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Build a Quad: "Soft Fire"

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Build a Quad: “Soft Fire”

Dubbed Soft Fire, this eyeshadow quad features four permanent shades of MAC eyeshadow: Amber Lights (a coppery frost), Antiqued (a reddened brown frost), Bronze (a rich bronze frost), and Grain (a lightly shimmered beige highlighter). All of these shades have warmer tones, so I would consider this to be a warm quad. (I say this to caution you if you dislike warm shades, this is probably not the one for you!) All four shades are colors I’ve been using for years without fail, because they’re pigmented, smooth, and easy to work with. Grain is more of a neutral highlighter, and I like the way it accents the rest of the quad’s stronger warm tones–it helps to balance everything out.

A few combinations to try with this…

  • Amber Lights all over the lid, Bronze in the crease, Grain to highlight
  • Amber Lights all over the lid, Antiqued on the outer lid, Bronze in the crease, Grain to highlight
  • Grain all over the lid, Bronze in the crease
  • Grain on the inner lid, Amber Lights on the outer lid, Antiqued in the crease

Build a Quad is a feature focusing on creating different eyeshadow palettes that are both beautiful and functional using permanent shades of eyeshadow.  We invite readers to suggest their own build-a-quads — just leave your ideas in the comments!

P.S. – As this is a new feature… tell me if you love it or hate it so I know whether to continue it! 🙂

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252 Comments

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Megan Avatar
Megan

I like this Christine. The only one I don’t have is Grain but I want to try some of the looks you posted. Do you think Femme-Fi or Arena are good subs for Grain?

Siledhel Avatar
Siledhel

Nothing new to say, just repeat that I absolutely ADORE this idea.
Great new feature Christine.
I can always count on you to give me more ideas on how to go over budget on beauty products… but make my investment worthy.

I think Amber lights was the first MAC shadow I ever bought. and a brownish one that was mislabeled; therefore I have no idea what I bought back then :P. It’s good to know new ideas on how to wear it.

yen-ah Avatar
yen-ah

I think it’s a great idea !!
but i was hoping to see some swatches of those eyeshadows
i know you have swatches on the site but it would be more handy if you would put them in this post
x

Erin Avatar
Erin

Great idea. I have some open spaces in my quads that may now be filled.

I have one with Vex, Da Bling, Sumptuous Olive and Sable that I love. So many possible combinations.

j. Avatar
j.

LOVE it! This is the area I always stumble through – mixing up different colors in a quad.
I’m newer to your site – do you post videos on how you apply your eye-shadows? Love the way you do it!

Christine Avatar
Christine
Light Medium, Neutral, slight yellow undertones. Normal-to-Dry skin. View Christine Full Profile

Hi J!

I don’t have too many videos, but I have some. (I’ve pretty much been sick for the past six weeks with two different flus, so videos have been 100% impossible, which isn’t helping me stay motivated, LOL!) http://www.youtube.com/temptalia

Karen Avatar
Karen

Great idea!!! I am all for it!! Christine, can you make a purple quad too? I can’t figure out which purple is best for my dark brown eyes…thanks!! Love

Karen

Candi Avatar
Candi

Oh…and here is an idea for a stunning purple quad…cranberry all over the lid, Shadowdy Lady and Nocturnelle in the crease and Vex on the brow bone. This Look is LOVE!!! lol!

Mary007 Avatar
Mary007

Not much fun stuff this weekend. I have a lot of work to catch up on (side business at home). I’d like to squeeze in some studying time too. I have a couple of godchildren visiting tomorrow, so I guess I get to buy some candy! The most exciting thing is dinner tonight with my boyfriend!! 🙂

What are you up to this weekend?

rashmi Avatar
rashmi

wowwwwww such a fantastic post plssss christine make this a daily post so that we all will be able to arrange our quads … i have only 1 quad and 1 quad with two empty pans hahahah i will buy 1 – 2 after getting inspiration from here
pls show some with pink like – expensive pink , da bling , pink venus
and yes yes GOLDS which is ur favourite…. 🙂

rashmi Avatar
rashmi

thanks dear for ur reply i really need help with this …
i have
expensive pink ( my fav and first ever eyeshadow)
da bling
sushi flower
shroom
woodwinked
naked lunch
i have to 2 buy eyeshadows to arrange the above 2 quads
and as i told u m just tryong to buy few mac so i will buy one more quad but now that u r posting so i will buy after reading from here
my fav are golds and pinks
and yeah i have 2 paint pots painterely and indianwood
pls suggest an idea

