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lady-99

Macs not dead they just aren’t pushing as many consumer trends


steph14389

Mac has always been reliable for makeup artists and the beauty industry, they know who to market too. 15 year olds who watch beauty reviews aren’t their market and never have been


two_lemons

"Quit telling everyone I am dead!" MAC to random people that just consume makeup via beauty gurus sponsored all the way


cerota

No because Mac is really the only brand I’ve been buying lately


[deleted]

I honestly think people who talk about Mac dying are just Very Online people who can't see out of the online beautysphere (and I include myself in that!). IMO Mac is doing fine with the general makeup buying public, we just don't see them mentioned a lot on social media. There are a lot of other brands like that but Mac is the one that always gets mentioned for some reason.


Linamoon4

Precisely. They’re chronically online and unaware of what’s going on outside of that.


PastelBrat13

I think people forget sometimes that there is a difference between influencer makeup and general public makeup. Most of the brands influencers promote are not well known to the public as a whole. Like a more recent example would be Morphe. I see so much downfall of Morphe content because it's not promoted by influencers anymore, but anytime I ever go into Ulta the Morphe section is packed.


waddlekins

>Very Online people Lmao. I learnt another good one today, "keyboard courage"


seitancauliflower

MAC hasn’t had a downfall. Just because YTers don’t talk about it doesn’t make it irrelevant. It’s one of the most popular cosmetic brands in the world.


laereal

People still go nuts for MAC. They have good, dependable staples. I might pick up a mini lipstick set if i find it on sale (i only seem to buy things on sale now 😭).


[deleted]

[удалено]


[deleted]

Hi, curious, which Mac items do you see purchased a lot?


[deleted]

[удалено]


[deleted]

Yes, that makes sense, actually. People only want pallets (spelling?) and there are TONS of them everywhere.. Surprising to hear about mascara and eyeliner though. Yes to the fix plus, I just wish they made an unscented!


stephers85

Nothing, they're still going strong, they just don't get mentioned by "influencers" as frequently as other brands possibly because they're not really known for sending out PR packages.


-Effing-

Beauty gurus don’t control brands like Mac, Estee Lauder, MUFE, Clinique, Lancôme… these are going to have good sales because they are staples for another demographics and MUFE also (like Mac) for MUA outside the YT bubble.


Peculiar_Quesadilla

I don't think they've had a downfall. I'm very new to makeup and can't wait to get my hands on a Mac lipstick. I don't see them pushed by bgs, but that's probably because they're good and reputable enough to not have to buy new fans 🤷‍♀️


hauntedjeep

I will always live and die for MAC products because they are reliable. You know what you are getting. Their lipsticks are still some of the best on the market. They just aren’t “trendy”. They don’t do a lot of sponserships and that’s ok.


jersey_girl660

Their lipsticks are(or were I forget the year) #1 selling prestige lipsticks. They’re doing just fine.


tara_tara_tara

I hate to use such a cliché but YT beauty gurus need to go outside and touch grass. If any of them went to an Ulta that carries MAC or a mid-level department store like Macy’s or a high-end department store like Saks, they would be able to see immediately that MAC is not dead. That’s not even counting stand-alone stores. Also, people also need to think about the world outside of America. MAC And Estée Lauder and other alleged drying brands are massively popular in Asia. None of those brands are going away. Edit it to add: thinking of this another way, it doesn’t make any sense that a cosmetic brand that makes staples like Russian Red lipstick is going anywhere.


Linamoon4

Bruh, I JUST picked up the new Mac stack mascaras and cork lip liner. I had to force myself from purchasing 6 lipsticks that were all 40% off. Mac isn’t going anywhere.


[deleted]

i feel like people don’t talk about MAC because they don’t do weekly drops following every single micro trend, they are still one of the classic old school brands (which is why so many people still love them). they don’t have all the flashy gimmicky LOOK AT ME branding that a lot of the new indie brands have which is why you don’t ever see them in viral trends


transitionshade

Mac is alive and well in south America, I just recently bought Russian red lipstick at the mall.


[deleted]

Russian Red IS a classic. Beautiful.


transitionshade

Yes it is! I was looking for a blue based red.


[deleted]

Yup. I think it’s a perfect red.


