Review, Swatches | MAC Cruella de Vil Collection: Cruella to Be Kind Palette, De Vil in the Details Lipstick

Cruella was always my favourite Disney villain. First of all, she knows how to dress. Second of all she’s truly evil. I feel like any other Disney villain wickedness can be redeemed or explained away with past trauma or whatever. The Evil Queen couldn’t handle the fact that another woman was prettier than her, which can be seen as a consequence of a society that values women mainly for how they look. Scar couldn’t handle the fact that he could never be king, showing what a broken political system monarchies are, where the only thing that makes you a leader is being the first born of a special couple.

Cruella wants to kill puppies. To make a coat.

Come on, the b*tch is fabulous.

When I saw a while back that MAC would be coming out with this collection I got really excited. That doesn’t happen very often nowadays. I know some people were disappointed with the packaging, but I love the black, red and white sketches, and the fact that the eyeshadow palette can separate into four duos. The De Vil in the Details lipstick also caught my eye because it looked like on of those orange-y red lipsticks that are super trendy for this summer, and goes really well with the black and white colour palette. So I bought those two items.

Cruella to Be Kind Palette – £34 for 5g

Shades from left to right: Gesso, De Villionaire, Carbon, Chillin’ Like a Villain

The Cruella to be Kind palette comes with eight shades, in a magnetized packaging that you can divide into two quads or four duos. I think the colour story makes more sense if we think of it like two quads, a “blue” and a “neutral” one. The first quad contains the following shades:

  • Gesso – part of the permanent line, it’s MAC’s matte white. You can see from the swatch that it’s a bit chalky and not the most opaque shade ever, but not terrible for a matte white. I felt that it could be built up to almost full opacity, and it wasn’t patchy on the lid. Also, there was no powder kick up in the pan and no fallout while applying.
  • De Villionaire – it’s a highly shimmery, really light silver, with a frost finish. It has rather large shimmer particles without being actual glitter. It’s also really light, an almost white silver. It has a creamier texture, the colour can easily be built up, and fallout is near non-existent.
  • Carbon – like Gesso, it’s part of MAC’s permanent collection and it’s a matte black. And like Gesso, it’s a bit dry. It’s not the most intense black you’ll come across by any means, and certainly not the creamiest, but it can be a true workhorse. You can use it to darken other colours easily, it blends well, it doesn’t get patchy and has zero fallout. Really, none whatsoever. And you really want your black to not have any fallout.
  • Chillin’ Like a Villain – a surprisingly pigmented matte royal blue. It’s smoother and creamier than the two other mattes of this quad. The colour can be built up to full intensity, blends really well, and again, zero fallout. I was really surprised because the brighter matte shades usually don’t perform so well.
Shades from left to right: Need For Tweed, Crue Love, Cruella To Be Kind, Sinister Shimmer.
  • Need For Tweed – it’s a mid-tone mauve with a satin finish. It’s very powdery. There was a lot of excess powder in the pan and it also was the shade with the most fallout. It did apply evenly in one swipe, but I noticed it was the shade that faded faster – nothing dramatic, but still noticeable after 8/9 hours of wear, with primer.
  • Crue Love – it’s a metallic red copper shade. It has a frost finish, technically like De Villionaire, but the texture is smoother and I see no shimmer, just the even shine that metallic shades typically have. It’s not super opaque right off the bat but it can easily be built up. I find that’s often the case with a lot of MAC eyeshadows – they’re not the most pigmented because they’re not supposed to be – being buildable makes them more versatile and easier to use. Crue Love is also easily blendable and has no fallout.
  • Cruella To Be Kind – it’s a light-to-medium skintone colour with a hint of pink. It’s pretty light, and on my lids I really have to pack it on to notice a difference against my natural skin colour. It’s the creamiest of the mattes, but I’ve known creamier. Blends well enough, and if there was fallout, I couldn’t tell.
  • Sinister Shimmer– looks like a dark olive green in the pan, doesn’t in? Nope. It’s a black. A matte one, at that, because all that green/gold shimmer disappears as soon as you apply the eyeshadow to the lid. You don’t even need to blend it. Totally redundant, because we already have a matte black in this palette, a better one at that. This one is patchier and harder to blend.

Just for reference, when I swatched Need For Tweed and Crue Love, they reminded me of two other MAC eyeshadows from their permanent line, Shale and Coppering. I decided to swatch them side by side to compare them.

Coppering is lighter and less red/more neutral than Crue Love. Shale is also lighter and has more shine than Need For Tweed, but honestly, they’re super close. If you have one you don’t need the other.

This palette threw me for a loop. Who knew I’d be more pleased with the mattes and the brights than with the shimmers and neutrals? The shades that typically perform worse are the winners in this palette, and the seemingly safer, easier to do shadows were disappointing. I wore them all with a proper eyeshadow primer (Urban Decay Primer Potion) and they lasted all day without creasing or fading, apart from Need for Tweed like I already mentioned. The eyeshadows are about half a gram each. Considering how long it takes to go through an eyeshadow and the price, I’m not mad about it.

I’ve come up with two really nice looks using just this palette, but you’ll probably need to pull out other shadows in order to make multiple complete looks with this. And I’m still mad about the waste of space that is Sinister Shimmer. MAC has done this before, with the shade Beauty Marked, a black with purple shimmer that ends up just being a patchy matte mess on the eyes, and they haven’t learned. No more blacks with shimmer!!

Yet, I still really like it and don’t regret the purchase.

De Vil In The Details Matte Lipstick – £17.50 for 3g

De Vil In The Details is a coral, slightly orange leaning, bright matte red. Still undoubtedly a red lipstick, but with some interesting undertones that give the shade some complexity. It’s a very matte formula, but it doesn’t excessively dry out the lips. There’s a bit a pulling and tugging when applying – in fact, on first swipe, it didn’t go fully opaque and I was scared that it would be patchy, but that was short-lived: the lipstick applied evenly and stayed like so for a really, really long time – but it’s a matte, so longevity is to be expected.

Packaging wise, it’s your typical MAC bullet, with glossy black and white packaging and metallic red details. Very sexy.

All in all, I’m happy with what I got from the collection. If it’s worth it or not I guess it will depend on what shades you like to wear, but I’m excited that you can create some Cruella-like looks with the collection. I went to see the movie with a black, white and blue eyeshadow look inspired by one of the scenes and it turned out really great.

Just a side note, I loved the movie. It’s not a ground-breaking story, but the aesthetic is amazing. The fashion, the music, the colours. Tens across the boards. Great for fashion fiends.

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5 Comments

  1. This is an interesting collection. MAC is one of my favorite makeup brands. I love the lipstick, a shade I would definitely wear. These light coral reds usually suit my complexion. But the eyeshadows are too dramatic for me. I hardly ever wear eyeshadow, but when I do I tend to go for light hues and soft shimmery finishes. I love dark, matte, smokey eyes but unfortunately they make my eyes look smaller than they already are. You are a lucky girl being able to pull these dramatic eye makeup looks!!

    1. Thank you! Well, I don’t know if I really pull it off per se xD but I have fun doing them. I have a security blanket though: glasses! Makes any look “passable” lol. But I get you, this is really far from wearable. It suits Cruella, but it’s a bit out there.

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