RiRi hearts MAC Fall Collection – swatches and review (image heavy!)
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Shine bright like a diamond this fall with Rihanna’s latest collection for MAC
Brace yourselves MAC Lovers, the latest RiRi hearts MAC Fall Collection is huge! With two eyeshadow quads, four lipsticks, one Lipglass, two Pro Longwear lip pencils, one powder blush duo, one powder blush, one cream color base, two false lashes, and two makeup brushes (all LE), as well as one mascara, one liquid liner, and two Veluxe brow liners (permanent but in LE packaging for the collection) there is something for everyone.
Of course, most of it sold out nearly instantly online – so scour your nearby stores to find what you want.
Unlike the RiRi summer collection, which featured the traditional black and silver MAC packaging combined with product embossed with Rihanna’s signature, the RiRi Hearts MAC fall collection features beautiful metallic rose gold and flat pastel pink coloring, along with Rihanna’s signature printed on the packaging.
It’s pretty and edgy and girly all at the same time and I’m a little in love with it. As for the colors themselves, there’s bold accents paired with slightly glammed up neutrals. The shades range from nudes and neutrals to bold colors. It’s fantastic.
So let’s get to it, and start checking out the colors!
Hibiscus Kiss Blush Duo – medium matte bronze and cool coral
The Hibiscus Kiss Blush Duo ($29) combines a medium toned bronzer with a salmon pink blush. Mixed together they form a medium coral for the cheeks.
Hibiscus Kiss Blush Duo – bronzer, blush, combined
Diamonds Creme Colour Base – nude champagne shimmery frost
Bad Girl Gone Good Blush – medium peachy copper brown
The Cream Colour Base in Diamonds ($22) is a “golden shimmer cream” with fairly large bits of sparkle to it. I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s glittery, but it’s definitely a little bling-y.
Cream Colour Base in Diamonds; Powder Blush in Bad Girl Gone Good; Bad Girl Gone Good topped with Diamonds
Meanwhile the Powder Blush in Bad Girl Gone Good ($23) is described by MAC as being “warm copper.” It’s in between blush and bronzer, and comes off as being an fairly orange/beige on my skin. The formula itself isn’t bad, but the color may not be for everyone. I didn’t notice much of a sheen and found that it looked best on me when I dabbed cream colour base in Diamonds on top, or another shimmery highlighter.
Hibiscus Kiss Blush Duo – bronzer, blush, combined; Cream Colour Base in Diamonds; Powder Blush in Bad Girl Gone Good; Bad Girl Gone Good topped with Diamonds
Her Cocoa eyeshadow quad ($44) contains a satin cream color, a bright shimmery bronze gold, a satin antique gold, and a shimmery chocolate bronze. The pigmentation is decent for the two browns, but the two lighter shades need a flat dense brush to really press on the color to see it.
Her Cocoa quad
shimmery antique gold (lustre)
mostly light peachy cream (satin)
shimmery medium bronzey brown (veluxe pearl)
shimmery cocoa brown (lustre)
Her Cocoa palette, Deep dark brunette velour brow pencil, Point black liquid liner
Liquidlast Liner in Pointblack ($21.50) is a pitch black liquid liner with a bit of a sheen to the finish – great for a dramatic eye like Rihanna likes to wear. It is stubborn as heck once it sets, and takes a LOT of elbow grease to remove (even with makeup removing wipes).
As with most liquid liners with a small brush, it’s tricky to apply, and it also takes a bit of time to dry (if you’re a klutz like me, that means you end up with liquid liner EVERYWHERE.)
Veluxe Brow Liner in Deep Dark Brunette ($21.50) is a “dark dirty chocolate” brow pencil with a spoolie on one end. The color is a smidge dark and the pencil is quite pigmented, so use a very light hand and feather-like strokes for the best results.
The Extended Play Gigablack Lash ($17.50) is a curling and lifting mascara with a mega black tint. While not water-proof, the formula offers a long-wearing, smudge-less performance.
Veluxe Brow Liner in Deep Dark Brunette; Her Cocoa palette, shimmery antique gold, mostly light peachy cream, shimmery medium bronzey brown, shimmery cocoa brown; Liquidlast Liner in Pointblack – indoors
Veluxe Brow Liner in Deep Dark Brunette; Her Cocoa palette, shimmery antique gold, mostly light peachy cream, shimmery medium bronzey brown, shimmery cocoa brown; Liquidlast Liner in Pointblack – outdoors
Last, but not least, the lip products…
There are four shades of RiRi hearts MAC lipstick ($16.50) and we tried out two hues:
RiRi Woo – bright, cool red
Nude – dark plum tinged nude
Nude is matte “cool nude cream” that I would say leans very mauve. The color didn’t quite work for me. What do you all think? (Um, I think it looks great on you ~Stef)
RiRi Woo is a cool primary red, in the “retro matte” formula. It’s a spin off of MAC’s Ruby Woo and is nearly identical, so if you weren’t able to get your hands on this sold out lipstick, pick up Ruby Woo instead.