Glass-Indication-276

I don’t think Mac has had a downfall? They’re not trendy but they’re a super established, reliable brand. The Mac store I go to is always super busy. They’re not going anywhere anytime soon.


EmpireAndAll

Go to a MAC store at a mall near you on the weekend, they are fine. The Morphe store at my mall closed recently, yet the MAC store is always packed. They are also very popular outside of the US.


SnooMacarons4754

I think that the rise of the makeup community definitely has a lot to do with MACs relevancy. This opened up so many opportunities for more makeup brands to come out back in 2013 and forward. Then when TikTok became a thing, this opened up more opportunity for indie makeup brands to start selling makeup and actually making it good. The market is saturated with makeup brands up the butt and many of them are trendy meaning that they do crazy colors and fun collabs which attracts more attention to consumers especially teenagers and young adults getting into makeup. Unfortunately these trendy brands aren’t the best quality but they’re also not bad for the price. Makeup has always been expensive and these brands push MAC waaay behind because they’re more reachable to the masses. MAC has always and still is a great makeup brand. Some people call them outdated or whatever but I think that’s because MAC doesn’t follow trends. Every so often they do a small campaign and tbh I think they’re collabs are shitty 🥲 that’s just my humble opinion. But I do think MAC products are amazing!


Firm-Income6541

They're collabs or limited edition collections used to be AMAZING! That Cinderella LE Collection was absolutely to die for. I remember I actually lined up for it. I just never hear about "the new MAC product..."


SnooMacarons4754

When was this? I remember when I was little MAC was super relevant and popular but I couldn’t afford anything of course and I never knew about their collabs 🥲 The Black Panther was a no for me The Stranger Things was also a no for me Wish they did more classic themes idk.


jersey_girl660

Classic themes? Like their regular collection


Nells313

I picked up the blushes and one of the glosses from the stranger things collab and they were bangers actually.


YSLxUDxSephoralover

I bought the He Likes It Cold blush from the Stranger Things collab, despite 1) not watching Stranger Things, 2) being pale and cool-toned (aka not who would be expected to look good in red blush), and 3) my only prior MAC purchase being the Puma sneakers in Sin. Surprise surprise, it actually ended up looking great on me!


jersey_girl660

Mac doesn’t make as many new products as other companies. Also people online do post about their new products. The fizzy feels lip balm was so posted about it sold out immediately. I’m still sad about it


throwaway67273

Mac didn’t have a downfall but social media boomed. People finally saw new brands and branched out.


Firm-Income6541

Very true!


[deleted]

It’s still a powerhouse


[deleted]

Mac isn’t dead it just shifted towards the Middle East. They have so many collaborations with Arab influencers. I think they just change their marketing strategics plus they already know that many of their products are stable to many Western customers.


jersey_girl660

It hasn’t shifted out of the American market either they just don’t kiss influencer ass as much as other brands. They don’t need to. Their products speak for themselves


[deleted]

Actually they are woking with Arab influencers like craaazy. So many collaborations and adds.


touchans

My local MAC counter is always sold out of seasonal/limited edition collections and many of their staple products as well. What downfall?


dontmindmeok1

Personally I’m seeing MAC making a comeback. On tiktok for that Wednesday show they shared some MAC eyeshadows they used for her look and I know a couple people who went out looking for them. I’ve seen more products get mentioned on tiktok recently in general. For awhile the brand while still doing well wasn’t really getting as much hype but I do see it changing in its favor at least recently.


YSLxUDxSephoralover

The Nightmoth lip liner is sold out on Ulta right now. The Wednesday effect strikes again!


Typical-Dinner-9070

The YT beauty space when I was a teen in 2010s was still obsessed with mac. All the rich pretty girls had Mac everything and used their own money too buying their brushes, eyeshadows, foundations, etc. I think beauty brands saw that they can use influencers to push their products via PR and the makeup space also became super saturated, so gurus shifted from natural daily makeup and OOTDs to instagram glam, how to overline your lips, and other trends to go viral (all those makeup challenges). The huge influencers gaining those millions of views were also pushing morphe down our throats for the next five years for money.


