In addition to their Eye Bags, MAC created three six-pan eyeshadow palettes for holiday. These are $38 each, in white compacts with a flattened-dome, glitter-filled snowglobe on the lid. Each palette also includes a little 213 eyeshadow brush. I’ll admit, I put these off for last because they’re not my favorites.
The Warm eyeshadow palette (on the left) is a nice assortment of browns. Winterscape is a classic Lustre, a slightly chunky, somewhat fallout-prone pale silvery white. (I just don’t understand the Lustre formula.) Magical Mist (Lustre) is a shimmery brown taupe, and a repromote from Tartan Tale. Patina (Frost) is a permanent shade, an intriguing golden, ashy brown that reflects copper.
Buckwheat (Velvet) is a warm brown with small gold sparkles, a repromote from Naked Honey and Tartan Tale, though it’s always been a Frost formula before. Gaelic Gold (Veluxe Pearl) is a dirty-gold frost — also a repromote from Tartan Tale. Midnight Flurry (Matte) is a relatively dark, reasonably cool earth-brown.
The Sultry eyeshadow palette is particularly full of shades that are sheer, chalky, unpigmented, or likely to produce fallout. Lightfully (Lustre) is a very sheer silvery white. Trax (Velvet) is a permanent shade, a sheer lilac with tiny pink sparkles. Fun! (Lustre) is a sheer, fallout-prone rose-copper. Festive Delight (Lustre) is a sheer red-plum with tiny pink sparkles. Black Tied (Velvet) is a permanent shade, a sheer black with silver sparkles. Shadowy Lady (Matte) is also permanent (and repromoted in Rose Romance, Cult of Cherry), a very dark, blackened red-purple.
The Cool eyeshadow palette is — no pun intended — the coolest. Snowball (Frost) is a sheer white with tiny sea green shimmers. Illegal Cargo (Frost) is a periwinkle sheeny satin with a lilac reflect. Idol Eyes (Lustre) is a permanent shade, a frost-blue-grey shimmer with a dirty-gold reflect. I did a double-take at Warm & Smoky (Veluxe Pearl). How does a blue eyeshadow get named “Warm & Smoky”? It’s a duochrome deep blue-purple shimmer. Howzat (Satin) is a slate/charcoal blue-grey satin. Set to Dance (Matte) is actually a repromote from one of last year’s Tartan Tale palettes, but this incarnation looks quite different. It’s much more black/less blue this year. I’d call it a matte navy black with so-so pigment.
If you like blue eyeshadow, the cool palette offers a pretty nice assortment.
Love ‘em? Leave ‘em? What do you think?
Wow, Trax looks SO purple in this swatch… the Trax that I have in full size from the permanent collection seems so much more golden and muted… Karla, do you think it looks this different from the permanent collection version in person, or is this a trick of the lighting? Thanks for the awesome swatches as always… I was super bummed that these palletes this year had so many permanent and repromoted eyeshadows, I had to skip all of them.
Love’em so much! Wish I could buy them all
Hey Michelle, this Trax swatch doesn’t look like the last time I swatched it. That was admittedly a long time ago, but I’m not TOO surprised that the color is different, given the inconsistencies with Set to Dance and Emancipation.
I got the cool palette because I don’t have that many blues in my collection and this was the only palette that didn’t come with shades I already own. It is really pretty and great for smoky eyes.
Definitely leaving them. The palettes instore didn’t thrill me and thanks to your post, I can see how many I already own!
these palettes look cheap.