rashmi Avatar
rashmi

thank you so much
i was sitting in front of my laptop with my little box and i already did what u suggested and hopefully this sat or sunday m gonna buy the rest of two
once again nobody is comparable to u on DOT COM

rashmi Avatar
rashmi

hahahhaa christine m glad u said girl hahaha m 31 yr old lady and just started doing makeup and to be honest i really wanna thank u in some or the other way
whenever u r in india please be my guest and oblige me
i will be relocating to mumbai next month
i mean we are going back to india
and i will really look forward for ur trip to india
Sounds GREATTTT

Daina Avatar
Daina

I love this idea Christine!!! I also agree with a previous poster who said that it would be very helpful to post swatches of those e/s in the quad 🙂

Sarah Avatar
Sarah

Oh my gosh Christine I love this!! I’m still a makeup newbie so figuring out how to pair with what is still really hard for me. This is so fantastic and I’m going to go pick up these shades!

Roxanne Avatar
Roxanne

This is PERFECT! I’ve always been tempted to build quads but I never knew which colours to put in them. There are so many, right? This really helps, Christine!
It would be great if you could “label” them (ugh, can’t think of another word), do one in blue, green, pink, neutral, etc. (but I’m guessing you’ve already thought of that). I’m hoping you will use different e/s in every post, so there won’t be any “doubles” or “overlap” (sth’s wrong with my brain today).

I can just feel my MAC/Temptalia addiction growing… My bank account’s going to hate me 🙂 LOL

Christine Avatar
Christine
Light Medium, Neutral, slight yellow undertones. Normal-to-Dry skin. View Christine Full Profile

If we wait for me to get around to doing a look, we may never have content on the blog, LOL!

But you can always check the gallery, because I might have done a similar look (hey, MAC makes so many LE shades, it’s hard!):

Antiqued – http://gallery.temptalia.com/?s=antiqued+eyeshadow
Amber Lights – http://gallery.temptalia.com/gold-copper-black-smoky-eye
Bronze – http://gallery.temptalia.com/tag/mac-bronze-eyeshadow

Rita Avatar
Rita

This is a feature I’ve been longing for! I have many permanent shadows but for the most part I don’t know how to combine them with other shades (that’s why I also have mostly LE collections stuff). Keep them coming!

Laetitia Avatar
Laetitia

I’m thinking MAC will probably see a burst in sales for all of those eyeshadows because of this brilliant feature on Temptalia 🙂 Can’t say enough how excited I am for this feature.

sandra Avatar
sandra

I LOVE IT!!! I own 6 pallets which I made myself (with somteimes a little help of your blog) and most of the colors are brown´s, gold´s en `Shrooms´s (naturals). I have Amber Light and Bronze (bought the last one 2 weeks ago) and pair them with Honey lust.

Could you please advise me on this matter: I bought Knight Devine last Spring but I don´t have an idea how to wear it? I´ve tried it with Et Tu Bouquet (rose collection), but it´s not really `smashing`…. Any ideas?? Thanks!

Marisol Avatar
Marisol

Great new addition! I love this idea, but also hate it only because it’s going to make me go out and buy more eyeshadows!! LOL

Your the best!

mariepouliche Avatar
mariepouliche

I like that new feature!

All that glitters on te lid, nocturnelle on the outer V, Cork on the crease with a bit of coppering… it seems like a colorful eye makeup but it’s actually a fun neutral.

Teresa Avatar
Teresa

This post is amazing! It would be GREAT if it becomes a regular thing 😀 It gives such great ideas. I love how you incorporate possible looks as well. I imagined each one as I read through them and they sound awesome! Using other peoples ideas from the comments is also helpful.

I’ll post mine, which I made by fluke but it looks so pretty!

Expensive Pink, Nocturnelle, Beauty Marked, Shadowy Lady

Teresa Avatar
Teresa

Thank you, Christine! 😀 I can’t come up with a good name yet 🙁 I hadn’t thought about it before! I swatched my quad and find that either Shadowy Lady or Beauty Marked can be swapped for a highlighter as they are similar in colour. But I’m keeping as is, it just looks too pretty 🙂 Sometimes I look at it and am like ‘I made this quad?’, lol :p

*I took one more look at it and thought of a name!!! 😮 PURPLE SKY 🙂 😀 *

Jody Brown Avatar
Jody Brown

This is such a great idea. I always have trouble with deciding what colors would go good together. I may need to invest into these colors. I look forward to seeing more ideas. Especially the purple.