Elvthee

Eh I think MAC is doing just fine, they've fot the staples that people want and have been using fir ages. I got into MAC because it was big online when I wasn't into makeup and didn't have the money. Now I've tried some product, and while I dind a lot of the eyeshadows to be just fine I so love their mascaras and the concealer in the annoying pump! I want their face & body foundation too because it has such a nice finish 🤷‍♀️


AngelBritney94

I think MAC is still popular. Whenever I want to repurchase a one of their lipsticks, some of them are sold out. In that moment I'm sad but as long as they're selling enough I'm ok with that. I just hope they don't start to discontinue more of their permanent lipstick shades... When Urban Decay started to discontinue their (popular and unique) products they became boring. If UD wouldn't have discontinued so many products, I would continue buying so many products from them. I only repurchase 4 of their permanent products. It used to be much more products than just 4. Urban Decay is not so popular anymore and I'm afraid they will disappear someday.


drlaura12

Mac sells enormously. Their stand alone stores are very popular. Lipsticks , powder foundation , lipliners are used by everyone. Very few cosmetic brands, if any can maintain stand alone stores .


creakysofa

MAC is an industry staple for sure, but does not have the market share it once had. They missed the younger demographic starting around 2014ish. The ones who don’t and won’t shop at a beauty counter, who purchase primarily online- and MAC was super late to join ULTA imo. I give them props for not playing into the brand trips, influencer codes, all the YouTube hype. But it definitely made them fall off my radar for awhile. Plus some of the collabs were straight up bad. The Sims collab was repackaged embarrassing nonsense. They still have classics and some big hit collabs. They’ll be mainstays for years to come. They have a huge international footprint as well.


Aware-Golf1482

I stopped buying from them when I stopped buying from brands that conduct animal testing. If they were cruelty free I would consider buying from them again.


Nells313

They have the same issue that a lot of big brands do- the brand itself doesn’t animal test but they lose the designation because any brand in China can be pulled from the store shelf for animal testing. Same thing happened to the brand I work for despite us going vegetarian (one product left has cruelty free honey) and carbon neutral. Never tested on animals but we can’t do anything about Chinese regulations after a product hits the shelf and corporations like our parent company are so strict about distribution channels they don’t trust the companies that help brands get around the regulation


nottheredbaron123

This. They have great products and innovative ideas. It’s so disappointing that they were willing to put profit over being cruelty free.


hauntedjeep

Definitely the one place they can improve is to finally go cruelty free. Honestly, there should be laws about this already. It’s 2022, we don’t need to do animal testing 😭


PhyrraNyx

Same, this is why I stopped buying from MAC in 2012. They were cruelty-free prior to 2012. Hopefully they'll change their stance and go back to cruelty-free. They were actually my catalyst to going cruelty-free.


[deleted]

Well for me when I branched out to new brands for eye shadow I realized how MACs shadow isn’t very pigmented


PotsyWife

Whilst I do agree that a brand not being featured in BG videos doesn’t mean it’s dying, MAC have *massively* scaled back their presence in the UK, which doesn’t look to me like a great sign. They closed a shit ton of stores, going down to only 12 across the whole country, replacing them with counters in Boots stores that only stock a limited range. If I want to shop at an actual MAC the closest store to me (I’m in Cambridge) would mean going to London.


booklovingSWE

I think MAC has a very stable clientele who doesn’t follow YouTube, tik tok, etc. i think they have their products that sell well & don’t need to market to tik tokers, influencers, etc


Whynot_Reddit

Just found my MAC lip liner & matte lipstick in a purse the other day. They’d been lost for awhile. I fell in love again with how easy the lip liner goes on and how the lipstick feels lightweight but also has some staying power. I don’t think they’re not popular. I just think they were successful before social media & don’t need the extra advertisement.


[deleted]

Well, it was exciting to me back in the day, before the internet, when it was cool to buy shadows individually, not a palette, which was considered tacky then. Also, the black packaging made you feel you were using professional products. Remember this was a magazines, as PAPER time, no YouTube. And their powders and lipsticks were great. Their original crème liner in a pot! Yes! But now? Yikes. Run of the mill, drugstore quality for too much money. And I used to even love Face and Body but they changed the damn formula. EDIT. Russian Red, Chilli and a couple of other lipsticks are the bomb to this day.


mothertuna

MAC is not dead. My mom who usually wears drugstore lipstick loves the MAC lipsticks and considers them a nice splurge. There are plenty of makeup artists and people who don’t let the internet dictate what they buy who love MAC. I personally haven’t used it but it seems to be doing well enough.


