The first beauty love of my life was MAC eyeshadows — For my thirteenth birthday, I got my first one along with my beloved MAC 217 — and to this day, that love hasn’t weakened in any shape or form. I’ve been wanting to write one of these kinds of posts for ages and they are my favourite to read so now that I’ve kind of sort of completed the eyeshadow portion of my palette, I feel compelled to bite the bullet and do it. If you’re ready to see my palette and hear an assortment of my thoughts on the whole thing and the individual shades, read on. However, before I get to all of that I shall preface this by saying that all of the shades are good quality (unless specified, sort of) and I highly recommend putting your own palette together because although it seems expensive at first having to pay for each shade, there’s something practical and economical in putting together your own MAC palette.

Dazzlelight (Veluxe Pearl) – neutral with shimmer

A creamy ivory shade that is only subtly different than my natural skintone on my lids but slightly lighter with a golden sheen running throughout, Dazzlelight is a gorgeous subtle highlighting shade and also works on the lid for an extremely natural shade. This is a staple that I might just adore and need to repurchase in the future.

Vex (Frost)– beige with pink-green pearl

This one has to be among MAC’s most unique offerings but I will admit that I don’t reach for it enough. It’s a shimmery cool-toned ivory colour that has a strong pink-green duochrome so it looks really interesting on the lid. It’s a nice highlighting or general lid shade, in my experience.

All That Glitters (Veluxe Pearl)– beige with gold pearl

This longtime favourite eyeshadow of mine has to be my favourite eyeshadow to this day and I’ve already used up two pans of this stuff already. In essence, it’s a golden-peachy champagne with the nicest metallic sheen running throughout that has the easiest texture to work with and is my favourite lid shade of all time. It’s a more golden and peachy souped-up version of Urban Decay Sin. It’s worth all of it’s praise. This is one of the few items I would deem ‘holy grail’.

Patina (Frost) – taupe brown with golden pearl

This one is yet another gorgeous lid shade and its one that I hadn’t been reaching for enough because until recently it was in pot form and out of sight. It’s a slightly cool-toned muted golden hue that comes out a whole lot lighter than one would expect and with a whole lot less obvious shimmer too. It does have that gorgeous taupey lean to it, too.

Era (Satin) – soft golden beige with shimmer

I’m afraid that I can’t say much about this one as I only picked it up yesterday (after lusting after it for well over a year) and haven’t applied it to my eyelid yet but it does look rather promising and I’m excited to put it to use. I will admit that it doesn’t look too different from Patina, but I promise it is unique because it doesn’t have any of that olive kind of lean and is more of a golden champagne shade — without the peachiness of All That Glitters. It seems to be extremely smooth and pigmented with a gorgeous sheen running throughout that comes off rather subtle. I’m fairly certain this shall be a lid shade.

Soft Brown (Matte) – soft golden peachy-brown

I really should have listened to others when they raved about this shade and gave into the hype much earlier than I did, despite my reluctance to buy the neutral matte ‘boring shades’ but nevertheless, this new addition to my palette is valuable. It’s a really creamy warm-toned crease or transition shade that is a staple for me and I think it would be for anyone who is on the warmer side of things with a fair to medium skintone.

Coquette (Satin) – muted greyish taupe

I’ve rambled on about this ‘matte’ (but easy to work with) ashy medium-dark taupe before more than a time or two so I’ll keep this brief to the best of my ability. If you ask me it’s a better version of Charcoal Brown, perfect for naturally-ashy brunette brows as it doesn’t turn red and also works nicely in the crease with its smooth and pigmented texture.

Swiss Chocolate (Matte)– muted reddish brown

This is much more of a recent addition to my collection but it was one that instantly impressed me with its practicality; it’s a smooth and blendable warm reddish brown darker medium tone that’s ideal for deepening the crease and adding subtle depth to the outer corner and lower lashline.

Woodwinked (Veluxe Pearl) – warm antique gold

Paired with All That Glitters, this is my most repurchased item, having been replenished three times and it’s safe to say that the shade is worth the hype. It’s not always my favourite shade in the world, but it’s the best gold ever with amazing texture and warm metallic finish; if you ask me it’s a much better version of Urban Decay’s Half-Baked. However, it does come off much more coppery on cooler skintones, especially when blended.

Clarity (Matte2)

It is rather unfortunate that this punchy smooth and pigmented electric turquoise shade has been discontinued; it was definitely a good one, despite being of the neon variety. Because of this, I haven’t mentioned this great shade around these parts, although I do use the shade — but not often enough. I do love using the shadow for a pop of colour on the lower lashline. Sorry, but it’s no longer available 😦

Coppering (Veluxe Pearl) – orange copper

Coppering is more than a little bit more interesting than your average neutral shade and because of this, it doesn’t get used on an everyday basis by me but it is one of my very favourites on account of its phenomenal pigmented and buttery texture and gorgeous true copper metallic hue. It’s a shade that I either like to wear through the crease for some rustiness or all over the lid.

Satin Taupe (Frost) – taupe with silver shimmer

This cult-favourite shade is not the most unique by any means but it’s an amazing medium-buildable neutral taupe with strong plummy undertones. It’s worth the hype as it is one of my alltime favourites for the crease with it’s blendable, smooth and creamy finish.

Club (Satin) – red-brown with green pearl

This popular shade is a unique and versatile medium-dark brown shade that’s essentially a reddened brown with warm undertones. It also takes on a gorgeous green duochrome and this is one of those shades that works well on the lid, in the crease and in the outer corner!

Sketch (Velvet) – burgundy with red shimmer

This one is an unsung hero of my eyeshadow collection, an almost-matte warm deep plum shade that oddly enough swatches rather dry but applies much more smoothly to the eyes to smoke things our or add definition to the outer corner. Plus the slightly less powdery, drier texture ensures that there is minimal fallout during application.

Smut (Velvet) – muted black with red shimmer

I might have only added this almost-black-but-not-quite-alternative to my collection last month, but it’s become one of my staples, serving the purpose of a black as a liner and outer corner shade, but also being easier to work with and more interesting. It has the same great texture as Sketch, and is notably darker although it doesn’t swatch so — it doesn’t swatch as impressively as it applies to the lids — and is a darker version of the former shade with less plum and warm-tones to it. I might say that it’s a taupe shade that also has a good amount of burgundy to it and a hint of grey to it.

Moving on to my quad…

Sable (Frost) – gold-plum with bronze pearl

This popular shade is rather nice but it’s not a favourite of mine; the warm muted plummy bronze shade has a nice sheen running throughout and looks much nicer on those with green or brown eyes, if you ask me. This strikes me as a slightly darker version of Urban Decay’s Toasted and to be honest I prefer the lighter version. This is like Satin Taupe’s warmer and bronzier sister.

Charcoal Brown (Matte) – muted taupe brown

This is a matte slightly cool-toned medium brown that I purchased initially as a brow shade but proved itself to be inferior to ashier shades as my brows pull most products red. It’s a nice shade, both in practicality and quality, but it’s not necessary for me because of Coquette, although it does make a nice crease shade. I won’t be repurchasing after it’s used up, however.

Satellite Dreams (Veluxe Pearl) – deep plum with pearl

I’ve had this shade for ages and even after working through the top layer, I’m afraid that this shade is a dud in my eyes. However, I know others don’t seem to share my pigmentation concerns so I’m convinced that I might have just got a dud of this shade. If I do really pack it on, it is nice and will show up better than swatched.

What’s your favourite MAC eyeshadow?

Maggie, x.