MAC Keepsakes/Smoky Face Palette Review, Photos, Swatches
MAC Keepsakes/Smoky Face Palette
MAC Keepsakes/Smoky Face Palette ($49.50 for 0.287 oz.) contains three eyeshadows, two cheek products, and two lip colors housed in a medium-large sized ivory-hued palette with a strand of “pearls” along the exterior edge of the palette. It has a mirror on the interior and a plastic flap that covers the three cream products and protects them from getting powdery bits mixed in them. I wasn’t wowed by any of the products in this particular set, unfortunately. The pearls feel flimsy–I greatly worry about them lifting while traveling (same goes for all of the compacts like this in the collection). The palette includes: $18 worth of eyeshadow, $5.44 worth of lipstick, $15.40 worth of Cream Colour Base, and $8.63 worth of Iridescent Pressed Powder (best estimate based on last price/oz. I have, since this isn’t a formula MAC has released in a long time individually). There is also a double-ended 275/316 brush included, which adds some value. The value of the color products is $47.47 plus the brush. MAC’s pre-made face palettes always seem to be the least value-packed.
Born to Dazzle is described as a “white gold champagne with pearl.” It’s a very sparkly, white gold with warm, yellow undertones and a glittery finish. It is more metallic on the skin, so it does emphasize pores somewhat. The color payoff is nice, and it doesn’t have a white or chalky base to it. On me, it lasted seven and a half hours before turning patchy. See comparison swatches / view dupes.
Filament is described as a “platinum silver [with a Lustre finish].” It’s a golden silver–like a really, really light warm pewter–with a sparkly finish. It had semi-sheer color payoff, in line with the Lustre formula, and a sparkly texture that resulted in some fall out during wear. A lot of the sparkles didn’t seem to translate on the lid, though. It lasted for seven hours on me. See comparison swatches / view dupes. /
Aristocratic Aura is described as a “dirty blue grey with silver pearl [with a Frost finish].” It’s a muted, medium taupe with a hint of mauve and a pearly sheen. It had semi-sheer pigmentation, and the texture was really stiff to work with, which made it frustrating to apply. The color started to fade after seven and a half hours of wear. See comparison swatches / view dupes.
Carbon is described as an “intense black [with a Matte finish].” It’s a medium-dark black with a matte finish. It’s made a few appearances in the holiday collection this year, and none of them good. This version was particularly bad, as the color payoff was sheer, while the texture was so, so dry and stiff. You can the ever-growing list of dupes here.
Pearl is described as a “pale gold with icy shimmer.” It’s a light, golden beige with subtle, warm undertones and a pearly shimmer-sheen finish. It had good color payoff that was buildable and blendable, so you could wear it more intensely or as a subtle wash. It had a creamy, emollient consistency that made it easy to spread across the skin, but it only wore for six and a half hours on me. It’s part of the permanent range. See comparison swatches / view dupes.
Petulance is described as a “mauvey mid-tone nude [with an Amplified finish].” It’s a muted, light-medium, pink-tinged peach with a soft sheen. It had semi-opaque color coverage that went on fairly evenly, but it could be a bit streaky if you’re not careful. It lasted for three hours and felt thin, a little clingy, on the lips. It didn’t seem drying, though, so that was a surprise. See comparison swatches / view dupes.
Evening Posh is described as a “clean bright red [with an Amplified finish].” It’s a medium-dark red with subtle, cool undertones and a luminous sheen. It had mostly opaque color coverage and wore well for six hours. The consistency was creamier than Petulance, so it applied more readily and was comfortable to wear. See comparison swatches / view dupes.
Smoky
LELimited Edition. $48.50.
Born to Dazzle
LELimited Edition. $26.00.
Filament
LELimited Edition. $17.00.
Aristocratic Aura
LELimited Edition. $17.00.
Carbon
LELimited Edition. $17.00.
Pearl
PiPPermanent in Palette. $21.00.
Petulance
LELimited Edition. $19.00.
Evening Posh
LELimited Edition. $19.00.
See more photos & swatches!
