MAC Star Trek: Pressed Pigment in To Boldly Go, The Naked Time, and Bird of Prey

Tomorrow, MAC will be launching their major fall collaboration collection with Star Trek, the American science fiction franchise created by Gene Roddenberry that encompasses seven TV series, 13 films, numerous multi-format games, and a large library of novels and comics. In honour of its 50th anniversary, MAC has teamed up with Star Trek to create an exclusive makeup collection: "Spanning half a century, Star Trek and its loyal fans cross generations, influencing ideas and aesthetics of gender, race, and intergalactic potential. As the sci-fi saga continues, delight in the beauty of exploration as MAC and Star Trek's latest cinema generation join forces in an exclusive makeup collaboration of cosmically charged hues." 

MAC Star Trek will include a total of 24 products, and see the release of four shades of Pressed Pigment, which MAC describes as "lustrous cream-like eye shadow shades [that] offer extreme pearlescence and versatility of finish. Provides sheer-to-moderate buildable coverage and a dimensional finish. The dual-use formula can be applied dry for a sparkling more translucent look, or wet for glossy saturated colour with high shine. The smooth, non-dusty formula is easy to blend, giving extreme adherence to skin." (There is one re-promoted shade, Midnight, that will not be reviewed here.) They are housed in special edition black compacts with a clear lid and the Star Trek logo in metallic silver, as well as matching secondary packaging. Each Pressed Pigment contains a total of 3 grams of product and retails for $27.50.
To Boldly Go, The Naked Time, and Bird of Prey
To Boldly Go, The Naked Time, and Bird of Prey

To Boldly Go is a medium-dark warm copper brown with red and gold iridescent micro-glitter in a sparkly metallic finish. This is a new and limited edition shade. It has a soft, finely-milled texture, and goes on smoothly and evenly. It has high pigmentation and opaque colour pay-off. It can be layered and blended out easily. When used wet, the colour looks brighter and the sparkle is more prominent. It is lighter and more iridescent than Amorous Alloy, lighter and more sparkly than Antiqued, and more muted and more brown than Coppering.

The Naked Time is a light warm champagne gold with gold and silver iridescent micro-glitter in a sparkly metallic finish. This is a new and limited edition shade. It has a soft, finely-milled texture, and goes on smoothly and evenly. It has medium-high pigmentation and semi-opaque to opaque buildable colour pay-off. It can be layered and blended out easily. When used wet, the colour looks brighter and the sparkle is more prominent. It is brighter and warmer than Retrospeck, lighter and more sparkly than Ricepaper, and darker and more gold than Vanilla Pigment.

Bird of Prey is a dark neutral dirty forest green with multi-coloured iridescent micro-glitter in a sparkly metallic finish. This is a new and limited edition shade. It has a soft, finely-milled texture, and goes on smoothly and evenly. It has medium-high pigmentation and semi-opaque to opaque buildable colour pay-off. It can be layered and blended out easily. When used wet, the colour looks brighter and the sparkle is more prominent. It is more muted and more sparkly than Humid, lighter and warmer than Legendary Lure, and lighter and more muted than Smutty Green.

MAC definitely re-formulated their Pressed Pigments because the ones in this launch are far smoother, creamier, and more pigmented than the originals. These feel almost more like the Dazzleshadows (which are now permanent) or the Colourdrenched Pigments that came out last year. Note that the above swatches were done dry and without any primer underneath, too — they really do come off that pigmented and smooth. Of course, like all shadows with high glitter content, these work better with flat synthetic brushes like MAC's #242 to minimize fall-out. If you like your glitter eyeshadows, these ones are definitely worth checking out — especially Bird of Prey, which is one of the most unique shadows I've come across in a while.