Show Offs: Eyeshadow Palettes

I have a large amount of MAC products. I fully admit to my addiction, and I enjoy it to the fullest. Makeup is not just a hobby, but it is actually a job (you know, the blog, is now a semi-career that I’m carving out for myself) that I love and enjoy. Needless to say, to function as an addict, I no doubt need to have an insane-crazy-OMG! kind of amount of makeup. I’ve loved MAC since February 2005, just before Madame B launched. I bought every single shadow from that launch, which was twice as many shadows as I had originally (Amber Lights, Bronze, Goldmine).

The beginning of my love affair with MAC began with the multitude of beautiful, pigmented products; both eyeshadows and pigments had stolen my heart. I had never been into makeup prior to MAC; I didn’t even know what blending was when I started crushing on the brand! I was eighteen, and makeup appealed to me on an entirely new level. MAC does something no other brand had done to me: it caught me, and it caught me good.

There is something about the folks over at marketing that just know how to draw you into the store and give you something that keeps you coming back. I find so many are quick to fall for the brand once they’ve stopped in or bought a few products. I personally feel that a lot of it is their price point, which falls above drugstore, but still below the majority of high end brands (like NARS and Urban Decay). You can get the wonderful experience of talking to artists and playing with products before you purchase them, which you can’t get at most drugstores, but the prices aren’t outrageous (obviously, in comparison). But anyway, they had me hook, line, and sinker from the get-go.

This post is ultimately photographs of my eyeshadow collection, which I keep in 15-pan palettes. I do have a few pre-made quads as well as my staple smoky eye quad (containing Carbon, Casablanca, Ricepaper, and Vex) that are not photographed. I recently depotted 34 eyeshadows (and I need to do some blushes, too), so I had to rearrange my palettes and thought now would be a great time to take photos!

Here are a few answers to questions I’m sure plenty of you have:

• How long? I’ve been buying since February 2005–that’s over three years of “collecting” so-to-speak. I didn’t get this much overnight!
• Do you buy everything? No, no, no. If I did, I would have four or five times as much, not to mention I would be homeless! Over the years, I have swapped away shadows and products, so this has been very much an evolving collection. I never buy for the sake of buying; I buy what I like, and at this point, I do try to avoid getting 10,000 dupes of the same color (aka Deep Truth and its many, many variations).
• Is this the biggest collection? NO! There are dozens of people who have posted photos of what they own, and what I own pales in comparison. I have a decent amount, but many have much, much more.
• Why palettes? When I do a look, I like to open up a palette with a color family in mind, e.g. green, and then I can look at all the greens and pick what I think will work the best. I find this makes what I own much more accessible, in comparison to keeping shadows in their pots. I also find that this presents a much easier storage solution that takes up less room than individual shadows.
• How can you travel then? I have about four or five empty quads that I have available to take with me. I usually go on short trips, so one or two quads is plenty. In the event of a longer one, I might take all of my quads, or I might take a full 15-pan palette or two (picking and choosing select colors, of course).
• Don’t you feel this is a waste of money/overboard? No, not in the least. This is my take on it: makeup is my hobby of choice. Most people have at least one hobby, if not several, and they pour their money into it. Some like stamps, others are into crafts. Not all hobbies cost the same, and some even are more like investments. Makeup makes me happy, and I don’t buy more than I can afford. It’s only a problem when it interferes with you living a normal, healthy, and happy life–like when you get into disastrous debt as a result.

You can see close-ups of the seven palettes (updated with names!)…

Row 1: Limo, Cranberry, Antiqued;
Row 2: Til Daybreak, Expensive Pink, Coppering;
Row 3: Living Pink, Passionate, Post-Haste;
Row 4: Rule, Up-do, Pink Papillon;
Row 5: Evening Aura, Fab & Flashy, Firespot

Row 1: Going Bananas, Goldmine, Juiced;
Row 2: Rye, Gorgeous Gold, Rose Blanc;
Row 3: Summer Neutral, Tendermetal, Rye;
Row 4: Sable Wrap, Patina, Warming Trend;
Row 5: Flourishing, Femme Noir, Fiction

Row 1: Humid, Velvet Moss, Sumptuous Olive;
Row 2: Overgrown, Lucky Green, Wondergrass;
Row 3: Aquavert, Metamorph, Juxt;
Row 4: Shimmermoss, Gulf Stream, Newly Minted;
Row 5: Cool Heat, A Bluer Blue, Melody

Row 1: Deep Truth, Parrot, Stormwatch;
Row 2: Freshwater, Blue Flame, Blue Storm;
Row 3: Thunder, Climate Blue, Electric Eel;
Row 4: Fig. 1, Gallant, Cinders;
Row 5: Pearl of the Earth, Romping, Stars ‘n Rockets

Row 1: Sketch, Neutral Pink, Thunder;
Row 2: Satin Taupe, Magnetic Fields, Smut;
Row 3: Romp, Bronze, Embark;
Row 4: Taupe Note, Cork, Woodwinked;
Row 5: A Little Folie, Ochre Style, Elite

Row 1: Texture, Valet, Beautyburst;
Row 2: Motif, Say Yeah, Arena;
Row 3: Daisychain, Nanogold, Jasmine;
Row 4: Phloof!, White Tie, Rite of Spring;
Row 5: Grain, Hush, Pen ‘n Pink

Row 1: Performance, Bisque, Malt;
Row 2: Shroom, Femme-fi, Modest Tone;
Row 3: Clue, Vellum, Blanc Type;
Row 4: Silver Ring, Charred, Copperplate;
Row 5: Cloudburst, (empty), Cumulus