Hello fellow beautyholics!

I’m so glad you’re still here! Thanks for sticking with me despite the lack of beauty updates (non-sponsored posts, that is) on this blog since the onset of this year. Many make-up launches have come and gone over the course of my inactivity, and yet I had only managed to find time recently to do a proper photo shoot for my beauty haul dated as far back as November last year.. because my final semester of college has been a bitch. Before my next major shipment of beauty purchases gets to my doorstep, allow me to bombard you with reviews that have been long overdue!

MAC (and many other brands I follow) had launched a series of collections in the few weeks leading up to Christmas last year and Dark Desires was among the first to pop up on the virtual shelves during that period. It was released online in late November and in U.S. stores in early December, but never internationally.

Probably inspired by erotic films with the likes of Fifty Shades of Grey, the products were given risqué names to complement the dark and edgy shades chosen for this collection. I don’t know about you but considering that the aforementioned movie was screened in cinemas more than six months ago, I found the launch of Dark Desires peculiarly timed because it didn’t quite fit into the holiday theme.

Out of the four lipsticks (Ring My Bell, Heavy Petting, Boyfriend Stealer & Black Night) that were released alongside eye shadows, eye pencils, eye glosses and nail lacquers, I had my eyes on only three because I was too broke to get the pale cool neutral which is unlikely to show on my lips anyway. With the exception of Boyfriend Stealer and the eye pencils, everything in this line-up is new in the market. There is actually quite a substantial number of products in this collection so I was a little perplexed why the sale wasn’t expanded beyond the U.S. Could it be due to the suggestive product names that, perhaps, were deemed inappropriate for the largely conservative Asian market?

All the three lipsticks have a Cremesheen finish but I thought Matte or Satin would make a more suitable choice for this theme because of the bolder and more defined appearance it lends the lips. The provocativeness of the colours seemed to be toned down by the translucence of the finish.

#1 Boyfriend Stealer

Typical of Cremesheen lipsticks, Boyfriend Stealer has a sticky and balm-like texture that sits comfortably on the lips. It has a semi-opaque (leaning more towards sheer) pigmentation as the natural colour of my lips could be seen even after applying several layers of it, therefore it feels more like a lip gloss. However, I didn’t like how it tends to amplify the imperfections of the lips – most of the product seemed to gather at the scab on my lower lip (which has been chapped for the past couple of weeks due to dehydration) so instead of concealing it, it had actually made it more obvious. The consistency of the colour isn’t uniform throughout as well – some parts of my lips had a heavier payoff than the rest. Unsightly!

The texture and opacity of Boyfriend Stealer are quite similar to those of Power My Spirit, which had also received a low rating on my scorecard for its poor colour consistency. But on the bright side, I don’t have any shade that’s identical to Boyfriend Stealer.

#2 Heavy Petting

The colour on the bullet of Heavy Petting differs greatly from the colour that appears on the lips – how frustrating! I had bought it with the thinking that it would be a dark brown but it turned out to be a lot lighter than that. It has the same tacky texture as Boyfriend Stealer but not so intense. The formula hugs the lips and provides a hydrating veil that bounces light off the surface. Although sheer, the colour shows with just a single swipe. When the colour overlaps with multiple applications, it leaves a darker tint on the lips which fortunately isn’t very noticeable from a distance.

Heavy Petting is a sheerer dupe of Good to be Bad (a reddened burgundy with Sheen Supreme finish, launched in 2011).

#3 Black Night

Black Night is the second black lipstick by MAC, with the first being Hautecore. It has very prominent and well-distributed gold microshimmer (the red isn’t very noticable) which gives the lips the added sparkle without looking too glitzy. As compared to its matte counterpart, Black Night is definitely more hydrating and emollient but sheerer in pigmentation and has colour inconsistencies. And perhaps due to its low pigmentation, the lipstick does not turn out to be entirely black on the lips but instead, an intense deep plum. Although sheer, the colour is buildable but the additional layers would slip away after a while and leave the lips looking patchy once again like in the pictures above. It is, nevertheless, still the easiest to work with among all the lipstick I bought from this collection and certainly the most gorgeous-looking one.

You can see the the opacity of Black Night fading from the left above.

Despite really liking most of the cremesheen lipsticks I own, the performance of the lipsticks in this collection surprisingly upsets me because they generally apply unevenly and appear extremely untidy and variegated on the lips. The colours are pretty but I wish more attention could be paid on the pigments when these lipsticks were formulated.

What are your thoughts? Share them with me in the comments below!

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more lipstick reviews comin’ up! 🙂

Dark Desires is NOW AVAILABLE ON MACCOSMETICS.COM.