Things I Don’t Do: M.A.C.
By Glinda
I remember when M.A.C (short for Makeup Art Cosmetics) first came out. It was sometime in the early nineties and I was in my early twenties. The biggest thing that stands out in my mind was the very large difference between the typical M.A.C salesperson and say, the Estee Lauder salesperson. Where the Estee Lauder lady was a vision of elegance and refinement, the M.A.C salesperson most likely had a green mohawk and multiple piercings.
Despite the fact that I usually have no problem with the unorthodox (hell, in 1987 my hair looked a lot like this [link fixed now!]) I never managed to partake in the M.A.C craze. Maybe it’s because they are from Canada. I”m so totally kidding, Canadiens, you know I love you.
Anyhoo, despite proclaiming myself to be a beauty junkie, I have never ever purchased anything from M.A.C.
It seems at this point, I am just doing it for the sheer orneriness of it. I’ve gone twenty years or so without M.A.C, so why start now? The more slavish the praise, the more I think that people are just drinking an awful lot of Kool-aid.
I’m sure I’m wrong.
Right?
Is there any famous brand you’ve managed to so far avoid for no good reason?
June 14th, 2011 at 6:48 am
Aw, it’s a good company. Let yourself try it! They go back a lot further than the early 90’s, and my experience of the typical Mac salesperson compared to the rest of the Estee lines was more like polished/posh young Estee Lauder girl vs. polished/stunningly made up Mac boy-in-transition-to-being-a-girl (which made Mac, compared to Shisheido’s advertisement campaigns at the time, honest and open about accepting of that diversity). Even way back when, Mac staff could always tell you what was in their products (so if you were avoiding things like lanolin or certain dye colours, they’d steer you towards products that were safe for you to use). When Estee Lauder bought them up in the early 90’s, they were smart enough not to change too much. One other thing: many of their products are actually more affordable than their “drugstore” counterpart products , but feature greater pigment concentration. Good value.
That said, there is one line I’ve avoided so far: Aveda. Yeah, I know “natural” blah blah. But I don’t really believe them, and lipsticks I’ve tried there have been disappointing in colour, texture, and staying power (it’s not often I find one that actually migrates over your lipline and into the vertical creases there, but that’s what it did).
June 14th, 2011 at 7:09 am
I’m not feeling the MAC love either, never have. Tried a few products here and there over the years and they left me feeling…indifferent.
You’re blazing your own path, Glinda. Seems every beauty blogger flogs that line like their life depends on it.
June 14th, 2011 at 2:06 pm
I don’t like heavy pigments because I’m clumsy, and lighter pigments are more forgiving. 🙂
aurumgirl, I’m feeling your Aveda pain. I want very, very much to like Aveda, because of their good corporate ethics, their treehugger-friendliness, and most of all for their minimal packaging and refillable compacts. But they don’t make colors I like, and their face powder is ever so slightly sparkly, which is completely unnecessary! I tend to stick to Origins, who also has a limited product line, but it seems to cover what I need.
June 14th, 2011 at 3:10 pm
I’m a MAC addict, mostly due to range of colors and textures with which I can really work. After I started using MAC all other eyeshadows I tried felt gritty and nasty and other blot powders and foundations left the dreaded mask line.
That said, I got started using MAC because I was working in theater and they have full coverage foundation that is absolute heaven for stage wear. It’s enough to engender a bias.