Those of you who read temptalia may know that the recent MAC Colour Craft collection promotional image was done using Ben Nye eyeshadows (full post can be found here).
However, I just stumbled upon this face chart
Apparently to achieve this look:
EYES
Use 222 Blending Brush to highlight under the left brow with Passionate Eye Shadow. Blend Fresh Green Mix Mineralize Eye Shadow (solid shade) through the inner and centre of eyelid with 252 Large Shader Brush. Use Smolder Eye Kohl to intensify the waterline, and follow with Rapidblack Penultimate Eye Liner on both upper and lower lashline. Use 219 Pencil Brush to blend Passionate Eye Shadow under lower lashline, diffusing the line outward for an airbrushed effect. Begin design on the left eye by using 242 Shader Brush to shade a circle of Natural Flare Mineralize Eye Shadow at the browbone. Switch to 219 Pencil Brush to shade a circle of Fashion Patch Mineralize Eye Shadow at the temple... and so on.
Hmmm... there is no way that fresh green mix will ever give you a vibrant green, and I can certainly say the same for fashion patch, which I have been desperately trying wet to get more pigmentation.
I fully understand that an artist hired for a shoot can use whatever products they wish, but why then do MAC publish this face chart on the website and so blatantly lie? For such a well known brand, with a massive following, this seams rather a cheap trick to use to promote new eyeshadows that thruthfully are poorly pigmented and certainly nothing to write home about ;).
What do you guys think? Is MAC just doing what all other companies do or have they really missed the plot this time?
However, I just stumbled upon this face chart
Apparently to achieve this look:EYES
Use 222 Blending Brush to highlight under the left brow with Passionate Eye Shadow. Blend Fresh Green Mix Mineralize Eye Shadow (solid shade) through the inner and centre of eyelid with 252 Large Shader Brush. Use Smolder Eye Kohl to intensify the waterline, and follow with Rapidblack Penultimate Eye Liner on both upper and lower lashline. Use 219 Pencil Brush to blend Passionate Eye Shadow under lower lashline, diffusing the line outward for an airbrushed effect. Begin design on the left eye by using 242 Shader Brush to shade a circle of Natural Flare Mineralize Eye Shadow at the browbone. Switch to 219 Pencil Brush to shade a circle of Fashion Patch Mineralize Eye Shadow at the temple... and so on.
Hmmm... there is no way that fresh green mix will ever give you a vibrant green, and I can certainly say the same for fashion patch, which I have been desperately trying wet to get more pigmentation.
I fully understand that an artist hired for a shoot can use whatever products they wish, but why then do MAC publish this face chart on the website and so blatantly lie? For such a well known brand, with a massive following, this seams rather a cheap trick to use to promote new eyeshadows that thruthfully are poorly pigmented and certainly nothing to write home about ;).
What do you guys think? Is MAC just doing what all other companies do or have they really missed the plot this time?
Wow! I had no idea, feel disappointed because a lot of those images and looks they advertise are what makes me want to purchase from that collection! It's so wrong to mislead buyers!
ReplyDeleteIt's false advertising at the end of the day... they're wanting you to buy their prodducts(of course I did lol) and lying that they will create this look... doesn't seem fair! But I still love MAC all the same ha ha xxx
ReplyDeleteTemptalia said MAC was using Ben Nye for this promo look :-)
ReplyDeleteI would rather see a face chart by MAC with a look that's actually achievable using MAC products even if it meant the picture wouldn't be that exciting. To me false advertising is annoying and feels slightly like the brand thinks the consumer is stupid. I expect cheaper brands like Rimmel to cheat a bit, but with MAC, you expect them to be the best. I like that you did this post, cosmetics marketers should take note! xx
ReplyDeletei think its false advertising. the promo pics work some way to pulling us in!! x
ReplyDelete@Onyx.. I completely agree! Cheaper brands can get away with it.. but MAC? Come on!! They have enough of a range to use their own.. slap on the wrist to them!!
ReplyDeleteI actually work for MAC here in the US (don't stone me, please! :P), and after we read about the Ben Nye scandal, a coworker and I decided to see if that facechart can actually be achieved using the colors from the collection. My model was an NC42 (deep, olive complected), and we actually were able to achieve it. It took a bit of layering, tons of fix+ to dampen brushes, and plenty of effort, but we did it! It was actually quite gorgeous--I wish I had pictures :( but it was spur of the moment and none of us had our digital cameras with us. Despite all the harsh criticisms surrounding the mineral shadows, I'm actually pleasantly surprised by them. Having worked for MAC as long as i have, I'm usually disappointed with our mineral shadows and blushes--never enough pigmentation and all that jazz. These, while incredibly sheer when dry, are decently pigmented when applied wet. Will I buy all of them? No, but I did pick up a few (like Natural Flare--it's my favorite), and yes, all the MSFs, haha. MAC is getting there, slowly but surely. And hang on--the collections launching later this summer and this fall will knock your socks off--guaranteed! I predict sad things for the state of my bank account this year. In response to the Ben Nye scandal, however, I honestly think it's been blown a bit out of proportion. False advertising is in EVERYTHING--food ads, lots of clothing ads, and in every single make--up/skincare promo. False lashes in mascara commercials, tons of foundation on promos advertising products to give you perfect skin, photoshopped and airbrushed perfection on the face and body--every single company with a decent marketing division uses some sort of "false" advertising--even "high end" brands like YSL and Chanel. I can definitely understand feeling frustrated, but in my honest opinion, it's a bit naive to believe that what you see on a promo image is what you truly get--the world doesn't work that way, unfortunately. I'm sure you'll all think that's a harsh, cynical way to view the world, or that since I'm an employee, I have to "stand up" for MAC--not true: while I may be slightly cynical, I surely don't feel I have to stand up for anyone at all--I'm as quick to criticize a company as I am to compliment it. I only mean to give you another viewpoint. Anyways, I've written far more than a comment at this point, so I'm off! Blessed days, all :)
ReplyDeleteFair enough to the points made above, but I love the fact that the mighty MAC have been caught out! Mybe this will open people's eyes a little to the way MAC market and the fact that there are other brands out there offering great products too, from barryM and Sleek to other high end brands!
