MAC Pro Longwear Lip Pencil Swatches and Review: Kiss Me Quick and What A Blast!

Pro Longwear Lip Pencil swatches with matching lip colors

I've started to use lip liners more regularly just to keep the borders of my lip colors crisp and defined, and realized I didn't own a single good true-red and strong orange. On a recent getaway, I popped by the MAC counter near my hotel and happened to see a beautiful orange and it turned out to be the Pro Longwear pencil in What A Blast! (Yes, exclamation mark included.) 

The color was perfect, and since I hadn't tried any of the Pro Longwear pencils before, I decided to get my basic red pencil from the Pro Longwear line as well, instead of the regular line as well. The Pro Longwear Lip Pencil equivalent of a strong deep true-red is Kiss Me Quick. 

Nib close-up of Pro Longwear Lip Pencils in Kiss Me Quick (left) and What A Blast! (right)

These are regular pencils that require sharpening (not automatic), and when I swatched them in the store, I really wasn't expecting the texture to be just as soft and pigmented as any of the regular pencils. You'd think long wearing pencils would be harder and dryer, but these aren't. They don't drag on your lips and they do not darken and clump on the lips. The color goes on true, and you can definitely wear these on their own as super-matte velvety lips (see image below for a thicker filled-in swatches).

Daylight swatches of Pro Longwear Lip Pencils in Kiss Me Quick and What A Blast!

The lipsticks I'm personally using with these are swatched along with the pencils in the top image.

Kiss Me Quick, being a basic deep red, is extremely versatile and goes with just about any strong red lipstick. The flash brings out differences in tones, but the shades are extremely good matches in real life.

For the oranges, I had intended to match it to Lime Crime's My Beautiful Rocket (What A Blast! is just slightly deeper than My Beautiful Rocket, which makes it perfect as a definer for that lipstick), but it works with a more reddened coral like Barry M Sunset as well.

The drawback for me is that the Pro Longwear pencils (1.2g) are shorter than the regular MAC Pencils (1.36g), but cost more. Then pro is that you really do need to reapply these less throughout the day.

MAC Pro Longwear pencil lined up cap-to-cap with MAC Chromagraphic Pencil in  Process Magenta.

Why should you buy these?
They stay on incredibly well. For something that is so pigmented and soft, they really last. I'd actually swatched them and then left the store without purchasing anything. (I figured I could always order NYX liners from Beautyjoint for a fraction of the price.) The next afternoon, after showering and lots of hand-washing, I discovered that the liner swatches were still there (though more faded) on the back of my hand, and rubbing hard with a tissue couldn't remove the traces. It finally took an oil based remover and lots of vigorous rubbing to get these off completely.

 I was sold. I went right back to the nearest MAC store and got them.

10 Favorite Lipsticks (March 2011)

I've always been obsessed with lipstick. Nothing in the world feels quite the same a gliding a creamy bullet of rich color over your lips.

Here are some of my current favorites.

Group 1

1. Bourjois Sweet Kiss Shine #59 Rose Etincelant
Sweet sheer candy pink with gold highlights makes this a soft peach/nude on the lips (below) that's flattering if you have medium to dark skin.

2. Estee Lauder Pure Color Crystal Lipstick #301 Crystal Baby


3. Sephora Lip Attitude #G20
A more chocolate-y version of Crystal Baby, this is a sheer glossy nude-brown lipstick which feels and looks almost like a gloss. Perfect as a base color to mute redness when wearing sheer tinted gloss. Best thing? It's so inexpensive!

4. MAC Lustre Lipstick in Fresh Brew
A slightly deeper version of Sephora #G20, but I love it because it can look like a nice caramel-y true-brown on lighter skins, and a non-chalky nude on darker-toned complexions. Definitely check this out if you are NC40 and deeper, and can't find nice nudes.

5. Maybelline Watershine Pure Lipstick #B24
A pale pink-based nude which is the pinker and more opaque counterpart of Crystal Baby, but at a fraction of the price. If you like milky nude-pinks with a glossy sheen, this is a great one to try.

___
Group 2

1. Sephora Lip Attitude Star #S22
A flattering, ultra-shimmery caramel, I bought this because it looked so much like a Dior Addict Shine lipstick. It's rich, creamy, sheer, and feels just as luxurious as a high-end lip color.

2. MAC Pro Longwear Lipcreme in Till Tomorrow
Bruised-lip color which stays put for a few hours with normal activity. I'll always find kiss-proof lipsticks fascinating because of Revlon Colorstay, but then there are no Revlon equivalents for this shade where I am.

3. Rimmel Moisture Renew Lipstick #180 Vintage Pink
This quirky and beautiful dusty lavender-pink always makes me think of a scene in Anne Rice's Pandora, where an ancient vampire sits anonymously in a cafe, writing the story of her life wearing a "purple" lipstick. (I somehow always imagined it to be a mauve that is atypical but subtle, rather than dark and dramatic.) On light to medium skin, this is a medium tone, but if you are about NC40 onwards, this will be a lovely cool-toned nude pink for you.

4. MAC Amplified Lipstick in Up The Amp
One more purple. And what a purple! It goes on more blue than the swatch above. This is the loud and attention-seeking rebel of the family. If you have golden or olive-toned skin, this purple looks sooo nice as statement lips, paired with minimal makeup.

5. L.A. Girl Lipstick in Dreamer
I mentioned this before in my Robin Blue nail polish post. This is a lovely, lovely black. I say so because it does not go on streaky or patchy, and is not stubbornly hard to even out (below). Wear this with any other shade you have to deepen it dramatically.



P.S. Some other favorites which I love but are either discontinued or a little easier to duplicate are:

1. MAC Syrup (dupe this with Urban Decay Rush or Etude LED lipstick #10)
2. Revlon Matte lipstick in Really Red
3. Lancome Color Fever Dewy Shine lipstick #258