RubyHue Lipstick Review: MAC Aim To Please Velvetease pencil

MAC Aim To Please Velvetease pencil.  I was keen to know if this line would approach the quality of the Nars Velvet Mattes that have long been my favourite pencils.  My only pissiness with the latter is the dreadful need to sharpen; I get around this inconvenience by dabbing the shaved curl back onto the remaining pencil because I am a ridiculous tightarse, but it still irks.

Let's go right for the practicality jugular.  MAC Velvetease pencils are wind-up and in theory this is obviously preferable to a conventional fixed crayon-style presentation.  

The sight of all that expensive product falling away into oblivion from a sharpener, like tears in rain, is always a stab straight to the thrifty, beauty-conscious ventricle.  But not all winding pencils are created equal, as you probably know by now.  This Velvetease pencil winds up and down pretty well without wobbles or skidding so no complaints in that direction. The stick of product is thick enough to withstand the pressures of said motion and the housing is pleasant enough, a silver-flecked plastic that feels neither cheap nor flimsy.  I'm not embarrassed to produce it in public.  The lid stays on in one's bag or pocket.  It doesn't melt like butter between thunder thighs or turn into octogenarian candle wax three days after purchase.

Aim To Please is a toasty, somewhat ocherous, organic pink, appearing warm in most situations but possessing enough dusty-neutral DNA to pull slightly cool on certain complexions and in blueish light (see the swatch in front of the ivy); it definitely shifts a bit and in this case that's a nice, natural effect that keeps Kardashianmouth syndrome at arm's length.  It's more universally suitable than something like MAC Mehr, Stone or Whirl, which can sink you to the tits in ashy regret.  I went so far as to assign ATP to the resale pile for this median quality since I already own (and love) Nars Dolce Vita (yellower, pinker), until realising how similar it was to my treasured Nars Walkyrie, which I am having trouble backing up.  ATP is slightly lighter and less dramatic than Walkyrie but the effect is samey enough.  It's a really natural, widely-compatible walking-around shade and I appreciate it now more than initially.  

Texturally, it goes on well, applying silicon-smoothly with none of the stiff drag of a bad matte.  It feels lighter and slightly more flexible than the Nars pencils- pretty insubstantial really, which is either a bonus or a negative depending on personal preference.  It's neither particularly drying nor at all emollient.  While it might slightly emphasis your lip lines, Aim To Please looks objectively better than a lot of similarly-toned mattes, containing just enough lowlight lustre to be actually flattering rather than just plain flat.  It doesn't look sprayed on from a fucking can, á la liquid mattes (shudder).

Even if the stubby, fat-arse tip shape on this windy pencil annoys me, there's nothing intrinsically bad about Aim to Please and I'll be keeping it.  If it is generally representative of the MAC Velvetease line, the Nars pencil formula still comes out ahead IMO due to its superior richesse; it is denser, more pigmented and just feels a wee bit more luxe. I'm just biased in favour of a heavier, more hardcore-saturated product.

L2R All MAC unless specified: Russian Red, Aim to Please, Nars Walkyrie, Retro, Mocha,
​Nars Dolce Vita (VM version) in a range of natural light

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