The most sought after and coveted item from MAC’s Surf, Baby! Collection has got to be ‘My Paradise’ Cheek Powder, and with just cause! Not only is this blush visually stunning, but the shade it imparts is (surprisingly, for such a vibrant hue) naturally fresh looking and the powder itself is so finely milled, that it blends seamlessly into your skin. The gold overspray adds a touch of pizzazz when used as a highlighter, or blended with the powder, lends a beautiful luminosity. All swatches were done over MAC’s Studio Fix Powder in C4.
Gritting my teeth against spoiling the utter beauty of this blush, I gingerly approached it to begin my swatching. Sure that the gold overspray would disappear like a puff of smoke with the first brush stroke, I was actually surprised to note that while the smallest pieces of gold did fade quite a bit, the larger hibiscus flower still looked….perfect! Seen in full sunlight above and from left to right: blended, the coral shade, the gold shade. Here’s the interesting part; the shade of the blush itself is rather vibrant and almost scarily orange leaning, HOWEVER once swatched on the the skin, it magically transforms into this amazing sun-kissed peachy-coral flush. Of course, testing a blush on your arm is not the same as trying it out on your face, but by swatching over a base as I did here, you get a fairly accurate hue.
Even shaded light does not detract from this beautiful shade and I was so pleased to see that while the product appears to be richly pigmented, it applies much less so, leaving you the option of layering it, if you wanted to increase the intensity. The gold, when blended with the main colour, does not overpower it but gives this delicate, almost fairy-light look to the overall finish……can you tell how much I’m LOVING this?!
When MAC launched their ‘To The Beach Collection’ last summer, ‘Marine Life’ sold out so fast, it became almost legendary. Lucky enough to snag one, I confess that up until now, I have NEVER swatched or even tried it. Having heard that its gold overspray was whisper thin and not wanting to destroy its intricate look, it remained untouched – but with ‘My Paradise’ now in my hands, I absolutely had to compare the two. First of all, ‘My Paradise’ is labelled as a Cheek Powder versus the High-Light Powder of ‘Marine Life’. Also, this year’s version has a less finicky golden overspray and just the one shade, versus ‘Marine Life’s’ pink and coral tones. The quality of the powder with both, is the same and even the gold hue is quite similar.
From left to right: ‘Marine Life’ fully blended, ‘My Paradise’ fully blended, ‘My Paradise’ coral and ‘My Paradise’ gold. When seen in full sun, as in the photo above, you can see the differences between the two powders, with ‘Marine Life’ having a pink cast to it and looking slightly more pigmented as well, possibly due to the red-leaning base of its coral segment.
Even in shaded light, you can still tell the differences between the two powders, although it’s interesting to note that the coral of ‘My Paradise’ swatched alone (2nd from the right), most resembles the blended swatch of ‘Marine Life’ (left), leading me to believe that ‘My Paradise’s’ gold overspray acts almost as a dampening agent to the overall finish.
Final thoughts: No question, ‘My Paradise’ is not only my favourite item from this entire collection, but I will regret not getting a back-up as this blush just really seems to work on my skin. The worst part is knowing that with use, the gold overspray will eventually disappear, but the main shade is still absolutely lovely AND totally wearable on its own. While MAC has produced several coral/peach blushes over the years, in my opinion, they got it absolutely perfect with ‘My Paradise’!
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