Wearing Pink 4 Friday Lipstick by MAC and Nicki Minaj all by its lonesome (left); with MAC Lip Liner in Spice and MAC Clear Lipglass (right)
I’m sure she’s out there somewhere — the girl who can pull off cool and creamy MAC Pink 4 Friday Lipstick ($14.50) all by itself. And wherever you are, you gorgeous princess (or prince) of great makeup fortune, I salute you (and pump my fist in the air, Jersey Shore style)!
The extremely limited-edition color, just 4 days (!) in this world, is a collaboration between MAC and hip-hop artist Nicki Minaj (to coincide with the release of her new album, Pink Friday).
MAC loves to fire up their fetishists (like me) with hard-to-snare products. I can’t help it, and I think there’s an element of human nature behind the phenomenon, but knowing that the color won’t be available for very long does make me want it even more.
There’s only one way to pick up Pink 4 Friday, and that’s online, and only on exactly two more dates — Friday, December 10 and Friday, December 17 — beginning at midnight Eastern Time on each of the dates and lasting 24 hours. Sadly, the first two Fridays already came and went (November 26 and December 3). 🙁
I gotta be honest — I loves me some Nicki Minaj (got Pink Friday on repeat right now), but this creamy, pale pastel pink’s not a cinch to wear.
Don’t get me wrong. I think it looks totally legit on Nicki. She’s got the style, after all, rockin’ those technicolor baby doll outfits, but on me…? It looks full-on cra-zay-zay!
Still, I think I’ve figured out a couple tricks to wearing it in the real world…
Start by priming and moisturizing your lips with a lip balm. Then, line and fill them in with a neutral lip pencil in a darker pink, rose or brown. That adds some warmth and depth to the look.
In the pic above I used the pinkish brown MAC Lip Pencil in Spice ($13), but I considered MAC Dervish (a pinkish mauve), MAC Pink Treat (a deep cool pink), MAC Sublime Culture (a warm pinkish brown) and the new Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Lip Pencils.
After filling in your lips, dab Pink 4 Friday from the tube. Dabbing/pressing the tube lays down less product than sliding it does, which in this case produces a stain-like natural finish (slicking the lips with the tube would deposit a lot more pigment).
Last, but not least, dab a sheer lipgloss like MAC Clear Lipglass ($14.50) right at the center of both lips. The spot will catch the light and create the illusion of a plumper pout.
From left: MAC Pink 4 Friday, MAC Lip Liner in Spice, MAC Clear Lipglass
A few similar MAC lip colors from left: Pink 4 Friday, Viva Glam Gaga and Blooming Lovely
I can’t wait to try this with super smokey eyes! 🙂
PRICE: $14.50
AVAILABILITY: Exclusively at maccosmetics.com on December 10 and 17
MAKEUP AND BEAUTY BLOG RATING: B+
Maybe we should rename this the Makeup and Chai Latte/Dessert Blog
Holy wow! You guys are chai tea latte experts! Thanks for all the great recommendations. Don’t laugh, but I went to sleep last night fantasizing about my next chai latte, and now I’m heading to Peet’s for my afternoon treat.
And since tea goes so well with cookies…
If you can identify these cookies in the comments, you are officially awesome (well, more awesome).
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Macaroons! So yummy! 😀
Hi Siobhan,
Right on!
And there goes my attempts to eat healthy, LOL… dang, I love those things.
Actually, Macarons, not macaroons. Macaroons are a coconut cookie, macarons are french pastry/cookies. 🙂
I`ve always wondered what the difference was! Thanks Rose!
Karen.. all the pretty colours too?!
macarrons! <3333
a lady in the farmers market here makes them !!! yum!
im not a fan of that lipstick — its scary!!!
Hi Nina,
Hmm, how about it with a darker lip pencil and clear gloss, like I have in the pic above? It’s a little more wearable!
now im tempted to lay in wait thurs evening to snag one up online!