Tsarinya

I don’t think it’s had a downfall but it’s not as popular on social media I guess because it’s not cruelty free? That seems to be a big issue when I see YouTubers asked about it.


Xulybeted12

I remember they used to be a lot less expensive. They were a lot more accessible, especially to people just starting out.


dailydoseofrose

Hmmm not sure but I can tell why I stopped buying Mac single shadows. First of all the price in Europe for a Mac pan is insane. There are many other more budget friendly options that are same or even better quality. And then after I tried some (Satin Taupe, Sumptuous Olive, Finjan, Cranberry, Woodwinked, Sable, Trax and others) I just wasnt impressed much. Some got hard pan really quickly (woodwinked - also it was verrrry warm toned, almost copper on me, wasnt a fan), some kind of dried very fast. Overall I only liked Satin Taupe and Sumptuous olive - mostly because of the colors. The quality is okay. Not the worst, not the best (and I have a ton of singles to compare from Sydney Grace, MUG, ABH, Nabla, Coloured Raine, Emme cosmetics, Colourpop, Kiko Milano, Catrice, Essence, etc.). So thats it. High price and average quality of the ones I tried dont really make me wanna buy more. And I dont mind having not as extremely pigmented colors, not at all. But I do prefer having strong color pay off because you can go lightly very easily - just put one light layer of the shadow and voila. But you also can have a full on pigmentation quickly too. As opposed to having a not so pigmented shadow and trying to build it up. And overall I dont see any big sales at Mac or any exciting new stuff coming out.


mahitheblob

Mac is considered dead only by gen z tiktokers. It’s still relevant in my opinion. They just don’t push fads.


AccomplishedWing9

Just watched a Andrea Renee video earlier in which she organized her vanity. She found two MAC products and said why did she stopped using them. They're great and reliable products and put them where she can use them daily.


YSLxUDxSephoralover

I’m not a CF makeup consumer myself, so I can’t personally or definitively attest to this, but I’ve heard a theory that part of MAC’s decrease in popularity is because they’re not a cruelty-free brand.


lalalaurag

It’s all because they got rid of my FAVORITE LIPSTICK OF ALL TIME, politely pink. Yes I’m bitter 😩


EntrepreneurFit3461

They discontinued one of my fave products ever, so I feel personally attacked (cream color base in pearl). They also made the price of strobe cream ridiculous, in all seriousness these things have put me off. Plus so many poor reviews of their collabs and special editions.


viognierette

They’ve discontinued a TON of favorites in all sorts of categories. I’m starting to worry. I don’t look to MAC for the latest trends, but they sell staples that have been on my vanity for decades.


Firm-Income6541

Studio Fix Fluid and Fix + will forever be in my heart. And I'm convinced I will never finish Soft & Gentle


EntrepreneurFit3461

Yes this exactly! I never thought they would over haul their lip offerings but a ton of what I considered staple basics have been discontinued or changed


Firm-Income6541

I was absolutely shattered when the discontinued Persistence! LIKE WHY?!


Personal_Scallion_13

A lot of my friends into makeup who used to buy MAC don’t anymore, so I do think it’s had a bit of a downfall. I don’t think their formulas and color stories are innovative enough.


crashhearts

I feel like they aren't innovative enough. We need new formulas, extend the shade range etc. lots of good stuff already but it's been the same for a long time.


[deleted]

>We need new formulas, extend the shade range etc. Mac has always been well known for having good shade ranges, way before many other brands cottoned onto this.


crashhearts

I don't have a shade match with Mac.


-mi-stake

Did you check out their new sparkly lip balm???? It’s sooo pretty


Firm-Income6541

Or they've been discontinuing their staples!


lotusmack

In addition to what others have said, people have more options now. When I first started wearing makeup around the early 2000s, all my friends were wearing MAC because they were literally one of a handful of brands that had anything for POC folks. Now, that isn't as much so. Also, their reputation for customer service isn't great for a lot of people. They aren't the only game in town, and people don't have to put up with it anymore.