Emmie Reviews – MAC Cosmetics Macstack Mascara

As I mentioned in previous reviews, one of my favourite places to discover products to review is end of year list. That’s where I see what y’all are really loving and/or hating. And out of all of the videos and TikTok’s that I saw during the end of last year, the MAC Macstack mascara was easily one of the most divisive products from 2022. It was either your absolute holy grail mascara. Or you hated it with the passion of 1,000 suns. There was little in between.

So, I knew what that meant for me. It meant that I was about to spend more money than I ever have before on a mascara to see if it’s really worth all of the discourse. I picked it up a little while back and I thoroughly put it through it’s paces. So, is the Macstack worth the hype? Just keep reading!

MAC COSMETICS MACSTACK MASCARA – $54.00 – maccosmetics.com.au

I’ll being with the packaging, as always. And the Macstack Mascara is definitely one of the more unique mascara tubes that I’ve seen for a while. Mac is pretty well known for their fun and funky mascara packaging. The Macstack Mascara is housed in a sleek, shiny black plastic tube that has ridges alongside it. Giving the appearance of containers being stacked on each other (clever). The handle of the mascara has a round, mirrorised ball and there is white detail on the tube. The Macstack Mascara has a vegan friendly formula and contains 12ml of product.

The wand on the Macstack Mascara is rubberised with short, pointy bristles. It’s wider at the base and then narrows towards the tip. To me, it was very reminiscent of the Rimmel Wonder’Extension Mascara that I reviewed a few years back (you can find that one here). And a long story short, I didn’t like that one and I don’t like this one either. The bristles are extremely pointy and the wand is quite long. And as someone who frequently dings their eyes, this was an uncomfortable mascara to use. In more ways than one.

Now, initially, I had no complaints about the formula of the Macstack Mascara. It was a light, slightly waxy formula that was pretty pigmented and seemingly coated the lashes well. The problem for me arose when this stuff got in my eye. I don’t know what it is in this formula that irritates my eyes. But it’s something and it was borderline debilitating the first time it happened to me. I had to jump in the shower to rinse my eyes out. I also found that if I used an oil cleanser in the shower, I was ok. But if I used a cleansing cloth like a Face Halo, it was bad for me. So, taking this off was tricky.

In terms of my first impressions, I have to say, I was initially unimpressed the first time I applied it with a single coat. Then I remembered the name of this mascara was and I went in with several coats. The thinness and lightness of this formula makes it a great one for multiple layers. The above shot was taken with 5 layers of mascara on. And that is about as many as I would do for day to day. I had some definitive volume and lift. It also separated nicely too. The only minus would probably be length for me. It’s not the most lengthening mascara that I’ve ever tried.

Having said that, the more layers I used, the more likely the mascara would transfer on me. And that was the case here. In something of a rare case, the Macstack Mascara actually transferred on my top lid more than under my eye. So, I had super panda eyes when I wore this. I also noticed that the lovely lift that I had had drooped significantly throughout the day. Fortunately, though, I didn’t notice any flaking when I wore this. Which might be a good thing for me.

So, fun fact, the MacStack Mascara is to date the most expensive mascara that I’ve ever tried for this blog. And I 100% have to say that it isn’t worth the hype. I can’t in good conscious recommend a mascara that caused me physical pain. No matter how good I managed to get it to look. Skip it. Have you tried the Mac Cosmetics Macstack Mascara? Let me know in the comments below!

Cheers and love
Emily xo