There is also a matching RiRi Woo Lipglass ($16.50) for those that want a punch of red, but are not matte lipstick fans. You can wear this gloss alone, or add it over the RiRi Woo Lipstick for a truly dramatic look.
This color gets comments. I mean, it is a BRIGHT RED MATTE LIPSTICK after all! One of my friends said she loved the color, and a guy at work said it really stood out in a good way (especially remarkable because I work in an office for a construction company). I don’t wear lipstick often and definitely not BRIGHT lipstick, but I am kinda in love with this. The formula is dry and tugged at my lips a LOT, and it is very matte (lip balm and lip liner are essential). The staying power did seem to be decent, and it did stain my lips a good deal.
Talk That Talk Pro Longwear Pencil – dark, vampy wine
To complete the look, there are two Pro Longwear Lip Pencils ($21.50) in RiRi Woo (of course) and the dark plum Talk That Talk.
Nude Lipstick; RiRi Woo Lipstick; RiRi Woo Lipglass; Talk that Talk Pro Longwear Pencil – indoors
Nude Lipstick; RiRi Woo Lipstick; RiRi Woo Lipglass; Talk that Talk Pro Longwear Pencil – outdoors
Overall, RiRi hearts MAC is a fun collection with glam neutrals and bright bold accents that go together well. As mentioned, the entire collection is sold out online (except for one brush), so keep your eyes peeled when you’re at your nearest MAC counter!
we heartsters – What musical artist would you like to see MAC collaborate with next?
photos: Stef and Marilyn for we heart this, swatches shown on NC25/30 skin tone
Marilyn is a makeup maniac and slow but stubborn runner. She loves color coding her day planner, reading celebrity gossip and drinking good wine. Marilyn blogs about makeup and fitness over at her blog, Lipgloss and Spandex.
skin tone: NC25
skin type: oily, acne-prone
favorite beauty product: eyeshadow
Lipstick
Nude – Matte nude cream
Who’s That Chick – Frosty mid-toned orange
RiRi Woo – Matte cool red (Repromote)
Talk That Talk – Matte dark plum
$16.50 U.S. / $20.00 CDN
Lipglass
RiRi Woo – Cool red cream (Cream)
$16.50 U.S. / $20.00 CDN
Pro Longwear Lip Pencil
RiRi Woo- Cool red cream
Talk That Talk- Dark plum cream
$21.50 U.S. / $25.50 CDN
Extended Play Lash
Gigablack- Matte black
$17.50 U.S. / $21.00 CDN
Liquidlast Liner
Pointblack- Matte black
$21.50 U.S. / $25.50 CDN
Eye Shadow X4
$44.00 U.S. / $52.50 CDN
Her Cocoa
Bright bronze gold (Lustre)
Soft peach (Satin)
Warm antique gold (Veluxe Pearl)
Chocolate bronze (Lustre)
Smoked Cocoa
Muted mid-tone grey (Matte2)
Dirty cool champagne (Veluxe Pearl)
Black with silver pearl (Lustre)
Dirty black charcoal (Satin)
Powder Blush Duo
Hibiscus Kiss – Coral blush and matte neutral bronze duo
$29.00 U.S. / $34.00 CDN
Cream Color Base
Diamonds – Golden shimmer cream (Frost)
$22.00 U.S. / $26.50 CDN
Powder Blush
Bad Girl Gone Good – Warm copper (Satin)
$23.00 U.S. / $25.00 CDN
Eyelashes
36 Lash
35 Lash
$17.50 U.S. / $21.00 CDN
Veluxe Brow Liner
Deep Brunette – Muted blackish-brown
Deep Dark Brunette – Dark dirty chocolate
$21.50 U.S. / $25.50 CDN
Brushes
282SE Duo Fibre Shader
$32.00 U.S. / $38.50 CDN
187SE Duo Fibre Face
$42.00 U.S. / $50.50 CDN
ah! This collection is so so pretty. I saw some of it in person, but a lot of it was sold out. I had my eye on the Cocoa palette but of course it was gone! That + the rest of the collection looks really beautiful on you @lipglossandspandex. as for other collabs…the sky’s the limit with MAC as we’ve seen so it’s hard to pick who I’d like to see next..
Aww thanks :) FYI, just because it’s sold out on MAC’s website and in MAC stores doesn’t mean you can’t find it! It’s possible that your local department store MAC counters will have it, especially the ones that are less busy. Call ahead to check :) Also, sometimes you can still find the limited edition collections online on the department store websites! For example, Her Cocoa palette is on Macy’s AND Nordstrom’s online! Hope that helps.
