MAC A Novel Romance: An Amorous Adventure Eyeshadow Palette

on
Saturday, August 23, 2014

This past Thursday, MAC launched their first official Fall colour collection called A Novel Romance. As the name implies, it is inspired by romance novels. MAC describes A Novel Romance as "a colour collection teeming with deep, luscious shades that will have you feeling overwhelmed with desire. Passion mounts, and untamed hues fan the flames of your deepest emotions, as an amorous adventure begins... Like fiction brought to life, the surging passions of this after-dark adventure seem almost too good to be true." This collection will see the launch of 41 products, 15 of which are new and limited edition (of which one is an online exclusive), 13 of which are new and permanent, nine of which are re-promotes, and four of which are permanent. A Novel Romance will see the release of three new and limited edition eyeshadow palettes, each including four shades. Each eyeshadow palette comes in a regular black square compact with a clear lid, contains a total of 5.6 grams of product, and retails for $47.50.

Top: Sable and Sex & the Oyster
Bottom: Brawn and Black Tied

Sable, Sex & the Oyster, Brawn, and Black Tied

Sable is a medium-dark plummy brown with bronze pearl in a Frost finish. This is a permanent shade. It has a soft, silky texture, and goes on smoothly and evenly. It has high pigmentation and opaque colour pay-off. It can be layered and blended out easily. It is lighter and more brown than Satin Taupe, more plum than Bronze, and lighter than Twinks.
Sex & the Oyster is a medium muted smoky blue-grey with a hint of teal in a Veluxe Pearl finish. This is a re-promoted shade from last year's Indulge collection, and is limited edition. It has a soft, silky texture, and goes on smoothly and evenly. It has high pigmentation and opaque colour pay-off. It can be layered and blended out easily. It is lighter and more teal than Smokeluxe #4, more metallic and more teal than Linger Softly Pro Longwear Eyeshadow, and more teal and less sparkly than Smoky Pressed Pigment.
Brawn is a medium-dark taupe-brown with slight warm undertones in a Satin finish. This is a new and limited edition shade. It has a soft, almost buttery texture, and goes on smoothly and evenly. It has high pigmentation and opaque colour pay-off. It can be layered and blended out easily. It is warmer and more brown than Satin Taupe, cooler and less bronze than Sable, and lighter and cooler than Twinks.
Black Tied is a cool-toned black with silver sparkle in a Velvet finish. This is a permanent shade. It has a soft, silky texture, and goes on smoothly and evenly. It has high pigmentation and opaque colour pay-off. It can be layered and blended out easily. It is more sparkly than Carbon, less blue and more sparkly than Nehru, and less metallic than Cinderfella Mineralize Eyeshadow.

Like the other two quads in this collection, this palette contains four soft, finely-milled, beautifully pigmented shades that go on smoothly and evenly, and blend out easily. Overall, this isn't the most exciting palette in terms of colour, but it does contain two beautiful neutral browns that I can see being workhorse shades for many, a black to transition day looks to night (or to use as liner), and a muted stormy seafoam blue to add a pop of colour in an otherwise very neutral palette. I have to note that the version of Black Tied in this palette is by far the best I've ever used; it's soft, smooth, and pigmented, whereas the original permanent version is much drier and patchier by comparison. The only complaint I have about this palette is that it contains two permanent shades as well as one re-promote (which is always kind of annoying in a limited edition palette), so if you have them already, this one is definitely skippable. On that note, I'm really glad to report that all three palettes in this collection are beautiful and high-quality in both texture and pigmentation; now it's all about deciding which colour combination to go with because they're all gorgeous for fall.
6 comments on "MAC A Novel Romance: An Amorous Adventure Eyeshadow Palette"
  1. This kind of reminds me of the YSL LE Fall palette for some reason. I like all of the colors except the sparkly black :P But I guess I could buy another shade that I might use more often and pop that one in instead? Is that how these work? OMG I'm a MAC noob, Denise.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. LOL!!! I heard this one is similar to the YSL Fall palette as well. I'm kind of indifferent to the inclusion of Black Tied in this palette. On the one hand, it's great to smoke out an eye look (to transition it from day to night, for example) or to use as a liner... but on the other hand, they could've included a maybe a dark navy or a deep plum to keep it more interesting.

      And these pre-made palettes can't be interchanged with other shades because the pans are glued in. Only the custom PRO palettes (where you buy the palette, insert, and pans separately) offer the magnetization that allows you to change the pans. :(

      Delete
  2. I got this and LOVE it. It goes on really well even without primer. Black Tied in my palette is a little harder and dry than the other shades, but I just wet the brush and go to town with it. Something about this colour story along with the plum blush had my bosoms heaving. LOL

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think maybe I'm just used to Black Tied being REALLY stiff and dry, but I find this one to go on really smooth and pigmented. I mean, it's still on the drier side, but comparatively, it's just so much easier to use! I mostly use it as my outer corner shade. :)

      Glad you're loving this palette, though! I love it when something gets your bosoms heaving, LOL.

      Delete
  3. I'm not into this colour scheme...I don't think it would work well with my skin tone, or at least with the types of looks I wear on the regular - on my skin this would definitely be a more 'going out' palette (and I don't do much of that these days!). Also, I own Sable already, but I do love the look of Brawn, however.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Haha, I find that this one is a love-it-or-hate-it colour scheme. I think it's Sex & The Oyster that's throwing people off, because that's the only colour that's keeping it from being neutral. It'll work on your skintone but I think it would end up looking more muted rather than smoky, with the blue shade looking icier.

      Delete

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