Whither MAC?

The biggest rage, on the forums I frequent, is MAC makeup. MAC this, MAC that, MAC the other.

I’m familiar with MAC. I like their paint pots…a lot. I like a few of their lipsticks. But the rest of their product line doesn’t do a whole lot for me. It isn’t that the colors aren’t lovely. (They are. MAC’s Tilt eyeshadow, in particular, is a really pretty morphing blue-green-aqua.) It isn’t that I’ve had negative experiences at their stores. (I haven’t. I’ve neither been “hovered over”, nor ignored. The salespeople at the counters and standalone stores I’ve visited have been busy, but uniformly have all managed to strike the perfect balance between helpful and letting me peruse stuff on my own.)

I think one of the reasons I don’t care much for MAC is that it doesn’t really sell loose shadow powders. Everything’s pressed or baked. While pressed powders can be easier to travel with, I have become very comfortable with loose powders and don’t care to go back. Their loose pigments are so very very low-coverage that they seem like jars of mica powder…which I can get for less money elsewhere, and mix with loose pigments to create my own shadows.

I’m happy with the makeup brands I use. I branch out a little (the occasional Aromaleigh purchase, a few indelible cream shadow pots), but I don’t know that I’m suddenly going to develop a yen for all things MAC.

I feel like such an outsider…