Chen Man Love & Water for Mac Launches March 2012: Pictures & Swatches

Mac is back on its game for March with a power launch: Chen Man for Mac is really piquing my interest with electric flashes of shocking pink (yay!) and bright blue (yay!). A Chinese photographer and digital artist, she's known for her image manipulation and the work she's done for Vision magazine, a Shanghai mag dedicated to avant garde fashion. A good study for Mac, so, and the strong pink and blue bias in the collection is down to Chen Man's fascination with love and water, repped by the two shades.

Here's the whole line up, the vast majority of which is limited edition, indicated by the asterisks (*).

Mineralize Eyeshadow Duo, €20.50*

• Supersweet Duo – half bronze, pink, gold melange/half solid golden pink (frost)
• Pink Union Duo – half taupe, lavender, brown melange/half solid dark violet (frost)
• Love Cycle Duo – half light blue, white, dark blue melange/half solid dark royal blue (frost)

Fluidline, €17.50

• Blacktrack Solid flat black
• Waveline Navy blue with low level gold pearl

Reflects Glitter*

• Reflects Blue Sparkling blue, €24.50

Pigment*

• Naval Blue Deep smoky blue, €24.50

Lipstick, €17.50*

• Force of Love Vivid honeysuckle pink (matte)
• Budding Love Pale lavender (lustre)

Lipglass, €17*

• Force of Love Vivid honeysuckle pink
• Budding Love Pale lavender

Beauty Powder*

• Play It Proper Pastel soft pink with sparkles, €29

Nail Lacquer, €12.50*

• Breezy Blue Dark blue
• Pinkly Fresh Mid-tone blue pink

Gloss*

• Clear, €21

Mascara

• Zoom Fast Black Lash Carbon, €16.50

Brow Set

• Clear, €16.50

Brush

• 208 BRUSH Angled brow brush, €20.50

And a closer look at some of the products. We've got Mineralize duos in Pink Union and Love Cycle, Pigment and Reflects, Lipstick in Force of Love, the matching lipglass, a Fluidline in Waveline and Nail Lacquer in Pinkly.

I've had a couple of bits to play about with ahead of the March on-counter date and one of the nicest things about this collab is the outer cases. The inner packaging is the standard black but there are patterned dust covers over the boxes, which are very pretty.

I've gotten the Lipstick in Force of Love and the Beauty Powder. If you're a fan of Mac's Beauty Powders then this is very much ... a Mac Beauty Powder; it's in fact extremely similar to the ones released at Christmas with Glitter and Ice - though it's pinker. However, that lipstick. OMG. It's practically neon. Which means, of course, that I adore it.

I've been wearing it to work, people have been rounding corners, stopping in their tracks and saying "...! I ...er ... love your lipstick?" Me: "Thanks! I love it too!" It's a screecher - it's fabulous. Matte, so be warned, Force of Love is drying and by the end of the day my lips don't feel great and look flaky, but oh that colour.  If you love bold shades, you're going to go wild for this.

Psst: Mac's Nicki Minaj Viva Glam lipstick is also wibble-tastic, more about which soon!

(awful iPhone pic, sorry!)

So, all that remains is to show you some swatches and ask, is there anything you're lemming from Chen Man for Mac?