MAC Styledriven Pro Longwear Eyeshadows Swatches, Photos, Reviews (Part 1)

Christine — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 14:57:37 +0000

MAC Styledriven Collection (well, part of it!)

MAC Styledriven: Pro Longwear Eyeshadows (Part 1)

MAC Pro Longwear Eyeshadow ($20.00 for 0.11 oz.) is supposed to wear for eight hours with a “silky, creamy texture” that yields “maximum color impact.” It’s also designed to be blendable and buildable. As a reviewer, I am endlessly pleased that MAC gave definite wear times on these–it’s so much easier to assess whether the product was successful!

There a whopping sixteen shades released in MAC Styledriven, and because of the amount of photos, I’ve split them over three parts. This first part includes: Carefree (pale white gold), Fresh Flare (bright kelly green), Hot Paprika (mid-tone burnt red), Keep Your Cool (dark grey brown), and Legendary Black (warm almost black).

Carefree is a pale, creamy white gold with a soft, frosted finish. The texture is very slightly powdery. This has a frost finish, but it’s considerably less frosty compared to your traditional MAC frost finished eyeshadow. It has a less metallic finish compared to MAC Nylon with a yellower color overall. MAC Manila Paper is closer in color. Make Up For Ever #101 is similar but more metallic in finish. It’s a little yellower compared to MAC Peek-at-You.
Fresh Flare is a brightened medium grassy green. This has a frost finish. It has good color payoff and soft without being powdery. It’s darker than Wet ‘n’ Wild Bright Idea. Inglot #384 is similar in color with a slightly yellower undertone and a matte finish. For those who wanted more green from MAC Jealousy Wakes, you might this more to your liking–on me, it is a very similar green base without the teal flash. I expect this is similar to Kelly Green pigment.
Hot Paprika is a burnt orange with pinky-red shimmer. This has a frost finish. It looks redder in the pan than when used–it’s more orange than it is red. The color payoff was excellent. It is similar to MAC Double Feature 8. MAC Red Brick is more intense and matte.
Keep Your Cool is a smoky, dark, brownish taupe. This has a satin finish. It is just slightly darker than Urban Decay Mushroom. It’s cooler in tone and much grayer compared to MAC Satin Taupe. It’s quite similar to the taupe from Chanel Prelude. Burberry Taupe Brown is similar but more matte. It is also similar to MAC Unflappable.
Legendary Black is a dark brown with bronze shimmer. It’s not really blackened or black–just a really dark brown. This has a satin finish. Wet ‘n’ Wild Comfort Zone has a similar shade but it’s not quite as dark (and almost leans green). MAC Smut is similar but has a burgundy tone.

I don’t find that these are Mega Metal eyeshadows by another name; their textures feel distinctly different. Where Mega Metal Eyeshadows were buttery and dense, Pro Longwear Eyeshadows have a thinner, drier texture. I had better color payoff with the Mega Metal Eyeshadows overall, but these are still good–just easier and more blendable with the Mega Metals because of the buttery texture. I do prefer the textures of the Mega Metal Eyeshadows, which is a personal preference, as the Pro Longwear Eyeshadows yield good color payoff overall, last over twelve hours (without primer) without creasing, and are still soft to the touch.

I tested the six eyeshadows I received as samples (the rest of the shades I purchased from the LA PRO store, which is why it took me awhile to get the review up; the rest just arrived late yesterday afternoon) extensively. I knew I couldn’t review these immediately, especially since everything was long-wearing! Each time I tested the new eyeshadows, I applied everything over primer on one eye and then the same placement but without primer on the other eye. It was consistent no matter what shadow I used that a primer boosts the intensity of the shades; they all had this slightly faded/muted look to them when applied without a primer. If you use them wet, you can mitigate some of the faded characteristic (I’ve used a few wet and haven’t seen any ill-effects to the pan itself yet).

The good news is that what you see is what you’ll still see twelve hours later. When I was originally testing these, I didn’t know what MAC considered “long-wear,” so I went for a full twelve hours. These are only touted to last eight hours, which means these fully satisfy that and then some (at least on me). I’m ecstatic about the wear of these, though I personally will use a primer underneath them because I prefer the more saturated look (closer to the pan color).

They have a soft texture, but it’s thinner–kind of like a cross between satin and frost finish–so it has a dryness to it. Some of the shades (always noted by the shade as appropriate) can be on the powdery side and may require layering to achieve true-to-pan color. I did find them blendable and buildable, though. I didn’t feel like I had to put in much work to get these to come out right, which is a hallmark of a good product.