MAC Pearlmatte Eyeshadow
MAC in Lillyland Collection: Pearlmatte Eyeshadow & Powder & Coconut Ice Nail Lacquer Review, Photos, Swatches
The two prettiest-looking items in the collection are my two least favorites of the collection. Both the Pearlmatte Eyeshadow and Face Powder are lovely to look at with their floral design, but the product itself is just okay.
Pearlmatte Eyeshadow
This is basically three eyeshadows in one, and the pieces are big enough that you can get your brush into each. It consists of a lightly shimmered white, a soft yellow-green with gold shimmer (think Juxt), and a medium blue-based pink with light shimmer (think Da Bling, but blue-based). The design dusts off pretty fast — I could barely see any of the floral portions once I did swatches. The shadows themselves are decently pigmented, but they’re not ultra rich. They also felt a little powdery, which I wasn’t thrilled with. Nice design, just an okay product.
Pearlmatte Face Powder
This contains four different shades within the compact, but realistically, as a face/cheek product, you’re going to end up with a swirl of colors, not just any of the four. In particular, the orange shade is incredibly small, so good luck wearing that alone if you’re brave enough to try! Nonetheless, I did swatch the four individual shades, and then I did a swirled swatch. The individual shades are: a yellowed, shimmered gold, mostly matte/satin peachy orange, sheer, deep pink, and a neutral tan-brown with no real shimmer. Swirled together, I ended up with a rather bronzy shade — it ran a little orange and had the yellow-gold shimmer in it. I don’t know if I’d use this as an all over face powder myself, because it seems more like a bronzer based on playing around with it so far.
Coconut Ice Nail Lacquer
I’d like to know why they named this Coconut Ice. Maybe I haven’t consumed enough coconut ice in my life, but I just envisioned a lightened shade — based on the name. I’ve read the description previously, so I wasn’t misled, but the name seemed off to me. This is a brightened peachy-coral kind of shade. It’s like Seasonal Peach with a lot more pink. It has a creamy finish, and I’d say it needs two to three coats to look right. It kind of reminded of an old, old nail polish called Pink Radar, except lighter and less pink. I liked it, but I like corals, so this wasn’t much of a surprise.
MAC Pigments: Rich Life, Universal Mix
MAC All Ages, All Races, All Sexes Collection: Pigment Reviews, Photos, Swatches
Focusing just on the colors, Rich Life isn’t my cup of tea, mostly because of the glittery texture, but Universal Mix is absolutely lovely. For those concerned about sizes, I just want to let you all know that tomorrow (well, assuming I receive my digital scale today), I’ll be doing another comparison of old jar vs. new jar of the same pigment and will also have a scale on hand.
Pigment ($19.50 U.S. / $23.50 CDN)
- Rich Life is a deep chocolate brown with a little cool taupe in it and a silver glitter strewn throughout. I found the texture to be a little glittery — it doesn’t feel gritty, but the glitter seems to sit more on the top rather than hunker down into the pigment itself. The texture and feel reminded me of lustre eyeshadows, actually, which I personally don’t like (too much fall out!). I think if you used this wet, you’d have less issues with fall out, but as it dries, you might find some still glitters up your under eye area.
- Universal Mix is a smooth, frosty gilded white-gold. This is a lovely shade. It’s like a whiter Gold Dusk, a little more shimmer, and smoother. I really liked this one, even when it was all over my carpet, hands, and camera post-comparison.
See photos, swatches, and lip swatches! Continue reading →
MAC All Races Eyeshadow
MAC All Ages, All Races, All Sexes Collection: Eyeshadows Reviews, Photos, Swatches
None of the eyeshadows really spoke to me, which may be more a reflection of them being a little too neutral, too safe and me having more than enough neutral favorites through their permanent line. I suppose my feelings are much like they were with Warm & Cozy from last week — I’d loved to have seen new and different neutrals. I also wish Showstopper would go into retirement for at least a few years! Of the four, my favorite was All Races, and I do think that one is the most worth picking up, because it’s not a shade I’ve seen by MAC at all (no immediate dupes came to mind).
