Firstly, I think it’s so great that MAC have collaborated with an incredible woman with Chinese heritage. China is an indescribably large buyer of cosmetics and fashion yet we hardly see it represented well enough in the worldwide fashion media where white women are so prevalent. I hope that Chinese women are used increasingly in beauty and fashion media and MAC as always is a leader. With Chinese Year of the Goat just celebrated recently, it’s especially timely to have this collection released soon after. Fine jewellery designer and high-society woman Bao Bao Wan was photographed for her MAC campaign by fellow Chinese creative star Chen Man, for a collection inspired by her “womanly and brazen aesthetic”.
Bao Bao Wan was born in Beijing, China, the granddaughter of the legendary Wan Li, former Chairman of the National People’s Congress. She remained there until she was 15 and moved to study in New York then Paris, where she was celebrated as China’s first socialite and was the first ever Chinese debutante to be invited to attend the famous Bal des Debutantes at the Hotel Crillon there.
With a jeweller’s eye she appreciates keenly the metallic and jewel highlights that we see here – I haven’t seen such a sumptuous and rich collection. The borders of the compacts are metallic bronze and her signature adorns the clear plastic lids. But what really stands out, apart from the divine colours within, is the metallic-rubber bullet cases of the lipsticks. They immediately caught my eye and are completely stunning.
Here are my photos of MAC Bao Bao Wan:
LIPSTICKS $44
Forbidden Sunrise is a creamy orange with a matte finish, and is somewhat between MAC lipsticks Tangerine Dream and Ravishingly Rich in shades. Burmese Kiss is a bright coral pink matte lipstick and similar to MAC’s La Vie En Rouge and Toxic Tale. It is so beautiful. Am I weird that I am planning my outfits around this lipstick?! Also in the lipstick range here (but not pictured) are Lavender Jade (mauve) and Romantic Breakdown (nude.)
EYESHADOW $105
The Veluxe Pearlfusion Eyeshadow compact is aptly named Bao Bao’s Jewels, and has five shades of metallics with shimmer; mostly warm tones, with a cool grey at the bottom. I would have liked to see a more Chinese jewel tone in it, such as a jade green, as well. These metallics do reflect (no pun intended) her career as a fine jeweller. From top to bottom is a champagne pink, a gold shimmer, a rose gold, a brown bronze, and a steel grey. They are all fabulously sparkly which means there’s a certain amount of fall-out, which you can solve by using eyeshadows with a wet brush. The rose gold is lovely and creamy in texture and it and the steel grey are my top picks.
Below: I shot the makeup against my own piece from China, my mother’s dress she had custom made there when I was a child. The dress, like the collection, is both beautiful, sumptuous, and draws upon a rich heritage of culture and creativity, so I think it perfectly suits this range.
You can see here how cool the bullet cases are.
BEAUTY POWDER $55
Named Summer Opal, this beauty compact is light bronze with golden shimmer and housed like a fine jewel in a setting of bronze in the same charcoal shimmery rubber of the lipstick bullet cases. It’s warm and slightly peachy and not as shimmery as it looks in photos (and definitely not as sparkly as the eyeshadows!) It’s not too dark – it is not a bronzer by any means – so will be popular with fair / Asian complexions. It adds a fresh and glowy highlight to the complexion.
BAO BAO WAN is available March 5th, 2015 at selected authorized M·A·C locations. It’s been selling out worldwide and I’m sure New Zealand will be no different.
Megan Robinson
11th March 2015
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