It doesn’t hit stores until late May, but the beauty blogosphere is buzzing about MAC’s newly-revealed Surf Baby collection of limited edition colors and permanent shades. Reaction to the MAC Wonder Woman collection was mixed, with many MAC fans feeling that the collection felt a bit downmarket for the brand. Although the color story for Surf Baby is a undeniably summer-y and has some standouts, the packaging seems to be drawing the same kind of variable feedback.
MAC Surf Baby 2011 relies heavily on saturated aquas, shimmery pearls and peachy coral shades. The theme is repeated throughout, but in lieu of MAC’s signature black packaging, a bright white marks the compacts, pencils and pans. The crowning jewel of Surf Baby seems to be a bright coral blush interspersed with a gold hibiscus. I’m a big fan of peach blush instead of bronzer for fairer skin tones and this is a great alternative that would work well for darker complexions as well:
Lipsticks are a notable outlier in the collection, with a broader range of hues. Colors are Bust Out!, Hibiscus, Mocha, and Naturally Eccentric:
Lipglass shades are more in keeping with the coral/pearl theme, and look wearable and light, offered in Girl on Board, Good Lovin’ , Krazy Kahuna, and Strange Potion:
Of all the packaging depicted, the Crushed Metallic Pigment Stacks are the least impressive- although the colors seem fun to wear and perfect for a bronzed look. There are two options- Summer Stash (pale pink, gray pink, purple, taupe) and Surf the Ocean (silver, aqua, gold, navy blue.)
The eyeshadows included- five alliterative shades, Saffron, Short Shorts, Sun Blonde, Surf USA, and Swell Baby- call to mind a kind of 80s surf feel. Nail polish options are Hangin’ Loose, a nudish ballerina pink, and Ocean Dip Aqua, a muted teal:
Eyeliners echo the pearl and aqua theme, in Blue Noon and Gilded White. Bronzing Powder in Solar Riche, Studio Careblend Pressed Powder in Gold-go-Lightly, and Tan Tint in Guilty Bronze and Billionaire Bronze provide the base products for the collection. Below is another promo shot for the Surf Baby 2011 color story:
You’ll get my MAC products when you pry them from my perfectly manicured, cold, dead hands, but the picture above really says drugstore a bit more than fashion forward to me. MAC Surf Baby 2011 seems to have actual product going for it, however, and collectors will always snap up limited editions regardless of the collection’s cachet.
Do you think you’ll pick up any items from this particular collection? Do you find the packaging fresh and beachy?
