We won’t have to wait much longer to get our hands on the MAC collection commemorating the late (and still great) R&B songstress, Aaliyah.
Though the collaboration was announced back in August 2017, fans hadn’t heard much more until yesterday when the brand tweeted that the collection will be released online on June 20th and will hit MAC store the next day. The Aaliyah collection shares a similar origin story last year’s Selena x MAC collaboration, as the singer was a well-known MAC fan who often wore “Chelsea Lipstick, Cherish Lipstick, Chestnut Lipliner, espresso eyeshadow, and biscuit eyeshadow,” according to a fan petition to the brand that was launched back in 2015. The petition received support with over 26,000 signatures as well as serious support from her brother Rashad Haughton, Missy Elliott, and even Aaliyah’s former makeup artist Eric Ferrell.
After hearing the fans loud and clear, MAC is tapping them to help celebrate the star’s studio and screen achievements with a short film called “A-Z of Aaliyah” made in partnership with i_D. According to the brand’s Instagram post, superfans can post a photo or video of themselves showing how Aaliyah has inspired them and tag the hashtags #AtoZofAaliyah and #AaliyahForMAC, and the top submissions will be flown to New York to be a part of the video.
And if that weren’t enough good news, the beauty brand took to Instagram to offer a look at what fans can expect to snap up when the collection drops this summer. The first picture featured a tawny brown lipstick synonymous with the ’90s that fans are guessing will be called “Rock the Boat” after her final single (though I think the cafe au lait-colored lipstick could easily be called Baby Girl after Timbaland and Missy’s nickname for her). The second showcases an eye palette filled with smoky shades, similar to the hues she wore in videos like “Try Again,” “We Need a Resolution,” and “Are You That Somebody,” as well a few shimmering shadows for a dash of dazzle.
I couldn’t be more excited to get my hands on a small tribute to her legacy. I started listening to her when I was eight years old, singing her sultry songs even when I didn’t realize how inappropriate they were for how young I was at the time. She had such a cool and mysterious vibe, thanks to her signature deep side part that hid half of her face, the shades she sported, and her stylish mix of masculine and feminine fashion that made her stand out against from the crowd on MTV.Even her turn as Queen Akasha in Queen of the Damned was still inspiring to me as she was not only one of the first (and few) vampires of color I had seen on screen, making it an easy costume choice that following year. But what cemented her as a beauty icon in my mind, as well as the rest of the girls in my middle school, was the blocky gray smoky eye that Ferrell created for her iconic “Try Again” video. Many attempted but few succeeded at recreating the eye look from the hit single from the soundtrack from her 2000 film Romeo Must Die. And after this social media sneak peek, I plan on practicing that look with the smoldering shadow palette, because after all, she did say, “If at first you don’t succeed, dust yourself off and try again…”
What do you plan on picking up from the collection?