MAC “Pop Colour” Collection Review, Photos, Swatches
Friday, January 15th, 2010
MAC “Pop Colour” Collection: Review, Photos, Swatches
Debuting today in-store are eight eyeshadow shades, permanent extensions to the freestanding and PRO store eyeshadow ranges. They will only be available in limited quantity and duration at counters (department stores), though. They’re also available online and should be online for as long as they’re permanent (think of online as much like a freestanding store). These are, thus, available in palette form when you purchase through freestanding/PRO stores or through the MAC website. Four shades were already PRO shades, two were previously limited edition shades, and two are brand new.
Temptalia’s Recommendations
Must-have: Lucky Green, Atlantic Blue, Winkle
Nice-to-have: Free to Be, Vibrant Grape
Skip: –
I found the texture and pay off to be pretty good across the board. The mattes tended to needed two or three layers to build up the intensity and make them smooth without a proper base, but since I’ve owned a few of these previously, I can say they work well in practice. I don’t think any of them are poor in quality to merit skipping them based on that; it comes down to whether or not you like a particular shade (e.g. I don’t know if I’m going to love Goldenrod on me). Sunny Spot is the only one of the eight that has a similar shade already in the permanent line (Bitter), but it’s not a dead-on dupe.
Eyeshadows
- Red Brick is a brick red — that’s really what it is. It’s an orange-y red with a matte finish. It can be pigmented, but it requires building up the intensity and/or a good base. Red Brick has been a PRO color for as long as I can remember. As far as I know, it is pretty much the closest to red eyeshadow I’ve seen from MAC (with the exception of Mi’Lady mineralize eyeshadow).
- Free to Be is a satin-y coral-pink. It can go on pink, or it can go on more coral; it will depend on what you use it with or your natural skin tone. Thanks to Sarah, she pointed out that the Free to Be from 2005 is actually a dusky gray-green. It is also going to be released as a limited edition shade (and in special packaging) in Give Me Liberty of London in March, as the description is a coral matte (fits).
- Goldenrod is a brightened golden yellow with a little orange thrown in. It’s much darker and more orange than Chrome Yellow. Like Red Brick, I can’t remember when this wasn’t at PRO.
- Lucky Green is a golden shimmered yellow-based green. This is one of my all-time favorite shades by MAC, and I’m really happy to see it become part of the permanent range. It was originally released with Belle Azure (2005). It has an amazing texture and goes on so smooth and pigmented, but it is a veluxe pearl, so I’ve come to expect that from my VPs! You can looks I’ve done with it here.
- Sunny Spot is a matte textured chartreuse shade. It’s a very yellowed green. It’s decently pigmented (more so than similar permanent shade Bitter–also yellower, by the by), but I’d have rather seen Sour Lemon from the PRO line (though that isn’t matte, to be fair). This is one of two brand spankin’ new shades to debut at both freestanding and PRO stores as an extension of the permanent line.
- Vibrant Grape is a medium dark reddened purple. This one definitely needs a base underneath it to go on smoothly. I’ve used it in practice, so I can tell you it’s easier to use than it is to swatch. It’s been a PRO shade for sometime now, but it will now be permanent at freestanding stores in addition to PRO stores. It was also released in limited edition packaging in Style Warriors last year. And if you’re looking for ideas on how to wear, we have a Look Book for it! You can see the original launch images here. You can see a look with it here.
- Atlantic Blue is a gorgeous shade of deep ocean blue with kind of a violet twist to it (because it’s not just plain ol’ blue, nor is it a navy blue). I love this shade, and I really love that it’s matte. Works excellently in the crease! This was originally part of the PRO line, but it is now permanent at freestanding stores, too. Check out a few reader-submitted ideas on how to use this shade in our Look Book. Here are a few looks I’ve done with it: here, here, here.
- Winkle is a softened sky blue with an edge of periwinkle. It’s not quite periwinkle (not nearly enough purple), but it’s not quite a true sky blue either (check out the PRO shade Sky Blue if that’s what you’re looking for). This is the second of the two brand new shades.
