REASONS FOR PURCHASE

What I love about MAC is their huge number of limited edition seasonal collections. It was these collections that first got me introduced to the loose pigments. Depending on the particular collection, you can often get 4 or 5 mini pigment tubes in one very pretty limited edition set. A great way to try lots of colours!

WHAT MAC SAY

"Pigment is a highly concentrated loose colour powder that contains ingredients to help it adhere to the skin. Pigment comes in an excellent range of colours. Use to create a subtle wash of colour or an intense effect. Pigment does not streak or cake, is easy to blend and long-lasting. Please note: Pigments are sold by weight not volume. Containers can appear to be less than full due to settling of the product."

THE PRICE

A 4.5g tube of pigment will cost you £15.50 but keep an eye out for limited edition pigment sets where you'll pay a little more, but receive 4 or 5 different colours / finishes of pigments. This works out slightly cheaper and way more fun!

Obviously you can get pigments from brands such as Collection 2000 and Barry M much cheaper. In my opinion the quality isn't as good and the texture doesn't blend so well. The cheaper versions often have big chunks of glitter, which isn't very appealing to everyone!

You can buy your MAC products from their website, their store, Selfridges or Debenhams.

APPEARANCE

MAC have recently changed the look of their pigment tubes / bottles. They are in glass jars / vials and have a matte black lid, the texture is what I'd call 'frosted', so it's not a smooth and polished finish.

The details will be on a sticker on the bottom of the jar / vial.

The pigment jars mainly look so pretty because of the colours of the pigment inside. I love to see these shine and sparkle in my makeup box like little gems!!

COLOURS AND TEXTURES

You can get MAC pigments in matte finishes, frost finishes and pearl finishes. Frost being by far the most popular with about 20 colours to chose from in their permanent range. Matte obviously don't have the shimmer / sheen to them, and pearl has a little shimmer and sheen but not too much. Frost finishes sparkle, glitter sheen and shine! Unlike with similarly sparkly eyeshadows, the loose pigments are easy to pick up and have an amazingly pigmented colour pay off.

Like with other MAC products, there are a lot of colours to chose from, the lightest lights to the darkest darks. Pigments are easy to mix together so you can custom make your own colours too! Lots of fun!

APPLICATION

You can use pigments in lots of different ways. I've tried all sorts of different things with my MAC pigments. Here are my favourite application methods and my thoughts on each:

Directly onto eye area: I'll use either a blending eye brush or my fingers and smudge the pigment onto my eyelids. More often than not I'll use a few colours to create a smokey eyed look. These pigments blend so well and are long lasting even without a primer.

Sometimes I'll mix with Vasseline and use a pigment as a liquid eyeliner for my upper lash line. Or just as a very bold eyeshadow.

Mixed with lipbalm: I've used some pinky toned pigments before with lipbalm to create a bit of a shimmery sheen lip tint. This doesn't last ages, but is very pretty! You can mix a couple of pigments with a lipbalm to create new colours.

Mixed with face powder: I like to mix a bit of gold pigment with my usual face powder for an all over glow. I particularly like this look for summer evenings. Great for getting a perfect colour match (because you can add as much or as little pigment as you like), and lasts well too!

As a highlighter: If you don't have a highlighter in a colour you're after, or you don't have a highlighter in general, a lighter coloured pigment can easily be blended with a finger tip directly to your cheek or brow bones.

On top of or instead of a blush: If you're working with one of the more natural pigment colours (or not if you're bold!) you can use a tiny bit of pigment on top of your blusher for a bit of a sparkle / sheen. I just decant some pigment into a mixing pot and use a blusher brush. I tap it after dipping in the pigment so I only get a little on my brush. Then blend on top of my usual blusher for a bit of a change. You can do this instead of blusher too if you like!

Tinted moisturiser: You can mix a bit of any pigment in with your moisturiser for a lovely summery glow. A little goes a long way though!

Unusual / fancy dress looks: Pigment is ideal if you need to create a really distinctive look, for a costume or whatever. You can apply pigment onto your face with your fingers or a brush, and you can mix it with vasseline to make it stay put even better and have even more of a rich coloured appearance!

OVER ALL

Pigment is so versatile and if you're a makeup lover you won't want to pass this by. A great way to get into the pigments is to get yourself a limited edition set with a selection of smaller sized pigment bottles. Keep your eyes peeled around Christmas time especially!

Because you can use these pigments in any which way I can't rate them highly enough! I even prefer them as an everyday eyeshadow!