MAC Cosmetics Lip Pencil - Whirl

I always read reviews here in order to inform my beauty purchase decisions. They are reliable and give a wide range of experiences. This will be my first ever review, and that's a shame because I feel so strongly about how crap this pencil is.

MAC has never failed me before, but this lip liner is rubbish. It's about $35, so not some bottomof the range dumpster-diving formula that you can just cut your losses on. I bought it because the shade I wanted in Too Faced wasn't there, and Whirl was a nice shade, even though the reviews here had been patchy at best on it.

In the store, Whirl liner was dry, draggy and chunky when applied. I hated it, but was loathe to walk away without anything after making the trip.

At home, it got worse. The shade wasn't the best on my light skin and has a weird orange cast rather than blue tone. It's so drying and doesn't disperse evenly.

The redeeming feature is the packaging and branding... MAC is classy but take a hard pass on this super average performer.

My cheap Australis outperforms this, and is literally 1/3 of price. Kylie Cosmetics has better lip liner formula, which is embarrassing for such a well established brand to be compared to.

I would never repurchase this.

This lip liner is worth ALL the hype!

Whirl is a pinky brown beautiful MLBB color with a matte finish. Looks kinda boring and dull upon initial swatch. But ever since purchasing this liner, it has been on my lips pretty much everytime I wear make up!

Despite the formula being matte, it glides so easily on the lips and looks so natural, but in this lip enhancing way. I am quite fair leaning yellow-neutral and love how non-overpowering Whirl is, it does not look too dark on me. Also it is very comfortable to wear, whether it be on its own/under a gloss/under a lipstick. The best part is, you can use it with pretty much any lipstick color, for example I like pairing my bright cool pink lipsticks with Whirl for a more pinky greige sort of color.

Highly recommend Whirl to pretty much everyone!

this was my favorite for so long but its a bit too dark for me in certain lighting. I am nc20 nw20 neutral skintone and this can pull very brown and too dark on me. I much prefer soar because its more pink and brighten up my face(look healthier) instead of making my lips look dull. . i think if you try this and it doesnt work out give soar or dervish a try. the range of shades by mac in the natural mlbb are great to achieve that pouty look. i am a sucker for mac lip liners but it is pricey and you cannot get back to mac with these. Nyx has mauve thats a dupe if you want to try it out before purchasing!

My latest favourite MAC liner. Was always hooked on Spice and now prefer this over it. Great natural colour. Also looks great all over lips with just gloss.

On my 2nd one! Lovely brown / mauve colour with a slight tint of purple ( in my opinion). Formula isn’t anything amazingly long lasting but it does the job! There’s supposed to be a NYX dupe so probably try that when my pencil runs out. As it is MAC I don’t think it’s worth the price you’re basically paying for the name and hype of the shade. But it’s something you need to try at least once

One of my favorite lip liners!

As many have already mentioned, this liner is often described as a 90s mauve-brown shade. I love lip pencils with beige and brown undertones and thought it looked great on the celebrities and beauty bloggers I had seen. Unfortunately, against my fair skin and on my already quite pinkly pigmented lips, this shade appears pinky-mauve and not at all brown. It's not unflattering, but definitely not the look I was going for - way too vibrant and not anything close to a neutral shade. If you're also fair, I would definitely recommend googling pictures of Whirl specifically on pale skin before purchasing.

Love this lip liner. The color and consistency are both fantastic. It's my new favorite!

Inexpensive non drug store lip liner that everyone should have in their bag if they're after a mlbb shade. I love how it appears dirty brown, pink on me and yet so natural. I love using it on my top lip and apply clear gloss or balm on top for a natural effect. I also use it for pairing with twig lipstick and the colours are so beautiful. It's not as long lasting as make up for Evers aqua liners but has a decent staying power. For reference I'm south East Asian with warm skin tone and pigmented lips.

Great colour and it lasts forever. I use this colour for basically every lip I wear, no matter the lipstick or gloss. Even when I do a red lip, I put this on first to outline my lips more naturally before going over it with a red liner. It's great with matched shades (I like MAC Modesty or Angel) but also nice to use as a matte lip when you fill in your lips completely.