MAC Hey, Sailor! - My Haul and Final Thoughts

This morning I was finally able to pick up my pre-order on the Hey, Sailor collection at my local Macy*s.  After sitting in what seemed to be endless traffic and massive amounts of humidity rendering my hair a disaster (I will be redoing it after I finish this post up), I finally pulled into the mall parking lot, found a spot, and then went running into Macy*s.  I even skipped over Sephora on this visit, I was so excited to get my MAC products and then get back home to play with them.  My initial thought when I got to the counter was that there was no excitement around this line, the counter had one poster up and normal-sized display instead of all the bells and whistles that was I was expecting to see.  I did my pre-order a few days ago with the counter manager and I wish that she would have been there this morning since she knows me well and has recommended products that have ended up being favorites of mine.  I ended up only leaving with the four products that I had pre-ordered so I will have to visit again in order to purchase some of the permanent shades that I need.

I narrowed my initial purcahse down to the four products that I wanted the most when I looked at the collection.  The bags are not available at the counters so I wasn't able to buy any of those.  I decided on a Lipstick, two eye makeup products, and a bronzer.  None of the shades and products are super-unique and they are many dupes out on the market from all different brands.  If you love the packaging, then you will be all over this collection; if you don't, then you will not die if you don't buy multiple pieces of the collection.  Did the packaging push me in the direction of this collection?  Of course it did!  The only product that I would have purchased if the collection was in the plain packaging is the powder bronzer since I actually need it.  MAC offers great red lipstick hues but I didn't need another one and wouldn't have really noticed this one had I not be stalking the collection.  The same reasoning holds for the gold eye makeup products.  However I happen to love the packaging and I am so happy with the four products that I have bought!

My Hey, Sailor! haul!

Hey, Sailor! Bronzing Powder - A lightly frosted, tinted powder that gives skin sheer, natural colour effects and highlights.  Ideal to enhance and strengthen a tan.  Packaged in blue and white stripes, it's a match to everything Hey, Sailor!  Limited edition.
- Soft Sand - golden bronze with fine gold pearl

Hey, Sailor! Eye Shadow - Highly pigmented powder.  Applies evenly, blends well.  Packaged in blue and white stripes, it's a match to everything Hey, Sailor!  Limited edition.
- Barefoot - tarnished gold

Hey, Sailor! Powerpoint Eye Pencil - A kohl pencil that has all the intensity of colour-power of ultra-soft carbon.  Provides deep, fully opaque coverage and an intense, smoked finish with duo-chrom pearl.  Versatile in application: blend or smudge.  Packaged in blue and white stripes, it's a match to everything Hey, Sailor!  Limited edition.
- Handforged - metallic yellow gold

Hey, Sailor! Lipstick - Colour plus texture for the lips.  Stands out on the runway.  Simmers on the street...or at sea!  Packaged in blue and white stripes, it's a match to everything Hey, Sailor!.  Limited edition.
- Red Racer - bright yellow red

We will start off with the bronzer.  I decided on the Bronzing Powder because the shades were more neutral, the Pro Longwear Bronzing Powders looked slightly harder to work with; one shade has a red finish, the other a pronounced yellow undertone.  Of the Bronzing Powders, Soft Sand is medium tan with very little shimmer, the other Bronzing Powder has a heavier shimmer and is a darker hue.  Soft Sand is the easier of the two shades for me to pull off.  This bronzer has a sheer to medium finish, it will work best as a light dusting used to lightly tanned to medium skin.  This is the shade that will fit most of the ladies that shop at MAC.

The Barefoot Eye Shadow is the pretty gold shade that I wanted as soon as I first looked at the collection.  The MAC website doesn't give full details but the counter manager told me that the finish on this shadow is closest to the Veluxe Pearl formula, a formaul that manages to produce some of the best and worst MAC shadows.  This shade has a medium to sheer finish and works best when applied with an eye primer.  I will be using it with other golds and champagnes, it is not quite pigmented enough to wear on its own.  I was considering the gold-toned Pigment in this collection but the counter manager told me that the eye shadow is easier to apply and a bit softer than the texture of the Pigment, making my decision of what I wanted easier. 

The Powerpoint Eye Pencil is one of the best quality products that I bought with this collection and I see myself getting the most use of this liner and the matching shadow all year round.  This pencil is less pigmented than the Urban Decay 24/7 Eye Pencils so this isn't the dupe that I was hoping for.  It needs to be applied twice to get a full color intensity, one coat offers a subtle gold look and two coats are needed to create the full gilded eye look.  This pencil lasts all day long and only budged when I used eye makeup remover on it at night, this is a great choice for the summer months.

The last product is the one that is my absolute favorite from the collection and the one product that I had to own from the collection, the Red Racer Lipstick shade.  This a medium yellow red with a satin finish, the finish is very close to a matte and is just slightly creamier than Russian Red.  This shade reminds me of Ladybug with a full coverage finish, a shade that I have often hoped for.  This shade gives me about 6 hours of wear and will begin to wear off with extended eating or drinking.  A primer would be needed under this shade to keep it on all day. 

Overall I am very happy with my purchases from the Hey, Sailor! collection.  I certainly don't need the whole collection even though I love the packaging.  This is one of my favorite MAC collections so far this year, even though I think that the packaging is better than some of the products and shades in the collection.  I like other products in the collection but I really don't need any of those shades as much as I wanted these.  I will be able to use the bronzer all the way into September and the rest of the shades will work well for me all year round and will work well with the rest of the shades in my traincase.  I predict that this will be one of the biggest MAC collections of the year.

photo courtesy of Nordstrom