Any favorites for you? What are you getting? (Or not getting?)
See more photos & swatches!
MAC Red Brick Eyeshadow
MAC Free to Be Eyeshadow
MAC Goldenrod Eyeshadow
MAC Lucky Green Eyeshadow
MAC Sunny Spot Eyeshadow
MAC Vibrant Grape Eyeshadow
MAC Atlantic Blue Eyeshadow
MAC Winkle Eyeshadow
MAC Eyeshadow: Red Brick, Free to Be, Goldenrod, Lucky Green
MAC Eyeshadow: Goldenrod, Lucky Green, Sunny Spot, Vibrant Grape
MAC Eyeshadow: Lucky Green, Sunny Spot, Vibrant Grape, Atlantic Blue, Winkle
Sunny spot isnt decently pigmented, it disappears after 2 hours when I wear it. It is a nice shade but I never experienced anything like this with any eyeshadow, even cheaper brands. What a waste of money for me :(
Christine, hi,is lucky green the same in color as Juxt eyeshadow? i mean if i have juxt do i need lucky green?thnks
Totally different...
What wld u pair winkle with?
Greens, blues!
love all these colors!!!!! when will they be in the store?...hope i didnt miss it :(
They should be in store now!
How close is Kelly green to Golden Olive pigment? Thanks
Not at all!
very cute colors
I'll skip these as I'm still married to dark slightly shimmery jewel toned colors for my smoky eyes. Tra la la!
I'm currently not spending for make up right now since I need a new computer quite badly. I have been living in here in any spare time I have to live vicariously through the rest of you. I love these shades and want to get a few and play..but no.
I bought Lucky Green and Winkle today and - wow - I had no idea I would like Lucky Green until I saw it. It completely stood out - such an amazing color!
I have never seen mac come out with new colors without a collection... I like it this way because i wont be in such a rush to buy the bacause there permanent! I need atlantic blue, winkle, sunny spot, and vibrant grape! Oh and i want free to be most of all because i have nothing like it (=
I usually love MAC shadows but Vibrant Grape is my least favorite out of all of mine. It's a great color in the pan but super hard to work with and not easily blended.
What kind of finish is Free to Be? Great swatches and I love your blog Christine!
Matte I believe!
Thank you for this post. I got the email for the collection and was wondering what they really looked like! Interesting that some of the shades are resurrections :)
I like Lucky Green & Free To Be.
Popy colours! I hav Vibrant Grape just from SW, and Lucky green was nice.
I bought Winkle, Sunny Spot, Lucky Green & Free To Be. I RETURNED Winkle - extremly great texture for a matte - but "too" blue for me. I also returned Sunny Spot, the texture was sooooooooooooo chalky, I'm talking the chalkiest ES I've ever seen, so chalky it wouldn't apply and there was barely noticable color pay off. I returned Free To Be as it was RED - not the beautiful coral color shown here. I kept Lucky Green - it's awesome!
Aww :( That's too bad! I didn't find Sunny Spot to be really chalky for me... definitely not chalky like some of MAC's older mattes. I'm totally surprised at how red Free to Be was on you!
Christine - I was surprised at how red the Free To Be was too - it looked completely different in the package even, then what you have pictured!
Very interesting! So odd though... Really sucks that it didn't work out :(
I didn't read all through the comments, but actually, the originl "Free To Be" was a dusty gray/green. They just recycled the name completely Here's mine: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v468/beinaranel/Make%20Up/swatching%20album/eyes/eye%20shadow/freetobe.jpg
Thanks, Sarah :) I never bought Free to Be (I don't remember it calling to me whatsoever), but they seem to be promoting a coral Free to Be in March. Weird!
how different is sunny spot from overgrown, eyepopping, bitter, sour lemon & rated r? thanks :)
They’re all similar, to be honest. I wouldn’t pick Sunny Spot or Bitter over Rated R or Sour Lemon. Though I don’t really love Rated R. My favorite of the softer/more matte texture is/was Overgrown (which was LE), but way more pigmented and smoother. Sunny Spot is a little more like True Chartreuse pigment in color, whereas Bitter has more green to it. Thus making it closer to Rated R in color… and closer to Sour Lemon. It's similar to Eyepopping and Overgrown the most, probably. I prefer Overgrown out of every single chartreuse-y shade MAC has released. Sunny Spot isn't super fab when compared to those LE shades, IMO.