Vlcatko Avatar
Vlcatko

This is a great idea! Love it 🙂 Especially that it uses perm shadows <3

And a great way to start it too – neutrals/browns are my favorite colors 😀

Andrea Avatar
Andrea

I love this feature! I think it should be a regular!
Right now my neutral quad is Vanilla, Magic Dust, Wedge & Dark Edge.
2 LEs though, I guess you could switch Nylon & Brun for Magic Dust/Dark Edge.

calico Avatar
calico

Love it! Great to see them all together like that.
Could you please put your blush recommendation too?

Maybe some readers can post pics of the look on them.

Nicole Avatar
Nicole

ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC IDEA!!! This is such a helpful tool. I’ve got two empty quads and I’m trying to figure out which shadows to put in them. Love this idea, make it permanent!!!! PLEASE!!!!!

details Avatar
details

this feature is an amazing idea!!
give some love and inspiration to the perm shades!

my quad suggestions:

vanilla
tete-a-tint
all that glitters
brown down

I love tete-a-tint all over and in the crease – all that glitters layered ontop of tete-a-tint on the lid – brown down in the outer v – and vanilla to highlight…..
tete-a-tint and all that glitters make a gorgeous peachy brown with shimmer… so pretty! great for eyes eyes or to bring out the green in warm golden brown eyes. 🙂

Also –

Blanc Type
Texture
Woodwinked
Handwritten

oh I’m so excited to see everyone’s combos!

xKiKix Avatar
xKiKix

loves it! love the new feature, i’ve always wanted you to do something like this and its a plus that these are PERM colors so we wont be like chickens without heads going crazy looking for them.

please continue, and maybe if possible can you “build a quad” that consists of PERM shades that can be duped for an LE quad??

Janette Avatar
Janette

I LOVE THIS!!!
I have lots of shadows and never know combinations to do!

I have all but antiqued but i have glamour check so thats similar… whats a dupe for bronze?

scarlettholly Avatar
scarlettholly

I love love love this feature! I actually do it every sunday night with my neutrals so I have a work safe palette to go with every morning when I’m in a rush and can’t think.

Right now it is shroom, style snob, smoke and diamonds, and woodwinked. (sorry, 2 le’s in there)

I’ve also had one with shroom, satin taupe, smoke and diamonds, and knight divine or bronze.

Another one is shroom, gleam, bronze, and satin taupe or style snob.

I also pick out my lipstick and gloss combo so I don’t need to think about that either, and blush is always benetint on weekdays. You can tell I’m not a morning girl!!

Kim Avatar
Kim

This is THE best idea!! We could always look up the swatches but I think providing swatches would take this feature to the next level Christine! Bronze and antiqued are now on my christmas list 🙂

I love golds so my quad would have : Goldmine, Coppering, Humid and Carbon… (Do all quads have a highlighter?) Looking forward to the purple quad

Miranda Avatar
Miranda

This is a great feature and I look forward to seeing it again!

Today I combined 4 shadows that look really gorgeous together, especially for the fall season:

Nylon, Pollenator (could use Paradisco), Bronze, and Coppering. I used coppering on the lid, bronze in the crease, nylon as a highlight, and used pollenator to blend out the crease.

I am also fond of Violet Trance, Deep Shade, Pink Venus, and Dazzlelight. Not sure of a permanent dupe for violet trance. You could substitue deep shade for deep truth possibly.

samaya Avatar
samaya

I bought many palettes…but later transferred all my colors into various quad…in combinations..i love quads waaay beter than palettes..esp whn it comes to travel…
great feature….lokking fwd for more..

adelinky Avatar
adelinky

OMG OMG! i’m so excited for this new feature 🙂
Christine, I cannot for the life of me get bitter e/s by MAC to show up AT ALL! It’s a gorgeous green shade but it won’t show up. Only tiny little glitters. I’ve tried many bases, do you have bitter?! I’m thinking I should return it…

Julia C Avatar
Julia C

LOVE this new feature! it would also be cool if you paired a look using this “quad” so we could see whether we really wanted to build a quad like this!

Saira Avatar
Saira

Love this post! I’m always looking for inspiration and new eyeshadow pairings, so really great to get some ideas from this type of post. I have Antiqued but haven’t used it for ages, so think I will have to use it in some looks this week – it’s such a pretty colour!

