Review - MAC Baking Beauties Lipstick in Lavender Whip.

You can't begin to imagine the total "grabby hands" reaction I had when this collection was first announced. Lavender has been my favorite color as of late, so I NEEDED this lippie.

I went to my usual counter; as they don't get quite as much traffic as the other local counters, assuming that I would have no problem. Turns out, they were already sold out of Lavender Whip - on the first day! That didn't even happen with Heroine, from the Fashion Sets collection! I was shocked; so I picked up Pink Buttercream just in case it would be sold out at my next destination and jetted off to another counter.

Finally in my desperation, Lavender Whip is in my possession - and I'm kinda kicking myself for not buying multiples.

There are rumors floating around on the interwebs that this year's version of Lavender Whip is pinker and less lavender than the original from the Quite Cute collection. While I do not have the original, mine swatches a bit more pink than most of the swatches I've seen for the original Lavender Whip, so I'm going to venture to infer that this year's is less purple, more pink.

MAC describes the shade as a "light cool lavender" with a Cremesheen finish. Its a slightly less pastel take on lavender than what I expected, and on the lips it had a bit of brightness to it; against my NW15 skin, it was actually quite flattering. The pink tones in it definitely made it more wearable, but it had enough lavender to where it didn't just look like a pale, blue based pink. It had this depth to it that I didn't expect.

I normally don't fare well with Cremesheens; I usually find them quite drying and that they have an incredibly short wear time. Lavender Whip fared better than the average Cremesheen for me (light shades like Creme Cup and Shy Girl being among the worst offenders) but not as great as the best, and maybe fluke Cremesheen that I own (Outrageously Fun - if it hadn't said Cremesheen, I wouldn't have guess that it had that finish!). 

Lavender Whip was semi-opaque and could be built to complete opacity. What was achieved was a quite flattering creamy finish, without being overly glossy and didn't look thick on the lips. It applied so evenly that I was quite impressed, and didn't gather at my lip lines or look like it was awkwardly sitting on top of my lips. Just a very beautiful application. It did have a shorter wear time, but I was able to milk it for 2 hours before I really needed to reapply, as it had lost its vibrancy and finish. I found that it was a bit drying toward my 6th to 7th hour of wear (after a couple reapplications); not the worst drying I've dealt with, but I could have used some major lip balm. 

One thing that I did not expect was for this shade to stain. For how light it is, I found it very strange that I had a very subtle, cool pink stain on my lips. Very peculiar, but maybe this is partially why the finish was so even and beautiful? 

Lavender is definitely a shade family that I gravitate towards, so I had a couple similars in my collection, but no dupes - surprisingly!

From left to right is; MAC Fresh Amour - Far more purple and opaque with a semi matte finish, MAC Viva Glam Nicki 2 - paler and more pastel, MAC Lavender Whip, NYX Power - probably the most similar, but pinker and more opaque, and MAC Nocturnal Instinct - which was pinker and a semi matte.  NYX Power is quite similar, but it lacks the almost stain like quality that Lavender Whip had. If you're struggling to get your hands on Lavender Whip, Power will work.

Overall;

Pros:

- Beautiful even application.

- Did not move around on the lips or accentuate lip lines.

- Wearable take on lavender.

Cons:

- Drying.

- Short wear time.

Because of how flattering this shade was against my skin, I'm willing to deal with a bit of drying and reapplication. Its simply a stunning shade to wear, even if it had it's shortcomings in it's formula.

8.5/10