an AB dupe.

Well, Trophy Big Bounce shadow under Unsurpassable made it look crazy intense emerald green, so that'd be a good place to start. I think I'm going to try it with Luxury Touch too, since that's a nice mauve purple.
I will say that it's somewhat veined, so you could try to pick one out with extra purple if you're buying it in person. Just applied with Fix+ (which is how I tested this one out after trying it dry), it was very Adzuki Bean, with a noticeable purple cast - so maybe if you like a smokey color you won't even need the base.
 

Pinkdollface

Well-known member
The difference is pretty huge. Pearl is a good all over the face subtle color - no need to worry about if it's too warm or not because if you have one with an average center circle, it will be easy to control how much additional darkness and warmth you want to add.

Pink is seriously a highlight and a very cool, ashy one too unless you are maybe NW10, where you could then perhaps consider it for all over.
Thanks for clearing this up! Now i can justify getting both
pompom.gif
 

hoshiakari_

Well-known member
I'm glad that I'm only going to get two MES and a lippie (going to B2M for it) so I can have more monies for Bloggers' Obsessions. :D

 

Edelmc

Well-known member
Rare find does look like a dupe for ab but would it not look alot more multi dimensional due to the variety of colours in the pan? My ever changing shadow list so far is hint of sapphire and mineral mode (definites) Rare find, unsurpassable, clarity and pink quartz (this is my maybes and I will get 1-2 of theses I think). Do you know of any perm dupes for pink quartzes? quote name="liba" url="/forum/thread/174559/mac-semi-precious-discussion/1650#post_2134554"]Oh those shadows! It's pretty ridiculous how swatches of these are more confusing than helpful except for the sheen-only colors. I know my posts about them were pretty long-winded so here's my attempt at a Quick Guide version:

Sheen-only texture: Blue Sheen, Golden Glaze, Dark Indulgence, Smoked Ruby, Faux Gold. These will be the easiest to apply and will look the most similar in or out of the pan, wet or dry, no serious need for a base to bring out the color, no fallout.

To order them from best (most unique, wearable and day + night versatile) to least, I'd say Golden Glaze, Dark Indulgence, Faux Gold, Smoked Ruby, Blue Sheen.

Veins + sheen texture: Mineral Mode, Unsurpassable, Jade's Fortune, Rare Find, Hint of Sapphire. These go from muted when dry to subtly colored when wet to really vibrant when used with a Big Bounce shadow as a base or try some other bases and see what happens. The veins are very pigmented so look for a pan with veins on half the pan and you will be able to get a no vein color, a vein color or a mixed color out of them. Rare Find is the least veiny of all of them, but is still in this category instead of the sheen-only. There is some sparkle in all of these - Mineral Mode has the most, Rare Find has the least.

Best to least (most unique, wearable, day + night AND with good color variety in the pan is best): Hint of Sapphire, Unsurpassable, Mineral Mode, Rare Find, Jade's Fortune.

Sparkly texture: Clarity, Quartz Fusion. These have noticeable glitter. Clarity is smaller glitter but also sheer when dry. QF has large white glitter but has good color density when dry, like the sheen-only ones. Mineral Mode has glitter equal to Clarity but only in the vein parts so it goes in the other category. No best or worst - Clarity can look pale or greyer depending on how much black veining you pick. QF is a very nice pink, especially for hazel and green eyes but you may already have a color like this.

My personal favorites from each category are:
Golden Glaze - unique AND easy to apply
Unsurpassable - I got 6 totally different looks and 3 dramatically different colors out of one pan - extremely vibrant and intense with Trophy BB underneath. A brilliant green that will look good on anyone.
Clarity - beautiful sheer sparkly opalescence, like a butterfly wing - perfect when dry as a gorgeous brow highlight (especially in a pan without a lot of black)

My second favorites in each category:
Dark Indulgence - a dark green that doesn't clash with even green eyes and yellower skin, which I've always had a tough time finding. Unique.
Hint of Sapphire - you can get a variety of clear, vibrant and flattering blues, silvers and greys from this, depending on application.
Mineral Mode - since this is almost in the glittery category, but much better control, it's my 2nd pick for this category

Special mentions:
Rare Find - harder to get a variety of color out of this one and there's sparkle, but as someone else said, it's a great near-dupe for Adzuki Bean
Jade's Fortune - if you can never find a yellow that looks good on you, you'll love JF as finally a flattering solution, but you'll need care in application or it might look too grey or muddy.
Quartz Fusion - I love this color, but be aware of the big, rough white glitter - this is the one I had noticeable fallout with out of all of them.

Skippable:
Smoked Ruby - you don't need this if you have one of the brown Mega Metals
Blue Sheen - really gorgeous and might be some people's HG shimmering blue, but you might already have something good enough
Faux Gold - very pretty peachy muted copper and easy to apply, but you might have something like this already - similar in color and effect to Trophy BBshadow.

My 100% top 3 favorites are Clarity, Golden Glaze and Unsurpassable.

Good luck with these - best to go into a store and play!!!


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