The Hunt for the Perfect Lipstick: A Duo from M-A-C ("Russian Red", "Fanplastico")

I have pretty much reached the conclusion that M-A-C is cornering the market on near-perfect lip products. Here's a review of two new M-A-C products I received today. One is from M-A-C's lipglass line (a semi-opaque lipgloss), "Russian Red", and the other is from their lip lacquer line ("Fanplastico").

Short version: These are two of M-A-C's greatest lip products, and two of the reasons I'm starting to like lipgloss again.



Candidate #1: M-A-C Lip Lacquer, #AA6 (Fanplastico)

Purchased: http://www.nordstrom.com/

Cost: $17.00

Candidate: M-A-C Tinted Lipglass, #AB6 (Russian Red)

Purchased: http://www.nordstrom.com/

Cost: $17.00

Brand Info: M-A-C Cosmetics, Inc.
Founded in 1985 by Frank Toskan (a Canadian photographer and makeup artist) and Frank Angelo (Canadian salon owner), a pair of men in the fashion business who shared a frustration with the quality of cosmetics available to customers and even noted major weaknesses in so-called "professional" cosmetics that didn't hold up under bright lights, hot sets, TV appearances, etc. Together with Toskan's brother-in-law, chemist Vic Casale, the three men began designing a new line of high-pigment and long-wearing cosmetics for "All ages, all races, all sexes" (the company's first motto) called "Makeup Art Cosmetics", a line that would later grow into the fashion industry product of choice. (It's a dirty little secret that most celebrities and models who appear on magazine covers wear M-A-C cosmetics, even if another name, such as the brand said spokesmodel/celeb is supposed to be promoting, is credited.) M-A-C was bought by Estee Lauder Cosmetics, Inc., in 1994, and today M-A-C is the "fashionista/edgy" arm of ELC.

M-A-C's lipsticks are mostly wax-based, making them far more durable than the petroleum jelly/lanolin/water/touch-of-paraffin lipsticks other companies make. They also come in over 160 colors and 11 formulas:

• Amplified (lip plumper + matte finish)
  
• Amplified Creme (lip plumper + creme finish)
  
• Frost (intense color pigment + high frosty pigment content)
  
• Lacquer (liquid lipstick formerly called "Lip Varnish"; high pigments, creamy texture, covers like a satin, resembles a satin + lipgloss)
  
• Glaze (sheer)
  
• Lustre (intense color pigment + lower frosty pigment content)
  
• Matte (intense color pigment and no shine)
  
• Mattene (intense color pigment, no shine, creamier formulation in a pen-like applicator)
  
• Pro Longwear Lipcolour (lipstain plus top coat; comes in two formulas, satin and lustre; top coat can be reapplied to protect the lipstain and extend weartime)
  
• Retro Matte (intense color pigment, no shine, harder and waxier formula--think 1940's red lipstick)
  
• Satin (high pigments, creamy texture, no frosty pigments, more water content for shine)
  
• Slimshine (sheer with creamy texture in a pen-like applicator)
  

M-A-C also has an extensive lipgloss line, collectively known as "Lipglass", to accent and augment their lipstick line. Their lipglosses come in over 130 colors and 8 formulas:

• 3-D Glass (semi-sheer, heavy pearl pigmentation and high shine)
  
• Lipglass (comes in either clear or tinted formulation; high shine, glass-like finish; tinted lipglass products are heavily pigmented with no shine pigments and gives nearly opaque coverage)
  
• Plushglass (sheer; pearlized shimmer plus glass-like finish)
  
• Chromeglass (semi-sheer, "chrome" shimmer plus heavy pigmentation)
  
• Lustreglass (semi-sheer, heavy frost shimmer pigments plus color pigment plus glass-like finish)
  
• Lipgelee (sheer; jelly textured; "wet" finish)
  
• Pro Longwear Gloss Coat (clear; meant to be applied atop Pro Longwear Lipcolour)
  

The Tube: Both products come in clear tubes with black applicator lids. The company name and the name of the product are printed in black on the tube. At the bottom of each tube is a silver sticker with the company name ("Makeup Art Cosmetics, Inc."), the product name, and the product identification code in black print. The tinted lipglass tube is a good 3/4" shorter than the lacquer tube.

The Product: Russian Red is a bright cherry red, about as cherry red as cherry red gets. Fanplastico is a darker version of the same red, slightly lighter than what is commonly called "black cherry".

The Application: Russian Red has a traditional sponge-tipped doefoot applicator; Fanplastico has my favorite lip product applicator ever, the mini-brush. Both products cover extremely well; even the doefoot applicator supplies good color. Both products are thicker than one would expect from even liquid lipstick; I could almost get away with wearing Russian Red solo instead of over lipstick. Colors are true to their look in the tube.

The Taste: Most M-A-C lip products taste like vanilla sugar, and these are no exception.

The Blot: Like most glosses/liquid lip products, let these sit about 20-30 secs. before blotting. After that, the blot is true to color, and only the first blot is heavy.

The Wear: Excellent. Applied both products around 2300; it's 0115 here and they're still on and still look good. That said, I haven't done much eating and only a little sipping from a water glass, so YMMV.

The Verdict: If M-A-C made a lacquer line that was comparable with their lipstick line in terms of sheer color volume, I'd pronounce this hunt to be "Game over, drive home safely". As is, Fanplastico is an excellent darker red color and deserves a place in your makeup case if you like darker reds. As for Russian Red Lipglass, I'm definitely keeping it for the covering of my winning red lipstick, whichever it happens to be.