I’m not overly impressed with the color by itself, but you seem to have found the combo that makes it work, girl! And don’t worry about the macaroons…you go to the gym SO you can eat them! 😉
Hi Katie,
It’s not the easiest shade to wear, that’s for sure. Do you wear pale pinks like this often? I rarely do when it’s by itself… I usually have to add a few things to make it look, um, less p*rnstar, on me.
Ugh, I have so far been able to resist the call of the cookies! We’ll see how long I hold out.
I usually stick to neutrals, it’s a safe territory at the moment
Have a lovely evening with your macaroons and Tabs!
That lipstick would look absolutely ugly on me!!! Precisely the reason why I did not get the Lady Gaga one 🙁 But this one looks scarier
What do you think of it with the other accoutrements? It’s actually quite wearable if you throw other stuff in the mix.
love how you make the lippie work for you!
mmmmm, macaroons! I have always wanted to try making them myself…
These tricks should work with most lipsticks that are too light! 🙂
My friend said she tried making them once and it was hard. Apparently getting the cookie part perfectly crispy on the outside and soft on the inside is challenging.
The only cookies I can handle and chocolate chip, haha.
yeah, they seem really tricky! oh well. my new fave dessert = cake balls. have you ever tried them?
Nooo! Are they like cupcakes? Is there icing involved? DO TELL!
ohmygod they are awesome, and if you bring them to a potluck they will be a huge hit. there is frosting involved. basically you make a cake, crumble it, mix the crumbs with frosting, form into balls, and then dip into melted chocolate or candy melts. the awesome thing is that you can use any combo of cake and frosting – I have done chocolate cake with vanilla frosting, spice cake with cream cheese frosting, vanilla cake with chocolate frosting… there are a lot of steps involved but all the steps are really easy! yummmm
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Cake-Balls/Detail.aspx
HOLY CRAP. I need a carrot cake and cream cheese combo to come into my life, STAT!
that would be awesome! dipped into vanilla candy melts!
Or how about red velvet cake with vanilla frosting? Or something with caramel?
Now I’m really hungry!
Ever see rum balls at a bakery? They take the cake scraps when they trim to size, soak some in rum, and then form balls with a bit of frosting, coat in chocolate and sometimes add sprinkles or nuts. I sometimes make them with amaretto.
Steph – those sound awesome! I have to try to find some!!
Macaroon! I most definitely would not be able to pull off that lipstick (when it’s by itself!) but I love it when you layered it with liner and gloss!
Hi Kayann,
Have you ever had caramel macarons? They’re my favorite.
I want this just because it’s by Nikki Minaj, but my tan skin tone would never be able to pull it off. What a shame.
Hi Alex,
I’m tan too! You can totally pull this off — do you have MAC Spice Lip Liner or a clear gloss? Either one would make it more wearable.
You look very nice in Pink 4 Friday! I think, on the other hand, that I’d look really stupid in this shade. Nevertheless, I love limited edition products, so I can see why this one is so anticipated!
I feel self-conscious wearing it by itself, but love it with Spice and Clear Lipglass! 🙂
And I so feel you for loving the limited edition colors… I have a few that still make me swoon, like the Beauty Powders from the Barbie Loves MAC Collection.
I love the IDEA of this lipstick, but on me it would be a no-no. A friend, bless him, went to the MAC store and got me Viva Glam GaGa for my birthday last year, but I soon learned that those pastel pinks are easier said than done!
Mmmm, macaroons, I was gorging myself on those Saturday! So delicious!
What a sweet friend, Lucie. I gotta give any man who braves the MAC store props. 🙂
Do you have a neutral lip liner on hand? Maybe something like Spice could make Gaga more wearable for you.
I think I’ll shy away from that one. Probably too much with the bright red hair. I currently look like the Little Mermaid
That’s hawt. I think in a former lifetime I was a girl with bright red Litttle Mermaid hair (can’t pull that off in this one, though, LOL).