MAC Keepsakes/Smoky Face Palette
MAC Keepsakes/Smoky Face Palette
MAC Keepsakes/Smoky Face Palette
MAC Keepsakes/Smoky Face Palette
MAC Keepsakes/Smoky Face Palette
MAC Born to Dazzle Iridescent Powder
MAC Born to Dazzle Iridescent Powder
MAC Born to Dazzle Iridescent Powder
MAC Filament Eyeshadow
MAC Filament Eyeshadow
MAC Aristocratic Aura Eyeshadow
MAC Aristocratic Aura Eyeshadow
MAC Carbon Eyeshadow
MAC Carbon Eyeshadow
MAC Pearl Cream Colour Base
MAC Pearl Cream Colour Base
MAC Pearl Cream Colour Base
MAC Petulance Lipstick
MAC Petulance Lipstick
MAC Petulance Lipstick
MAC Petulance Lipstick
MAC Petulance Lipstick
MAC Evening Posh Lipstick
MAC Evening Posh Lipstick
MAC Evening Posh Lipstick
MAC Evening Posh Lipstick
MAC Evening Posh Lipstick
That Carbon swatch O_O . Yikes.
So sad.
Once again, it’s such a shame that this isn’t better because if the quality was there, this would be such a handy palette to have (shades of the first Balmbini palette). As it stands, what a let-down. And again with the crappy Carbon in one of its crappiest incarnations (geez, you’d think that with how often they force this on us, they could be consistent in the formula and maybe even improve it).
I don’t even know why they had to include it SO often in this launch. We get it! No need for such an inferior shade to be shoved down our throats!
Oh, silly MAC. Why do they think people want Carbon in every single palette they release?? Or, if they insist on putting it everywhere, why not (gasp!) improve the formula? It’s laughable.
They really should drop Carbon and start promoting Typographic!
Yeah, I don’t think the pearls would survive a trip 🙁 I don’t care much for the packaging and the theme of this collection anyway though. And the overall quality of this particular palette doesn’t impress me.
They just seem really loose!
I liked the idea of this set, but I doubted the performance of the products. Thanks for the review. Most of it was pretty disappointing, except for the red lipstick. Think I’ll pass!
No prob, Sherri!
I don’t know how Carbon gets worse in each palette.
If only we could solve that mystery…
Haha… i must laugh for a bit! Carbon that is worse than usual – Is that even possible, it’s so sooo bad from the beginning!
Kind of funny that almost all the comments are about Carbon, LOL!
Oh my goodness, that carbon! I think this is the worst iteration I’ve ever seen.
It is pretty bad!
Carbon has gone from being a disappointing eyeshadow to a standing joke. How can they even allow it to be this bad!
I liked the red lipstick, but the rest is nothing much to talk about.
I love the full face red lipstick and highlighter photo, so something good came out of this palette.
Maybe MAC is trolling us!
This didn’t look like much to me, but translated to a very nice palette minus the usual Carbon fail. I would not consider this purchase due to it. I don’t get why MAC keeps repeating palettes with this horrible black eye shadow. Yeah, I just don’t get it.
I have no idea at all!
Oh, dear. Another easy skip from Mac. That may be the worst swatch of Carbon yet.
It’s certainly up there… down there? LOL!
Hey Christine is there any red lipstick you know of that looks on the lips the way evening posh looks in the pan/tube. That pretty dark red that doesn’t lean too berry or brown? I’ve been fiending for a colour like that!
http://www.temptalia.com/product/nars-cosmetics-audacious-lipstick/charlotte
Pity about the palette. Petulance looks wonderful on you though!
Thank you!
OMG that carbon swatch!!!!!!!! This is the worst one I’ve seen so far from the sets. OMG! How could they release that!
Awww!
Very, very average from MAC. I am not surprised. There last few palettes have been woeful.
It’s no longer a surprise when they disappoint–it’s more surprising when they are good.
I’m not going to state the obvious, just say that Evening Posh lipstick looks like it’s of good quality. 😉
Haha!
Wow the eyeshadow swatches are laughably bad… Disappointing
Yes, definitely a disappointing kit.
while I love MAC lipsticks/eyeshadows/blushes in single permanent line but I never like a palettes. I’m tired of being disappionted 🙁
I hear ya!
I like the idea of the travel kit, but why put such poor quality shadows in there, and charge $50 for it?
I wish I knew!
The lipstick looks lovely but the powder products are really underwhelming!
mac needs to either reformulate or stop making carbon altogether. it’s actually physically painful to look at something so expensive swatching so poorly 🙁
your poor, poor wallet!
…feh.
I love me a good face palette (Duty Frees are a dangerous place for me), but this is kinda embarrasing. I will say, however, that the colour of Petulance is a good nude on you, and Evening Posh is a decent, calssic red colour!
I feel I may have damned with faint praise there…
*tries to avoid looking at Carbon*
Oh wow!! Thats not good at all.
I’d love to see a round-up of your swatches of Carbon from various releases and palettes, because this is surely the worst but there must be others almost as laughable. It’s seriously so bizarre how they change it so often.