Eyeshadows ($14.50 U.S. / $16.50 CDN)
- All Races is a cool-toned lilac with a little gray edge. It has a matte finish, and it is a creamy, silky matte–no chalky texture here. I can’t remember seeing a shade like this by MAC. Maybe once or twice, but nothing I can remember at the moment!
- Banshee is a dirty pink with a little brown to it — it has a silver glitter that makes it a little chunky. It has a lustre finish, which definitely accounts for the glittery feel. I imagine you may have some issues with fall out with this shade.
- Cross-Cultural is a medium-dark chocolate brown with a matte finish. This is definitely a shade you could use to contour your eye space with; it has a nearly neutral finish, not being too cool nor warm. I’d say this is similar to maybe Era/Texture or a lighter version of Espresso.
- Showstopper is an ultra dark charcoal brown with a cool feel to it. This is a shade that’s not permanent yet it comes out often enough that it never feels like you need to stock up. This also has a matte finish to it. This is similar to Mystery/Brun.
Too Faced Teddy Bear & Heaven Eyeshadow Duo
Spring Makeup: Neutrals from Too Faced
For spring, Too Faced introduces four eyeshadow duos
($17.00 each) all in shiny black packaging with clear lids that snap shut.
- Teddy Bear & Heaven is a duo a dark, cool-toned grayish brown and a silky smooth pale beige-nude. They’re both matte in texture and have good pigmentation.
- Cocoa Puff & Honey Pot is a beautiful duo of a dark, rich chocolate brown with bronze brown undertones and golden shimmer and a metallic copper bronze with a high level of metallic-frost in its finish. I really loved the deep shade (I presume Cocoa Puff) — very intense, lovely, and easy to work with. Honey Pot is very flashy and has a great deal of metallic sheen.
- Erotica & Silk Teddy is like a cool-toned version of Cocoa Puff & Honey Pot, actually. It’s a cool-toned taupe chocolate brown with gold and green shimmer paired with a champagne pink with a bright metallic sheen. Like Honey Pot, Silk Teddy is very, very high in sheen.
- Sexpresso & Peach Fuzz has a dark, cool-toned espresso brown with a matte finish and a light peachy orange with gold flecks (but the base color felt rather matte with more of the glitter/shimmer as an overlay).
According to Too Faced, the eyeshadow duos were their way of giving you the ability to repurchase your favorite shades from their Natural Eye Palette. I actually reviewed the Natural Eye Palette back in August when it first debuted. The shades they didn’t put into duo form were Velvet Revolver, Push-up, and Nude Beach (and by the way? Nude Beach is no loss, seriously!).
I think it’s cool that Too Faced–at least it seems that way–listened to their fans and made sure they wouldn’t run out of their new favorite shades. I personally prefer the eyeshadow duo packaging — more durable, less messy, and I like being able to tote just one or two around, rather than entire palette. The palette was cute, though. This is also a nice way to maybe grab one duo instead of the entire palette if you were looking for a particular shade. The palette retailed for $34 and contained three larger sized shadows (0.07 oz. each) and six smaller sized shadows (0.03 oz. each), and the duos are a good size — 0.08 oz. for each duo (I imagine it’s split pretty evenly down the middle). You get a better bang for your buck with the palette, but you might prefer the set-up and convenience of the duos (or maybe only want one!).
Bottom Line
Smooth, buttery, and pigmented — these eyeshadows are particularly lovely, high quality, and they’re all easy to use neutrals. I actually much prefer these over the Fun in the Dark Palette and would put my money towards these instead!
If you want to know more about how products are evaluated, read out Rating System FAQ! 
- Product: 28/30
- Value: 8/10
- Ease of Use: 4/5
- Packaging: 4/5
Recommendation: If you like Too Faced eyeshadows, and you’re looking for neutrals… those are these!
Availability: Sephora
Spring Makeup with Too Faced Fun in the Dark Palette
Too Faced Fun in the Dark Palette
($32.50) is a new, limited edition eyes, cheeks, and lip palette from Too Faced for the spring. It contains four eyeshadows (Pin-Up, Peep Show, Full Frontal, Lucky Charms), two lip products (Tropical Pink, Free Love), one blush (Papa Don’t Peach), and one bronzer (Sun Bunny). When you flip open the top, there are small, circular lights that go along the border of the palette that light up, and according to Too Faced, the battery life is about thirty hours.