I need to get Free to Be but I don't know wither to get it now & put it in my palette (which is the smart thing) or wait till March & get it with the cute packaging ( which is the nice thing) !!!!
I love how vibrant these colors are! But I won't get them, because I doubt I'd really get any use of them. I'm saving my money for the cremeblend blushes! :)
Christine, thanks so much for this info. Sadly, i missed the C-Shock collection too. =( Do you think Atlantic Blue and MUFE 159 are similar pls? I am loving Lucky Green too =). TIA!
They are similar, IMO!
Ughh for some reason these colors scare me. First sign of getting old :( 5 years ago i would have worn all of these colors - together, on the same lid. LOL.
LOL! You should do it, just for kicks. You know you wanna :) I feel ya, though. I used to wear stuff just a few years ago that makes me think, "Maybe not!" now. But then I tell myself to wear it anyway, and then I like it again :)
I might purchase Lucky Green, but I'm a bit hesitant considering that I have Humid which I rarely use... but the color looks brilliant. Hmmm!
Totally different than Humid... but would look great with it... so maybe you could wear and use Humid :D
I got Red Brick today and I plan to get Atlantic Blue and Winkle tomorrow:-p These shadows are gorgeous in person!
I like Lucky Green the most. I'll pick it up sometime in the future since they're permanent. :)
Lucky Green looks gorgeous!
Goldenrod looks like an AWESOME Batman yellow :D
So I got Lucky Green, Atlantic Blue, Winkle and Free To Be on Wednesday...love them...except I think Free To Be is dupable (at least in other brands) but the collector in me stil go it... I already had Golden Rod, Vibrant Grape (both PRO and Style Warriors versions...LOL ). I love mattes and brights so these colors are sooooo ME! I skipped on Sunny Spot tho since I already have Bitter, Sour Lemon and True Chartreuse...so I don't think I needed to get this one.
If this was 2 years ago I'd be ALL OVER it! Now I'm mostly into neutral, bronzey looks..
I just purchased Atlantic Blue online (along with a few other goodies.....) Yay!
I love Free to Be - a nice wearable pink, a matte version of Da Bling almost or a toned down Passionate! And I love Da Bling, so yay! I'm not sure about getting Lucky Green, seems too yellow-green for me, unfortunately my MAC counter's Lucky Green got lost in their store and so I couldn't swatch it. Might just skip over to Juxt which I've been eyeing for a while.
Oh no :( Poor lost Lucky Green... not so lucky, ha ha? LOL, so corny. Juxt is nice -- it's a color I use a lot, too!
If I remember correctly Christine, you don't have Springtime Skipper from the Barbie Loves Mac collection. But if anyone could tell me if it's a good dupe for Lucky Green I would really appreciate it! I am almost out of Springtime Skipper and It's one of my favorite eyeshadows so I've been looking for a good dupe forever.
I used to have it, but I don't have it any more. It's similar, though not a 100% dupe, because it's a lot more green. Like Lucky Green has a strong golden shimmer and pulls yellow-green rather than medium green. Springtime Skipper is almost like Lucky Green and Swimming had a baby...
wow, eye candies! wonder when are they going to be released in Singapore? hmn... must get!
These colours remind me of Crayola crayons. I was in a hurry in and out of the mall today and completely forgot about this release, but luckily these are permanent and MAC stores are fairly accessible to me. Lucky Green and Free to Be are my favourites.
would you say lucky green is similar to swimming?
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