MAC Isabel and Ruben Toledo: Lipstick in Oxblood, Barbeque, Tenor Voice, Victoriana, Opera, and Sin

Last Thursday, MAC released their Spring collaboration collection with Isabel and Ruben Toledo, "fashion's most romantic couple." They are "renowned for their award-winning and imaginative work in fashion design and illustration, [and] are beloved for their passion, playfulness, and affection for one another." MAC describes this collaboration as "a true merging of minds, pairing Isabel's penchant for colour with Ruben's vibrant energy in a palette of hues designed to sculpt, painted, and transform the face. Inspired by the notion of 'beauty as art,' their combined creative energy plays with texture and tone — a three-dimensional approach to makeup designed to inspire endless play." This collection sees the launch of 30 products, 22 of which are new and limited edition, four of which are re-promotes, and four of which are permanent. Isabel and Ruben Toledo includes the release of six shades of lipsticks that come in "specially designed white packaging [featuring] Ruben's illustrations of graphic lines and faces in his one-of-a-kind aesthetic." Each lipstick comes with 3 grams of product, and retails for $21.

Oxblood, Barbeque, Tenor Voice, Victoriana, Opera, and Sin
Oxblood, Barbeque, Tenor Voice, Victoriana, Opera, and Sin
Oxblood, Barbeque, Tenor Voice, Victoriana, Opera, and Sin

Oxblood is a light-medium warm peach brown in a Matte 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 similar though slightly more brown than Kinda Sexy, more peach than Velvet Teddy, and darker and more peach than Honeylove.

Barbeque is a medium-dark vibrant reddened orange in a Matte 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 similar to So Chaud, more orange than Lady Danger, and lighter and brighter than Chili.

Tenor Voice is a medium-dark vibrant neutral red in a Matte 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 warmer than Ruby Woo, lighter than Russian Red, and darker and warmer than Everyday Diva Mineralize Lipstick.

Victoriana is a medium-dark vibrant cool-toned pinked red in a Matte 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 more red than All Fired Up, more pink than Ruby Woo, and less pink than MAC Red. 

Opera is a medium-dark vibrant cool-toned red in a Matte 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 brighter than Russian Red, darker than Ruby Woo, and darker and less pink than MAC Red. 

Sin is a dark cool-toned burgundy wine red in a Matte finish. This is a permanent 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 darker and cooler than Diva, more red than Media, and darker and warmer than Dark Side.

Unless you have serious love for the Toledo packaging, none of these lipsticks are really must-haves in my books, especially given that they're $2 more than MAC's regular lipsticks. They are all incredibly dupeable within MAC's permanent range, and MAC has released a ton of shades like these even in the past few months (seriously, this is like Rocky Horror, Part 2). All six shades are gorgeous, of course, and have lovely creamy matte textures that go on incredibly smooth, rich, and pigmented, but I am really disappointed at the shade selections here. Apparently red is Isabel Toledo's favourite colour, hence the heavy focus on it, but the reds here are almost indistinguishable from each other. If you're going to release three red shades at the same time, at least make them different enough to be worth putting in the same collection (and paying the extra money), you know?

Moreover, I hate when MAC releases a permanent shade in special edition packaging and then increases the price on it. And this will be the second time they've done it with Sin (it was also released in special edition packaging for the Rocky Horror collection). I mean, it might be worth getting if you don't already have it and really love the Toledo packaging, but the general MAC consumer is not going to want to pay extra for a permanent shade just for the packaging. That having been said, MAC does do a damn good matte red lipstick, so if you're on the market for one, you might want to check these out, anyway. Ironically, I think the shade most worth getting here is Oxblood (side note: how seriously misleading is that name?), just because it's such a wearable everyday nude shade that's flattering across so many skintones, and also because MAC hasn't released a shade like this in a long time (Pander Me from The Matte Lip collection comes to mind, but Oxblood is definitely lighter and more peach).