RubyHue Lipstick Review: MAC CB96

It's doubly weird that I like this goldy looking thing because I'm a silver girl at heart, but then MAC Golden Lemon pigment is an all-time favourite, so I sort of swing both ways.  Don't discount this lipstick if you're not sold on gold, or frost, or both.  

CB96. A rose by any other name.  But seriously, could MAC not afford a decent handle for this shade? How about... Pineapple Orchestration?  Refulgent Mutuality?  Liberated Lungtissue?  

I bought it recently because it's a frost, which is highly uncharacteristic.  Me no care.  I'm bringing frosty back.  It's so easy to miss out on nice things because you're nursing prejudice.  
CB96 is a beauty.

CB96's base colour is a warm peachy coral- basically identical to MAC See Sheer- delivered in a satin or lustre-style formula that is surprisingly buildable despite its 60% initial opacity; you can get that up to 80% even without a brush.  All that understated pretty is amped up hard with a lot of incredibly superfine warm copper-gold sheen.  The metallic element is absolutely minute and intrinsic, so pervasive that it makes this shade a duotone in the manner of MAC Violetta, and I consider both these shades too whack to class as traditional granny frosts. 

No that you can't wear it conservatively.  On the mouth from certain angles, it reads like delicate, featherweight gilding, a lovely ethereal look when dabbed on sparingly.  It only gets out-there when you go a lot harder, like, full metallic, dude.  In an editorial sort of way, rather than something you'd see on a crazy octogenarian (although the two frequently converge, and no offence to frost-rocking nanas).  No one's really doing this look at the moment, are they?  Perversity pays off sometimes.

Check out the swatches below in a range of outdoor settings.  CB 96 isn't the easiest thing to photograph because of its reflective nature but I think these pics capture most of its visual qualities.

L 2 R MAC Lady Danger, CB96, Chili, Chantecaille Tiger Lily 
warm filtered outdoor sunlight (that's just paint on my thumb, lol- I'm in the middle of an exterior do-up)

The more thickly you apply it, the more coppery it appears.  In the same way that eyeshadows like All That Glitters or Amber Lights go nuts when you damp-apply or foil them. I'm not detecting any bleeding on the lip but that doesn't surprise me since frost tends to stabilise slippiness.  Below right is the by now standard comparison to a terracotta pot in neutral daylight; this particular pic is a really accurate representation.  Below left is a taste of the shade's potential over other, stronger bases, from the top down- MAC Toying Around, Russian Red and Lady Danger, all with CB96 stroked over the top.  It may not be super-apparent in the pic (the light was going) but the effect was really quite delicious- a flattering hint of dimensional metallickyness.  Like I was hoping OCC Super NSFW lip tar would be (shudder- I'll review it soon).  Because of its versatility it's difficult to think of a complexion that would not benefit from this lippy in some way or form.

So, CB96- an oldie but a goodie, coming back around again.

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