MAC truth and light magically cool liquid powder review

I got the original release of truth and light magically cool liquid powder from MAC's venomous villains collection back in October. I figured I'd wait and do a review when the product became part of MAC's permanent line, which it now is! There are other colors available as well, including:

• honey rose (Sheer rosy beige with multidimensional shimmer)
  
• cajun (Sheer bronze shimmer with reflects gold)
  

Truth and light is described as 'Sheer shimmer with reflects of silver and pink'. I personally don't see much reflects silver or pink, it seems it's so translucent that it goes on pretty clear with very slight gold shimmer. That is just the way it looks on me.

Swatches of truth and light (layered heavily to capture the color) :

The powder itself is interesting, it's extremely sheer and light. It feels wet when first applied, then dries onto your skin leaving a nice 'soft focus' effect that diffuses light.

I will start by telling you I have very dry skin. This powder feels great when I first apply it, but after it sets my skin feels a lot drier than before I used it.
I realized that the water content in this powder evaporates off your skin after the product sets, and it takes the moisture right out of your skin.
I don't like it because it made my skin feel uncomfortably dry after a couple uses. It did, however, keep my makeup looking fresh all day. This would be most useful for those with normal to oily skin.

To give you an example of how this powder looks, here is a comparison photo of me without foundation, and one beside it with only truth and light powder on:

I just realized the photos are labeled wrong. oops.

On the left my skin is slightly shiny from moisturizer, and on the right the powder itself covered a little bit of redness and added a very nice even toned finish to my skin. It did not cover my acne scars on my chin. It's quite sheer.

Now, here is a comparison of how the powder looks over foundation. On the left I'm wearing L'oreal true match foundation only. On the right, I added truth and light over top. Both photos were taken in the exact same lighting. AGAIN the photos are labeled wrong. sorry!

You can see how this powder really sets the foundation, and adds a very matte finish. It's matte but very soft looking, and really does blur any imperfections or lines. If you notice, you can see it took the 'shine' from my skin, the flash did not reflect off my face in the 2nd pic at all. Well, that shine was more or less moisturizer, and the powder evaporated the moisture right out of it.

Overall, this is a great setting powder if you like the matte look. Also, if you have any fine lines this powder is great to diffuse them. I would stay away from this if you have dry skin, because your skin might start to look a little dehydrated with continued use.
I also forgot to add this does not make a good highlighter for pale skin, it barely shows up unless you really layer it on. It could be used as a highlight on medium dark skin tones, then it would show up more.

Repurchase? No, this is not right for me.

Price: $35.50 CAD

Rating: 4/5

NOTD: MAC Formidable! nail polish

Formidable! is another of MAC's duo chrome nail polishes from the Venomous Villains collection. I wasn't overly excited about this one, but it grew on me.
In the bottle there is a strong blue and purple duo chrome going on. On my nails it looked mainly chocolate brown with silver shimmer. In some lights it looked exactly like MAC blue brown pigment.
The cool thing is that it turned a really pretty purple shimmer in direct light.

in direct light, fuchsia purple shimmers:

Formidable can be duped with Orly Galaxy girl. Out of all 3 Venomous Villains polishes this one applied the nicest. Color is shown with 2 coats.

You can see my NOTD's wearing MAC mean and green and bad fairy here.

MAC oh so fair beauty powder photos and swatches

Ah, finally I have completed my collection of all 3 limited edition beauty powders from MAC's Venomous Villains. Oh so fair is nice, but I have to say my favorite of the 3 is briar rose! I use it all the time.
See my swatches of briar rose beauty powder here, and her own devices beauty powder here.

Oh so fair is a really pretty light pink. It gives a very soft flushed cheek look, but it is quite pigmented and you can layer it if you want more pop of color.
It has the same lovely 'glow' effect as MAC's other beauty powders, with very subtle pearly particles that enhance the look of your skin.

To be honest, I don't see anything overly special about this color. Of course it's pretty, but I also think it's quite easily dupable. I will do have to do some swatch comparisons when I get the chance.

Wearing oh so fair beauty powder:

If you missed out on oh so fair, check out MAC's hark the heraldry face kit from the tartan tale collection. It includes the exact same oh so fair beauty powder, along with two other blushes in plum foolery and dame. It's still available here on MAC cosmetics website!

I cannot wait for MAC to release more beauty powders, I'm loving them a lot lately.
What is your favorite beauty powder from MAC?

MAC bite of an apple blush photos and swatches

Why oh why is the Evil Queen so popular? I guess she is the fairest of them all!
Bite of an apple blush was released October 2010 with MAC's venomous villains.
Maybe you're sick of all the villain talk, but I am still in love with most of the collection!
Bite of an apple is perhaps the most raved about and popular item from the entire line. I just don't understand why.
It's a bright coral leaning red, and is absolutely matte in finish. I don't really like matte blush, especially in bright colors.
I guess MAC hasn't put out a color like this in a while. I can't think of any dupes at all, perhaps that's why it's so sought after.

Wearing bite of an apple, applied VERY lightly, because it looked way too bright on me

I personally don't find this to be the most flattering color for fair skin as it can make you look like a clown. I do think that it would look gorgeous on those who are NC25 (medium skin tone) and darker.

I think this blush is really over hyped, but it is quite a unique color. Do you think that it's worth all the hype?

NOTD MAC mean and green nail polish

MAC mean & green was released with the venomous villains collection for fall 2010. Another one of the duo chrome polishes, it changes colors depending on the light.

