Beauty, Lips, Lipstick, Makeup, Mid-Range Brands, Review, Swatches

There are things that I’ve had in my stash for years that I haven’t reviewed yet and surprisingly MAC Heroine Lipstick is one of them. Which is nuts because I’m pretty quick to recommend it to anyone who loves purple and MAC. Not to mention it’s been in a couple lipstick guides here.

So clearly, now is the perfect time to review right? Sure it is! Because it’s never too late to shine some light on one of the most popular purple lipsticks in the biz. Heroine first made an appearance in the Reel Sexy collection back in 2012 as a limited edition beauty but it became a permanent staple in MAC’s line up about 2 years ago. As you can imagine, Heroine isn’t as unique as it was 3 years ago but it’s still a little tricky to find exact dupes in my stash. Milani Matte Glam is extremely close but a little more muted and less pink. Kat Von D L.U.V. Everlasting Liquid Lipstick also comes close but it’s a little brighter and a tiny bit more pink.

While the color of Heroine hasn’t changed the formula is probably a little different from when it first released. I don’t have the original version of Heroine but I do have a ton of MAC mattes from 2012 that aren’t nearly as creamy as the mattes released recently. It seems that MAC has reformulated their matte formula (without a peep) and Heroine sports the new, creamier formula. Now you may not be too happy with it if your a die hard matte fan but I welcome the change. There’s a slight sheen that I could live without but I love how easily Heroine glides across the lips without accentuating every fine line and flake.

The new matte formula is much more forgiving on my dry lips making Heroine one of my all time favorite purple matte lipsticks. It’s very comfortable to wear and lasts for around 5-6 hours before fading into a nice purple stain that just keeps holding on. I’m sure most of you probably already have Heroine chilling in your stash but, if you don’t, I encourage you to head to the MAC counter and get a jump on it! MAC Heroine Lipstick is a beautiful purple that deserves its cult status!