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MAC Liptensity Collection Lip Swatches and First Impressions

September 8th, 2016 by Karen 21 Comments

mac liptensity
The new MAC Liptensity Collection

I wonder what it’s like to see things like Maureen Seaberg does, who used her genetic tetrachromatic ability to see 100 million color variations in her collaboration with MAC on the new MAC Liptensity Lipstick collection (coming Sept. 20 to the MAC website).

I bet it would be a lot cooler than what I usually see…which is barely anything half the time, LOL! Could somebody pass my glasses, please?

mac postmodern
MAC Liptensity Lipstick in Postmodern

I just powered through these swatches, so a few of them are a little dicey. My apologies, but homegirl was flyin’! Some of the darker shades definitely could have used more babying, particularly Stallion, the black shade, and dark Blue Beat.

Hey, ma, I did my best in the two minutes I alloted myself to do each of them, but they’re the kind of colors that could easily take 15 minutes to apply flawlessly.

mac lobster
MAC Liptensity in Lobster
mac habanero
MAC Liptensity in Habanero

mac fireworks
MAC Liptensity in Fireworks

When regular trichromatic folks like me and you process colors, we see them in three channels (red, green, blue), but tetrachromats like Maureen process color information in four channels, so they’re able to distinguish a zillion times as many colors and perceive nuances that we three-channel kids can’t.

mac mulling spices
MAC Liptensity in Mulling Spices
mac lifes blood
MAC Liptensity in Life’s Blood
mac eros
MAC Liptensity in Eros
mac claretcast
MAC Liptensity in Claretcast
mac marsala
MAC Liptensity in Marsala

The new Liptensity line encompasses 24 shades with a new formula, and they’ll be available online starting September 20 and in stores September 21 through November 17.

mac ambrosial
MAC Liptensity in Ambrosial
mac hellebore
MAC Liptensity in Hellebore
mac galaxy grey
MAC Liptensity in Galaxy Grey
mac blue beat
MAC Liptensity in Blue Beat
mac stallion
MAC Liptensity in Stallion

There are subtle shifts among the similar colors, and if you just do a quick drive by, some of them look very similar, but if you look closely, you can see that they’re actually different shades.

Most of them are super intense, and one layer is enough for full opacity.

As for the formula, which is on the thicker side, it still feels almost weightless on my lips.

I like. 🙂

It also has some “stick” to it, so when I rub my lips back and forth, the colors don’t transfer outside my natural lip line.

I also like. 🙂

mac double fudge
MAC Liptensity in Double Fudge
mac burnt violet
MAC Liptensity in Burnt Violet
mac dionysus
MAC Liptensity in Dionysus
mac cordovan
MAC Liptensity in Cordovan
mac toast and butter
MAC Liptensity in Toast and Butter

Of course, in case you were wondering, these also have MAC’s signature vanilla flavor and scent.

mac smoked almond
MAC Liptensity in Smoked Almond
mac doe
MAC Liptensity in Doe
mac driftwood
MAC Liptensity in Driftwood
mac medium rare
MAC Liptensity in Medium Rare
mac gumball
MAC Liptensity in Gumball

I haven’t spent a ton of time with them yet, but I like these so far. I’ve been getting about four hours of wear time from them, too.

What do you think? Does anything catch your trichromatic eye?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

MAC Liptensity Collection Lip Swatches and First Impressions / Originally published September 8th, 2016

There are 21 comments on this post. Leave yours.

Categories: Collections, Lips, MAC Makeup, Makeup

The products in this entry were provided by the manufacturer for consideration. For information about my posting policy, please see my Disclaimer.

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Comments

  1. Chris25 says

    September 8th, 2016 at 3:47 pm

    Marsala and Ambrosial appeal to me.

    Reply
    • Karen says

      September 8th, 2016 at 3:54 pm

      Great!

      Reply
  2. sarahc says

    September 8th, 2016 at 5:05 pm

    Hi Karen! Are these drying for you? Thank you.

    Reply
    • Karen says

      September 8th, 2016 at 8:02 pm

      Hi Sarah,

      Nope, I didn’t find these drying!

      Reply
  3. Rachel R. says

    September 8th, 2016 at 5:56 pm

    I’m really liking Galaxy Grey and Hellebore. It’s a pity these are LE, as the colors all look really nice.

