It would be an understatement to say that Azealia Banks has had ‘a big year.' From ”2/a> (released last September) to T by Alexander Wang to ”2/a> to recently forming her own podcast channel (dubbed Kunt.FM) and just yesterday confirming she worked on a track with Lady Gaga, the rapper has had a non-stop, monster12 months . So we weren’t particularly surprised to see she had a lipstick collaboration with MAC in the works—the makeup brand obviously knows what's up (they've linked up with Nicki Minaj, Gaga, Mary J., Iris Apfel, Beth Ditto...). Banks is also performing at 7:45 tomorrow at the MAC store in Soho for FNO. (If you can't make it, watch the performance on MAC's Facebook page on Friday at 1pm sharp.)

Back to the lipstick in question. Banks created a true deep-plum color called Yung Rapunxel (interestingly, she calls out both “Yung Rapunzel” and “plum” in “212,”though the latter as a noun...and a euphemism for you-can-guess-what), and it looks very much like the shade she's wearing on the cover of the September issue of Vibe. [BTW, the pic above shows fellow MAC girl Carine with a swipe of Yung Rapunxel—makeup by ITG.]

I decided to give ‘Yung Rapunxel’ a try (with hopefully more success than my attempt at Gaga’s Fame-video lip, which ended up a sort of light violet). Truth be told, if I’m going to wear lipstick, it’s likely got more of a crimson bent (my goth phase was restricted solely to a deep appreciation of The Craft and Rick Owens' silhouettes, thus my experience with purple lipsticks is limited) so as they say, ‘here goes (went?) nothing!’

And the result? It’s... very creamy, as MAC lipsticks are loveably known to be. It didn’t blend particularly well, or as smoothly as Ruby Woo (which is, in my estimation, among the best red lipsticks of all time, but that’s another story). Also, the purple, while matte and very deeply violet, didn't vibe with my vaguely olive-tinged coloring. Others at ITG picked up on this, and not in a particularly positive way. And we’re pretty used to out-there beauty trends around these parts.

Well, at least I can still wear my Minnie Mouse sweatshirt.

—A.C.