ALU’s 365 of Untrieds – MAC Ocean Dip from the Surf Baby Collection
365 of Untrieds is my personal challenge to weed through the polishes in the ALU stash that I’ve been wanting to try but just haven’t gotten around to.
This week marks the launch of the MAC Surf Baby collection. It is already for sale on MAC’s website and releases in store this Thursday, May 26th. Much like florals and pastels are heavily associated with Spring, beach themed collections go hand-in-hand with Summer. Summer 2007 brought the China Glaze Surf collection, 2008 the OPI Retro Fun In The Sun and 2010 saw RBL Surf’s Up. This year MAC is heading to the beach with one of their classic themed summer collections with packaging to match and they didn’t leave the nail polish out of the fun. Surf Baby includes two new nail polish colors, Ocean Dip and Hangin’ Loose and I have the former to share with you today. |
Formula & Application: MAC Nail Lacquers are 4-Free (including Formaldehyde Resin). The tall cylindrical glass bottles are topped with a round, rubberized cap and a thick, stiff, round brush. The MAC brush can be your best friend or worst enemy. It allows for perfect polish placement but if you press too hard you’ll end up with patchiness or drag marks, so polish with a light touch.
Ocean Dip has a thin, squishy texture that is well packed with pigment. The lacquer flows easily on the nail and self levels. If the brush wasn’t stepping on its toes, it would only need two coats. I managed to get away with two coats on two of my nails but I had to use three coats on my ring finger due to dragging issues caused by the brush.
MAC Ocean Dip is a bright turquoise creme. It’s pretty straight-forward in its coloring in that it doesn’t have any grey or murkiness in its base color yet it isn’t screaming neon. This one leans more green than your typical turquoise without crossing over into teal territory.
To give you an idea of where it falls in the nail polish color spectrum I pulled its closest living relatives from my stash; Essie Greenport, Models Own Slate Green and Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Sea Breeze. In the bottle I expected Sea Breeze to be a pretty close match if not an exact dupe but as you’ll see below, that’s exactly why you have to try on polish before making a verdict.
As it turns out Greenport doesn’t even belong in the same category as the other three polishes. It’s so much lighter and less pigmented than the rest. Sea Breeze is almost a one coater and ends up drying brighter, lighter and a bit more green than Ocean Dip. Models Own Slate Green has too much gray in its base to be a dupe. I would say that Sea Breeze is probably the closer sibling but there are no Ocean Dip twins to be found in my collection.
Bottom Line: Although I totally expected Ocean Dip to be just another turquoise, with multiple more accessible substitutes, it ended up being a unique color to my collection. If MAC’s brush wasn’t frustration on a stick it would get two thumbs up from me. I continue to hope the brush will be replaced someday soon. I would say unless you already own SH Sea Breeze, which was sadly a limited edition shade, and you can get over the brush, the color is worth having.
365 of Untrieds Stash/Share Verdict: I’m a sucker for MAC’s branded bottles and the color is a beaut so it’s sticking around in my STASH.
MAC Ocean Dip and the rest of the Surf Baby collection is available May 26th, 2011 at MAC counters nationwide and NOW online at MACCosmetics.com. MAC nail polish retails for $15/ea for a .34oz bottle.
Thoughts on Ocean Dip? Are you planning to succumb to the allure of the Surf Baby collection? What is your favorite MAC nail polish? Out of curiosity, those of you who don’t buy MAC polish, would you change your mind if the brush was better?
Disclosure: A product sample was provided by MAC. For more info view my Disclosure Policy.
Lisa N.
Ms Meatballhead
Birdie
Spa pediccure chairs
I love your comparisions! This shade is very pretty.
the other nailpolish in the surf baby collection is called ‘hangin’ loose’!! just a heads up! @ paragraph 4!
Thanks for letting me know. I totally missed my error
Awesome colour! Too bad it has multiple substitues which are cheaper!
I had a hard time with the brush too and my brush the bristles were bent and all wonky, thanks fo posting I was wondering if any one felt the same about the brush thanks for explaining it, regardless I’m still tempted to buy this color it’s the whole limited edition that pulls me in lol I guess they prob know that too.
