Product Of The Week: Ryan Destiny X Mac Lip Kit – Essence

Finding the perfect neutral lip for deeper skin tones is a right of passage for many Black makeup lovers. Getting that perfect liner, gloss and lipstick combination is a thrilling but often grueling process that I have been navigating for the better part of eight years.

This is due to the general lack of shade range in the makeup sphere as a whole, but especially when it comes to lip products, the options are simply not there. I also grew up watching my mom use coal black eyeliner as a lip product so suffice it to say my outlook has been pretty skewed from the beginning. Unlearning some of these beliefs that suggest certain makeup combos are not fit for deeper complexions has been quite the journey. 

Enter: Ryan Destiny’s MAC lip kit, my personal Hail Mary from the beauty gods above.

See, Destiny has been a beauty It Girl for a minute. Her beats always compliment her skin tone and enhance her features in a manner I can only hope to recreate. Needless to say, if there is anyone I’d take tips from when it comes to a fire lip combo—it’s her. 

Naturally, when she announced the release of her collaboration with MAC, I rushed to my nearest location to try it out for myself. Described as the “perfect pinky nude” and collated with deeper complexions in mind, the collab is ideal for those who enjoy muted pinks and subdued browns.

Traditionally, pink-based lip kits can come off as chalky on deeper complexions, leaving an unsightly ashen appearance that no one wants. And when we do get a suitable nude lip, they often pull more brown. (No shade to brown-based nudes, but sometimes we want to switch it up).

This lip kit, however, is rich in pigments that show up beautifully on darker lips. As a nude lip enthusiast myself, I have turned many an Ulta and Sephora upside down trying to find a nude lip that wouldn’t look like I took a kindergartener’s chalk stick to my lips. This curated lip kit has taken all of the guesswork out of securing the perfect muted lip for Dark skinned makeup wearers like myself.

The three-piece kit, which retails for $52 includes MAC’s Chestnut lip liner, lipstick in faux and lipglass in nymphette. Destiny’s limited edition collection is out of stock, but the items are still available separately… so her pout-perfect look can live on!