MAC Colourizations: Double Feature Eyeshadow Duos Swatches, Photos, Reviews, Dupes (Part 1)

Christine — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 21:18:19 +0000

MAC Double Feature Eyeshadow Duos

MAC Colourizations: Double Feature Eyeshadow Duos Swatches, Photos, Reviews, Dupes (Part 1)

MAC Double Feature Eyeshadow Duos ($25.00 for 0.09/0.10 oz.) are pre-filled with nameless eyeshadows. Some of the duos contain 0.09 oz. while others contain 0.10 oz. From the ones I have, Double Feature #5 and #8 contain 0.10 oz., while the others contain 0.09 oz. The four featured in this post are:
Double Feature 1 (bright yellow gold / pinked-up chrome purple), Double Feature 2 (bright lime / frosty deep grey), Double Feature 3 (mid-tone teal / deep chocolate), and Double Feature 4 (deep forest green / mid-tone ochre brown). Once I can purchase #3, I will update this post with a review and photos/swatches for it.

Edited @ 7/11: Added photos, swatches, and review for Double Feature 3!

Double Feature 1 is a brightened banana yellow with a veluxe pearl finish / red-toned grape purple with a frost finish. The yellow shade is right on the border of yellow and gold, and the frosty finish makes it look more gold than yellow. It had good color payoff, and it seems a touch darker than MAC Going Bananas. The purple shade has good color payoff, but it could be a little more pigmented. It is slightly darker (and has a different finish) compared to MAC Vibrant Grape.
Double Feature 2 is a neon, chartreuse-lime with a veluxe pearl finish / dark gray with a silvery shimmer and satin finish. The lemon-lime shade had good color payoff, and the finish felt very smooth. It is lighter and brighter than MAC Lucky Green–it’s more like MAC Bitter with better color payoff and a shimmery finish. Inglot #343 is comparable in color but matte. The gray shade is on the sheer side and doesn’t apply very smoothly overall. It seems like a shimmery MAC Print.
Double Feature 3 is a brightened teal with a matte finish / muted, gray-tinted brown with a satin finish. The color payoff of the teal shade is lovely, while the brown shade was harder to work with and felt very dry. Just the poor quality of the brown shade makes this duo rather expensive for one good color. The teal shade is very much like Inglot #372; it’s like a matte version of Surf USA. The brown shade is very similar to Urban Decay Shakedown.
Double Feature 4 is a medium-dark teal with a veluxe pearl finish / muted, orange-toned brown with a matte finish. Both shades had nice color payoff and smooth textures. The teal shade was one of the better textured shades out of the six duos I tried. The teal is seems comparable to MAC Teal Pigment (but likely less frosted in the finish). I can’t think of a real dupe/comparable shade for the brown shade. I thought maybe Ochre Style (limited edition from many years ago), but it seems lighter from what I can tell.

The color payoff was decent to good overall, but notably, the purple shade of Double Feature #1 was a little sheer while the gray shade of Double Feature #2 was sheer and uneven in color payoff. The best duo (in terms of quality) was Double Feature #4, because both shades had good color payoff and smooth textures. I can see each duo being worn on their own, though I think they may be better used in conjunction with other shades you may own at home. They tend to be rather strong, bold combinations if you stick with just the duo compact.

I find it odd that there is no information about the finishes within the palette (thank goodness the press release listed them!), and even odder that none of these shades are named. MAC regularly gives names to the shades they include in various eyeshadow quads and palettes, so why skip the duos?

I’m happy to say these are infinitely better than the last time MAC attempted eyeshadow duos–Suite Array. If you remember Suite Array, you’ll know what I mean! To this day, those are easily some of the absolute worst products MAC (or any high-end brand) has ever put out. They were the kind of product that made you wonder where QA was that day. These are actually better quality than many of the recent eyeshadow quad releases have been (which have felt rather inferior to many of MAC’s permanent eyeshadows).

Generally, MAC eyeshadows are 0.05 oz. except for veluxe pearls, which come in at 0.04 oz., and I think this is why some of the duos are 0.10 oz. and others are 0.09 oz. as all of the duos that are 0.09 oz. have a veluxe pearl eyeshadow in it.) I tried to remove some of the eyeshadows from the duo, but I wasn’t able to, so I believe they are glued in. MAC eyeshadows are normally $14.50 (in the pot) or $11.00 (pan), while an empty quad is $6.00 (they do not sell empty duos at this time). The pricing on these is as expected ($22 for eyeshadows + $3 for compact), except that since you can’t choose your own shades, they could have made these more of a value deal (like pre-filled quads are $36 vs. $49 to fill it yourself).