    Reply
    • Karen says

      September 9th, 2016 at 3:24 pm

      Hi Rachel,

      Galaxy Grey isn’t a shade that I’d normally be drawn to, but in this case I really like it. Hellebore was a little hard to work with. If you end up grabbing it, just know that you’ll need a lip liner. I’d line and then fill in lips first with it, then pop Hellebore on top. You could use it alone but it’s not the quickest lip in the world to do. I seriously could’ve spent 30 minutes with it.

      Happy Friday to you! Are you guys doing anything fun this weekend?

      Reply
  4. Jaclyn levy says

    September 8th, 2016 at 6:17 pm

    You are a GEM for trying on every. single. one. of these for us! Thank you for your commitment. It’s so nice to see how they read on real lips! 😀 :-*

    Reply
    • Karen says

      September 9th, 2016 at 3:26 pm

      You’re welcome! It was interesting to discover all the fine nuances between the colors. 🙂 Makes me wonder how it must be to see all those shades that tetrachromes can see.

      Happy Friday to you and have a wonderful weekend!

      Reply
  5. Debra says

    September 8th, 2016 at 8:26 pm

    Could you please post a pic of the ingredients. Thank you

    Reply
    • Karen says

      September 9th, 2016 at 3:27 pm

      Hi Debra,

      I looked through my box and unfortunately there’s no ingredient list. But if I come across one in the future I’ll take a pic for you.

      Reply
      • Debra says

        September 9th, 2016 at 8:32 pm

        Thank you.

        Reply
  6. Becky says

    September 8th, 2016 at 11:21 pm

    What a shame these are limited edition-I really like them! The nudes are beautiful. Are they a satin finish? I’ll definitely be picking up a few of these!!

    Reply
    • Karen says

      September 9th, 2016 at 3:28 pm

      Hi Becky,

      Yes, the finish is close to a satin. I’d say they have just a touch more shine.

      Which colors are you interested in? Out of the nudes, I’m really liking Driftwood!

      Reply
  7. Kim says

    September 9th, 2016 at 5:33 am

    Wow – those are a lot of colors to put on and take off. It must have taken you forever (I’m tired and my lips are sore, just thinking about it). Thank you! 🙂

    Also, I now feel compelled to look up tetrachromatic. Your blog is so educational!

    Reply
    • TravelingBlush says

      September 9th, 2016 at 12:01 pm

      2nd that, on being educational!

      Reply
      • Karen says

        September 9th, 2016 at 3:30 pm

        LOL! I’m just getting you ready for Final Jeopardy!

        Reply
    • Karen says

      September 9th, 2016 at 3:30 pm

      LOL, I have link up top somewhere to Wikipedia with some info. Check it out, it’s really cool! I wish there were glasses that us regular three channel trichromatic folks could wear so we could see all the colors the tetra chromes see. Wouldn’t that be cool? Although I’d probably we waaaaay overstimulated.

      Reply
      • jonirae says

        September 11th, 2016 at 7:01 am

        that would be really cool! that should definitely be a thing. I feel like it should be possible; we already do things like make deaf people hear again, and I’ve seen glasses for that weird kind of colorblindness (that is way more lack of color than it is just two colors blurring together… I forget what it’s called now!) that let them be able to see true colors vividly… so this should definitely be a thing. probably not a really pressing scientific advancement, comparatively speaking, but hey, we’ve got microchip collars that translate our kittys’ purrs into human words, so why not this?? 😀

        Reply
  8. Jessica says

    September 9th, 2016 at 5:55 am

    Gotta say I really like Galaxy Gray!

    (hey that was a rhyme! :p)

    Reply
    • Karen says

      September 9th, 2016 at 3:31 pm

      I like that color, too!

      Reply
  9. jonirae says

    September 11th, 2016 at 6:56 am

    Burnt Violet, Driftwood, and that gray one all suit you really well! Surprised by how chill the gray one especially is, it doesn’t look like a risky color at all, at least on you! 🙂 I do think several colors look ver similar, but I can definitely catch some of the variations, especially because as I scrolled thru I would be like “oh, that’s pretty on Karen…” and then I’d be like “oh wait — this next one is actually somehow way better!” so that was an eye opening little class for me on just how much things like undertone can really make a difference! 🙂

    Reply

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