This past Thursday, MAC released a new collection called Styleseeker, which is their main fall colour launch and features a total of 23 products — 16 of which are limited edition, three of which are re-promotes, and four of which are permanent. Styleseeker sees the release of four eyeshadow duos, all of which are new and limited edition (though some of the shades within each duo are permanent). Each eyeshadow duo comes in regular black packaging, contains a total of 3 g of product, and retails for $33.
Culturalized
Culturalized
Culturalized comes with two shades, Brulé and Retrospeck. Brulé is a pale soft creamy beige in a Satin 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 slightly darker and more beige than Vanilla, and less peach than Orb. Retrospeck is a light-medium warm molten gold with gold shimmer in a Lustre finish. This is supposedly a permanent shade, though it really looks and feels nothing like the original. 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. Despite some minor fall-out, the look and texture reminds me more of a Frost finish than a Lustre finish. It is lighter and less orange than Amber Lights, and is darker and much warmer than the original Retrospeck.
Marché aux Puces
Marché aux Puces
Marché aux Puces comes with two shades, Chessa and Indie Spirit. Chessa is a medium golden orange with a golden orange shimmer-sheen in a Veluxe Pearl 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 lighter and more orange than Amber Lights. Indie Spirit is a medium-dark red-toned mahogany brown in a Matte finish. This is a new and limited edition shade. It has a slightly drier texture, but 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 reddened than Texture, and lighter than Brownscript.
On the Hunt
On the Hunt
On the Hunt comes with two shades, Star Myth and Raving Mad. Star Myth is a medium-dark copper-bronze in a Veluxe Pearl 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 darker and more brown than Mythology, and lighter and much more reddened than Mulch. Raving Mad is a medium-dark muted burnt red with orange undertones and a subtle sheen in a Frost finish. This is a new and limited edition shade. It has a slightly drier texture, but goes on smoothly and evenly, more so in execution on the eye than in a swatch. It has medium-high pigmentation and semi-opaque colour pay-off. It can be layered and blended out easily. The look and texture reminds me more of a Satin finish than a Frost finish. It is more reddened than Hot Paprika Pro Longwear Eyeshadow.
Whims & Fancies
Whims & Fancies
Whims & Fancies comes with two shades, Performance Art and Shadowy Lady. Performance Art is a light silvered mauve with gold and silver shimmer in a Veluxe Pearl 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 more mauve than Idol Eyes, and lighter and much more silvered than Shale. Shadowy Lady is a blackened plum in a Matte finish. This is a permanent shade. It has an extremely stiff, dry texture, and goes on patchy and unevenly. It has medium pigmentation and semi-opaque colour pay-off in execution (it look semi-sheer in swatches). It is very difficult to layer and blend out. It is darker and less red than Sketch, and more cool-toned than Beauty Marked.
Okay, I've read rather mixed reviews on these duos. I actually found three of the four of them to perform quite well, with Shadowy Lady in the Whims & Fancies duo to be the only disappointment (but then, Shadowy Lady is permanent and has always been a disappointment). And I actually find that both of the supposedly permanent shades in Culturalized perform better than their original namesakes. Brulé seemed to go on much softer and was almost buttery compared to the original, and Retrospeck looks and feels completely different compared to the original. Anyway, I say that if these shades attract you, they're definitely worth looking at... except for the Whims & Fancies duo (while Performance Art is a really pretty shade, it doesn't cancel out the horrendous execution of Shadowy Lady to make the duo worth buying).
I feel like the duos aren't really worth it unless they're uber special or limited ed. I only have two MAC powder shadow singles (thanks to you for one) and want to branch out to collect a few more neutral shades along with a custom palette. :) Anyway, it's a shame about Whims & Fancies as that's the duo that most enticed me.
ReplyDeleteDuos are only worth it if BOTH shades are gorgeous and have good textures. That's why Urban Decay's palettes sell so well. I've gotta say, these ones generally performed better than some other ones MAC has come out with. But, hey, we can always do a little shopping trip to the MAC store and you can make a neutral palette. :)
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