Review & Swatches: MAC’s Rosé Olé Special Reserve Highlight Powder (Cham Pale Collection)

MAC Rosé Olé Special Reserve Highlight Powder

Limited-edition
Price: $28 (regular) / $16.80 (pro)
Release date: Dec. 24th on maccosmetics.com; Dec. 26th in stores; Jan. 2010 internationally
Size: 10g / 0.35 US oz.

Company’s Description

Reflecting the lighthearted luxury of this Champagne-shaded post-holiday collection, a silky, pigment-rich, creamy powder that imparts a natural, fully dimensional glow all over the face. The style note: the powder’s crinkled paper emboss design. Consider it vintage M∙A∙C.

Rosé Olé is one of two highlighting powders released with MAC’s Cham Pale collection. It is a pale, neutral/slightly cool-toned pink color with small gold shimmers. The powder has been pressed so that the surface looks like crumpled paper.

Packaging: 9/10
This product comes in standard MAC packaging—the same used for Mineralize Skinfinishes (MSF). So while the packaging is not particularly unique, it is high-quality. This is something you could throw in your purse or travel with and not have to worry about it breaking.

Quality: 8.5/10
This is a good powder for highlighting the cheekbones, under the brow, down the nose, or anywhere else on the face you want to highlight. The effect is quite subtle, so it’s a good choice if you are looking for a highlighter for the day. If you want something more noticeable or for nighttime, you will have to use 4-5 layers of this product. The sparkles are pretty finely milled—certainly more fine than the shimmers in, say, MAC’s Soft & Gentle MSF. But if you look closely, the sparkles are noticeable. So if sparkles or glitters bother you, I would suggest using a liquid or cream highlighter instead of Rosé Olé.

Ease of Use: 8/10
The first 1-2 layers of Rosé Olé don’t produce a lot of color, but if you continue layering, you’ll get a light rosy color. A word of caution when layering, though. The more layers you add, the grainier this product becomes on the skin. So if you are going for more color or a more noticeable highlight effect, you will have to find a happy medium to avoid getting that grainy texture on the skin.

Price: 7.5/10
In comparison to other “high-end” brands, MAC is very reasonably priced. Given that there is nothing particularly unique about this highlighting powder, though, you don’t need to spend all $28 for Rosé Olé. If you don’t care about brand name, you could easily find a drugstore product that gives you the same effect.

82.5/100

Toss if: you already have a highlighting powder you are happy with or you want a more dramatic effect
Try if: you want a highlighter that gives you the option of layering to get some color
Buy if: you are looking for a good, standard highlighting powder

Comparable product: Revlon’s ColorStay Mineral Finishing Powder in “010 Brighten”