Eyeshadow
Highlighter, Optical Bronzer
I had the chance to try these new MAC Art of Powder Eye Shadow, Highlighter and Bronzer. They are housed in the new eye shadow quad compacts so the packaging looks very familiar. The patterns however are not. They are cool or tacky depending on how you look at them. I personally think they're pretty cool because they are patterned after real concepts of art. The Optical Bronzer is patterned after an optical illusion art that delves into the depth, dimension and illusion of bronze; it plays the concept of a bronzer and challenges how far it can go. The Highlighter is an abstract art (looks like bacteria under a microscope to me) and plays with lights to come up with an ethereal glow. The Eye Shadow is patterned after graffiti art (need I say more?).
Street Art Eyeshadow:
Street Art Eyeshadow
Eyeshadow swatches
As you can see, the product itself is so pretty, a lot of people will probably hesitate to use it because it looks gorgeous in the compact. It's like a miniature graffiti wall. True to its graffiti concept, you have a lot of colors to choose from. Street Art Eye Shadow has a graffiti design with light brown, white, light cool blue, warm orange, pastel pink, and pastel blue. I suggest using this with a good base and colored base underneath. I didn't use a base for the swatches, so you can see that they look chalky. Using a good base will lessen the chalky look and will make your eyeshadows last longer and with better color payoff. I am disappointed that there are not a lot of crease colors (or darker hues) in this product. They look more highlighter and lid or wash colors to me. Their texture also reminds me of mineralize eye shadows, so I'll experiment with these and see if the shades will look and apply better when foiled.
SRP: $38
The Shades Of U Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Optical Bronzer
Optical Bronzer
Optical Bronzer swatched
I am actually liking the Optical Bronzer. I am practically mesmerized with the pattern. It is a bronze with gold pearl and neon pink with gold pearl. This will not give you garish strips of neon pink on your cheeks. On the contrary, it gives a soft bronze hue with definite gold-pink specks of sparkle that you can see in the swatches. Just gorgeous. However, I don't think this will show up on tan to dark skintones. This is perfect for fair, light and medium skintones.
SRP: $38
The Shades Of U Rating: 4.25 out of 5 stars
In The Abstract Highlighter
In the Abstract Highlighter
Swatches: Left-In the Abstract Highlighter, Right-Optical Bronzer
In the Abstract Highlighter
In the Abstract has soft pink base with yellow gold lines and lavender and midtone pink dots. On the skin, though, it has strong yellow tones. It gives a soft yellow-gold glow which can be applied heavily or sheer depending on your taste. The left swatch was applied with a light hand while the right swatch was applied heavily. I think this would be great for medium to darker skintones. I don't know how the yellow tones would fare against lighter skin. That said, it reminds me somewhat of Gold Deposit mineralize skinfinish, but the latter is frostier.
SRP: $38
The Shades Of U Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
All in all, I think these are more "collectors' items" than makeup. Sure, you can use them, but they are more collectors' pieces to my eyes. If I were to pick a favorite, though, it would be the Optical Bronzer- I love the concept of an optical illusion for a bronzer. I also love the entire design and choice of colors for the product. I also like the In the Abstract Highlighter because the soft gold tones are pretty and they complement my warm skintone. My least favorite would have to be the Street Art Eye Shadow as I see more highlighter colors than lid or crease shades. The concept is impressive though and I am sure a lot of thought has been put into the creation of these works of art (and makeup).
Note: Press samples were provided by a representative of the company for consideration. All opinions are completely mine.
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