MAC Hayley Williams: Riot Gear Nail Lacquer

On Tuesday, MAC released a new collection in collaboration with Paramore's lead singer, Hayley Williams. This collection is an online exclusive, and will not be available in stores. The names of the products from this collection are inspired by Paramore's music, and the products themselves are inspired by Hayley Williams' favourite colour, orange — the colour by which Hayley Williams is most associated by (her hair is always dyed in a shade of orange). MAC Hayley Williams is comprised of four products — three of which are new and limited edition, and one of which is permanent (I reviewed Lightscapade here). This collection features one new and limited edition shade of nail lacquer. Each nail lacquer comes in regular clear glass packaging, contains 10 ml of product, and retails for $19.

Riot Gear
Riot Gear

Riot Gear is a medium vibrant tangerine orange in a Crème finish. This is a new and limited edition shade. This is a new and limited edition shade. It has a fluid consistency, without being too thick or runny. It does go on a bit streaky on the first coat but it evens out almost completely with a second coat. I didn't experience any pulling or bubbling. It has high pigmentation, and will go opaque in two medium-thick coats, though due to the streakiness, a third coat is recommended for a smooth look. It is much lighter and less red than MAC Morange, more orange than Dior Mango, darker and less neon than Julep Nina, less yellow than China Glaze Orange You Hot?, similar to Zoya Arizona, lighter than Zoya Jancyn, and slightly darker than Joe Fresh Orange Sorbet.

I've loved Paramore for years, so this collaboration was really exciting for me, as both a make-up artist/fanatic and as a Paramore fan. This collection had originally been cancelled, but in early March, MAC announced that they were going to release it after all, so you can imagine how excited I was (so excited, in fact, that I obsessively stalked the MAC website every hour on the hour on Tuesday morning from midnight to 10:00; since I'm nocturnal, I went to sleep around 6:00am, and had to set four different alarm times so that I would wake up to check the site — I didn't know what time it'd be launching, and I'd be damned if it was sold out before I could put in my order!). I do wish that, given the size of the collection, MAC came out with another shade of Mineralize Skinfinish instead of re-promoting Lightscapade, which was made permanent last year (Stereo Rose would have been a good shade to re-promote, actually!).

Riot Gear is a great orange shade that doesn't lean too red or too yellow — a super-fun colour for Summer that should look good on all skintones, though especially with fair or tanned complexions since the colour pops when there's a greater contrast with the skin. That having been said, there seems to be quite a lot of dupes for this type of colour out there at a multitude of prices. The formula of Riot Gear does go on a bit streaky, which I can deal with because that just means adding another coat to even it out... but at $19 a pop, I feel like I shouldn't have to work for smoothness and full opacity, especially for a cream finish, when there are other formulas out there than can achieve a similar look for way cheaper.