Seeing as the year is drawing to an end, and the holidays and holiday beauty collections are around the corner, I thought I would do a recap of the MAC Nutcracker Holiday 2016 Collection. Although this collection is no longer available, some of the products can be found in the permanent product range. To be honest I have been hoarding this collection until recently, I basically hoard all of my MAC Limited Edition products, just me? Anyway, back to this post, which is in anticipation of the new MAC Holiday Collection which should be launching locally soon. The Snowball Holiday Collection is already available on the US site, so you can start making your wishlist. The Face Powders, Mini Lipstick Kit and possibly one of the Lipsticks in the Snowball packaging are on my wishlist, what is on yours?

The MAC Nutcracker Holiday Collection was quite a big collection, and launched late last year, around the same time as the MAC X Mariah Carey Collection, which by the way I am still hoarding, but you can check out what I bought here.

The most exciting product in the Nutcracker Collection was the Sweet Copper Face Compact, because it had the famous Whisper of Gilt Extra Dimension Skinfinish, a highlighter that doesn’t come around too often, so if you find it, get it! Luckily, it is available in the Snowball Collection, in the prettiest packaging!

Let’s jump into the swatches, from Top-Bottom:

The Sweet Nude Patentpolish Kit contains four mini Patentpolish Lip Pencils in nude shades. I am quite a fan of the Patentpolish Lip Pencils, and Teen Dream remains one of my favourites. MAC describes the Patentpolish Lip Pencil as a lip colour that combines the comfort of a balm, colour and sheen of a gloss with the precision of a lip pencil. As you can see from the swatches above, these are quite balmy and glossy.

Revved up- Creamy Peach

It’s Really Me- Warm Nude

French Kiss- Warm Caramel

Pleasure’s All Mine- Light Pink

Unfortunately these are just too light for me, and don’t show up much on my lips. Revved Up and French Kiss do give my lips a tinted glossy sheen, but I expected more, especially since Teen Dream is so pigmented!

Next up I have the gorgeous Magic Dust Powder in Sweet Vision, a warm peach pink blush with gold shimmer. The blush is super pigmented, but blends easily and even though it has a shimmer, it does not emphasise any skin imperfections. I cannot be happier with this blush, it reminds me of a peachier version of NARS Orgasm.

Last, but definitely not least I have the Sweet Copper Face Compact, which contains a rusty coloured Extra Dimension Blush in Pleasure Model, and of course the Extra Dimension Skinfinish in Whisper of Gilt.

Let me just say that Whisper of Gilt does not whisper anything, it basically shouts out loud ‘LOOK AT MY CHEEKBONES’, and I love it! It is a finely milled warm gold highlighter that is easily blended and can be applied as sheer or as intense as you like. It gives my face a gorgeous metallic sheen without emphasising my pores. The Extra Dimension Skinfinish highlighters are described as a liquid-powder highlighter that gives a luminous, well-defined finish for the perfect glow.

The other half of the compact is Pleasure Model, a warm rusty blush with a satin finish. Once again it blends really well, and even though it is really pigmented, it can be sheered out for a slight flush of the cheeks. This blush range combines the smoothness of a cream, blendability of a liquid and the finish of a powder for a second-skin look and feel.

 And there you have a review of the MAC Holiday Collection!