MAC Nutcracker Sweet: Magic Dust Powder in Sweet Vision and Yum Yum Yum

This Thursday, 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 a new and limited edition product called Magic Dust Powder in two shades. Magic Dust Powder is described as "a translucent ultra-fine, light-catching pearlescent powder for face, neck and décolleté. Its soft and creamy texture feels exceptionally luxurious to the touch yet is extremely lightweight. Formula glides on easily to highlight skin with a delicate glow." They are housed in special edition neon coral and dark purple compacts with gold trim, with matching secondary card stock packaging. The powder itself is embossed with a star design. Each Magic Dust Powder contains a total of 8.5 grams of product, and retails for $33.50.
Sweet Vision and Yum Yum Yum
Sweet Vision and Yum Yum Yum

Sweet Vision is a medium-dark warm pinked peach with gold iridescent pearl in a frosted finish. This is a new and limited edition shade. It has a soft, finely-milled texture, and goes on smoothly and evenly. It has high pigmentation and opaque colour pay-off. It can be layered and blended out easily. It is darker and more pink than Springsheen Blush, more peach than Peachykeen Blush, darker than New Romance Mineralize Blush, and darker and more peach than Petal Power Mineralize Blush.

Yum Yum Yum is a medium cool muted cotton candy pink with gold shimmer in a satin finish. This is a new and limited edition shade. It has a soft, finely-milled texture, and goes on smoothly and evenly. It has medium pigmentation and semi-sheer to semi-opaque buildable colour pay-off. It can be layered and blended out easily. It is lighter and slightly warmer than Dame Blush, more muted and warmer than Peony Petal Blush, cooler than Dainty Mineralize Blush, and lighter and more muted than Gentle Mineralize Blush.

I think these are meant to act like MAC's Beauty Powders (like this, this, or this) in the sense that you could use them as blushes, highlighters, or all over face powders, but I do find this formula to be much smoother, softer, and more pigmented overall. Because of the creamier consistency, they have incredible blendability so that you could layer it for a stronger colour pay-off but also buff it out to leave the most amazing sheen on the skin without emphasizing skin texture. I also think because of the type of colours they are, these will definitely be used more as cheek colours than anything else. What's interesting is the colour story for this year's holiday collection: the pops of pink and coral keep it delicate and sweet for this time of year, when vampy lips and smoky eyes usually dominate. Sweet Vision will suit fair to dark skintones as a blush and deep dark skintones as a blush topper or highlighter. Yum Yum Yum is definitely more suited to fair to medium skintones as a blush, and more of a blush topper for medium-dark to deep dark skintones. It is worth nothing, however, that they both have very different finishes despite being the same formulation: Sweet Vision is more pigmented and has a much stronger pearl finish, whereas Yum Yum Yum is more sheer and has a satin finish with bigger sparkles. It really comes down to what you like in a cheek colour, but either way, they will both keep you looking fresh and healthy through the dreary winter months.