MAC Holiday 2012 - Review

I know I promised to do a review of the MAC Holiday 2012 sets earlier this month and sadly I am just getting to this now. I realize that MAC has a couple of new collections out now so I am very tardy on this review....sorry! Better late than never though! MAC stores and their website are still selling these products at present so my review isn't all for nothing.

Before I get into the nitty gritty, I have to say that I have never in my life been this underwhelmed by a MAC Holiday collection. This is probably why I haven't rushed to do this review. The colours were boring and the sets were expensive. Usually, I look for good repromoted eyeshadow colours which were limited edition or to get some colours that I don't have in my collection from the permanent line. There were very few repromote items and not much from the permanent line. Normally, I snap up at least one or two MAC Holiday kits because they tend to be a good deal and have some really cool colours. I thought when I looked at this collection that I was going mad and that I just couldn't see what was exciting. I checked out a bunch of bloggers and no one seemed excited either. So it wasn't just me.

Price aside, and MAC jacked the prices this year, I think some of these kits would be good to give as gifts to your friends and family who don't have much makeup from MAC. While I will always more than happily receive any MAC product as a gift from anyone, I didn't find that there was anything exciting here. So let's start with the 2 Exclusive Face Kits which were $85 Canadian. Yes, I said $85!!!! They are $70 U.S. and with the dollar at par right now....okay don't get me started. These sets have a powder blush, lipstick, lipglass, technakohl liner and a 129SE brush. There are two sets, Paramour Pink and Quite Coral. The cases this year are darn cute I have to say so I guess you are paying for the case. I think you would need to seriously want each and every item in these face kits to justify the price. Usually, that is not the way it works though. You don't "love" every item in the kit.

Okay, moving on, there are 4 All for Glamour Holiday Face Kits. One of them is $59.50 Canadian and $49.50 U.S. and includes bronzer (Golden, I already have it), 3 eyeshadows (I already have one, Shadowy Lady) and 2 LE lipsticks. The other three kits are blot powders with 1 Sheen Supreme lipstick in each. Each kit has a different shade. The price for the blot powder sets are $47.50 Canadian or $39.50 U.S. I think this is the biggest rip off of all in the holiday kits.

Holiday Eye Kits. $47.50 Canadian and $39.50 U.S. There are 3 kits (please see top photo of this blog) and they all contain 5 eyeshadows in the most boring array of colours ever. Theses kits are so small, my palm is bigger. I could not believe my eyes when I saw them in person. The packaging is once again so cute that it is misleading online. You think you are getting more than you really are.  

There is a cute lace roll-up travel bag for $48 Canadian. It is nice but you can get the same thing (not as cute) at any drug store for $10-$20.

Then there are the mini kits which contain 4 mini pigments or 4 lip glosses (please see the 2nd photo of this blog). They are all $38.50 Canadian or $32.50 U.S. These would make great gifts. For me, these colours are just not very exciting and I already own a bunch of more exciting pigments. As for the glosses, I would have use for these but I just couldn't muster up enough enthusiasm to make a purchase. The Lavish Rose lip gloss set was by far the nicest I thought. For the lip kits there was a coral set too (which was nice) and a neutral nude set (kind of boring).

Now for the Primped Out Eye, Lip and Brush kits (please see photo above). There are 3 brush kits with either 4 or 5 brushes in them. I remember when 5 brushes was standard for these kits MAC......They are $59.50 Canadian (say what for SE coloured brushes!) and $49.50 U.S. There are two lip kits, one in a coral theme and one in pink which was very nice. The lip kits contain a lipstick, a lip pencil and a lip gloss. They are $47.50 Canadian (yowsa!) and $39.50 U.S. I'm thinking this is pricey for what you get. Finally, the eye kits contain a duo eyeshadow set, a mascara, a power point eye pencil, and a 275SE pencil. Oh, you also get a leopard pouch bag thingy. These eye kits are $55.50 Canadian and $46.50 U.S. I usually buy one of these each year but once again the colours didn't wow me and those 275SE brushes are a dime a dozen in my collection. The eye kits would make a nice gift though. Think of your friends with January birthdays......

Once again, I am so sorry this is so late but I hope this has been helpful. If you missed out on this collection, you can sleep tight knowing that you didn't miss much.