Have you been wearing a lot of teal? I remember Ariel wearing it often.
It’s fun having the hair, but I’m on strict orders from my mum to tone it down for Christmas or she’s gonna start putting my strands up on the tree.
I do love teal, it is the color that dominates my apartment. It does look super gorgeous with the red
That seems like an awful lot of work to make a lipstick right for you. Maybe if I had a gorgeous, expensive lipstick that was just wrong and I couldn’t return it.
I loooooove macarons. Teaching myself how to make them is my winter project. I’ve made a couple of batches in the past that were tasty, but not what they could be.
I totally want those cookies now!!!! 😀
I think those are macarons/maccarones, which are meringue-based (and French). Macaroons are shredded coconut-based (at least in the U.S.), and either crispy/toasted or dipped in chocolate (like a Mounds candy bar). Both are super yummy though 🙂 Especially with chai lattes!
I feel better about the fact that a lot of girls are finding Pink 4 Friday hard to wear, too! As soon as I saw swatches, I knew it would make me look totally ghastly on its own. I love the combo you did.
and i thought viva glam gaga was unwearable :p
p.s.
i’m ashamed to say i’ve never tried macaroons =/
Who doesn’t love a good macaroon?
Lady Gaga Viva Glam looks great on me alone so I can imagine Pink 4 Friday would look good too. I would really like to have it cos that color is so *me* lol. Unfortunately it’s not available internationally, and I’m not from the US so I can’t have it!
Never tried macaroons but they look yummy
I have Viva Glam Gaga, but if I wear it lightly, it actually looks great on my yellow-toned medium skin. But that? No thanks! Looks fun in the tube, but scary otherwise! I think I’ll stick to Gaga =]
I have a pink that is WAY too blue for me (Please Me, which on my lips looks nothing like any swatch I’ve seen) and this might work!
Hi Karen,
While I do love the way you found a method that makes this l/s more wearable, I don’t wear bright clothing often enough to invest in such a bright pink. My NC42 skin prefers raspberry or deep berry pinks like Revlon ColorBurst in Raspberry or MAC Hang Up. I am more of a red/burgundy/deep brown girl. I like l/s that have a deeper color. Btw, I totally understand your love of macaroons. I tell myself that if I make cookies at home from scratch, and with organic ingredients, then they are healthier and therefore I can eat more of them. 😀
What if I say I am the girl who can wear MAC Pink 4 Friday Lipstick all by itself?! haha you are so pretty. The pink mac is pretty as well but I agree it looks so much better with the lip glass!
wow! You really turned around that lipstick that, at least to me, is pretty horrible. I was never a fan of Barbie lips, although I had a lot of Barbies as a girl, go figure. lol Those macaroons look too pretty to eat (which is a good thing as I need to drop some pounds to fit in this lovely jacket I bought)! Of course if you’re performing you can get away with anything (Lady Gaga anyone?).
Oh goodness, that looks like a color my grandmother would have worn. It would look terrible on me, as pretty as it looks in the package. I don’t know anyone who can pull of a color like that on its own!
I have Pink Noveau which is similar in color. I have to pair it with a brown liner in order to make it wearable or else I look like a clown!
I love that lipstick! I can actually wear it straight from the tube, which I’m thrilled about!
French macaroons!! I only used to get to eat these at restaurants that used miniature ones as amuse bouche then I found them at a nearby bakery and OMG! My favourite is their strawberry shortcake one with real chunks of strawberries!! Geez I’m making my mouth water…
Re: lipstick-I’ll never be able to pull that off….I have Saint Germaine sitting at the back of my lipstick drawer…I bought it coz everyone was talking about it so it makes me happy to know I own it LOL
macaroons!
:]
next time you visit starbucks – get a grande chai latte, no water, and a pump of cinnamon dolce.
best eaten with a sugar cookie.
enjoy!
