MAC Surf, Baby!: Eyeshadows

MAC's Surf, Baby! collection sees the release of five limited edition eyeshadows, four new and one re-promote. All of them come in the Surf, Baby! limited edition packaging and, as a result, are not available for the Back2MAC recycling program at PRO stores. I picked up three of the five shades, as the other two (Short Shorts and Swell Baby) are very similar to shades I already have and I didn't feel they were worth picking up (Short Shorts looks very much like Fresh Daisy from the Fashion Flower collection or like Nylon in the permanent line-up, and Swell Baby looks very much like Print from the permanent line-up). Each eyeshadow contains 1.5 grams of product, and retails for $18.50 a pop.

Saffron, Sun Blonde, Surf USA

Saffron is a softened burnt orange-red in a Satin finish. This shade is a re-promote from January's Mickey Contractor collection. It goes on smoothly and pigmented with good colour pay-off. It's a rustier version of Rule or a more orange version of Red Brick.

Sun Blonde is golden mustard yellow in a Frost finish. This shade is new and limited edition. Despite the Frost finish, it leans more Satin than a true Frost, though it does have a sheen. It goes on smoothly and pigmented with good colour pay-off. It doesn't look like anything from MAC's present line-up. The closest shade would probably be Gorgeous Gold, which is much more metallic and duochrome, and more gold than mustard. This is one of the more unique shades that MAC has come out with in a while.

Surf USA is a bright medium teal that leans very slightly green in a Frost finish. This shade is new and limited edition. Like Sun Blonde, it looks slightly more satiny in execution than a full-on frost. It goes on smoothly and pigmented with amazing colour pay-off. This doesn't look like anything from MAC's permanent line-up. It's in the same family as Shimmermoss, Aquadisiac, and Steamy, but they are look much more subdued compared to Surf USA. MAC's Newly Minted, which is now discontinued, was similar but less blue.

Surf USA and Sun Blonde will undoubtedly be the big sellers of the five eyeshadows just because of the uniqueness of the shades; these two are nothing similar to anything in MAC's current permanent line-up. That having been said, though, the texture is amazing across the board on all of the shades. They're all smooth and pigmented and easy to blend out. They're definitely worth taking a look; MAC hasn't released such a stellar series of eyeshadows in a single collection in a while (Peacocky being the last one, but the Mega Metal Eyeshadows were an entirely new formula altogether).