MAC Min Liu: First Waves Pearlmatte Face Powder

Last Thursday, MAC launched their collaboration with Chinese fashion designer, Min Liu. It is inspired by "the creation and rejuvenation of life" featuring "bold reds, deep peony pinks, and misty metallics, capturing the flow of energy that connects mountains, oceans – and all of us." This collection features a total of ten products, all of which are new and limited edition. Min Liu sees the launch of one new and limited edition Pearlmatte Face Powder, which is described as "a face powder with pearlized, satin shades for highlighting and blush effects." The powder features "an exclusive Min Liu wave design embossed into the powder, and glossy black packaging with her signature in red." Each Pearlmatte Face Powder contains a total of 12 grams of product, and retails for $46. It is available online and in select MAC Store locations across North America, and at all MAC locations in China.
First Waves
First Waves
Min Liu is a Chinese fashion designer whose label is called Ms MIN. She graduated from the London College of Fashion in 2007, and worked for Viktor + Rolf and Ports 1962 before launching her own label. Min takes inspiration from her love of culture, history, and the arts. "Combining modernity with classicism, Min takes inspiration from her love of culture and the arts, defining 'simplicity with depth, romanticism with edge, classicism with a twist' as the driving spirit behind her diverse collections. Threading global influences through a range of eras — lush Chinoiserie to crisp mid century couture — Min weaves retro elegance with modern panache for a contemporary wardrobe as polished as it is original. Exquisite fabrics, expert technique, beautifully cut silhouettes are the hallmarks of her aesthetic philosophy: strong yet feminine clothes for the fashionably independent woman who refuses to drift along with the crowd. Sophisticated, discerning, not bound by convention, she prefers 'Ms' as her title of respect, a prefix that defines her, not by marital status, but by her own worth. A woman whose refinement and confidence makes a bold statement because she understands that elegance is a mindset and her wardrobe the most revealing expression of her point of view." 
First Waves

First Waves features a wave design of a medium cool passion pink, a medium-dark warm tomato red, and a cool ivory with an overspray of pearlized silver. When mixed together, they create a light-medium neutral-cool muted petal pink with a soft sheen 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 high pigmentation and opaque colour pay-off. It can be layered and blended out easily. It is darker than Well Dressed, similar to Dame, cooler than Dainty, and lighter and warmer than Gentle.

What I've always appreciated about MAC as a brand is that they spotlight designers and artists that are less well-known, and take their inspirations and visions to execute beautiful makeup collections that they would never otherwise have had an opportunity to do. This collection as a whole really embodies Min Liu's sophistication, artistry, and love of Chinese culture, and this powder is definitely the star of this collaboration. I've always been a fan of the Pearlmatte Face Powder formula — aside from the designs that are embossed into them (like the ones from Baking Beauties or Archie's Girls), it has a gorgeous smooth satin finish with a soft pearlized sheen that looks good on all skin types and never emphasizes skin texture. First Waves goes on smoothly and evenly with great pigmentation, and the colour itself — a soft petal pink — is perfect for this time of year. This colour is definitely more suited to fair to medium skintones, though if your brush is focused more on the pink and red portions of the powder, they will create a more vivid passion pink that will look lovely on medium-dark to medium-deep skintones. As it is, I don't think this is a must-have (there are a number of dupes within MAC's permanent range) especially for a $46 price tag, but the design of this powder is absolutely stunning (in my opinion, it's one of the most elegant ones that MAC has come out with) and the quality is definitely there, both in packaging and in the formulation. MAC collectors will definitely want this one.