Lovely color, truly gorgeous. But I am slightly disappointed in the performance of this nail polish.
I used three coats, and even then it still was quite sheer and slightly streaky. It definitely could have used a fourth coat. It would work even better over a black base polish.
It also chipped the day after I applied, which really made me wonder if the Orly space cadet dupe is better wearing than this. Space cadet is literally the same color.


Mean and green shifts from dark green to purple, then from gold to pink when put up to the light. I really love this color.

MAC her own devices beauty powder photos, swatches and FOTD

This is definitely not the most popular beauty powder around, but it is really pretty!
Her own devices was released with MAC venomous villains, and part of the Cruela Deville collection.

This is a very pigmented 'nude' blush, it's absolutely perfect for pale ladies who want a hint of color that is both understated and natural looking.


Her own devices swatches peachy tan, but when I apply it to my cheeks I see more pink. Overall, it's quite neutral and gives a really nice natural glowy look. I don't think this would show up well on darker skin tones, unless you really layer it on or use it as a subtle highlight.

My FOTD wearing her own devices:

MAC has outdone themselves with the beauty powders from the venomous villains collection. They are not shimmery and not matte, instead they have small pearl particles that really make your skin glow. They are also wonderfully pigmented.
See my post here on the beautiful MAC briar rose beauty powder.

MAC my dark magic mineralize eyeshadow duo photos, swatches and EOTD

Finally, I've got the other eyeshadow from the Maleficent line in

MAC's Venomous Villains collection!

It's very pretty, but I have recently realized just how much MAC's mineralize products can differ from each other.
If you take a look at my post on she who dares eyeshadow duo here, you'll see the full on shimmers on both sides of the shadow, without much black veining at all. The my dark magic shadow I received doesn't have as much glitter in it as I'd been expecting, instead it's got a lot of pink and black veining.

Swatched dry: pink side, and purple side

Swatched wet: pink side, purple side

The pink side has a more blackened grey base like young punk or beauty marked, and the purple side is very dark black.

Purple side wet, the shimmer is absolutely stunning, the violet glitter just pops

And here, I've swatched the pink side of my dark magic beside MAC young punk eyeshadow to compare.

Both are swatched wet:

They are very very similar. In my case, the pink side of my dark magic doesn't have as much dense pink glitter as young punk.
When I try to use the pink side of my dark magic alone, it seems that the purple glitter still comes through, since there is much more purple glitter in mine.
I can't say they are exact dupes because in this situation they aren't. If you have my dark magic and it has loads of glitter on the pink side, then I could safely say you don't need young punk.

And here is my EOTD using both sides of My dark magic dry. The violet shimmer pops a lot more than the pink, and surprisingly has excellent color pay off when used dry.
(breakdown below)

EOTD Breakdown:

- GOSH waterproof eyeshadow base stick
- my dark magic (pink side) all over lid
- my dark magic (purple side) in the crease blended upwards
- NARS all about eve duo to blend and highlight
- Cover girl lash blast fusion mascara
- Cover girl liquiline blast liner black fire to tightline
- urban decay 24/7 liner 1999 along lower lash line

Slytherin' EOTD using MAC she who dares eyeshadow

I was so absolutely excited to go see Harry Potter and the deathly hollows, I couldn't help do my makeup all slytherin' style.

EOTD break down at the bottom :)

What I used for this look:

- MAC paint in bare canvas (base)
- Annabelle smudgeliner oh my goth! to line top lid (black base)
- MAC she who dares eye shadow (green side) all over lid
- MAC club eyeshadow in the crease, blended upwards
- NARS all about eve duo to blend everything
- MAC she who dares all over lid again wet, to add more intensity
- black Hashmi kajal on upper and lower waterline
- Estee Lauder projectionist mascara
- Avon Precision Glimmer Eye Liner (green color) along top and bottom lash lines
- MAC vanilla pigment to highlight brow bone


What did you think of the movie? It wasn't as good as I had hoped. They should have cut all the wandering boring parts. I still can't believe the fight at the beginning was only 2 minutes long and they didn't show anything except Harry and Hagrid.
Poor little Hedwig.

MAC darkly my dear blush photos and swatches

I think that the Cruella deville line in MAC's venomous villains collection was the least popular. I wasn't really drawn to it much, but darkly my dear caught my eye from the start.
I swatched it a few times, figuring it's way too dark for my NC10 skin. Well, at MAC the other day I got my friend who works there to try it on me. I loved it!
It's not like any other blush I own. It's really a unique color. Deep yet not too dark. Brown but not warm, not really cool either. Neutral deep nude. There is a slight reddish plum undertone to it that I really like.

Of course, this blush is best to contour with. I don't think it's really meant to be put onto the apples of the cheek. It looks great right under the cheekbone.

I layered it very heavily in these photos, but IRL I use it very sparingly to avoid an 'overdone' look.

I'm loving this for fall!

MAC sinister lipstick photos and swatches

Sinister is limited edition shade from the venomous villians collection. It is part of the evil queen line, and it has a picture of her holding the box that she plots for Snow White's heart to be captured in. MAC describes sinister as 'Soft brown plum' which I think, is fairly accurate. It is a lustre finish, and it is very sheer. There are some sparkles in it, but they aren't overly noticeable.




This barely showed up on me! The pictures you see are very heavily layered both the swatches and on my lips. I really didn't like this one, I was hoping for more of a deep brown color but it just failed. It only added a tiny bit of color like a sheer lip gloss no matter how much I put on.
The packaging is so cool I love it, but that's it.
The only way you'll get any color from this is if you have no pigment in your lips. Otherwise, skip it!