MAC Maleficent: True Love's Kiss Lipstick

Two weeks ago, MAC released their collaboration collection with Disney's Maleficent, meant to coincide with the movie launch this month. This collection is available online and at MAC Stores only. It is inspired by, of course, Maleficent: "Mysterious, magnificent, and much misunderstood — Disney's most iconic villain... Intensely admired for her evil elegance, despite her efforts to instill fear in the hearts of generations, this icon casts a spell of absolute adoration with sensuous shades so wickedly gorgeous, who needs beauty sleep?" The entire collection features a total of 14 products, of which three are new and limited edition, one is a re-promote, and ten are permanent. Maleficent will see the launch of one new and limited edition shade of lipstick. It comes in a special edition glossy black tube with the Maleficent logo (two ravens standing foot to foot making it appear like a pair of black wings in the shape of an 'M'), as well as a matching secondary cardstock box. Each lipstick contains 3 g of product, and retails for $21. 
True Love's Kiss
True Love's Kiss

True Love's Kiss is a medium-dark vibrant ruby red with very subtle fine micro-shimmer in an Amplified finish. This is a new and limited edition shade. It has a soft and creamy texture, and goes on smoothly and evenly. It has high pigmentation and opaque colour pay-off. It is slightly lighter and less matte than Russian Red, warmer than MAC Red, darker and brighter than Cockney, and darker and cooler than Lady Bug.

Okay, yes, a lot of people were incredibly disappointed with this launch. Given that MAC released Venomous Villains a few years ago to immense popularity and rave reviews (of which Maleficent was also featured, albeit in her original animation form), most people were expecting this collection to rival the monumental success of that. This collection is actually inspired by the products that special effects make-up artist Rick Baker used on Angelina Jolie on set for the movie. (Side note: Rick Baker has been using MAC products on his work for years so they have a long-standing respect for each other; he actually collaborated with MAC last fall for a limited edition PRO-only Halloween collection.) Think of these products as what Maleficent would actually wear in real life rather than the products inspired by the animated film. That having been said, I do think it was a wasted opportunity not to come out with more limited edition shades given the higher price point of the products due to the packaging.

The majority of this collection is available permanently without the special edition packaging, so I only picked up this lipstick and the Beauty Powder. A Maleficent collection would not be complete without a red lipstick — after all, it is the single most striking feature on the villainess and she is never seen without it, even in cartoon form. MAC has a myriad of red lipsticks to choose from and there is something for everyone, but what I can appreciate about True Love's Kiss is that MAC actually doesn't have an exact dupe of it in their permanent range. Because it has an Amplified finish, it's creamier and comes with a sheen but also has high pigmentation and full colour pay-off, so it's as if Russian Red and Cockney had a baby. That having been said, I don't think this is a must-have given the tremendous amount of red lipsticks available (unless you're a die-hard Maleficent fan or a MAC collector). But this one is universally flattering and has a great texture and formulation, so it's worth looking at if you're on the market for a nice red lipstick.