MAC In The Groove & Dare To Wear

OMG, I fail at life... x.x

Back in August—August!—I won the fifth Painted Ladies 1st Anniversary giveaway, which consisted of MAC In the Groove mineralized shadows in Blue My Mind and Togetherness, as well as two Dare to Wear lipglasses in Dare to Dare and Ban This!

I seriously left them in their boxes until last week because that's what I tend to do with my MAC stuff, hahahaha. I hoard it away like high-end gals do limited edition compacts. I mean, why break out the MAC when I have, you know, my Maybelline quads that I'm not afraid of destroying? [total drugstore mindset]

But I did eventually make myself open it all up. XD Because what good is make up if you don't actually use it! So last week, I finally sat down and swatched everything:

Blue My Mind; Togetherness

The mineralized eyeshadows are surprisingly pigmented. The majority of mineralized products I own aren't, so that was definitely a pleasant discovery. My only semi-gripe is that, as with many baked products, the sections aren't all that even. As you can see, the medium blue from Blue My Mind isn't even wide enough for me to swipe a finger across, LOLOL. I ended up bringing some of the black with me! None of these colors are particularly special, but that's not necessarily a bad thing; these shades are great staple material for any make up junkie. The texture is lovely, as it is with most MAC products.

Dare to Dare; Ban This!

The Dare to Wear lipglasses are pretty thick. Temptalia says otherwise, and I might have to defer to her judgment since I don't own any other MAC lip glosses, but mine feel thick. On the other hand, I also prefer my glosses to be sheer and slick, so these are a step away from what I'm used to. The DtW lipglasses are very pigmented. For Ban This!, I only need to apply product to half of my lips. Rubbing them together will cover my entire mouth. Although, to be fair, I think my natural lip color probably augments the plumminess of Ban This!, since a lot of lip products tend to pull purple on me.

The shimmer is super fine and smooth. You can't feel it at all. They add a subtle holographic effect that's very appropriate for the holidays.

Even though the gloss itself isn't thin, the texture isn't heavy at all. It's slightly sticky, but nowhere near as bad as BBW's Liplicious line. If you don't talk too much or eat, the lasting power is pretty awesome. I once wore Dare to Dare to bed (bad, I know >.<) and woke up with it not just present but still going strong. I had to wipe it off with cleanser in the morning.

This collection is no longer in stores, but it should start popping up at CCOs in a couple of months! I'm a total MAC newbie, so I can't say if these are or aren't worth the investment, but I can say that both products are solid in terms of quality. If you were really lemming any of these, and you're willing to pay the lower CCO price, then I'd say go ahead and get them! For me, the trios will last forever, and the lipglasses are more special occasion than everyday, so I don't see myself replacing them any time soon. And since it's MAC, it'd be hard to get them for any cheaper, unless you go to eBay or a blogsale or something.