I really, really did not like the light-up mirror included in the palette. In fact, I will just come right out and say it: I hated it. It was a blinding cool-toned white. The light was neither flattering nor comfortable to look towards. I disliked it so much, I left the palette open for two days to drain the battery of the lights, because it was just such a distraction. But seriously, it hurt my eyes a bit when I first flipped the top of this palette open. Don’t get me wrong, the lighting is a minor point, and like I did, you can always drain the battery for the lights, but it didn’t leave me the best first impression, you know?
The four eyeshadows are of the softer shadow variety, and they’re smooth and well-pigmented. Pin-up is a neutral, maybe slightly cool, champagne beige with soft white shimmer. Peep Show is a cool-toned medium pink with gold shimmer–this one was lovely; it reminded me of Urban Decay Naked Lipstick or MAC Stark Naked Blush. Full Frontal is a rich chocolate brown with red undertones and a slightly frosty finish. Lucky Charms is a frosty medium-dark forest green with gold shimmer and green sheen.
Papa Don’t Peach is a pinky-peachy blush, which leans a little more peach. It has good pigmentation, and it’s similar to NARS Orgasm, but I’d say it’s a little darker and not nearly as shimmery. If you like Orgasm, though, I imagine you’d like this shade as well. Sun Bunny is a split-bronzer with a darker, more coppery bronze on one side and a lighter, less shimmery soft copper bronze on the other side.
Tropical Pink is an ultra sheer (aka clear) gloss with a hint of gold sparkle. I found it pretty disappointing, just because there was no pigmentation to speak of and it felt quite gooey. Free Love is a medium-pink lipstick with gold shimmer. I liked Free Love a lot more, because you could get pigmentation out of it with enough layers. I’m still no fan of lip palettes, particularly when they’re housed near powder-based products, though!
Bottom Line: If you’re looking for a palette for easy travel, you might enjoy Fun in the Dark, because it has a little something for all of your face – the eyes, cheeks, and lips. It’s not the most handy palette, just because the four eyeshadows don’t yield the most combinations, but it’s an interesting pairing of colors, nonetheless. I like it overall, but I didn’t fall in love.
Edit: It does, indeed, look like they spelled Chronicles wrong on the palette. I checked the image Sephora’s using, and it’s misspelled there, too.
If you want to know more about how products are evaluated, read out Rating System FAQ!
- Product: 25/30
- Value: 9/10
- Ease of Use: 4/5
- Packaging: 3/5
Recommendation: If you like Too Faced eyeshadows, or have always wanted to try them, this might be a good way to check them out!
Availability: Sephora
MAC Chamomile Eyeshadow
MAC Warm & Cozy Collection: Eyeshadows
Four brown-hued shades of eyeshadow debuted in the Warm & Cozy Collection. On my skin (probably around NC20 for the underside of my arm — which is where I do swatches), they were all fairly faint. You can see the color, but they’re obviously not ultra rich in pigmentation. I don’t think that makes them bad necessarily, they’re just softer shades and definitely should be used in conjunction with a base (e.g. Cuddle shadestick).
- Chamomile is a pigmented light beige. Surprisingly, this was one of the more pigmented shades of the four. It would make an excellent all-over-lid shade or a highlighter. It’s like a beige-y version of Blanc Type.
- Modelette is a softly shimmered medium brown. It’s decently pigmented, but it’s not at all intense (just to be sure).
- Mulled Cider is a medium-dark red-tinged brown. It reminds me of a satin-finish Folie or Swiss Chocolate (and sheerer).
- Embark is a dark, red-based brown with a matte finish. It swatches like garbage, and I really couldn’t tell you why. This is definitely one of those looks-better-in-use shades, though (I’ve owned Embark forever!).
MAC has a whole slew of amazing neutral eyeshadows in their permanent line-up. I don’t know if these would be the first browns I’d go-to, to be honest. I’d probably just check out their permanent range, because there really are some incredible shades available. (You can see my eight must-have MAC neutrals here.)
