MAC Nudes & Metallics Eyeshadows Reviews, Photos, Swatches (Part 1)
MAC Bare Minimum Eyeshadow
MAC Nudes & Metallics Eyeshadows ($15.00 for 0.05 oz.) include eight shades in total, and these are four of them. I grouped these four together as they were all in the Nudes family. This post features: Bare Minimum (sheer soft pinky nude with pearl), Body Conscious (*sheer warm mid-tone nude), Exposed (sheer neutral mid-tone nude), and Glimpse of Flesh (sheer warm pink nude).
Bare Minimum is described as a “sheer soft pinky nude with pearl [with a satin finish].” It’s a light-medium peach with a hint of pink and a satin shimmer. It has semi-sheer to semi-opaque color payoff that’s buildable to mostly opaque coverage. bareMInerals Peace is more beige. Tarte Giant Peach is lighter. theBalm Third Eye Blinded is very similar. Dolce & Gabbana Jewels is more frosted.
Body Conscious is described as a “sheer warm mid-tone nude.” It’s a medium orange-brown with a barely-there satin sheen. It had rich color payoff (as opposed to the sheer in the description), and the texture was soft and silky. MAC Indie Spirit is browner. MAC Soft Brown is darker, browner. MAC One to Watch is more golden. MAC Tete-a-tint is browner, less orange. MAC Star Myth has a much more frosted finish, but it had a similar orange/brown coloring.
Exposed is described as a “sheer neutral mid-tone nude.” It’s a medium-dark brown with warm, terracotta orange undertones and a satiny finish. It had incredibly rich, full color payoff (again, not sheer as described) with a soft, silky-smooth texture (that was a smidgen powdery but didn’t look that way applied). It was very easy to blend on the lid. Guerlain Turandot #2 is more plum/less brown. Guerlain Les Fauves #2 is warmer, redder. MAC Rusty is lighter (and a cream product). MAC Soft Brown is very similar, just softer. Inglot #357 is yellower and matte.
Glimpse of Flesh is described as a “sheer warm pink nude.” It is a light-medium beige-shimmered, rosy brown with a pearly sheen. It had good pigmentation (not sheer at all), and it was soft and smooth. Burberry Pale Nude is more beige, not quite as warm-toned. Too Faced Marzipan is lighter, more beige. MAC Soft Brown is darker, redder, and matte. L’Oreal Blinged & Brilliant is much, much frostier and more beige.
Go figure — MAC puts out eyeshadows that aren’t described as sheer that are sheer, and then they launch these four shades, which are described all as sheer, and they’re really not. They’re some of the best nude eyeshadows MAC has released in at least a year, maybe longer. Swatching and using these was a refreshing experience; I was impressed, and my hope was renewed. Of course, unlike a sheer eyeshadow that isn’t supposed to be sheer (so it never builds up in its intensity), a pigmented eyeshadow can be more readily sheered out or used sheerly simply by using less. The texture of these four are all soft enough that they can be blended out for a softer application, but if you genuinely want barely-there eyeshadows, you might look elsewhere. (Can I just vent my frustration on this? These are amazing eyeshadows except they’re more pigmented than described!)
The texture of all four were consistently impressive; soft, smooth, and silky. They blended and applied evenly and easily, and when worn together, they worked in harmony. When I tested them for wear, all four lasted eight hours with very, very minimal fading that didn’t become noticeable until the ninth hour.
P.S. — The Nudes & Metallics Collection may be frustrating to find. When it launched in PRO stores on the 18th, every store I called was sold out of over half the collection already. The online launch date has been pushed to mid-June (no specific date was given). It is supposed to be for PRO only, which may mean that it is restricted to PROs only even online, but you should be able to call MAC PRO at 1-800-387-6707 and order (for anyone, PRO and non-PRO alike) per a LiveChat I did this morning.
MAC Nudes & Metallics Eyeshadows Reviews, Photos, Swatches (Part 1)
MAC Bare Minimum Eyeshadow
MAC Bare Minimum Eyeshadow
MAC Bare Minimum Eyeshadow
MAC Bare Minimum Eyeshadow
MAC Bare Minimum Eyeshadow
MAC Bare Minimum Eyeshadow
MAC Body Conscious Eyeshadow
MAC Body Conscious Eyeshadow
MAC Body Conscious Eyeshadow
MAC Body Conscious Eyeshadow
MAC Body Conscious Eyeshadow
MAC Body Conscious Eyeshadow
MAC Exposed Eyeshadow
MAC Exposed Eyeshadow
MAC Exposed Eyeshadow
MAC Exposed Eyeshadow
MAC Exposed Eyeshadow
MAC Exposed Eyeshadow
MAC Glimpse of Flesh Eyeshadow
MAC Glimpse of Flesh Eyeshadow
MAC Glimpse of Flesh Eyeshadow
MAC Glimpse of Flesh Eyeshadow
MAC Glimpse of Flesh Eyeshadow
MAC Glimpse of Flesh Eyeshadow
MAC Eyeshadows: Bare Minimum (inner lid, brow bone), Glimpse of Flesh (middle of lid), Exposed (outer lid), Exposed (crease)
Myep, those are nudes already. I don’t see anything that really excites me, but there’s nothing wrong with these eyeshadows either.