Oh man. Sea Breeze is probably my favorite of all of my polishes. Granted, I don’t have a crapton yet, but I loooooove that color. I wish I could get more.
I will be at the counter at 10am on thursday to make what I have planned out to be a huge purchase! I love this collections! Any opinions on the pink shade?
I’d be interested to see how it compares to essie Turquoise and Caicos!
The only reason I would get this is for the bottle, but I’m not going to. Even if I don’t have a dupe, I’m totally satisfied with my range of turquoises.
Isn’t the other one in the collection called Hangin Loose? My fave Mac polish is actually So Rich So Pretty from the Alice & Olivia collection. I just love the way it looks on my nails. My fave bottles are from the Wonderwoman collection though!
It is. Call that a brain fart. Thanks for pointing it out.
Absolutely the Wonderwoman collection! I even bought one of the colors just because of it hahah! I like Hangin Loose a lot and will be purchasing it, but I’m pretty bottle-biased!
There you go, teasing me with Greenport.
Can you “Share” that one with me? Pretty please?
(can’t blame a girl for trying!)
i like the colour but its nothing special to me.. i want to wait to buy my first mac polish for a really amazing one..
Wow, Model Own Slate Green is DEAD ON! How much is the Model Own Polish?
The Models Own isn’t dead on. As I stated in the review it is more grayed and not as bright.
I love the color, but I don’t think that I would want to shell out $15 for it.How does it compare to Sally Hansen’s Insta-Dri in Mint Sprint? Oh, just wanted to let you know that I’m loving your 365 days of untried polishes. There’s a lot that you have that either I don’t have or never heard of before.
When I saw this polish I wondered how it compared to Essie’s Turquoise and Caicos, a personal fave.
Turquoise and Caicos is much more blue in comparison.
The MAC polish is actually my least favorite out of the three and with the application/brush issues this one is a definite PASS!
I have my local MAC store putting this on hold for me but I am still on the fence. I have Misa Dirty Sexy Money, OPI Mermaid Tears and ORLY Ancient Jade…is this similar to those, because if it is I dunno if I want to pay almost $15 for it. I would like it if it was a brighter color though as I have those 3 similar colors, but nothing BRIGHT haha. They are all pretty muted, imo.
My favourite MAC nail polish is Nocturnelle. Simple, I know. But of all the black creme polishes I own, I always, always go for Nocturnelle. In general, though, I love MAC nail polishes. It’s the rubberized handle.
does anyone know how: opi ‘jade is the new black’ compares to any of the side-by-sides? thank you for the 365!!! i look forward to it every day!!!
I showed the three colors that come closest in my collection to Ocean Dip. JITNB is nothing like Ocean Dip
Not really into that kind of green. However! I am currently wearing 360 from RBL’s Surf collection.
LOVE RBL 360! *SO envious* Lucky!
This is a beautiful summer color. I already own close substitutes, so I am satisfied with not getting this.
I already have so many teal/turquiose shades that I can’t justify paying $15 for this. I’m really disappointed that they raised prices so high for these polishes because i would have got Hangin Loose if it was $13 but I wasnt about to do $15 especially when that’s practically a RBL polish!
I like the color, but I don’t know if I’m dying to have it for $15. There are other very similar shades out there.
I got the email about these, and I wasn’t too excited about them. I’m not really digging the beachy vibe this summer. I prefer brighter colors at this time of year – bright blues, teal, cherry pink and red, mostly – and the occasional gold metallic or frosty pale blue.
I’ve heard you say, I think, that MAC changed its formula, and I was wondering when? The last time I bought one was around 2007, and while they had great colors, I swear they would start chipping within hours and sometimes have to be removed within a day or two. That’s why I stopped buying them. Has that changed?
I really like this color in theory- but in practice, with my skin tone- I end up looking next to death. But perhaps that Model’s Own would work because of the gray- thanks for including it in the comparison. (and on my monitor, it looks like it’s the best match for OD- but I know it isn’t IRL) Thanks for the comparisons, and tips on handling the MAC brush!
Have you seen the new Mermaid Cove Wet and Wild anyplace yet? I know you are from Cleveland, and I am from the East side and cannot find it anywhere!! Rite Aid is just coming out with the set in which Gray’e Anatomy is in. Thanks.