MAC Eyeshadows- Reviews, Photos & Swatches

The MAC eye shadows are great and with so many different shades to choose from you really are spoilt for choice. I have one palette from MAC and it's my holy grail neutral palette.

The MAC Pro palette, if you are not familiar with what one is.. its basically a palette you buy empty and fill with your eye shadows. It has slots to pop in your mac eye shadows (which you buy separate) to create your very own custom made palette. This is such a great investment especially as a makeup artist, it keeps everything compact rather than having to lugg around separate eye shadows.

The palettes come in different sizes for the different uses, you can make a lovely little duo or buy the big 15 slot palette if you need a lot of colors in one place.
I love the way the palettes look, plain black with a see through lid. The lid is great as you can see whats in the palette without having to open it, this is great if you have a lot of different mac palettes as you can quickly identify which palette it is.

Now onto the colors I have inside the palette itself

Everything Matte

The shades in which are great to create a deep smokey eye for night

 or a soft muted cut crease in the day-time.

Carbon - described as an 'intense black' shadow. Yet reviews said it didn't come close. I thought id put peoples comments aside and try it for myself, it cant be that bad.. right? WRONG! Oh.. so wrong. This is such a let down by mac, I'm really disappointed. A dark grey is really all you'd get from this shade, its very strange as all my others are amazing at picking up the true color. It also tends to go very patchy if you layer it for some reason. It has a slightly stiff, almost dry texture that requires extra blending and use of soft, fluffy brushes to really diffuse and blend out the color. It just doesn't seem to have that soft buttery feel as some of the other mac shadows.

Espresso - a neutral, dark brown with a matte finish. This is a great brown, it's really soft and pigmented meaning it's a very blend-able shade, works well to create a smokey eye. It's also very true to the color unlike Carbon. It's one of my favorites to use when doing a dark eye.

Charcoal Brown -  a cooler brown shade. This is my personal fave for filling in eyebrows if you're a dark haired girl like me, this is the way to go. This shade is great to add definition to an eye look, especially nice in the crease blended out.

Wedge - a slightly warm mid tone taupe brown that can be used for transition or in the crease. One of my most used eyeshadows as it's the perfect not too dark shade to use in the crease on its own. It also has that soft texture which means it's super easy to blend, you don't have to worry about any patchiness occurring, if you are on the go its a quick 'no fuss' shadow to use.

Copperplate - leans more on the grayish side, it feels super silky soft and is very true to the color in the pan. As the others its really easy to blend and compliments all eye colors.

Left to right; Carbon, Espresso, Charcoal Brown, Wedge & Copperplate

All That Shimmers

A gorgeous array of shimmery shades to feast your eyes on.

Lovely packed on to the lid for a quick, easy eye look. Definitely a no-fuss 5 piece.

Satin Taupe - this is a my favorite shade in the palette for sure, it has a soft buttery texture and goes on like a dream. This eyeshadow is a gorgeous bronze with a grey undertone, a classic smokey taupe. Satin Taupe is a very buildable eyeshadow, the trick to working with this color is applying it in thin layers until you’ve reached your desired intensity. You can go soft and subtle or build up to a rich intense color. 

Woodwinked - a warm antique brown with a golden shimmer throughout. Its has a super soft buttery texture, not chalky at all. It's also a build-able shade like Satin Taupe, you can wear it lightly for a dusting of color on your lid or go for an intense golden brown eye.

Honey Lust - a glittery bronzed peach in MAC’s Lustre finish. This shadow tends to have a more gritty texture to the other shades as the glitters in this shade are much larger so it would be advised to use a flat brush when applying to the eye to pack on the most color, if you use with a fluffy brush it can be quite unforgiving as you'd get a lot of fall out from it. I think it looks particularly nice on tanned skin.

Gleam - This shade doesn't really seem to get talked about much at all, many people haven't heard about it. It's like an unsung hero, it's so great I don't know why it isn't more popular. It to me has a slight two-toned effect when you look closely. It's a golden shade but it has specks of silvery/yellowy shades. It's very unusual, I can't really put my finger on it. I love applying this on to the whole of my lid for a polished look. 

Naked Lunch - this is a lovely champagne/pink shade with a little shimmer. Its perfect for everyday use on the whole of the eyelid and looks great on the brow bone and inner corner as a highlight. The pigmentation is really lovely, a great 'pick me up' shade for the eyes, I also find this looks stunning on tanned skin.

Left to right; Satin Taupe, Woodwinked, Honey Lust, Gleam & Naked Lunch.

Light, everyday shades

Lovely shimmer/matte shades to compliment all eyes.

Ricepaper - This shimmery peachy gold shade is a must for anyone! It's the perfect everyday shade to just slap on and you know when you walk out the door you'll look fabulous and people will be wondering "what is that eyeshadow?!" It really awakens and brightens the eyes, subtle shade but does wonders.

Brule - A cream-beige shade which is smooth and blend-able. If you are looking for a highlight shade that wont make you look like a glitter ball then look this way, it really brightens up the eye in a natural way, it's not matte its a satin finish so this is why its perfect as a highlight. Just a little heads up, its best on more tanned skin, it's a light shade so it wouldn't show up much on paler skin tones.

Nylon - Nylon is a pale gold with shimmer. It's a very frosty shadow. If you want a very shimmery bright highlight for your inner corner and brow-bone then this is the way to go for sure, I have never seen something so pigmented by first swipe!

Vanilla - Vanilla is an ivory with slight pink undertones. I absolutely LOVE Vanilla. There is a tiny bit of sparkle in the pan, but it doesn't really translate to the eye. It's utterly perfect if you want a light shade on the whole of the lid, its super pigmented so you don't need to pack on layers and layers of the stuff. Always one I recommend to friends, it just brightens the eye up insanely, must have mac shadow!

Left to right; Ricepaper, Brule, Nylon & Vanilla

All swatches were used without primer, and one swipe of the color. The picture taken in natural light. 

Click below to create your very own MAC Pro Palette
Mac Pro Palette 
Eyeshadow Refill Pan



I hope you are having a nice day