Full Swatches of MAC Wash & Dry Collection, Review of Freshen Up Highlight Powder, Morange Lipstick, Comparisons & FOTD

I hope you are all having a great weekend. I went to the city today to check out the new collections. On top of my list was MAC Wash & Dry Collection. Since last year's Alluring Aquatics Collection knocked me off my feet, I had very high expectations. Last year I ended up picking almost all the pieces of that collection (reviewed here, here and here). Today, the aim was to swatch everything but then I got distracted, you know why if you follow me at Instagram. Any how after a while he went and I could take more swatches. I put together a picture heavy post for those of you who would like to order online, it might come handy.

I would like to start my review with two pieces I was testing for a few weeks now. MAC Freshen Up Highlight Powder and Morange Lipstick. I also picked up two more items today, Tumble Dry Lipstick and Golden Rinse Studio Sculpt Bronzer. Here are my thoughts...

MAC Freshen Up Highlight Powder, Morange Lipstick

MAC Lipstick in Morange is a vivid orange red with amplified finish. Although it is permanent, there is something about this color with the orange yellowy gorgeous limited edition packaging. I was wearing it today. It doesn't go very smooth on the lips so I pat my fingers on them after the application to even it out. I applied a coat and blotted to apply it again. It is very long lasting and I could wear it without a liner. It was also comfortable and not drying. Also received a compliment from hubby, I am happy with it. I know though I can only wear such warm colors with the matching blush. So I knew the compliment was not only for Morange but also for Freshen Up Highlight Powder on my cheeks which made it all work.

MAC Morange Lipstick Swatch

Here are a few comparison swatches of Morange. A recently released orange Forbidden Sunrise from Bao Bao Wan Collection is warmer and more orange. I tried to find another close shade in my stash but since I don't usually have a spot for oranges I couldn't. Here is also Toying Around to show you how warm Morange is, yet it is a little cooler than Forbidden Sunrise. 

MAC Morange Lipstick Comparison Swatch to Forbidden Sunrise and Toying Around

MAC Freshen Up Highlight Powder comes in super pretty golden overspray. I know some people have overspray since you don't see what is under it. Of course if you try out the product at the counter, you know what to expect. Although MAC Freshen Up is defined as a highlighter powder, it is a blush with three shades. The lightest shade can also be used as highlighter. I really like the color combination. The powder is finely milled, it is not powdery nor stiff. If you are in the market for a customizable super pretty blush, Freshen Up is something you shouldn't miss from Wash & Dry Collection. Here is a photo of the blush with and without overspray for reference.

MAC Freshen Up Highlight Powder with and without overspray

What I like particularly about Freshen Up is that it can be customized how orange or how peach you would like the end result to be. The pan is big enough for my tiny blush brushes to pick up two products at once. You can swirl your brush at the bottom so you will get a pale peach blush. If you go for the top part, you can get an intense orange. In this manner Freshen Up is a little like the Ombre Blushes released earlier this year and late last year.

MAC Freshen Up Highlight Powder Swatch

Here is a look to show you how well MAC Freshen Up Highlight Powder and Morange Lipstick work together. Oranges are something I usually can't wear, let alone such an intense orange/red like Morange. As you see though, it doesn't look bad at all doesn't it?  

FOTD with MAC Freshen Up Highlight Powder and Morange Lipstick

Now some more comparisons before I start the swatch spam from the counter. I picked up Golden Rinse today although it reminded me of my beloved bronzer Aphrodite's Shell (reviewed here) from Alluring Aquatics. I swatches these two side by side for you. Aphrodite's Shell is a little deeper and just a tad cooler. Golden Rinse is a little lighter and very slightly warmer but they are very very close. So if you have Aphrodite's Shell from last year, you may want to skip Golden Rinse. 

I also compared Freshen Up with Ocean City (swatched here) from Proenza Schouler Collection. This item was hard to get rid of right? I ended up with two while trying to make sure I would get one. Then this time during my visit to Detroit, I had seen one more at the discount store! If I didn't have two already I would get that one too hahaha. Anyhow, here is Freshen Up vs. Ocean City. Freshen Up is lighter and brighter. They are both so gorgeous, yes you need both! ;-)

Comparison swatches: MAC Golden Rinse vs. Aphrodite's Shell, Freshen Up vs. Ocean City

Now here are more swatches from the counter if you would like to order online. Crisp Whites and Hipness are two of the blushes of the collection. I was wishing to see the blushes from extra-dimensional textures like in Alluring Aquatics, so these were a little disappointing for me. Apparently there is a lot of demand for Hipness at the moment. Let me tell you it is so pigmented! It would give me a clown face in no time but if you like your blushes pigmented, don't miss it. Crisp Whites left me cold. It didn't have the best texture nor color pay-off, an easy pass for me, especially since it is so close to Freshen Up.

