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Sneak Peek: MAC Soft Serve Shadows Photos & Swatches

MAC Soft Serve Shadows
MAC Soft Serve Shadows

MAC Soft Serve Shadows ($22.00 for 0.17 oz.) is a new, limited edition formula launching online on May 26th and will be available in-stores on June 2nd. There are twelve shades in total, and I have eleven of them to share here, which I’ve been testing, so I should have reviews up within the next week or so 🙂


MAC Soft Serve Shadows
MAC Soft Serve Shadows

MAC Soft Serve Shadows
MAC Soft Serve Shadows

MAC Soft Serve Shadows
MAC Soft Serve Shadows

MAC Soft Serve Shadows
MAC Soft Serve Shadows

MAC Soft Serve Shadows
MAC Soft Serve Shadows

38 Comments

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tugce Avatar

I like how these look sheered out. I enjoy really shimmery wash of color with some mascara in summer. Quite excited about this launch!

AmyD Avatar

*scratches chin* On one hand, I anticipate that people might not be happy with the fact that this formula isn’t very pigmented applied dry. On the other hand, with the exception of a few of the shadows, it looks like these swatch pretty smoothly, and some of them appear to have a pretty attractive glow that’s not overly glittery or glossy. If these perform like some of the good Asian cream eyeshadows that I’ve tried (i.e. long-lasting with little to no settling in creases), I might want to check these out, because they also seem to resemble lots of Asian eyeshadows in that, rather than being ultra-pigmented, they’re more like sheer, even washes of color. I’ve been finding over time that that’s the look I prefer from my eyeshadows!

KJH Avatar

Don’t even know how to explain what I think, except by analogy. To me, all B&BW scents have an underlying similarity that overrides what the individual scents smell like.(know this might have to do w/hyposmia, but real, nonetheless.) In the group swatches, despite all these soft serves being different shades, their underlying similarity comes to the fore and detracts from their individuality. (To me only, prob.) They don’t differentiate well to my eye, when swatched. That aspect improves when the individual swatches are presented. Maybe just my eye/brain seizing on the similarity. They could do it, though, for a soft wash of allover shimmery color.

Primpcess Avatar

I thought the same thing. I didn’t see a big difference in the swatches, they all kinda looked the same overall with a very slight variation.

Tracey E. Avatar

I saw it, too. There’s an underlying iridescent quality across the collection. Not sure what I think of these. Looking forward to Christine’s review and application suggestions.

Maria Avatar

Oh boy, these look terrible! I expected so much more out of these. I definitely wouldn’t pay $22 for each of them. You let me down again, MAC. What a bummer.

Sarah Avatar

I’m so confused by the texture and packaging! Are they powder? They look like they’re similar to fluidline or paint pot packaging with a screw-top lid?

Shamim de Varax Avatar

was hoping these would be as pigmented as their normal cream eyeshadows…..disappointed =( they’re more like suspended glitter.

Mariella Avatar

Like others, I’m looking forward to your review but, to be honest, I’ve got such lovely shadows like these from Lise Watier (yay, yay and triple yay), Shiseido, Clarins and Chanel that I probably won’t bother (but I can’t promise!)

KJH Avatar

Lise Watier is the Canadian revenge on colourpop! Don’t think she ships to US, or if so, it’s exorbitant. The site is lovely. Her story is good, too. Kind of makes me want to do a makeup crawl to Canada. But thanks to our 9/11 friends, we need a passport now. WTF?

Mariella Avatar

Not quite. Her products aren’t quite the “budget price tag” items of Colourpop. And as for exorbitant charges to order to the US, it’s what we Canadians deal with all the time, even when our dollar has been at par with the US or even when it was valued higher. The markups have always been insane….20 dollars more for a Stila palette, for example, even when the Cdn. dollar was higher than the US one. As for the passport issue, I believe the US started that after 9/11; it wasn’t a Canadian initiative. I refused for quite a while even to get a new passport “on principle” but with family in the US and a brother in law with health issues, it became unavoidable.

Mariella Avatar

Okay, I just checked and while we Canadian citizens DO require a valid passport to enter the US, American citizens don’t need a passport to enter Canada! “Generally, if you’re not a Canadian or U.S. citizen, you require a valid passport or visa to enter Canada. There are two exceptions: U.S. Lawful Permanent Residents may use their I-551 (“Green Card”) — instead of a passport — for travel between Canada and the United States, by air, land, or sea.” There ya go!!!

Joce Avatar

With the first post about this the other day, I just craved some ice cream. Now I don’t want any after seeing these swatches. I’m sort of thankful for that. These just make me think they are expensive glitter bombs. Meh….thank you for saving me some money as well as calories??.

Claire L Avatar

Like some people on here, I’m rather disappointed that these are pretty sheer on, I don’t think I’ll be buying these ?. I prefer my Clarins Ombré Iridescente shadows. It’s nice that the other half of people on here prefer this lighter wash of colour though.

Lara Avatar

It’s probably wishful thinking to hope that these are the poor woman’s version of Tom Ford cream eye color but I’m definitely curious.

Katherine T. Avatar

Softened Up looks good but very dupe-able, and the rest look either disappointing or terrible. They don’t look pigmented enough to be used as base or shadows, but maybe they can be used as sparkly toppers, assuming there’s no fall out.

Danielle Avatar

These look promising! Which is good, because the name was giving me flashbacks of the big bounce shadows….don’t think I’ll ever forget your review on those! 😉

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