Quick Review: MAC Illegal Purple Nail Lacquer

MAC's Illegal Purple

I picked up a bottle of MAC’s Illegal Purple Nail Lacquer ($11) from their new Cult of Cherry collection. The color in the bottle looks very dark, almost black. The MAC Web site describes the color as “creamy blackened eggplant.” There is no shimmer or glitter in the polish.

So this morning, I did a quick-and-dirty manicure, which, for me, is removing old polish, softening and pushing back cuticles, and shaping the nails with an emery board. I followed with a basecoat, two coats of Illegal Purple, and a topcoat.

On the brush and on white paper, the color is definitely purple, but on my nails, depending on the light, it could be any color from dark red to black. The purple doesn’t really show up as purple, per se. The white paper swatch at right also shows the level of one-coat coverage. Which is to say that unless you want a translucent “glaze” look, you will need to use at least two coats. (For me, even two coats isn’t really enough. After the polish dried fully, I can see some uneven spots; I should’ve done a third coat.)

VERDICT: The polish was easy to apply and wasn’t sticky or streaky. While I like the color, it’s not as clearly purple as I was hoping. And additional coats would darken the color further. If you liked Chanel’s Vamp nail polish, you will probably like Illegal Purple. And the color should pair well with fall’s black lips, if you choose to indulge that trend.

As possible alternatives, I would like to try Sephora by OPI‘s purple shades Meet for Drinks and Caffeine Fix.

In bright light, the polish looks dark red on me (should've done a third coat, though).

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MAC for Ungaro? Yawn.

M.A.C. is known for their bold but chic makeup. Their pigments are highly sought-after by makeup fiends to create daring, interesting eyes.

So, M.A.C.’s new collaboration with Estaban Cortazar of Emanuel Ungaro—at least from the initial product photos—leaves us cold. Yes, the colors are pretty…but tame. Might we even say bland? Delicate pinks, lilacs, blushing rose… this would’ve been a great spring line, but seems lackluster for fall.

An article from Women’s Wear Daily quotes designer Cortazar as saying about a M.A.C. store, “I knew this was a cool place because I saw all the amazing, fun colors, glitter and girls with blue hair running around with outrageous makeup on their faces.” OK, so how did you end with with such a bloodless collection?

Furthermore, the packaging—black with “emanuel ungaro” in hot pink—seems a bit punk/teenish and doesn’t really fit with the feeling of the collection. If you must do a spring-palette, ultra-feminine collection, why not at least do ultra-fem, lacy, retro packaging?

Frankly, we’re more interested in what we’ve seen of M.A.C.’s regular fall line: Cult of Cherry, especially the Illegal Purple nail polish.

MAC's Cult of Cherry looks promising.

Thanks to Specktra.net, glossy-kiss.blogspot.com, and Temptalia.

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Sephora by OPI

I love OPI nail colors, but I don’t love that when I find a color I like, they discontinue it (e.g. At Your Quebec & Call and Glacier Bay Blues from their Canadian collection.)

On my toenails, but no longer in stores.

So, I probably shouldn’t get too attached to any of the new colors in the Sephora by OPI collection, exclusive to Sephora stores and Sephora.com.

For example, I should just ignore Metro Chic, a purple-gray that reminds me of the perfect shade of grape bubblegum and is ALREADY out of stock at Sephora.com. And I shouldn’t take a second look at Never Enough Shoes (it’s even the perfect name for me), which is black with multi-color glitter. And I should continuously avert my eyes from I’m With Brad, which Sephora describes as “shimmering wine over dark coffee,” an excellent shade for autumn.

No word on how quickly these will disappear and disappoint me, but for now, each shade is $9, only at Sephora.

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Beauty for Dummies

Makeup palettes and kits really take the guessing out of coordinating color for your face. Sometimes we like to experiment (and sometimes those experiments leave us looking like rejects from a MAC photo shoot), but sometimes we like someone to just spell it out for us.

Neiman Marcus, for instance, is ready to hand you your fall look on a silver platter. The nine fall beauty looks featured on their Web site include color from Becca, Bobbi Brown, Chantecaille, Clinique, Lancome, Nars, Shu Uemura, Trish McEvoy and YSL.

Not only does the site offers step-by-step instructions on creating the looks, you can buy a makeup package for each look, priced from $92 (Clinique’s “Modern Matte” look) to $191 (Yves St. Laurent’s “Smoky” look).  The sets range from natural, subtle looks to dramatic evening styles, and most include eye makeup, blush and lip color (but no foundation, concealer or powder). Some sets even include brushes (Bobbi Brown) or a makeup bag (Trish McEvoy).

See and buy the looks at NeimanMarcus.com.

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