Spice Up Your Life (Or Lips) With A Nod To The 90s
Jo is a former Adore Beauty staffer and qualified dermal therapist with over decade of experience in the beauty industry.
She co-hosted our award-winning podcast Beauty IQ Uncensored for 4 years, interviewing names like Caroline Hirons, Katie Jane Hughes and Chris Appleton to name a few.
M.A.C Cosmetics Lip Pencil in Spice is a creamy, long-wearing pink‑cinnamon liner that defines and enhances the lips while doubling as a matte tint or eye base. This article explains why Spice flatters most skin tones, offers simple shading and overlining tips, and shares user feedback on formula and staying power.
Top Insights From This Guide
- Shade the lip body from the border inwards to make lipstick last longer
- If overlining, follow your natural shape and extend only a couple of millimetres
- The creamy, pigmented formula applies smoothly, resists feathering and lasts
- Use Spice all over as a matte tint or under M.A.C Matte Lipstick in Velvet Teddy
Whether you want an everyday natural pout or a 90s-inspired defined lip, the tips here show quick application steps, how far to overline, and why users praise the formula. Read on for step-by-step technique notes, pairing ideas and verdicts from real reviews.
Before Kylie Jenner came along and caused M.A.C’s Lip Pencil in Spice to sell out, 90s icons Pamela Anderson and Cindy Crawford relied on this liner shade for their full, defined pouts.
Why It’s So Popular:
It’s not just the deep neutral shade that appeals to such a huge audience, M.A.C’s Lip Pencil formula is worth bragging about too.
- The smooth, creamy texture glides easily over the lip contours
- Soft, yet mega-pigmented, this lip liner is super long-wearing
- Perfect for shaping, defining & enhancing the lips
- Using a lip liner helps to prevent feathering & fading
- The smooth texture never drags or pulls, eliminating the chance of errors!
- Can be worn alone or paired with other lip products
- M.A.C Cosmetics Lip Pencil can also be used as a base for eyes before applying shadow
The Shade:
Described as ‘pink cinnamon sticks’, there’s something about this long-time best-seller that works on just about everyone.
It’s rather close to my natural lip colour, so it’s the perfect shade for enhancing and overlining my lip border, and as an all-over base underneath M.A.C’s Matte Lipstick in Velvet Teddy.
Curious to know if it’ll suit you? InStyle and celebrity makeup artist Vincent Oquendo shows us exactly how Spice can work on different skin tones.
Your Guide To Using Lip Liner:
For those of you who are already lip liner experts, you can skip this part. For beginners, this little guide might come in handy.
Tip #1: Don’t just line the border of your lips (this technique is too 90s). Lip liner will help your lipstick to last much longer, so I recommend shading in the body of your lips, starting from the border and working inwards.
Tip #2: If you’re overlining, make sure you follow the natural shape of your lips and avoid overlining more than a couple of millimetres.
Tip #3: To create a really defined Cupid’s bow, draw an “X”, starting from the inside peak of the Cupid’s bow on one side, crossing it over to the other side and repeat.
The Reviews:
DEFINE!
Cassandra
“These lip pencils are a beautiful formula and help to define your lip and give you extra pout! I love that the colours also match the lipsticks or can be used on their own all over the lip for a matte look. I have colours Whirl and Spice, both are amazing!”
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Mother of all lip pencils
Rebecca
“I have used these lip pencils for years and they’re just a cut above other brands. I have the colours Spice and also Soar. They are perfect under most lip shades and they absolutely help to make your lipstick last longer.”
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Love it
Yoshie
“MAC lip pencils are incredible, definitely my favourites. They are creamy and smooth to apply, but stiff enough to easily and accurately line your lips.”
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Highly recommended
Gabriella
“Amazing formula and has staying power. I use both as a liner for lipsticks and also as a tint/lipstick on its own with a bit of lip balm or gloss over the top.”
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