I’m a sucker for a gorgeous, high quality nude shadow because I know I’ll get my money’s worth in wear. I’ll probably pick up a couple of these if I can find them!
Body Conscious is amazing! I bought some of the metallic shades from this collection sight-unseen, but this is quite pretty, too. Might need to call some PRO stores to track it down …
While it’s great to see MAC stepping it up (finally) with this LE collection, it still puzzles me why they would put out such basics, that would *always* sell, as LE instead of in the full range… They’d actually end up making *more* money, as many would buy these if the simply had access to them!
Hi Christine,
I’m liking the look of Bare Minimum — it’s a shade that seems so useful!
this really saddens me. I really want all of these! I am in love with them! Hopefully oneday someone will put them on ebay so I can purchase them
I love them all. I always like to wear nude eyeshadows, I hope I will be able to get my hands on these puppies, since they are pro, and the only pro store in here is in miami beach and it is such a pain to go there, finding parking, and sometimes they are sold out.
These are nice.. but not unique. Nothing I would rush out to get.
Christine, what happened to Exposed? It looks like the pan is damaged on the left side.
Couldn’t say, since that’s how it arrived! These are press samples, not full runs, which are usually produced on a small-scale.
I haven’t got the time or inclination to run around town trying to find one of these LE from MAC. While I appreciate that they may be wonderful, I find myself becoming increasingly resentful toward the company as so many of their regular range products have been OK at best, and some from LE are actually items I’d like to purchase. MAC should know that, rather than tempting me, it irritates me.
Exactly. I find myself passing the MAC counter without stopping more & more often every time I go to the mall, which is about once a week, but I always buy *something* makeup related from another store/counter. More stores & brands are popping up, and from what I’ve been told, Inglot is planning to arrive in several Macy’s stores, and will be in direct competition with MAC. I’ve actually become so resentful that it has trickled down to any brand under the Estee Lauder umbrella. As I stated above, if they made many of the LE products more accessible, they’d actually end up making more money, so I really don’t understand the logic behind this. This strategy may have worked several years ago when our choices were more limited, but in today’s market, where even DS brands are stepping it up, they’re going to end up the one pushed out.
I was so surprised how fast these sold out in the pro store! I called before hand and they said, ” No pre sale No holds ! yet I got there at 10:00 when they opened and they were sold out of so many items . I got a few nudes but, the matallics were sold out . Go figure … Never even got to see what the matallics looked like. I was just told they were intense in color pay off. So, Christine I’m looking forward to your swatches and review on the Nudes and Matallics . Do you think mature people can ware the matallics?
I don’t see why not!
Damn..I have so many eyeshadows that fall into the nude category, but I still find myself wanting a few of these.
They’re great shadows, but they are all too warm for me to be considered “nudes” on my skin. Nice to see a solid LE collection. Hopefully, this is a trend that plans on staying.
I feel the same way, with the possible exception of Bare Minimum.
I’ve also gotten really frustrated with MAC’s limited edition releases that seem to sell out instantly.
Yes! After d/cing the wonderful Tete a Tint, they’re finally coming out with some warm neutrals that look great with blue eyes. I’ll definitely check out Glimpse of Flesh and Bare Minimum.
I’m really into nudes and neutrals, so of course these shades really appeal to me! That said, I have similar colors. Actually these remind me of my Makeup Geek eyeshadows, I’d need to search my blog to remember the shade names, but similar finish and colors
Wow. These are the kinds of nudes I’m always looking for at the Mac store and not seeing. I have three blank slots in my double palette…. I might have to pick up and depot three of these beauties! But which three??
Oh wow–I was literally just looking at pics/swatches of these shadows on another site and they looked SO different. I was really wanting Glimpse of Flesh and Exposed before because it looked like they were a bit cooler than in your photos and also maybe had a touch of mauve them (especially Exposed). I guess that wasn’t the case 😛 lol! These are nice but I think I’ll pass. I’ve got a lot of neutral shadows as is 😛