After waiting an hour in the cold at UPS, I arrived home with my MAC Dame Edna package! So, of course, photos first, then swatches, and finally the review. I’m posting photos in two posts, just because there are so many!
See product photos of the eyeshadow palettes and highlight powders!
Christine Mielke is the editor-in-chief and has been reviewing products for over 14 years.
She has normal-to-dry skin with occasional dryness on cheeks and nose. She has a light plus skintone with subtle, warmer yellow undertones (view her foundation matches here).
We're here to help you make better beauty purchases that you'll enjoy and love! We recommend signing up to take advantage of personalized features like tracking products you own, viewing dupes that you already have, and more!
Here are some useful resources for you:
Curious how two shades compare to each other? Type in the shades below to get instant side-by-side swatches!
Comments that do not adhere to our comment policy may be removed. Discussion and debate are highly encouraged but we expect community members to participate respectfully. Please keep discussion on-topic, and if you have general feedback, a product review request, an off-topic question, or need technical support, please contact us!
Please help us streamline the comments' section and be more efficient: double-check the post above for more basic information like pricing, availability, and so on to make sure your question wasn't answered already. Comments alerting us to typos or small errors in the post are appreciated (!) but will typically be removed after errors are fixed (unless a response is needed).
We appreciate enthusiasm for new releases but ask readers to please hold questions regarding if/when a review will be posted as we can't commit to or guarantee product reviews. We don't want to set expectations and then disappoint readers as even products that are swatched don't always end up being reviewed due to time constraints and changes in priorities! Thank you for understanding!
We try to approve comments within 24 hours (and reply to them within 72 hours) but can sometimes get behind and appreciate your patience! 🙂 If you have general feedback, product review requests, off-topic questions, or need technical support, please contact us directly. Thank you for your patience!
thank you for showing what the HP will look like under all that shimmer. it looks like it turns a really different color.
No problem! I think everyone deserves to know what the product is REALLY like, because I’d hate for someone to buy it for the overspray and hate the powder underneath.
Yes, thanks a lot for the pics. Before your review I was really looking forward to trying one of these highlighting powders, but the idea of the overspray is so disappointing 🙁 I loved Barbie Loves MAC highlighters and I hoped these could be nice substitutes, but I don’t think it’s the case.
No problem, Terry! Yes, overspray is just a huge no-no as far as I’m concerned. I expect designs to go away — like the “Dame Edna” writing, but the color should still be the same!
I’m so excited 🙂
Yay!
I noticed you bought the #41 lashes which are absolutely gorgeous. I have never worn false eyelashes in my life and I bought them, quick question though, how am I suppose to put mascara on them without clumping…
I’m terrible with false lashes, unfortunately. It takes me forever and a day to get them on 🙁 I usually put mascara on my natural lashes (just one coat or so), and not on the fake ones.
Thanks so much Christine! I’m scared to mutilate them because they’re so pretty but apparently the website says they aren’t limited so I guess I’ll give it a shot.
Lashes are only good for a few uses, usually, anyway! Depending on how well you take care of them, I think you might get 5-10 uses MAX. I usually have to cut my lashes in halves or thirds for easier application anyway 🙁
Oh my gosh, that is soooo disappointing on the highlighting powders! But I think I’m probably still going to get one eyeshadow trio and one lipglass…not too bad. I’m glad you did this because I know I’m going to save a ton of money by passing on most of this collection. Which means…more for BBR!
Yes, as soon as I heard about an overspray, I HAD to make sure swatches AND product photos reflected the duplicity!! It’s not fair to look and see something so pretty only to discover it’s TOTALLY different.
Agreed, come on BBR!
I totally agree! The whole “sham” reminds me of the Guerlain e/s quads. The ones (like the Butterfly and the “Fire something” collections – 1 of which I bought, only to find out that with the 1st swipe of a brush, all the pretty design is “skin deep” and gone forever and you only end up with boring, blah colors underneath… I hate being taken for a loop! Esp. when I shell out big bucks for a product that’s supposed to be different/unique/funky. I am way more careful now when I buy stuff like that.
Thanks Christine for your “investigative report” 🙂
You know, with something like a butterfly or swirld esign, I do expect the design goes away. I even expect the “Dame Edna” part to go away. But I don’t expect to see shimmer and get a matte powder underneath. THAT I do not take kindly to!
Awesome pics, thank you! We will get it January 3rd here – can’t wait! 🙂
No problem, Susanne!
Ooh, not sure I could use that pretty powder if it turns into a lot less pretty. 🙁 I would want to keep it forever!
I like the purple eyeshadow trio though – a lot. 🙂
LOL, yeah, it’s not nearly so pretty (IMO) without the shimmer!
Christine, are the HPs matte underneath the shimmer coating or do they have at least a tiny amount of sparkle? I ordered one last night, but if it’s matte, I’ll take it back before even trying it.
Thanks for the pictures!
No, pretty much matte as far as I can tell. It was a little hard, just because one swatch gets rid of *most* of the overspray, but not all. Plus, my fingers were a little shimmery overall from all the swatchin’, LOL. I was talking to Elessa from Pursebuzz and she said they were totally matte/flat.
Oh what a shame. 🙁 If only I had read this before placing the order. At least I got free shipping.
I mean no offense to the MAC lovers here, but sometimes I think they sacrifice quality for packaging and “big names”. It’s all very well and good to have an attractive compact, but I’m buying it for the product inside and expect it to be just as nice as its case.
JMO. 🙂
I do think that the collections MAC has put out for 2008 were less impressive than previous years–I was completely overwhelmed and generally turned off by the sheer amount of collections released, to be honest. It was hard to keep up, and it was even harder to ENJOY new products because newer ones would come out!
The purple box they come in is pretty, thats about it.
Haha! I thought the boxes were really pretty, too – the packaging less so.
hey Christine, although the overspray is totally dissapointing, just wondering can the Hight-Light Powder work also as a pressed powder, for touch ups/blotting once the overspary comes off, because I noticed it comes with a puff.
To be honest, I don’t know about that. Spectacle is quite pink, it’s hard to imagine anyone with pink enough skin to use it as a touch up/blotting powder!
I have to say l am very disappointed with this collection the eye shadow palettes didnt really appeal to me cause they were way to dupable. I went into MAC today to pick up both the powders but since costumers have been playing with them all the shimmer have been worn off…and the result was a very chalky blush. I couldnt bring myself to by it just to look at cause the color was the only reason l would consider getting it…the packing didnt really appeal to me. More money for BBR.
What would be a good dupe for Wisteria? I love that color, but I can’t think of a great dupe.