I love MAC paint pots. I also love Benefit creaseless cream shadows. Both products are pretty similar: you can use them as eye shadows, but they also function as bases underneath other (powder) eye shadows. They come in a range of colors and both have creamy textures. But which one is the best? Get ready for a showdown!
Round 1: The packaging.
On the left: MAC Paint Pot, On the right: Benefit Creaseless Cream Eyeshadow & Liner
Both MAC and Benefit have opted for clean and simple packaging: clear glass jars with a black lid. I like the MAC one slightly better: it looks a bit more sophisticated and I’m simply not a fan of the birds on the Benefit packaging. The paint pots are slightly larger as well: they contain 5 grams of product compared to 4.5 grams for the Benefit one. On top of that MAC is slightly cheaper too. A MAC paint pot will set you back $16.50, whereas the Benefit creaseless shadow will cost you $19*.
Round 2: Color selection.
MAC paint pots in Let Me Pop, Bare Study & Painterly
Benefit creaseless cream shadows in Skinny Jeans, Stiletto and Get Figgy
The Benefit cream shadows come in a variety of colors. MAC paint pots do too, but those colors are mostly skin tone colors or pretty close to skin tones. MAC does come out with different colors from time to time in their special collections though. I personally think that if you want to use these as stand alone eyeshadows and are therefore looking for colors you are better off with Benefit. If you want pretty colors that can double as a base underneath a different eyeshadow your best bet is MAC. I do have to say that I tend to use Bare Study and Let Me Pop predominantly as stand alone eyeshadows just like the Benefit ones. It’s just a matter of what suits better with your personal taste. Nevertheless, Benefit also has a few very good neutral shades in their selection, so maybe price can be of a deciding factor here.
Round 3: Pigmentation & texture.
Let me Pop, Bare Study, Painterly (no base)
Skinny Jeans, Stiletto, Get Figgy (no base)
For both brands it depends on the shadow/ paint pot how well they work. They are all very creamy and go on quite nicely, but as you can see in the pictures two out of three colors I have have great pigmentation/ texture, whereas one is a bit of a miss. MAC’s Let Me Pop is a bit flaky/ chunky, yet the pigmentation is still very nice. It’s a bit hard to work with due to the chunkiness. It sometimes doesn’t go where I want it to go. Benefit’s Get Figgy has a very nice frosty sheen to it, but as a result it is not as pigmented as the other two and so you need more of it to have it go on opaque. My tip here: swatch them in the store before buying any of these products and then decide how well they work for you.
Final round: the conclusion.
My winner here is MAC: the pigmentation is better, you get more product as a cheaper price, the texture is creamy and consistent and you can use them as shadows or as bases a lot easier than the Benefit ones. I like the packaging better. Some of the paint pots can be a bit chunky and thus harder to work with, but I think that is well worth the effort.
Q: Which do you prefer?
* I have used US dollars to give a price indication as this made for a better comparison.
6 responses to “MAC Paint Pots vs Benefit Creaseless Cream Shadows”
I love my MAC paint pots. Gotta say that they did used to have brighter colors in their standard collection such as Artifact and Delft. For some stupid reason unknown they have been discontinued. I can’t really find in your review whether or not the Benefit one functions well as a base. Would have been nice to read something about creasing/no creasing, since that is the whole idea of the product right?
Thanks for the input. Well the thing is, that I use these as stand alone eyeshadows mostly. I’ve never used them as a base underneath another eyeshadow except for painterly. The Benefit ones can be used as a base but are marketed as eyeshadows and eyeliner, but not as a base per se. I can tell you though that without a primer the Benefit ones crease like hell. The paint pots do too though so I always first prime my eyelids with UD Primer potion before putting on the other product. Hope that helpos.
I’ve never actually tried any but I agree with Noelle, some more points on these products would be good.
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