MAC Electric Cool Eyeshadow

Last Thursday, MAC launched their preview of the Electric Cool Eyeshadow collection at The Bay stores in Canada. This collection will be released at Nordstrom in the US this coming Thursday as the American preview, and then will be launched at all other North American locations on August 2 (it will be made available internationally some time in August). This collection is comprised of 12 new and limited shades of Electric Cool Eyeshadow, and a #252 large shader brush, which is permanent. 10 of the 12 shades will be reviewed here. MAC describes Electric Cool Eyeshadow as "a lightweight, cushiony eyeshadow that is creamy to the touch and provides intense, pure colour that wears for hours." It has "comfortable, easy-glide flexibility" and "medium-to-high coverage" in a "multi-dimensional pearly wash." Each Electric Cool Eyeshadow comes in a twist jar in black packaging with a clear lid, contains 2.1 grams of product, and retails for $22.

Dynamo, Coil, and Pure Flash!

Dynamo, Coil, and Pure Flash! (swatches)

Dynamo is a medium bright coral-orange in a satin finish. It is a new and limited edition shade. It has a soft, mousse-like creamy texture that dries down to a powder finish, 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 darker and more orange than Expensive Pink, and lighter and more pink than Coppering.

Coil is a medium-dark copper-bronze in a metallic finish. It is a new and limited edition shade. It has a soft, mousse-like creamy texture that dries down to a powder finish, 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 slightly less reddened than Antiqued, and more copper than Bronze.

Pure Flash! is a pale champagne beige in a metallic finish. It is a new and limited edition shade. It has a soft, mousse-like creamy texture that dries down to a powder finish, 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 similar to Dazzlelight, and less pink than Phloof!.

Superwatt, Electroplate, and Blacklit

Superwatt, Electroplate, and Blacklit (swatches)

Superwatt is a light-medium warm taupe brown in a metallic finish. It is a new and limited edition shade. It has a soft, mousse-like creamy texture that dries down to a powder finish, 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 grey than Sable, and lighter and more brown than Satin Taupe.

Electroplate is a medium warm gunmetal grey in a metallic finish. It is a new and limited edition shade. It has a soft, mousse-like creamy texture that dries down to a powder finish, 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 warmer than Silver Ring.

Blacklit is a dark soft black in a satin finish with multi-coloured shimmer. It is a new and limited edition shade. It has a soft, mousse-like creamy texture that dries down to a powder finish, and goes on smoothly and evenly. It has medium-high pigmentation and semi-opaque colour pay-off. It can be layered and blended out easily. It is similar though much more pigmented than Black Tied.

Highly Charged, Infra-Violet, Fashion Circuit, and Brilliantly Lit

Highly Charged, Infra-Violet, Fashion Circuit, and Brilliantly Lit (swatches)

Highly Charged is a medium-dark purple with pink micro-shimmer in a metallic finish. It is a new and limited edition shade. It has a soft, mousse-like creamy texture that dries down to a powder finish, 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 less reddened than Nocturnelle, and darker than Satellite Dreams.

Infra-Violet is a medium brightened magenta with blue and purple micro-shimmer in a frosted finish. It is a new and limited edition shade. It has a soft, mousse-like creamy texture that dries down to a powder finish, and goes on smoothly and evenly. It has medium pigmentation and semi-opaque colour pay-off. It can be layered and blended out easily. It is darker and more intense than Stars 'n Rockets.

Fashion Circuit is a medium brightened teal green in a metallic finish. It is a new and limited edition shade. It has a soft, mousse-like creamy texture that dries down to a powder finish, and goes on smoothly and evenly. It has high pigmentation and opaque colour pay-off. It can be layered and blended out easily. There is nothing similar to this in MAC's permanent eyeshadow line-up.

Brilliantly Lit is a light-medium bright acid yellow green in a frosted finish. It is a new and limited edition shade. It has a soft, mousse-like creamy texture that dries down to a powder finish, and goes on smoothly and evenly. It has medium pigmentation and semi-opaque colour pay-off. It can be layered and blended out easily. It is like the frosted version of Sunny Spot.

The formula of these is fantastic — smooth, even application, great pigmentation, and easily blendable and layerable. Due to the texture, I recommend padding this on first to get the colour pay-off you want, and then blending out as needed. One thing to note, however, is that they work infinitely better with powder eyeshadows. You can definitely use them with each other, but because there is quite a lot of slip initially, it can be a little more difficult to blend them together (think about blending different cream eyeshadows together — it's very easy to over-blend, and the colours become muddied). These also work brilliantly as an eyeshadow base; it really intensifies the colour of any powder eyeshadow you layer on top of it. I didn't have a huge issue with creasing, but I do still recommend using a primer because it is, ultimately, a creamy eyeshadow (even though it dries down to a powder). This is really what Big Bounce Eyeshadow should have been. (Anyone remember those? Yeah, exactly. That's how bad they were.)