I’m always a little wary of MAC collections. They come so thick and fast that I barely have time to do my research before everything is sold out. Plus, my days of blowing serious ££s every payday, impulse buying everything I could get my hands on are over. The days of MAC hysteria are dead and gone.

Archie’s Girls was the first collection in a long time that actually sparked my interest. There were plenty of products I really liked the look of, so by the time the collection arrived in Leeds I’d already read plenty of reviews and even swatched in-store at Selfridges on a trip to London. This collection just felt special to me. Freckled, pale cartoon characters? Now there’s something I can relate to.

I bought one beauty powder and two lipsticks. The beauty powder isn’t really something I’ve ever used before, and I had no idea how to use it, but I was so bowled over by all the pretty when I saw it close up, I handed the cash over and figured I’d wing it.

“Veronica’s Blush” Pearlmatte Beauty Powder is a silvery pink base with deep pink hearts. I’ve been treating it as a mix of highlighter and blush, sweeping it on to the apples of my cheeks and blending up the cheekbones to my temples. It’s a subtle, girlish pink with a shimmery (but not sparkly) glow. I really love it both on its own and layered over a pink cream blush like my favourite, Illamasqua’s Promise.

The finely milled powder is a total dream to wear; its soft, velvety and ideal to use as a highlight on the browbone, inner corner and cupids bow, as well as on the cheeks. It’s been making a nice rosy difference to my usual MAC Soft & Gentle highlighter. The compact is also handy to carry around – a good size mirror and quirky packaging that’s cute to whip out for a touch up. You can see “Veronica’s Blush” in all it’s soft pink glory in an About Face post from a month or so ago.

Lipstick #1 is from the Betty half of the collection. “Betty Bright” is a light, vibrant peach which applies super creamy and pigmented, despite being a satin finish. As a redhead I found it difficult to carry off, something about the copper in my hair just didn’t quite go. But the new blonde locks have opened up new avenues and I’ve been wearing it to death these past few weeks.

I’ve found that I wear it best when my lips are freshly exfoliated – it can gather on dry patches if your lips aren’t so smooth. Also, because my lips are particularly pigmented, I dot a little concealer on them before I apply so as to get a truer shade. I do this with most lighter shades (particularly nudes) and I find it helps the colour last longer too.

Now, words cannot express how much I adore Lipstick #2. It is pretty much me in lipstick form. “Daddy’s Little Girl” from the Veronica side of the collection is a mid-tone pink violet and the *perfect* replacement for my long-term fave “Spitfire” from the MAC Wonder Woman collection. Also a satin finish but with a creamy, pigmented application, this is one of the easiest to wear lipsticks in my collection and I’ve used nearly half the tube already – wahhhh. It’s flattering, bold and it fades easily making it, well… my new best friend! There are no problems with it sticking to dry patches and I can wear it all day comfortably, it goes with everything.

Overall, I’m overjoyed with the products I purchased from this collection and I’ll be keeping an eye out on blog sales and eBay to buy back ups. Did you snap up anything from Archie’s Girls? Do you make a habit of shopping MAC’s collections?