MAC Nutcracker Sweet: Lipstick in Kingdom of Sweets, Flamboyish, Saucy Little Darling, So Good For You, and Leap of Delight

Today, MAC will be launching their holiday collection called Nutcracker Sweet. It was inspired by the story, The Nutcracker and the Mouse King: "Leap into a magical land that's a bit nutty, a little naughty, bursting with whimsy. Lose yourself in an eccentric kingdom of oversized treats and rosy-cheeked nutcrackers. Twist, turn, and tumble deeper into the land of dolls. Our story has only begun..." There is a total of 18 products in this collection, of which 12 are new and limited edition, one is a re-promote, and five are permanent in special deco packaging. Nutcracker Sweet sees the launch of five new and limited edition lipsticks. They are housed in special edition neon coral and dark purple tubes with gold trim, with matching secondary card stock packaging. Each lipstick contains a total of 3 grams of product, and retails for $22.50. Due to the special edition nature of this collection, these will not be redeemable as a free product in the Back to MAC recycling program. 
Kingdom of Sweets, Flamboyish, Saucy Little Darling, So Good For You, and Leap of Delight
Kingdom of Sweets, Flamboyish, Saucy Little Darling, So Good For You, and Leap of Delight
Kingdom of Sweets, Flamboyish, Saucy Little Darling, So Good For You, and Leap of Delight

Kingdom of Sweets is a pale cool milky pastel pink in a Cremesheen finish. This is a new and limited edition shade. It has a soft, creamy texture, and goes on smoothly and evenly. It has medium-high pigmentation and semi-opaque colour pay-off. It is lighter and more muted than Saint Germain, lighter and cooler than Creme Cup, and darker and more pink than Lazy Lullaby.

Flamboyish is a medium-dark cool bright neon magenta pink in a Matte finish. This is a new and limited edition shade. It has a soft, creamy texture, and goes on smoothly and evenly. It has high pigmentation and opaque colour pay-off. It is darker than Candy Yum-Yum, darker and cooler than Pink Pigeon, and darker than Personal Statement Retro Matte Liquid Lipcolour.

Saucy Little Darling is a medium warm vibrant coral pink in an Amplified finish. This is a new and limited edition shade. It has a soft, creamy texture, and goes on smoothly and evenly. It has high pigmentation and opaque colour pay-off. It is lighter than Impassioned, more coral than Speak Louder, and lighter and more muted than Postmodern Liptensity.

So Good For You is a medium-dark cool vibrant pinked red in a Matte finish. This is a new and limited edition shade. It has a soft, creamy texture, and goes on smoothly and evenly. It has high pigmentation and opaque colour pay-off. It is lighter and cooler than Russian Red, darker than MAC Red, and darker and more pink than Ruby Woo.

Leap of Delight is a dark cool muted plum-purple in a Matte finish. This is a new and limited edition shade. It has a soft, creamy texture, and goes on smoothly and evenly. It has high pigmentation and opaque colour pay-off. It is darker and warmer than Punk Couture, more purple than Instigator, and darker and more purple than Smoked Purple.

All the lipsticks here performed beautifully — they all have soft, creamy textures that go on incredibly smooth and evenly, which was especially surprising in Kingdom of Sweets because milky pinks are notorious for going on streaky and emphasizing lip texture. It's a very surprising variety of colours for this time of year; Kingdom of Sweets, Flamboyish, and Saucy Little Darling could actually belong in a spring or summer collection. But they go well with the colour story of Nutcracker Sweet, and MAC has always been known for going against the grain when it comes to mainstream trends (you aren't gonna find any '90s brown shades here). Oddly enough, the most unique shade of the bunch is Kingdom of Sweets, which is also the most difficult shade to pull off on its own because it's so pale and so cool-toned. That having been said, it is a most excellent layering colour that lightens and brightens whatever is underneath it (for example, layering it on top of Leap of Delight creates a gorgeous royal purple). There are a lot of dupes for the four other shades, however, so definitely check your stash to see if you have anything similar first.