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I was organizing my MAC eyeshadow palettes when I suddenly thought of swatching all of them. It was a tedious process as I admittedly have quite a few, so I decided to split the swatches in color groups. This is therefore going to be a series of entries on my MAC shadow swatches, for your reference and mine as well. While swatching these and looking at their gorgeous colors on my laptop screen, I realized that I hardly wear many of these amazing colors. From now on, I would be making tutorials and looks using more of my MAC eye shadows.
All the swatches were applied on clean skin primed with either MAC Butternutty shadestick or MAC Soft Ochre paint pot. The swatches were also taken in natural light with no flash to really see the colors in their purest, most natural state.
These are absolutely lovely colors that I use again and again, especially at work. My favorite is Twillery, which is a limited edition color from the Inventive Eyes quad. I loved it so much that I swapped for another one of this. It didn't show well in the picture, but it's a gorgeous shimmery light taupe color that brightens the eyes and makes a beautiful contrast when used together with darker crease and outer V colors.
Solar White of course is a coveted shadow from the Cool Heat collection. It's one of the prettiest highlighter colors that I have. Femme Fi is from the Neo Sci Fi collection and a pretty highlighter with warm goldish nuances. Grand Entrance is a shimmery color from the Starflash collection. I always use this as a lid color and never as a highlighter, because it looked too frosty for me to be used as such.
Obviously, All that Glitters is another fave because I have almost used up my pan. I LOVE this as a lid color. It's an understatement because I've used it so many times. Warming Trend from the Cool Heat collection is another fave. It looks so unassuming but it looks pretty when used in an understated neutral look. I love to use this with my 252 brush as an all-over lid color. Soba is a nice color but I don't use it often. It might be great as a crease color to soften a darker crease/outer V color. Time & Space is from the Neo Sci Fi, another nice crease color. Smoke & Diamonds, sadly, doesn't get any love from me. It is a pretty grey/slate/silver with brown undertones, but I don't see it as very pigmented. I know it was the most popular color from the Starflash collection, and I really want to love it, but (sigh)...
Bronze is from the permanent collection and is a staple of mine for neutral looks. Magnetic Fields is from the Neo Sci Fi collection, but for some reason I don't use it often but makes for a good crease color. Glamour Check! from Starflash is a nice copper brown that I use occasionally. Evening Aura from Neo Sci Fi is a gold/orange/coral shade that I should be using more often. It has been compared to Goldbit, a very hard-to-find and coveted shadow from a past collection. Amber Lights is from the permanent collection that is just an amazing color, I wonder why I don't use it that often!
Nylon is a very pretty color that reminds me of Rose Blanc, a frosty white gold that I'd love to use as a highlighter and tearduct color. Retrospeck is a nice shade, but the lustre finish makes it apply gritty on the lid, although an eye primer should minimize that effect. Gleam and Jest are gorgeous lid colors. When I'm in a hurry on my way to work, I just slap either of these two on and my eyes look professional and polished.
Honesty and Patina are colors I don't use very much, but they make great transition colors to blend the darker and lighter colors on the lid. Cork is a nice crease color, while Tempting and Sable are very pretty outer V colors, albeit Tempting is a bit on the green-goldish brown side. Did I also mention that these colors are also great for bridal work, especially the matte ones like Cork and Brun?
B-Rich is a lighter brown color that unfortunately don't use that much. Mulch, obviously, is a very loved shade. I like to use it on the crease, and it does remind me of dirt. Brun is a nice dark chocolate color that some dark-haired ladies use as a brow color. Bold N Brazen is a coppery color, nice one but I also don't use it that much.
Click below to see more swatches below the cut!
CORRECTION: Top right-most color should read Remotely Grey, NOT Rich Flesh.
This is one of my favorite palettes because most of the colors from the N collection and Matte-Squared (Matte2) are here, and I just absolutely LOVE the shades and textures of the products from these two collections. The Matte2 shadows are matte, but amazingly, they are so very creamy and apply like buttah on the lids, and the colors are very rich and just amazing. These would be great for bridal work as well.
Daisy Chain is a nice yellow-goldish beige highlighter color. Nanogold is from the N collection which was repromoted in Cult of Cherry. I like the color but hate the lustre finish. Modest Tone and Frisco are gradient colors to blend darker and lighter colors to create a seamless look. Neutral Pink - I LOVE to use this with the 224 on the crease before applying a darker color to contour the crease. It softens the look and yet gives depth to the eye.
Tete-a-Tint is a matte dirty yellowish brown. Ochre Style is a frosty yellowish brown that is a very pretty color to blend gradient shades. Rich Flesh is a neutral warm brown that is a blender color as well. Copperplate is an amazing matte greyish brown that works great on the outer lid or crease, and of course being a Matte2 it's very rich and pigmented. Remotely Grey is a dirty grey brown which is a favorite of mine to blend out darker crease contour colors using the 224. Clue has pewter tones that is similar to Copperplate except that the latter is deeper and Clue has shimmer.
Twinks is my fave- similar to 100 Strokes and Mulch but is lighter than the former and darker than the latter. Handwritten is another favorite- an amazingly rich dark chocolate that is just perfect for any neutral look to give it depth and oomph. A Little Folie is a red-based brown, while Dark Edge has dirty grey and brown tones.
CORRECTION: Mont Blanc should read Mont Black.
These are my more recent acquisitions. 100 Strokes is from the Brunette Blonde Redhead collection - a beautiful brown-black with definite red pearl. It looks amazing with plums and neutrals. Yogurt is a matte dirty pink-grey that works great as a blender color. Brule is my favorite to blend outer edges of shadows to make the look more seamless. Rose Blanc is a pretty gold-yellow highlighter. Whistle is a matte light pink from the Barbie collection. Ricepaper is my staple highlighter- so staple that I am on my second pan! Its yellow-based tones complement my warm skintone. Pincurl is a cool silvery highlighter from the Chill collection. Also from Chill are Henna, Mont Black and Arctic Grey, which is a very unique color. I have silvers and greys, but not this kind of in-between, dirty snow color. Love it. Mont Black is a beautiful black with a lot of sparkles (or multi-dimensional pearl) in it, but I believe the light captures them as goldish sparkles, which are gorgeous. This is similar to Black Tied, but the sparkles in the latter are somewhat one-dimensional silver shimmer. Henna is an olive green-gold color similar to Sumptuous Olive, but prettier in my opinion.
WHEW! I can't believe I'd described all of them! Watch out for another swatching spree of my other MAC shadows! They will be organized according to color. Watch out for the pinks and purples soon!
3 comments
these posts are really helpful, thanks!
extremely helpful, thank you! still torn between Jest and Naked Lunch though. decisions...
Wow! thank you very much this was what i was looking for! Thanks for sharing! :-)
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