MAC’s extremely limited edition Guo Pei Collection launched October 1st in stores. Guo Pei is China’s most esteemed haute couture designer. She is known in the fashion world as a visionary, creating elaborately constructed gowns and detailed embellishments. According to MAC’s official website, this color collection is inspired by her “garden of the soul”, merging vibrant jewel tones with rich neutrals, punctuated by deep graphite. The collection features a floral, fabric print on all of the products except the three Fluidlines. Because it is part of MAC’s luxe collection the pricing on the items are significantly more than what’s offered from their permanent collection. The MAC x Guo Pei Collection is only available at two MAC retail store locations nationwide: South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa (Southern California) and in one retail location in New York though it is available for purchase online. Since I live in close proximity to the location in Southern California, I excitedly placed an order for some items over the phone and picked it up the same day of its launch. In total, I selected 4 items from the collection. Kindly scroll below for my picks.
The beautiful floral packaging stamped with the MAC Guo Pei embossment is featured above. The images on the packaging seemingly depict vibrant and spirited flowers that sway in the wind. The largest piece from the collection is the Soft Moonlight Beauty Powder, pictured on the far right. The smallest item from the collection is their fluidline, which I did not pick up. The Fluidlines have a golden cap but do not have the floral design.
The first item I picked up was Guo Pei’s Soft Moonlight Beauty Powder.($70) According to the official description, it’s a silky-soft powder that’s delicately tinted and luxuriously pearlescent.The powder contains small sized fine pearls. I have been on a highlighting frenzy lately if you’ve read my earlier posts on the Anastasia Beverly Hills Illuminators and the YSL Palette Lumiere divine. The powder meets my expectations in terms of quality. It’s pigmented, the product picks up well from the pan, and it imparts a very subtle highlight. It seems more translucent and matte than the other highlighters I own. The powder doesn’t exactly give me the “wow” factor, however, it does the job.
The second item I picked up was the MAC Guo Pei Powder Blush in Red Water Lily. It’s described as a light coral-pink with a Satin finish. This blush really is beautiful. I tried both of the blush offerings in store and eventually picked out this one. Not only is it beautifully pigmented and packaged—check out the embossing—it provides a beautiful wash of color on my cheeks and was suitable on my medium-golden skin tone. A little truly goes a long way. I picked up too much on my first trial run. The color wore comfortably and lasted through out the evening.
Onto my lipstick picks. I picked out the color Brave Red, which is described as a bright, yellow red with a Cremesheen finish.The lipsticks retail for $30 This particular red is not extraordinary in any way. However, red for me is always a safe bet when it comes to narrowing down color selections. Brave Red is already a part of their permanent collection, which retails for $17. Admittedly, I picked out this particular item solely for the packaging. It’s a beautiful red nonetheless and I am pleased with my choice.
My second lipstick pick was the color Zenith, which is described as a light nude in a Lustre finish. The color has a somewhat sheer finish that is semi-opaque. I had to swipe it a couple of times to build up the color. This color is a safe bet for a smoky eye, nude lip type of look. The color is a little too sheer for my taste. I could imagine that I would have to layer this lipstick to achieve the coverage that I desire.Again, I will admit that I purchased this item due to the limited edition packaging and it’s exclusivity. Scroll below for swatches.
The MAC Guo Pei collection is yet another beautiful luxe MAC collection that I’ve found hard to resist. Because the prices are significantly more than their regular line, I was on a budget and I only picked up a few items that I deemed worthy much like last year’s Prabal Gurung release. If you truly enjoy limited edition packaging as I do, and you’re wondering what to pick up, I would recommend the Red Water Lily blush and perhaps one of the exclusive limited edition lipsticks offered from this line. Overall, I am pleased with the items I picked up. Did you pick up anything from this line? What is your favorite limited edition MAC release?
I will leave you with photos from the MAC Guo Pei event at South Coast Plaza. Some of Guo Pei’s designs were displayed there. The dresses were flown in from China and will be displayed for a short time for the MAC X Guo Pei Collaboration.
Thank you for dropping by today!
Dom
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