As many of you probably already know, MAC Cosmetics makes, or perhaps I should say made, fragrances! Appropriately, one of their lines of scents was inspired by a few of their famous lipsticks!
Sadly, would appear that MAC cosmetics no longer sells a large amount of fragrance, at least on its website. I just checked now and the only fragrances I could find were Turquatic – a sea-inspired, freshie scent, and just one of the six fragrances from the Shadescents collection they launched back in 2016. I purchased these Shadescents samples perhaps three years ago and then tucked them in a drawer to subsequently forget about. Now that these are no longer widely available, of course, I finally recall that I have them and choose now to share my thoughts.
But if you are a thrifting perfume consumer like I am, discontinuation may not be an issue, especially if you enjoy a good hunt. First of all, let’s appreciate the packaging for these fragrances. Rothko & Lego had babies! I don’t know about you, but I’d prefer Rothko on my walls, Lego in the kid’s room, and these fragrances in different bottles. I do appreciate the nod to Gucci’s Rush though. Gucci did plastic minimalism better.
Velvet Teddy
- tobacco blossom, ginger, bergamot, honey, vanilla, orchid, mimosa, tonka bean, musk, papyrus
This is the Tobacco Vanille dupe I’d heard about – not a perfect dupe, but a very similar vibe. I get vanilla and leather with a very large dollop of honey and some spices, but not obviously ginger. It’s just not Tom Ford, though. I am still waiting for a TV fragrance as good as that. This is a little spiced, but there’s no cardamom and I think it’s somehow a bit too sticky-sweet for me. It reminds me more of another TV dupe I have shared on this channel. If it weren’t discontinued, would buy it? I don’t know. It’s sexy and yummy, and Tom Ford is not cheap.
Ruby Woo
- leather, cherry, saffron, pink pepper, suede, violet, orris, may rose, mahogany, sandalwood
I like this one – faintly candied violets smeared onto a large hide of creamy leather and lipstick. Pelt some canned cherries onto that canvas, which is firmly attached to a solid wood base. It reminds me of Cherry Punk – not as good, but cherry and leather? Hard to go wrong! This is apparently supposed to bring to mind Tom Ford’s Tuscan Leather, but I disagree. I can understand that thinking, though, since this has a tough, aggressive leather. Bring out the whips.
Lady Danger
- sour cherry, tangerine, black amber, tiger lily, jasmine, patchouli, saffron
This is a woody, oriental scent and I get sour cherry right away, though it’s a little cough-droppy. I really enjoy patchouli, saffron, and ambergris, and these three combined in this fragrance work well. There is neither leather nor tobacco, and yet I do get a leather jacket feel. Perhaps that is the NLP (neuro-linguistic programming) effect of the fragrance name? I don’t think I would wear this, however. It’s got a little bit of a morning after a night that went on for a little too long and didn’t end as well as it could have. Too much smoking, hooking up with the wrong guy, faint cotton mouth, and though it doesn’t smell like it, it even brings to ming a salty sweat sort of thing.
Candy Yum Yum
- guava, cherry blossom, iris flower, cotton candy, vanilla
This is a floral fruity gourmand fragrance. It’s yummy, girly, youthful. I love guava in perfumery, as it has a fresh tartness to it. There is a bit of a bubble gum quality to it that I like, too. However, there is not really much of any cotton candy or candy floss that I guess I was hoping for. It’s mainstream, pink Barbie fare.
My Heroine
- leather, incense, saffron, labdanum, tobacco, patchouli
Ooh, that note profile though! Can it meet expectations? The first sniff is interesting, but off-putting for me: too much patchouli sprinkled with cigarette ash. But I don’t hate it. Some of you will, though, and that is because the incense-y smoky note in here is very dry, indeed like exhaled tobacco smoke or putting your face up to an ashtray – which is also so creative! I can also sniff out the leather and resinous sticky saffron. Leather is supposed to be first in here but I really did get blasted first with smoke from patchouli all ablaze. Maybe there is some tar on fire here, too. This fragrance is unique, I’ll give it that. And this particular fragrance is something more akin to Tom Ford’s very dry and scratchy Tuscan Leather. I can’t stop sniffing it. I get more leather a few minutes in and then want to sniff even more.
Crème d’ Nude
- neroli, caramel, musk, suede, Madagascar vanilla, ambrette (musk mallow)
This one is a soft and polite musky ambery scent, a wee bit on the sweet side. The musk matures it a little, enough to bring it out of girly territory. It’s very powdery and leathery, and I do like the fact that they call it a suede note, because it is – very creamy and snuggly, with a nice vanillic smoke note. This is the one you can still find online on the US website, at least last I checked. Sadly, I cannot recommend it, really, primarily because I suspect that this will unlikely last on skin, at least mine. Synthetic musk just fades on me, and there is not much in the way of other fixatives with this fragrance.
So that was all six fragrances. Overall, I have to say, bar Candy Yum Yum and Crème d’ Nude, they are delightfully not run-of-the-mill fragrances, and I regret not having sniffed these earlier when they were still in store.