 | Dear god I love the look of a brand new bullet of lipstick. Is there anything more luxe? So perfect and tactile and gourmand, somehow; I actually want to bite it. (Lol, feeling a bit teethy and demented today. You'll just have to bear with). My new MAC Diva didn't stay pristine very long, though; that sucker was on my pucker before you could say mwah.  Left MAC Ablaze pencil, Right MAC Magenta pencil |
My MAC Ablaze and Magenta lip pencils arrived today too, the lipstick and latter from my trusty MAC pimp, Shezza, who imports the good shit from the US and distributes it amongst NZ'z cannier slap fiends. I'd been putting off buying this lot forever and after a little windfall decided to splash out. But enough about that.
 L to R: MAC Russian Red, Diva, Rebel. Indoors, winter daylight, no flash. |  The same, flashed. A pretty good shade representation. |
| Diva is superb. It's a full matte that doesn't tug going on and sits lightly and comfortably on the lips. Formula-wise, it's a dead ringer for MAC Prince Noir with its buttery, velvety textural perfection. No bleeding into wrinkles even after a cup of tea. Wears around 4-5 hours without a touch up, remaining workable and therefore avoiding the ring of death phenomenon that can occur with more immovable formulas. If you are nervous about hardcore mattes and dark shades, this is something to try before you move to the more high-maintenance offenders like Smoked Purple. Colour-wise it's a deep, cool-ish, very true merlot/berry that doesn't deviate into brown or blue. Just straight up wine, really, no matter how you build it up or smudge it out; in fact, I'll stick my neck out and say this is possibly MAC's most underrated matte. No sheen, no shimmer. I really can't think of a complexion that wouldn't benefit from this shade, but it's particularly nice with green and hazel eyes. |  LIP PENCILS Above from Left: Magenta lip pencil, Ablaze pencil. On white writing paper, winter daylight. |
The Magenta pencil is on the blue side of that shade and will knock some of the pink out of lipsticks like Full Fuchsia and Girl About Town if you're looking to matte them down and take them toward mauve. It's very tenacious on the lips and will stain so consider that if you need to be rid of it in a hurry. Ablaze is a curious shade sitting right in the junction between orange, apricot and light, warm red; I'd call it a tangerine coral but that's not very helpful, is it? I bought it precisely because of this chromatic singularity and will use it to give a less girly look to some of the hybrid corals I like to mix up. Ablaze would make a nice liner for a range of warm reds. Texturally, there's no surprises with either of these pencils; they're hardish and waxy but perfectly usable, give a great discreet line and never 'grease out' into wrinkles etc. They'll tame and contain MAC's amplified and creamsheen formula lipsticks. I recommend them both.
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