MAC Grey Friday Lipstick And Nail Lacquer Duo

If you follow me on Twitter, you may know that I am currently an intern at Lifestyle Mirror. I produce beauty content for them (such as this Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals post!), so one of the perks of my job is getting to play with new stuff companies send over to the beauty editor. As soon as I walked in yesterday he brandished MAC's Black Friday exclusive Grey Friday Lipstick and Nail Lacquer Duo at me. As one would expect, I tried it on then and there.

MAC Grey Friday Lipstick is a black-silver, almost metallic color. It can be applied sheer or layered to an intense sooty shade. I was wondering why MAC chose to release this as their sole online Black Friday exclusive. I can't imagine too many people wanting to buy a grey lipstick. But I suppose we could say the same about Chanel Notorious and look how that turned out.

Anyway, I tried it on and understood that this lipstick can be less scary than it looks. It barely shows up on the first layer as it only tints the lips to a grayish plum, which I suppose is a perfectly "societally acceptable" shade and thus commercially viable.

But knowing me, if a lipstick bullet is gray, it better look the same on my lips. I was pleased to find that Grey Friday could be layered on till it resembled what I saw in the tube. It took three or more swipes, but it didn't feel heavy on the lips, and would last till speech, food, or water wore it off. This lipstick had a lot of slip (or maybe it was my lip balm base) but didn't bleed throughout the day.

The Grey Friday Nail Lacquer is also a black-silver. I think this color is nice, but nothing special. Plenty of other brands have certainly offered similar, if not exact hues. That said, it is a nice complement to the lipstick.

MAC Grey Friday Lipstick and Nail Lacquer Duo will be available exclusively on maccosmetics.com on Black Friday, November 23 only.

Products Used:
Face -
Dolce & Gabbana Luminous Liquid Foundation in Bisque #75
Guerlain Meteorites Illuminating & Mattifying Pressed Powder in Teint Beige 02
Le Métier de Beauté Peau Vierge Correcteur in Light/Medium
Benefit Dandelion Blush

Eyes -
Suqqu Kakitsubata 01 Eyeshadow Quad
Annabelle Le Big Show Mascara
Shu Uemura Retractable Eye Brow Pencil in Seal Brown
THREE Flash Performance Eyeliner Pencil in Eye On 08

Lips -
MAC Grey Friday Lipstick

Nails -
MAC Grey Friday Nail Lacquer

Lipstick Bandits: The Universal One

Never to shirk from a challenge, the Lipstick Bandits are back to tackle "universal color." Beauty bloggers (myself included) throw that word around quite often, but are there really beauty products that truly work across all manners of lips and skin tones? An experiment is born, and we've set out to prove that there is at least one lipstick out there that deserves such a moniker. After vetoing a bunch of colors (Clinique Black Honey was a perennial favorite), the ever-wise Tracy suggested MAC Viva Glam V. We collectively had an "aha!" moment, and now here we are. 

As I was editing my pictures I realized I didn't take a swatch photo of Viva Glam V, but for once I'll let it slide because my bandit friends probably have that covered (it's a bad excuse for laziness, but for now I'll take whatever saves me time!).

MAC Viva Glam V is a neutral beige nude shade. It contains quite a bit of shimmer, but you'll have to be a few inches away from the mirror to see it. From a (more human) distance, the shimmer works instead to give dimension to the lips. It features the vanilla scent that accompanies all MAC lipsticks, but the smell fades away within minutes so it doesn't bother me.

Here's what I used for the complete look:

• Skin: Le Métier de Beauté Peau Vierge Shade 2 mixed with Dr. Jart+ Premium Beauty Balm, Cle de Peau Concealer in Ochre
• Eyes: Chanel Magic Night on lids, Le Metier de Beaute Rose Champagne in inner corners and under the brow, Guerlain Noir G Mascara
• Cheeks: Burberry Earthy Blush (contour), Burberry Cameo Blush, Guerlain Sun Shimmer Highlighter in 02 Sunny Pink, Bobbi Brown Rose Gold Shimmer Brick

MAC Viva Glam V retails for $14.50 and can be found at MAC counters worldwide and maccosmetics.com. The best thing about the purchasing any iteration of the Viva Glam lipstick is 100 percent of the proceeds go to the MAC Aids Fund. I love it when a brand "goes all out" with donations!

I don't actually know if this lipstick works on everyone, but I'm about to find out (and my intuition tells me it will). Join me in seeing how Viva Glam V works on the rest of my Bandit pals, and let us know if VGV works for you as well!

• Arianne, at Glitter Geek
• Dani, at Call It Beauty.
• Danielle, at Bloomin' Beauty Blog
• Jenny, at My Funny Valentine
• Jessica, at Getting Cheeky
• Larie, at Eye Heart It
• Mariella, at Musing On Beauty
• Monika, at Rocaille Writes
• Paris, at My Women Stuff
• Rae, at theNotice: a beauty blog
• Tracy, at Beauty Reflections