MAC Warm & Cozy Collection: Shadesticks Review, Photos, Swatches

Date: Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009 Author:

MAC Warm & Cozy Collection
MAC Shadesticks:
Relaxed, Warm & Cozy, Nurture, Cuddle

MAC Warm & Cozy Collection: Shadesticks

MAC is definitely bringing back shadesticks with a vengeance, don’t you think? With five limited edition shades from Sugarsweet and four new (but still limited edition) shades from Warm & Cozy, it makes me wonder if we’ll be seeing more of these in 2010.

  • Relaxed is a deep, chocolate bronze with a soft frost finish. It has the least frosty finish out of the four, but it’s still noticeably shimmery and has that frost edge associated with frost textures. I thought this was the most pigmented and smoothest of the bunch as well.
  • Warm & Cozy is a burnt copper shade with sparkly glitter particles. I actually felt like this had a very chunky, gritty texture–it wasn’t a winner for me. Shadesticks should be smooth, and I didn’t find that this one was nearly as smooth as I’d expect. It felt like a lustre eyeshadow almost, with the way the glitter flecks were so obvious.
  • Nurture is a pink champagne with a neutral feel. It’s not a bright, nor pastel, pink and it looks very fleshy-pink-beige in a way. It has the same frost finish appearance as the other shadesticks in the launch.
  • Cuddle is a frosty white-gold with yellow daffodil feel. It definitely has a frost finish, and since it is so light, yet covers well, it would make an excellent base as well.

See more photos and swatches!

MAC Warm & Cozy Collection
MAC Shadesticks: Relaxed, Warm & Cozy, Nurture, Cuddle

MAC Warm & Cozy Collection
MAC Shadesticks:
Relaxed, Warm & Cozy,
Nurture, Cuddle

MAC Warm & Cozy Collection
MAC Shadesticks: Cuddle,
Nurture

MAC Warm & Cozy Collection
MAC Shadesticks: Warm & Cozy, Relaxed

61 thoughts on “MAC Warm & Cozy Collection: Shadesticks Review, Photos, Swatches

  1. Gretchen says:

    all four of those would suit my blue eyes so well…

  2. Leah says:

    These are beautiful. Especially “relaxed”

  3. Brian Kelly says:

    BRING ON THE SHADESTICKS! Sucker for these and they’re the only base I use, even though the only one carried at my MAC is Beige-ing.

  4. Melinda says:

    OMG your killing me I want Them All Except Warm & Cozy :o )

  5. Aubree says:

    i want warm and cozy..it looks nice.

    relaxed is pretty too. but it looks like nyx’s jumbo pencil in french fries. so skips.

  6. Carol says:

    Love these, love shadesticks period! Will most likely be getting them all except Cuddle.

  7. Allison says:

    i’m limiting myself to 2 shadesticks, which ones do you think are must haves?

  8. Glosslizard says:

    I’d be interested in a comparison of the Nurture shadestick vs. NARS soft touch shadow pencil in Goddess!

  9. Darrien says:

    Pretty!
    I am deffineatly going to pick up Nurture, Warm and Cozy and Cuddle.

  10. okay, I need help here. What do I do with a shadestick? are they for eyes, cheeks?

  11. glitter princess says:

    hi christine do you think these can be duped by any of the paint pots or paints available from perm line?

  12. Kiko says:

    I would love a brown smokey eye with Relaxed as the base!

  13. Amber says:

    How similar is beige-ing shadestick to cuddle or nurture?

    • Christine says:

      IMO, not at all… Beige-ing is really kind of flat, whereas Cuddle is bright, Nurture is way pink in comparison. Both Cuddle and Nurture are really, really frosty. Cuddle would be the closest, but it’s closer to Lemon Chiffon from Sugarsweet.

  14. daphne says:

    Relaxed is so pretty! But Nurture is more versatile because I can definitely see that being a quick all-over color for a day I’m late getting out the door.

    Did you decide not to give a rating to the MAC launch products? I can see why you’d do it that but I just wanted to clarify if that is intentional.

    • Christine says:

      Yes, it’s intentional. I don’t really like giving multiple products/shades ratings, particularly when they’re all over the map (which is often what MAC is like). It’s like… one lipstick is this finish, another lipstick is this finish, so it’s hard (and not as useful) to give a universal grade that’s supposed to apply to all of them. Like Warm & Cozy shadestick is pretty subpar in texture, but the other three were fine, so I don’t know how one would give a grade for all four together.