The Pink 4 Friday lipstick is a cute color but the bubblegum pink is so hard to wear! I think I’ll have to stick with the Spice lipliner LOL!
MACARONS!!!!! (with *one* O, not two, although both are equally, if dissimilarly, delicious.) I love the floral flavored ones (are those rose and lavender flavors I spy?) and pistachio and coffee flavored ones.
As for the lip color, the pink in its original form is way too bright for most people, I think, but the way you layered it with the other colors, well, darlin’, that is a SUPER-FLATTERING shade on you. Look forward to seeing what other combinations you use it in, 🙂
Scary color! Why would you buy something when you have to layer it with stuff to make it look completely different? I’d just buy something else.
Ah, j’aime les macarons! I just got a box of them the other week from Berlin, and last summer another one from Ladurée in London. Unfortunately they are quite rare where I live.
Macaron (not macaroon, which is an entirely different kind of cookie). I went through a macaron phase and baked hundreds of these a couple of years ago.
Mmmm. Macaron’s. Love them.
Macarons!
(In my head I am yelling “Macarons, not MACAROONS!”)
🙂
Macarons! And I agree, macaroons are the moist coconut cookies.
Macarons aren’t that difficult to make actually, you should give it a try Karen! And it always impresses people when you bring a plate of them to friends’ and mention by the by you made them yourself..
Macarons are so delicious. I like Vanilla Buttercream ones the best.
Some nicely low priced and very delicious macarons are from Trader Joe’s. They come with two flavours – Vanilla Buttercream and Chocolate Ganache – with sixteen macarons for around 4-10 USD ( I can’t remember the exact price. ).
Macaroons! To bad they don’t sell them here.
The person who can pull of that lipstick on its own is *not* me! Wow. You definitely made it work with the others, though. I actually had to read the caption twice to make sure I didn’t misunderstand. What a dramatic difference (and for the better, imo). 🙂
Wow, when you paired the lipstick with the lip liner and lipglass it turned out so pretty!
karen, you made that color work for you!! looks great over spice.
sorry i missed the earlier chai latte convo – but thought you would like to know that stash sells green tea chai which you’ll totally dig (imo). they sell stash tea at target.
macarons from Paulette!!
The “cookies” are macarons =D
I have yet to see Pink 4 Friday look flattering on someone. I adore the combination that you did, though — with the Spice lipliner. It’s so pretty!!
Karen, yuo know I love you, but step away from the Niki Minaj Lipstick now!! it looks horrid. lol
Cookies! I want them so much! Oh, so colorful.
Also, I’m pretty sure I can’t pull off that lipstick, but then, who can? Besides Miss Nicki Minaj, of course.
This lipstick freaks me out as much as the promo LOL sorry! It looks good on you with the liner and gloss, though 🙂
I have a question..Is Nicki actually wearing just the lipstick and no liner or gloss? The shade on her lips looks SO different from the tube…Or is it just me?
I am NC45 and I KNOW that would look a mess on me! I think when Nicki wears it herself she has on a darker pink or purple gloss. If I have to solve an algebraic equation to pull off a color, I don’t want it!
Love her tho!
I love this lipstick so much! I got it on the first friday it came out! I wear it alone paired with winged out liner and lotsa mascara and I absolutely love it.
I purchased this lipstick just to have in my collection. I knew that it would not be a good shade on me but it actually look good on my daughter who snuck into it. I have dry lips sometimes and this lipstick really accentuated it…not a good look.
LoveloveLOVE the after look with the liner & gloss! I really wanted this but I promised myself I wouldn’t buy anything I knew I’d never wear! Can you recommend any permanent Mac lippies that resemble your after look? Because I think I could totally get away with buying THAT one! Lol
Hi, I stumbled upon your blog and loving it.
How is this Nicki Minaj lipstick compare to MAC Archie- Girls Next Door which is a Vivid Blue Pink. I find the later cute but non-wearable either.
Kisses from Jakarta