Sorry, Not Sorry | 5 MAC Collections I'm (not really) Glad I Missed Out On

I feel as though MAC has become a brand notorious for releasing several collections a month -- some of them smaller ones that are usually available at PRO stores if you're not lucky enough to get them when they come out online, but also the larger ones that sell out within an hour or two anyway (MAC Cinderella, anyone?).

It's really, really easy to get caught up in the hype of a collection that you don't really care too much about -- when the MAC Toledo collection was announced, the colours and the packaging made me want to purchase every item in the collection, even though I didn't really need another four red lipsticks or a green mascara. I'm glad I had the lack of funds time to recover and think logically (see also: the announcement of the Cinderella collection).

That being said, there are some, dare I say, legendary collections of the past that are referred to every now and again, and one in particular prompted me to spend way too much time looking into past collections, to see if there were any others that I might have sold half my liver for. There were many which were interesting, but only five filled my head with lust so extreme that I know I would've bought out as much of the collection as possible.

And I can't lie: for the sake of my wallet, I'm sort of glad I missed them, but I'm more sorry that I couldn't own them.

In order from fifth to first, here are a list of MAC collections that would've driven me nuts!

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5. MAC x The Simpsons (August 2014)

People in general seemed to be divided on whether or not this was a collection worth buying pieces from. With some unique lip glass colours, super awesome-looking shadows, and blushes with excitingly cute names (take a peek here if you need a refresher), the only items that I wasn't lusting after were the nail stickers, and the lip glasses called "Grand Pumpkin" and "Nacho Cheese Explosion" (call me crazy, but I don't think I can pull off pumpkin orange or cheese yellow on my lips).

Unfortunately for me (or, financially-speaking, fortunately), the collection went online when I was at uni -- and by the time I'd gotten home, six hours later... everything had sold out, even "Nacho Cheese Explosion".

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4. MAC Wonder Woman (March 2011)

This collection came out four years ago, back when my makeup collection consisted of a single bottle of CoverGirl foundation, an Estee Lauder crayon eyeliner and whichever mascara was on sale when I finished the one I was using. I couldn't have cared less about makeup -- after all, I had better things to do with my time, such as studying archaeology and, y'know, Tumblr.

Rest assured, however, that if this were a collection coming out this year, I would be all over it. I know that it was generally met with a negative reaction because of the number of repromotes, dupable products and dubious quality of some of the products, but that wouldn't have bothered me too much. As many MAC lipsticks as I own (about a dozen or so?), all of them but two are limited edition, so it would've been nice to have some standard shades in pretty packaging, even if there is a mark-up in price.

Rest assured, after looking at a line-up like this four years after it came out, my bank account is glad I hadn't heard of MAC!

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3. MAC Archie's Girls (February 2013)

I am so, so sorry that I missed out on this collection. I wouldn't say that I "grew up" with Betty and Veronica per se, but I did grow up in a library that had a really nice selection Betty and Veronica comic books, so if I got bored of reading normal books, those were what I gravitated towards. I always wanted Betty to end up with Archie -- not that I really had any conscious idea that I shipped the two of them, but I connected more with Betty than Veronica.

Back onto the subject of makeup, Shae.

I know that I said this about the Wonder Woman collection, but I can absolutely guarantee you that I would have tried to buy every single solitary piece in this collection.

And yeah, I know that there were many, many pieces in this collection. I don't care. Just looking at pictures makes me so excited that I almost forget that it's a collection that came and went long ago. Pigments, blushes, eye shadows, lipsticks, nail polishes... The collector within me lusts after it all!

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2. MAC RiRi Hearts MAC | Summer, Fall, Holiday (2013)

Rihanna's music has had an absolutely massive impact on my life. We never had a radio at home, so I relied on my friends to supply me with new music to listen to -- and I found Rihanna when I was 15 through my friend Jo-Anna. Good Girl Gone Bad remains to this day as one of my favourite albums of all time, and Rihanna one of my favourite artists -- and that's why my bank account I'm glad that I hadn't heard of MAC, because I would've gone absolutely nuts over this whole series.

As I understand it, RiRi Hearts MAC was released in four different instances: the first was just the lipstick RiRi Woo, released while she was touring; the second was the Summer collection, which had additional lipsticks, a blush duo and lustre drops; the third was the Fall collection, which had additional lipsticks, lip glasses, eye shadow palettes and other equally desirable products in an absolutely smashing rose gold packaging; the fourth and final collection was released for the Holiday season, which had just more awesome stuff again.

If I fell through a temporal shift and ended up back in 2013, there's no way I would've missed this. Bloody hell, 2013 must've been an expensive year for MAC lovers!

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1. MAC Venomous Villains (October 2010)

There were four parts to this collection: Dr Facilier (the voodoo douche from The Princess and the Frog), Cruella de Vil, Maleficent, and -- the person who would likely make me go out and buy the whole lot -- the Evil Queen. It was full of lipsticks, lip glasses, pigments, eye shadow singles and what I've heard called some of the best nail polishes to have ever come from MAC.

Now, 18-year-old Shae wouldn't have been too interested in a collection such as this when it came out. Not only did I have my final exams coming up, but I was also seriously ill, and even though it might have piqued my interest had I heard about it, I'm sure the price tag would've put me off.

Not anymore. (Cue evil cackling.) If this collection were brought out tomorrow, I know I'd race out to snatch up every single piece, and I'd hold up my MAC bag while triumphantly pronouncing, "Now I'LL be fairest in the land!

While I feel like some of the packaging on particular products look a little cheap and tacky (mostly the eye shadow singles -- I feel like something more should've been done), it's this collection that I'm most sorry and yet financially pleased to have missed out on. I cannot imagine the amount of money I would've had to have forked out.

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Honourable Mention: MAC x Maleficent (June 2014)

This gets an honourable mention because while I didn't completely miss out on the collection -- Danielle sent me the lipglass and my mother managed to track down the eye shadow quad plus a couple of other small things -- but would I have bought the entire collection had I not discovered it a few weeks after it came out? You betcha.

The one thing I am truly sorry to have missed out on is the lipstick. I've been hoping for MAC to release something similar to True Love's Kiss ever since I found out about it, but so far there hasn't seemed to be anything that similar.

Did you purchase anything from these collections? Which past releases from MAC have been your favourite? Do you have posts to link me to? Share all your answers in the comments, because I want to read them like I want another Harry Potter book.

Shae xo

PS. My Australian drugstore haul giveaway is still running -- go have a peek!