      • daphne says:

        Yeah, that totally makes sense to me! It would be a giant pain to give a rating to each individual color and I think just your summary gives a good impression. Maybe an overall rating for the collection? But, then you’d have to create a new system, probably, so that is sort of a pain. You do a great job with your collection roundup posts :)

  15. Kellie says:

    I hate shadesticks. I can’t get them to work on me. They feel so dry and almost flakey. Anyone else have this problem?

    • Christine says:

      That’s so weird – all of the ones I’ve purchased recently have felt creamy, definitely not flaky or dry! I think some of my older ones (I believe I only have one or two) are definitely drier… but that could be from time, too.

      You could try using a blow dryer to heat it up so it’s creamier.

  16. Sara says:

    Great pictures! These are fabulous!

  17. Jacquelyn says:

    Nurture shadestick looks so pretty!! Will definately get it!

  18. Sarah M says:

    Relaxed and Cuddle shall be mine!!! :-)

  19. Erica says:

    im actually in love with cuddle and nurture!

  20. egon says:

    Hi Christine, would these crease if worn alone without a powder shadow on top? paintpots melt on me but I never had a shadestick so I’m tempted >> Greasepaint sticks were great though =)

    • Christine says:

      If paint pots melt, these probably would… If you have a store near you, I’d try it & return it if it didn’t work for you :)

      • egon says:

        We don’t have a makeup return policy were I live =( in fact i always envy U (in a good way )here in the US for being able to do so =p here if U buy it U keep it unless it’s defective which makes me wonder where does all the used MU go to? do they like sell it to other people?!!

  21. My-Linh says:

    Is there a powder eyeshadow color that is an equivalent to Nurture? It’s really pretty :)

  22. xoBellaCullenxo says:

    Thank you for the review!!!!! I was thinking about the “Warm and Cozy” shadestick, now I know I’m going to buy it!!!!! :)

  23. Christy says:

    These are so pretty. I’m liking Relaxed, Nurture and Cuddle.

  24. Dusty says:

    “Cuddle” ROCKS in person – I thought it was a shade that had to be seen to truely appreciate it! I got to play around with these tonight and I liked all of them except “Nuture” – And only because it reminded me too much of “Beijing.” Sort of a light, neutral color that I would only use as an eyeshadow base (I have enough of those!)

    I was COMPLETELY confused though, because when I went to the MAC Pro site to place my order, I noticed the swatches were mixed up for these! Bah! I love MAC but I have noticed many an error on their Pro site over the last several months (it took them DAYS to finally admit that there was more than just one color of the pressed powder from the Baroque Boudoir collection!)

    • Christine says:

      Cuddle is nice, and I think it’s a really good color because you can use it as a base and it’ll help make colors pop. I’ve done darker bases, but I do find they tend to eat color more than enhance it, so darker shades like Warm & Cozy and Relaxed are less useful to me!

      LOL, please! They’re not going to admit a mistake, LOL.

  25. leila says:

    did cuddle remind you of lemon chiffon from sugar sweet at all?

  26. amy says:

    I have Nurture…LOVE IT! I love pink champagne colours.

  27. Steffi says:

    damn they all are so pretty.

  28. Anitacska says:

    Cuddle and Nurture are very pretty, but I have no idea what you do with shadesticks. I normally just use a colourless base (like UDPP), so to use such pretty colours under shadows seems like a crime, lol. But I don’t wear cream shadows alone normally. So I guess I might give them a miss…

  29. Amy says:

    Cuddle looks like Vanilla Pigment in Shadestick form. :)

  30. Jenn says:

    Christine, what mac eyeshadow do you think looks like Nurtue?
    Its already sold at at the store I got to, and I have a feeling it will be for a while. Dupe for something else? Thanks

  31. Tattoo Girl says:

    Hi Christine!

    Merry Christmas to you and yours and Happy Birthday to Mellan!!

    Did any of these remind you of shade sticks from Sugarsweet? I know you already said something about Cuddle but what about the rest of them? Thanks!

  32. Tish says:

    Ohhh Relaxed looks so pretty…..Must get

  33. Bridgette says:

    Im thinking about getting Relaxed or Warm & Cozy.

  34. Toni says:

    I loved cuddle immediately – reminded me so much of Dreammaker, one of my all time faves :) Although when I tried it at home the drag was so bad that the tip fell off by the time I was working on the second eye. Guess I just have to get used to using it, but so far I’m loving it!

  35. Kina says:

    Hmmm.. these remind of the sugarsweet shadesticks.
    Cuddle is Lemon Chiffon
    Nuture is Butternutty
    Warm & Cozy is Penny..
    The only original looking one is Relaxed, since it’s obvious nothing like Cakeshop or Red Velvet..
    What do you think Christine? If I have the Sugarsweet ones should I skip on these?