MAC Wash and Dry Blush Swatches: Crisp White, Freshen Up, Hipness

I had two sets of bronzer swatches because the first swatch is better than the second but it is missing one of the shades. Wash & Dry has two different textures of blushes. Refined Gold and Matte Bronze are from the permanent line and they have normal powder formula. Golden Rinse and Delicates are from Studio Sculpt texture. They remind me of extra-dimensional bronzers from last year. If you know the difference between Extra-D and those, please let us know in the comments below. Golden Rinse and Delicates have very fine shimmer and such nice and smooth texture. They don't kick powder like the other two and they swatch much better. After thinking over and over again, I went for Golden Rinse although I knew it would be close to Aphrodite's Shell. The reason was because Delicates had a warm, almost olive undertone which clashed against my skin tone badly. I didn't think it would look flattering on me. I would say if you have warm/olive undertones go for Delicates. If not, then Golden Rinse would look much better. 

I had Refined Gold with last year's Alluring Aquatics packaging. That one is badly warm on me and never looks right. I had to admit, I got it because of packaging last year.

MAC Wash and Dry Bronzer Swatches, Golden Rinse, Delicates, Refined Gold

MAC Wash and Dry Bronzer Swatches, Golden Rinse, Delicates, Refined Gold and Matte Bronze

Now comes a set of lip swatches. There are two sheer and two bright shades for the lips this year. Creme d'Nude and Morange are permanent. I picked up Tumble Dry and considered to get Steam Heat but since I have so many blue based reds, I couldn't justify it. I already tried Tumble Dry, it is wonderful for a subtle lip, smokey eye combo. It also combines nicely with Freshen Up. You will probably see me wearing that one soon in some FOTDs.

MAC Wash and Dry Lipstick Swatches, Creme d'Nude. Tumble Dry, Morange and Steam Heat

Here are glosses. It is always hard for the camera to focus on these, I don't know why. Anyhow I was at Douglas over Koenig Strasse and there was a very annoying SA. She told me something like she is the counter manager but you could see that she never worked in a counter. They cut the sponges of the sponge applicators here for hygiene reasons. So i was trying to get some product out by pushing the rod (without sponge) in and out. She was like "you will break the gloss!!". I had to laugh, have you ever broke a gloss? I asked her. The thing is from plastic, lol. Anyhow she said one was broken last day. Fair enough.... Then I was about to swatch eye shadows, she told me I shouldn't touch any of these. WTF? She gave me q-tips and said at MAC you can never swatch an eye shadow with fingers. I had to laugh even harder. I told her everywhere including Chanel, Dior etc. we swatch with fingers. she couldn't believe me and made a strange face. I told her "you are not so friendly are you?" hah! Her face got even worse. This is when I left there without buying anything. I had to go to another store down the road (Breuninger) to purchase my picks. Have you ever heard something like this? Swatching eye shadows with q-tips and breaking the gloss I mean!

Alright so back to the glosses. Domestic Diva has very nice shimmer in there. Girl On Board is very pale/whitish, I haven't tried it but it can look really cool as a statement lip. Hot/Cold and Laundry List would go well with Steaming Heat and Morange respectively. 

MAC Wash and Dry Lipgloss Swatches: Hot/Cold, Girl On Board, Laundry List and Domestic Diva

Technakohl Liners are gorgeous. They didn't have the fourth one to try, so I left there without purchasing. I rarely use blue as a liner but both of them are nice if you do. Here are swatches of Sudsy, Practice Makes Perfect and Color Matters.

Color Matters, gorgeous name but... Is it politically correct? LOL

MAC Wash and Dry Technakohl Swatches Sudsy, Practice Makes Perfect, Color Matters

And as the last set of swatches, here are the eye shadows swatches with a q-tip thanks to annoying SA. Warm Wash looks gorgeous in the pan but was the worse quality between all three. I can imagine Warm Wash producing fall-out. Permanent Press is really subtle and not all that interesting but it can be nice for a day look. Green Clean is the most unique and best formula. I am not so fond of Veluxe Perlfusion formula so I ended up getting none of those.

MAC Wash and Dry Deluxe Pearlfusion Swatches: Green Clean, Permanent Press and Warm Wash

There are also gorgeous brow products in this collection. I am not big on brown products (since I have lots of brows lol) but if you are, then you shouldn't miss that part of Wash & Dry. 

Final thoughts: Although it didn't knock me off my feet like Alluring Aquatics did last year, Wash & Dry is a nice collection. My picks/must-haves are Freshen Up as a super pretty orange/peach blush, one of the two Studio Sculpt Bronzers, Golden Rinse if you have cooler undertones and Delicates if you have olive undertones. As for the lips I like Morange and Tumble Dry. Keep in mind Morange is permanent though. If you like super pigmented blushes, you can check Hipness out too.

Wash & Dry Collection is not available online at Mac Cosmetics and around the MAC counters in Germany. It should be released around the world during May at different times. 

Are you eyeing something from MAC Wash & Dry? Do you like the packaging?

Disclaimer: MAC Freshen Up Highlight Powder and Morange Lipstick were provided free of charge 
for consideration purposes. I am not paid for this review. All opinions are honest and my own.

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blush, bronzer, comparison, eye shadow, highlighter, limited edition, lipgloss, Lipstick, MAC, review, Summer2015, swatch