MAC Reel Sexy: Eyeshadow Duos

MAC will be releasing a new collection today called Reel Sexy. This collection is this month's "main launch," and features 23 products — 14 of which are new and limited edition, 6 of which are re-promoted and limited edition, one of which is re-promoted and will be added to the permanent line, and two of which are permanent. Reel Sexy sees the release of four eyeshadow duos featuring a total of eight new and limited edition shades. These duos and the eyeshadow shades within each palette do not have individual names, and are simply numbered "Dynamic Duos." Each eyeshadow duo comes in regular black packaging, contains 2.8 to 3 grams of product, and retails for $33.

Dynamic Duo 1

Dynamic Duo 1

Dynamic Duo 1 features two shades. The left shade is a medium pinked peach with golden peach shimmer-sheen in a Veluxe Pearl finish. It goes on smoothly and evenly, and has high pigmentation and opaque colour pay-off. It is lighter and less pink than Expensive Pink. The right shade is a dark red-toned berry violet in a Matte finish. It has a extremely dry texture, so it goes on patchy and chalky. As a result, it is difficult to blend and even out. It has intense pigmentation, but because of the dry texture, it needs quite a bit of layering to get opaque colour pay-off. It is slightly darker than Plum Dressing.

Dynamic Duo 2

Dynamic Duo 2

Dynamic Duo 2 features two shades. The left shade is a pale greyed lilac with iridescent white-grey shimmer in a Frost finish. It goes on smoothly and evenly, and has high pigmentation and opaque colour pay-off. It is lighter and more purple than Idol Eyes, and lighter and more grey than Beautiful Iris. The right shade is a medium-dark purple-based blue in a Matte finish. It goes on smoothly and evenly, and has high pigmentation and opaque colour pay-off. It is slightly powdery but I found it easy to layer and blend out. It is darker than Winkle, and more purple than Atlantic Blue.

Dynamic Duo 3

Dynamic Duo 3

Dynamic Duo 3 features two shades. The left shade is a dark taupe-grey with brown undertones in a Veluxe Pearl finish. It goes on smoothly and evenly, and has high pigmentation and opaque colour pay-off. It is more grey than Satin Taupe, and more brown than Knight Divine. The right shade is a medium-dark teal blue in a Matte finish. It goes on smoothly and evenly, and has high pigmentation and opaque colour pay-off. There is nothing similar to this in MAC's current permanent eyeshadow range.

Dynamic Duo 4

Dynamic Duo 4

Dynamic Duo 4 features two shades. The left shade is a light-medium cool-toned pink in a Satin finish. It has a slightly drier texture, so it goes on a bit chalky and patchy, but it's not too hard to layer and blend out. It has medium pigmentation and semi-opaque colour pay-off. It was like a slightly better version of Miss Piggy Pink. It is cooler than Swish. The right shade is a blackened violet in a Matte finish. It has a slightly drier texture, so it goes on a bit patchy, but it's not too hard to layer and blend out. It has medium pigmentation and semi-opaque colour pay-off. It is much less red than Shadowy Lady.

As with all of MAC's pre-made eyeshadow duos, if you don't love both colours in the duo, you're better off getting a customizable palette from MAC Stores, especially since duo palettes are available now and it's actually not that much more expensive (these duos are $33, compared to $36.50 for an empty duo palette and two eyeshadow pan refills). Most of the shades have dupes within MAC's permanent range, anyway. The only two duos wherein both shades were great quality were Dynamic Duos 2 and 3, so they are definitely worth looking at if those shades appeal to you. Otherwise, I would look into the customizable duos instead.