MAC's Marilyn Monroe eye shadows & lipsticks - swatches & first impressions

I was walking past the MAC counter the other day, and saw that they had the Marilyn Monroe collection on display (and, I assume, for sale)...so, because nobody at MAC ever wants to serve me, I helped myself to trying the lipsticks and eye shadows.

First up, the shadows - they're all veluxe pearl, which means they have a pearly/metallic sheen to them. Veluxe Pearl eye shadows are also meant to be pigmented... unfortunately, the four in the Marilyn Monroe collection are not! 

There are four colours: How To Marry (soft white), Preferred Blonde (pink champagne), Silver Screen (light silver) and Showgirl (dark grey with blue undertone).

Here are the swatches I did of all four shades...

From left to right: Silver Screen, Preferred Blonde, Showgirl, How To Marry 

As you can see, not particularly impressive! And at $40 each, they're not going in my shopping basket!

Then there are the lipsticks. Of the five in the collection, they had 4 on display: 3 Mattes - Scarlet Ibis (orange-red), Deeply Adored (dark red with brown undertone), Charmed I'm Sure (deep red), and 1 Satin - Love Goddess (pink-red). [The other shade is Pure Zen, a pink-beige-nude in a cremesheen finish.]

And here are the swatches I did...

From left to right: Deeply Adored, Charmed I'm Sure, Love Goddess, Scarlet Ibis

I like the colours chosen for this collection of lipsticks - Marilyn is known for her reds, and they've put together a nice variety. Unfortunately, I could see the mattes were really drying as soon as I put them on my hand - I guess they might look better with a gloss on top! It's a shame, because the colours are quite nice! Love Goddess, being a satin, was glossier and therefore was my favourite of the bunch...I would've liked to try these on the lips, but, as I mentioned before, I don't have a good record with getting service at any MAC counter I go to!

Are these lipsticks worth the $38 we have to pay for them in Australia? No way - I'm sure you could find very similar colours for cheaper. I think I may have to go on the hunt for some dupes! :D

I didn't try the rest of the collection, mainly because I didn't have the time....but also because I was getting strange looks from the counter staff! Haha

Anyway...have you tried the whole collection? What do you think? Have you bought any of it? Let me know in the comments below!

If you're looking for more of an in-depth review (and better swatches), check out Temptalia's reviews of both the eye shadows and lipsticks!