ReplyDelete@Jeditrx Thank you for your post. I always appreciate to hear a different viewpoint. I understand where you are coming from and agree that false advertising is used in everything, and trust me, I looove my MAC. However, the point of this post was not to express my horror that this happens, I am not naive, but my disappointment in MAC.
ReplyDeleteOf course we all know about the beauty of photoshop and false lashes used for adverts, but this scenario strikes me as different.
For example, when a foundation advert is airbrushed the blurb never says that if you wear this foundation your skin will look exactly the same as the model's. Of course it will not.. it will be a different colour, texture, may have freckles etc. However, since MAC boasts that their eyeshadows are true to colour in pan on the skin, one would expect that this colour would look the same (or pretty similar) on everyone. However, since they did not use MAC in the advert, then it can't. You even admit that it took a lot of effort to make it look similar.
I am not trying to attack anyone here, I just don't understand why, if they claim to be the best, they feel the need to use other brands and claim it as their own.
I still love MAC products, but I just wish they valued their customers a little more. Anyone who looks at this collection, as pretty as it is, can tell that the promo doesn't quite fit...
That is naughty! And misleading, however I don't really pay much attention to the promo images when I'm making choices of what to buy....I look at products, swatch them and think how they would look on my skin and not how they look on a model's. But it does really annoy me that they have done this- do they do it for all collections? Great post natalya- I'm going to have to look up these promo images now! Xx
ReplyDeleteOmg, thank you for this post. It was really nice to read the post from jeditrx. I've read all the comments on the temptalia thing, when misschievous opened my eyes to the scandal this morning and was totally shocked.
ReplyDeleteOne thing about me is that I don't mind confessing my flaws, so I will shamelessly confess that I was naive to think they really used mac for a mac advert: makes sense right? I guess people are used to airbrush, and false lashes, and clever lighting but that business of using totally different products, different brand even, that really shocked and yes I am really really naive.
This has opened my eyes big time. I like to comfort myself in the thought that I only own 3 products from mac, (vanilla e/s =wow and two shadesticks) that I will certainly buy some more, but my wanting to buy it come from youtube tutorials, from real people being generous to using it live or swatching it for us. Natalya summarised what shocked me the most and it's this: "However, since MAC boasts that their eyeshadows are true to colour in pan on the skin, one would expect that this colour would look the same (or pretty similar) on everyone." -> shocking!
For goodness's sake, the whole aim is to show off the colours from mac, not coming up with a design in some (extremely talented nonetheless) make up artist's head and then choosing the products which will best fit his art. unfreakinbelievable!!!
@liloo.. Quite!! The whole point is to advertise the collection and since none of it was actually used the whole promo image just seems completely redundant!
ReplyDelete@natalya: I wasn't at all trying to sound defensive or combative in any way--I was just expressing another viewpoint. I can definitely understand the frustration and disappointment you and tons of other MAC fans are feeling. I guess it shows the sad state of my faith in humanity that I'm not disappointed or surprised--as much as I love MAC for their product range and excellent artistry training, I have no faith in them as a company (or any other company out there for that matter), and almost expect them (and every other company out there) to do things like this--I don't expect to find honesty, sensibility, and accountability out in the corporate world; ultimately, once you wipe off the pretty colors, MAC is just a corporate company, completely business-minded and oriented, nothing more. They see the promo image as a way to capture customers walking by, to intrigue them long enough for an artist to grab them and sit them down, not as a realistic representation of the collection itself. Look at Style Warriors for example--the promo boasts that she is wearing bright future eyeshadow from lid to brow, and smolder eye kohl under her eyes--it wasn't; she was wearing a yellow and black chromacake. I guess the point of this long-winded, jaded ramble is that all you can trust is what you see in the swatch on your hand, on your lips, and on your eyes. and don't let yourself be pulled in the belief that MAC is on some pedestal, high above the need for reproach and accountability, because they're not, and you'll only be disappointed again.
ReplyDeleteSorry to bog up your blog with cynical nonsense :P
It's well known in food advertising etc that products are made to look better than they actually are but even I'm surprised about MAC. I get the whole 'conceptual' thing but really it isn't okay to use someone else's make up to promo your own. It doesn't make any sense because creatively MAC surely have enough ideas that can be achieved with their own products. Makes me wonder what else they've done.
ReplyDeletewow I didn't know that! very naughty and misleading!
ReplyDelete