Marian Newman Transformations for MAC

Marian Newman has two collections with MAC – firstly, a five colour line called A Novel Romance; deep, almost industrial shades in kahki, blue, red, purple and wine.

From left to right: Midnight’s Orchid, Blue, Green Grey, Magenta Noir and Crimson. The difference with these shades is that they are all ‘off’colour’ – so a take on traditional shades.

As you can see, they’ve all got a high sheen (no glossy topcoat used in these swatches) with hidden shimmer that only shows in the light; otherwise, they look like deep gloss shades. My favourite shade is Crimson – a black-shot, deep red.

If I’m honest, it’s the Transformations that are the most exciting for me – although I’d gladly use any of A Novel Romance on a regular basis. Although we’ve seen topcoats before, there’s something about these that are just up a level – Green Pearl completely transforms a nail colour that winks and twinkles in the light. So from left to right: Green Pearl, Leather, Blue Pearl and Black Glow.

You can see how packed with iridescence Blue Pearl and Green Pearl are.

Right, so from bottom to top on the swatches: Green Pearl over Magenta Noir, Black Glow over Green Grey, Blue Pearl over Blue and Leather over Midnight Orchid. Although we’ve seen leather effects before, this is definitely a more sophisticated version that gives a finer leather effect than I’ve seen before.

I think of all of the Marian Newman Transformations for MAC, Black Glow is in one that is more for nail artists and backstage perfectors – yes, it down-grades by a shade but it’s for that infinitessimal colour shifts that matter when you’re matching fabrics or creating a very specific look, but probably not quite dramatic enough for us regular ‘transformers’!

I am fairly sure that Marian Newman Transformations for MAC are scheduled for a July launch – my top picks are Crimson as a base shade and either Green or Blue Pearl to give it a duochrome spin.