MAC eyeshadow palette update

MAC do some of the best eyeshadows on the planet. When I first got into make up, I decided to immediately get started on putting together a palette, rather than relying on individual shadows. I embarked on putting together the palette over the course of a year and a half, starting in late 2010. Now, 3 years after completing my palette, I noticed a few colors I wasn’t using much and that I was missing a couple of good matte shades for blending and crease colors. I went to MAC, got myself some matte eyeshadows and reorganized my palette.

Ta-dah: a newly organized MAC palette. I put all the basic lid shades at the top as well as highlight colors, neutral shades went into the second row and pops of colors in rows 3 and 4. As you can see I still have the old palette. I would like to get a new one, preferably two, so I can fit all of my MAC eyeshadows into one spot again, but for now this will do. I find the new palettes a bit too expensive to buy only to replace this one because they are new. They are also much more expensive than this one ever was and it still works fine, so I see no reason to make that splurge. In total, the palette holds 26 shadows because I took out the divider. Let’s first look at the three new shades I purchased to update the palette.

-> Malt: soft, pinkish beige (matte)

-> Wedge: soft muted beige taupe (matte)

-> Swiss chocolate: muted reddish brown (matte)

I went with three matte shades. Like I said, I felt I missed a couple of good matte shades to make the palette more versatile. I went with malt to use as an all over lid shade, wedge to go into the crease and swiss chocolate to go into the crease and outer V. The three shades go together as a trio, but also work nicely together with the shades that I already have. Malt is a very neutral, almost fleshtoned shade, which will go with any shade I already own. Wedge will be a great color to blend out looks into the crease and Swiss Chocolate will add a bit of warmth and goes with the purples, taupes and pinks that I use most.

The palette as it stands now. The eyeshadows I took out of this palette and put in a Z-palette are Swish (frost), Lucky Green (veluxe pearl), Jest (frost) and and Sushi Flower (satin). These are all colors that I hardly ever used because they either didn’t go very well with the other colors in the palette or because they aren’t colors I use very often. The colors I currently have and use are:

1. Row 1 (top): yoghurt (matte), naked lunch (frost), malt (matte), arena (satin), nylon (frost), dazzlelight (veluxe pearl), vanilla (matte)
2. Row 2: antiqued (veluxe pearl), mulch (velvet), swiss chocolate (matte), wedge (matte), patina (frost), satin taupe (frost), woodwinked (veluxe pearl)
3. Row 3: shale (satin), blackberry (matte), sketch (velvet), cranberry (frost), amber lights (frost), retrospeck (lustre)
4. Row 4 (bottom): green smoke (lustre), humid (frost), star violet (veluxe pearl), coppering (veluxe pearl), expensive pink (veluxe pearl), paradisco (frost)

My favorite shades are arena, nylon and dazzlelight from the top row. In row 2 I use woodwinked, satin taupe and mulch the most. Row 3 is devoted to shale, sketch and retrospeck. While in row 4 I go with expensive pink, green smoke and star violet mostly.

When it comes to textures I love the frost and veluxe pearl finishes most and that’s what I tend to have most of as well. My favorite brow highlight is vanilla. For the inner corner it’s a toss between dazzlelight and nylon. Woodwinked is by far my favorite shade as you can use it all over the lid, in the crease or wherever and it will always look great. Shale and arena are my ‘underrated’ picks: two great shades that don’t get enough love. If I want to change things up in the crease or outer V I use green smoke. It’s not a very pigmented shade but gives an instant smokey effect (it does its name justice!) and goes with many of the shades in the first two rows.

Now that I gave my MAC palette a much needed update, I find myself using it a lot more again. There is just something about MAC eyeshadows that keep me coming back to them. They blend like a dream, have great pigmentation and a limited amount of fall out. Not all colors are great, but just go and swatch and see for yourself. A pan to put into a palette retails for €13. Buying a single eyeshadow in a pot will cost €17 in The Netherlands. MAC prices differ though and they are decidedly cheaper in the US.

In case you’d like to see the first version of the palette, you can find the blog posts I did here:

MAC eyeshadow palette