Ho, ho, ho-wdy everyone!

If you have stumbled upon any of my tertiary school chronicles, you would know that I studied media and communications for a good seven years. But just because I am a communications graduate doesn’t automatically make me a movie buff.  In fact, I am probably one of the rare few who would fall asleep to action-packed movies in cinemas. It gets worse the more intellectual the film is (*cough*Inception*cough*) as my short attention span means that I won’t be unable to sustain my concentration for long periods. Admit it, ladies – surely, I’m not the only one with this problem, right?

So what better way to arouse the interest of women in a predominantly male-centric science fiction movie than to work on a makeup line with a crowd-favourite cosmetics brand? Well, Star Trek did, and they – together with M.A.C Cosmetics – launched a 25-piece collection in commemoration of their 50th anniversary as well as to raise awareness for the third instalment to the rebooted film franchise that was premiered in July. Even I, who am usually indifferent to movies, got a little hyped up by the news!

As I have never watched a single Star Trek episode in my life, my knowledge about the movie was pretty much limited to the Vulcan salute. But I must say that the beautifully-illustrated promotional poster above had successfully sparked my curiosity for the female characters featured in it, so much so that I actually bothered to read up on the plot. Well played, M.A.C, well played.

Drawing inspiration from the Trekkie girls (Deanna Troi, Uhura, Seven of Nine and Vina the Orion Girl), this collection is supposedly stylish with colours that match the futuristic costumes of the characters. Thus there are bound to be lots of gold and silver which M.A.C promised to be nothing over the top and absolutely complementary to any skin tone.

Fusing unmistakable elements of M.A.C (all-black matte tubing) and Star Trek (50th anniversary Delta Shield), the packaging speaks clearly of the partnership between the two big names. Frost finish (The Enemy Within / LLAP / Kling-It-On) dominated the lipstick lineup in this collection with only one neutral Lustre lipstick (Where No Man Has Gone Before) to fall back on for a bit of normalcy. Envisaging that I wouldn’t be utterly pleased by any of the finishes (‘coz I’m a Matte kinda girl but still want that limited-edition packaging XD ), I eventually settled on the uncommon shades that I felt would perform better.

#1 Kling-It-On

Honestly, it was disappointing to see that the range of lipstick shades didn’t quite correspond with the lip colours worn by the characters in the poster because I really wanted a bright purple lipstick as seen on Deanna Troi, but in Frost finish.

Kling-It-On, a deep purple with fine pink glitter topped with a Frost finish, was closest to what I was hoping for. The bullet applies smoothly on the lips and it feels almost like a Lustre. It seems mostly sheer upon application but somehow evens out to a semi-opaque layer after a few minutes with some product settling into the lip lines (boo..). It’s a sticky mess up-close (friggin’ hair magnet, argh) but the microshimmers take the attention away from it from a distance with their collective metallic sheen.

#2 The Enemy Within

The Enemy Within is described as a neutral gold shimmer with a Frost finish and it’s the only shade left for sale on M.A.C website (at clearance price now, not long after I paid full price for this pfffffft). I wonder why this shade isn’t getting the love it deserves. The colour payoff is drop-dead gorgeous although, true.. it has less-than-satisfactory consistency and a streaky appearance. But.. but.. this shade is buildable to a semi-opaque finish! Yes, it does undo the previous application with every swipe and yes, it requires the constant need of reapplication but hey, let’s be fair, we can’t expect a traditional lipstick to be as pigmented and long-lasting as a liquid lipstick, okay?!

GAAHH the gold is so sparkly pretty, it is clouding my judgement! But alright, for the benefit of anyone who might be interested to get this, it feels a little greasy on the lips and it also seeps into the lip lines. It would probably work better crushed, dried thoroughly and used as a pigment rather than an actual lipstick but heck it, the colour is so gorgeous I’m willing to overlook its imperfections and wear it out with pride.

All in all, I never thought I would say this (and I believe many would disagree with me) but I’m quite contented with the quality of the frosted lipsticks from this collection. My only gripe is that Frost finish tends to leave those sparkles even after the lipstick has been removed and it can be a pain to remove them entirely.

What say you, fellow lipstick junkies?

Thanks for reading and Merry belated Christmas everyone! 🙂

M.A.C X STAR TREK IS STILL AVAILABLE ONLINE IN LIMITED CHOICES WITH A REDUCED PRICING OF US$10.80 PER LIPSTICK.