Dani C Avatar
Dani C

Loving the quads idea. Brilliant for a newbie like me 🙂
Also how the heck do you know if you’re warm or cool toned? This has always confused me :/

I’d like to try silvers and greys but I swear everyone I’ve tried goes a weird shade of icy blue on me…….help!

Looking forward to some more quads!

Chrissy Avatar
Chrissy

I’m thinking by the number of responses people, including myself, enjoy this feature. Thanks Christine! I need to check out Grain to complete this set

jenny Avatar
jenny

i LOVE the idea. awesome. thanks!

i have a quad that i call my “essentials” palette, with colors that i wear everyday without fail, no matter what look i want. it includes carbon, nylon, brule, and wedge. carbon sets my black liner without fail. i use nylon in my inner corner and sometimes as my highlight. brule is my lid color and wedge is the blending color. then i can take whatever eye look that i want with whatever color, like humid, use that on the lid, use carbon to smoke it out, nylon in the inner corner, wedge to blend, and brule as the highlight. its a no fail palette that i use everyday. love it.

Anna Chin Avatar
Anna Chin

This idea is sooooo wonderful. I got into make-up pretty late (30s) and getting into MAC but utterly confused as to how to build my eyeshadow palette. This post is just so helpful and I do look forward to more. If you have suggestions for a neutral palette (15s) for NC42 skin, I would be grateful.

Christine Avatar
Christine
Light Medium, Neutral, slight yellow undertones. Normal-to-Dry skin. View Christine Full Profile

So glad you’re likin’ it, Anna! 😀

My recs for neutrals – http://www.temptalia.com/8-must-have-mac-neutral-eyeshadows

You may also want to search through the comments and see if anyone who’s NC42 has recommended something specific, too 😀

Dani C Avatar
Dani C

Ooooh LOVING the quads idea 🙂 Can’t wait to see more.
I love all the shades you picked. I never know if I’m warm or cool toned though? How do you know? That so confuses me. I’ve never found a grey or silver that doesn’t turn a weird shade of icy blue on me…….also I’ve been having trouble with my browns as well, they don’t look right lately such as woodwinked used to look great, but I’m finding a lot of browns making me look really tired. HELP!!

Thank you more quad ideas please!!

Christine Avatar
Christine
Light Medium, Neutral, slight yellow undertones. Normal-to-Dry skin. View Christine Full Profile

Hey Dani,

Look at the underside of your arm – are your veins green or blue? If they’re green, you’re warmer; if they’re blue, you’re cooler.

You might try using concealer or a neutral base on your eyes to see if it helps make you look less tired!

VJNS Avatar
VJNS

I love this idea!! I have over a hundred shades so I know the possibilities are endless. However, I get eyeshadow block (like writer’s block) sometimes so I think this is a great idea. Keep it up… lipstick suggestions would be awesome too 🙂

Elle Avatar
Elle

Late to the love-fest, but I also really love this feature. It’s great for those days when I’m staring at my 15-pan pallets wondering what the hell to wear! Thanks Christine!!

Brie Avatar
Brie

I love this new feature – I think it would be great to have some user submitted one also. It would be neat to see ones submitted by people with other colorings (cool tones, warm tones, fair, dark skinned, etc) to see a variety of combos 🙂

Della Avatar
Della

Great new feature! I love the “make your own quad” that MAC has on their website, except there are so many colors to choose from, I never know what I should add. Keep these coming!

KIKI Avatar
KIKI

absolutely love this new feature! I even went and built my own neutral everyday quad today! I got naked lunch, shale, cork and embark. Thanks for the idea, it’s so practical and cheaper than just getting four eyeshadows on their own!

Kate Rose Avatar
Kate Rose

This is probably my favorite feature you’ve done on your site!

I have an earth-tone quad:

Henna (of course Sumptuous Olive would be its permanent dupe)
Woodwinked
Satin Taupe
All That Glitters

and a bright fun one:

Star Violet
Swish
Stars n’ Rockets
Gorgeous Gold

As you can see I am partial to the veluxe pearl finishes. 😛

igswonderworld Avatar
igswonderworld

This was my first EVER MAC quad too (with the exception of Retrospeck instead of Grain :)) I love these colors soooo much.. They make my brown eyes sizzle and bam! (If that makes any sense.. 😛 )

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