Such a rich, warm collection to usher in the cooler months. @lipglossandspandex, you have the PERFECT features for making every collection look amazing. The Cocoa palette is a heartbreaker if you can’t get your hands on it. Amazing review!
Aww thanks Gigi! :) The Cocoa palette is still out there… just hiding :P
Great rundown @lipglossandspandex ! I want to second @gigi . . . the cocoa palette is a heartbreaker! I can’t wait to see who MAC collaborates with next!
The Extended Play Gigablack Lash is a fine mascara! I was happy to try this out first hand and really like the way it stayed put all day. NOTE: I had this on while at the beach today and was hot and sweating from how hot it was here in SoCal.. yes, 80+ degrees.. It did NOT budge.. I even had face/eye lotion on and that usually means some raccoon eyes are coming. So happy to have received it! The curling and lifting wand on this mascara really is right on and I love its mega black tint. I’ll be hooked as long as they offer it at MAC.
I almost purchased “Her Cocoa eyeshadow quad” last week.. I so loved it.. I had it applied and fell hard but already purchased some other things and was tapped out of money! LOL! The satin cream color and bronze gold, and chocolate bronze is AWESOME!
That mascara sounds amazing! Glad it worked so well for you. :)
Super pretty collection and an even prettier lady – love it all @lyssachelle! The metallic rose gold packaging is divine and I would have loved to get my hands on either the Hibiscus Kiss Blush Duo or Her Cocoa eyeshadow quad . Oh MAC, Why must you make your limited edition lines so…limited?!
Tyna, I wanted the Hibiscus Kiss blush too but it sold out so fast, and I can’t find it online either :(
Great round-up @lipglossandspandex! That Nude lipstick looks perfect on you! Very au courant. Rock it girl!
awwww thank you @heather and @rachelshay! :)
That Hibiscus duo looks amazing!
BTW – You are so pretty, @lipglossandspandex!
Beautiful collection. Thanks for all the details, @lipglossandspandex , since there’s no hope I’ll see most of it in person. I was lucky enough to receive Talk That Talk, the “dark plum cream” Pro Longwear Lip Pencil. The color is a classic goth near-black plum, and the consistency is creamy enough that I’ve been able to wear it as all-over color with a little careful effort. Like most plums, the color goes on a little unevenly, but the effect is super dramatic. I’m just happy I got to experience a little bit of the RiRi collection!
And I second @rachelshay — you are adorable!
I know I’ve said AWWWW a million times already, but AWWW YOU GUYS! Thank you guys for being so sweet :) It just makes my day!
I like this collection. It works. It’s practical but not boring. It’s elegantly glam. While not perfect, and while some items do need a little extra effort to make them really shine, I like this collection as a whole, and I definitely love the packaging! The eyeshadow palette is gorgeous–if you just want a nude palette, your $44 will be better spent on something else. But if you’ve seen these particular colors, you’ll be crushing hard and it’ll be very temping to fork over the cash to get your hands on it. I also LOVED the RiRi Woo lipstick. Let me tell you, I felt all kinds of subconscious wearing that to the office. I had to remind myself, “YOU wear the lipstick, don’t let the lipstick wear YOU! Just accept it. Don’t get all weird about it. It’s JUST some lipstick.” This shade of red is BRIGHT, but I really think it’d be pretty flattering on anyone, if you can muster up the courage to put it on in the first place! :) Also, although it’s not something I would wear regularly, the Diamonds Creme Color Base actually has decent length of wear! Just thought I’d throw that out there.
I love that red lipstick on you @lipglossandspandex (and I’ll bet, on me!) and…since I am a big Retro Matte enthusiast, I’ll just assume I’d love this. I did, however, try the blush and was, overall, pretty happy. When I first saw it with its 2/3 pan of bronzer and 1/3 bit of coral I was underwhelmed. I have enough bronzer to tan the True Blood crew already. At first, I tried to pick up just that bit of coral on my brush, ignoring the bronze. I liked the color but the work it took to get there was just silly. So I swirled. Ladies, swirl is the way to go. The color was still bright enough and pinky-orange enough to look like blush and the bronze brought it down to a peachy neutral. Bottom line: I like the coral but find the bronze a little “meh” and think the swirl is a little like perfection. This is also an easy blender and has a lot of pigment. This gets my stamp of approval for a limited collection, though if it were a permenant item I’d probably keep looking before I’d buy it again.
I normally hate nude lipstick but with the plum/mauve spin I am kind of digging this one a lot!! Gorgeous!! I would also love to give the plum liner a go. I love the vampy colors. Great review @lipglossandspandex!