Mecca Max is a cruelty free and vegan brand that can be purchased in store from Mecca Maxima, or from the Mecca website. Mecca Max is a makeup-focused line aimed at providing more affordable products for Mecca customers. They recently launched the Off Duty Stick range which has blushes, contours and a highlighter. Each individual stick contains 6.5 grams of product and retails for $18 each. Today I have swatches on my fair skin of the three shades that I bought. Mecca don’t send PR to anyone fair, so I hope this can help some of you. The Mecca home brands also don’t cater to my very fair skin with any of their base products, like foundation or concealer, so I was worried that these shades also wouldn’t work for me, but thankfully they do.
The Mecca Max Off Duty range consists of wind up cream sticks that are supposed to be buildable, so that you can get a sheer or bright look. There are 6 shades of the Off Duty Blush Stick, two shades of the Off Duty Contour Stick and one shade of the Off Duty Glow Stick. I have the blush shade Pinch and contour in Medium (the lightest shade). All three products are creamy and buildable, but the blush and highlight are a bit more creamy than the contour. The application method that works best for me with all products is to apply them directly to the cheek and then use a dense brush to blend them out. It wasn’t as easy to blend them out with a sponge for me, but I was able to apply the highlight directly to my cheek bones with my fingers, and that worked well.
Pinch seemed to be the most fair-skin friendly blush shade from the website swatches, but it looks a lot more peachy on me than the website pictures show. It looks like it is one of the most pink leaning shades from the website, so I think the range is leaning quite orange. I do prefer pink blushes on my fair cool skin, but this shade still works for me. I would like to see some more pinks for fair skin from them in future though. The glow shade is described as being a “modern illuminator with a wet-look finish”. I really like this shade as it has very little back-pigment, so there’s no weird colour stripe on my skin when using it, and it has a pretty pink hue at certain angles. The shift is quite subtle on my skin, but it might be more apparent on darker skin tones. A cream, almost clear highlight with a pink shift, is my ideal highlight, but I’m sure there will be people out there hoping that they expand the glow range to include more tones. I hope they continue to make any future colours without a back-pigment as it makes them useable for many more skin tones.
The main reason why I wanted these sticks is for the contour shade. I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to use it because I hadn’t seen it used by anyone with very fair skin. I do have good news for those of you also in the fair skin club, it is really easy to blend out, so I can use it. I apply a really small amount and blend with a dense brush, and then once blended, I can add another layer if it’s not defined enough. All three products layer really well, so I always go in with a small amount and build up until I have the colour I want. I do still wish they had made a light shade that was cooler in tone, like the Jordana Sculpt N’ Go, which I have compared it to below, but it is the first cream contour from and Australian brand that I can actually use, so I’m really happy with that.
I don’t own many other cream cheek stick products, as very few cruelty free brands have made products that I could use, but I have done a comparison with the products I do have. I have compared Mecca Max Pinch to Colourpop Cosmetics Blush Stix in Mini Me, and W3ll People Nudist Multi-use Cream Stick in 10 Nude Berry. It is more peach than both shades. I compared Mecca Max Glow to Colourpop Cosmetics Lite Stix in Urth. Colourpop Urth is a light champagne with a lot more back-pigment than the sheer Glow Stick. Finally, I compared the Mecca Max Contour in Medium to the Jordana Sculpt N’ Glow in Light. The Jordana stick is a lot cooler in tone, and a more suitable contour shade for my very fair skin. It is the shade that I wanted the Mecca Contour to be, but as I said earlier, the Mecca Contour is still useable for me. The Mecca version is creamier than the Jordana version, so it might be easier to use for people who are new to cream products. Both contour shades are sold out on the website right now, so I assume other people are also liking them.
Overall, I am really happy with the Mecca Max Off Duty sticks. I hope they expand the shade range in future to include more pink blushes and a cooler contour, but I am enjoying the current shades that I have. I hope all the Mecca brands get better at producing products for very fair skin, especially with their concealer and foundation products. I really like the Mecca Max Off Duty BB Cream, but I have to add a lot of the Colourpop White Concealer to get it to a shade that I can use. I think people with dark skin are probably also having the same problem with the Mecca ranges. I also hope they start to include very fair influencers in their PR mail-outs as seeing products on light skin just isn’t helpful for me. If you are new to cream cheek products, then these are a great place to start, their blendability makes them so easy to use. I also think they’re great for people who love cream products as they can be used sheer or built up, which makes them really versatile. If you really like cream products then you should also check out my Elate Blush and Highlighter review.
I have a couple more weeks of university left for this year, and then I will be back with lots of blog posts. I have so many things to write about, so subscribe to my mailing list so that you can get my new blog posts sent to your inbox. You can also find me on social media – Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter. I have some stories of me using these products saved to my Makeup highlight on Instagram if you want to see that.
Do you like the look of the Mecca Max Off Duty Sticks? Which shade is your favourite? If you have tried any, I would love to hear what you think of them.
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