MAC Carine Roitfeld: Desert Camouflage Full Face Kit

A couple weeks ago, MAC released a new collection in collaboration with Carine Roitfeld, which features a total of 21 products — eight of which are limited edition, 11 of which are permanent, and two of which are new and will become permanent. Carine Roitfeld sees the release of two Full Face Kits, both of which include four shades of eyeshadow and one Cremeblend blush. Both of the kits are new and limited edition. Each Full Face Kit comes in matte black square mirrored compacts with the eyeshadows in one sliding compartment sitting on top and the cream blush in a second compartment sitting on the bottom. They are packaged in matte black card stock boxes with Carine Roitfeld's signature imprinted on the front. Each kit comprises of a total of 6.4 grams of eyeshadow and 5.2 grams of cream blush, and retails for $52.

Eyeshadows (clockwise from top left corner): Sahara Dust, Cactus Thorn, Carbon, and Desert

Eyeshadows (swatches): Sahara Dust, Cactus Thorn, Desert, Carbon

Sahara Dust is a light neutral beige in a Satin finish. This is a new and limited edition 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 than Vanilla, and more frosted than Brulé.

Cactus Thorn is a medium bronzed brown with shimmer in a Frost finish. This is a new and limited edition shade. It is very slightly on the drier side, 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 less yellow than Cork, and darker and slightly warmer than Sweet Satisfaction Pro Longwear Eyeshadow.

Desert is a medium-dark warm taupe with shimmer in a Satin finish. This is a new and limited edition shade. It is very slightly on the drier side, 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 warmer than Satin Taupe, and darker and more grey than Sable.

Carbon is a soft black in a Matte finish. This is a permanent shade. It has a very dry, stiff texture, and goes on patchy and unevenly. It has medium-high pigmentation and semi-opaque colour pay-off. It can be layered easily, but is difficult to blend out well. It is more black than Black Tied.

Cremeblend Blush in Sand Storm

Cremeblend Blush in Sand Storm

Sand Storm is a light-medium orange-tan with a soft, slightly dewy finish (but dries down to a satin finish). It is a new and limited edition shade. It has a soft, creamy texture, and goes on smoothly and evenly. It has medium pigmentation and semi-sheer to semi-opaque buildable colour pay-off. It can be layered and blended out easily. There is nothing similar to this in MAC's permanent line-up, though the colour itself is like a softer version of Gingerly Powder Blush.

If you are a fan of the classic smoky eye, this palette may appeal to you. The eyeshadows have smooth textures and good colour pay-off with the exception of Carbon, which is notorious for its drier texture and sheerer pigmentation (for a black eyeshadow). However, the colours really do come together to create a beautiful smoky eye (I love that they didn't include greys, which would have been more boring and predictable). Carbon is a shade that I use all the time to darken an eye look but never use on its own because it's difficult to blend without other powder eyeshadows already applied to the lid. For the purpose of darkening a smoky eye, it does do a decent job, though.

As for the Cremeblend Blush, if you're a fan of the formula already, then this might be a nice addition as there are no shades like this in the current permanent line-up. However, it is a formula that fades fast if you don't set it with a powder. As for the shade itself, it will work best on pale to medium skintones, and add a slight warmth at most to any skintones darker than that. Moreover, it will look more orange on cooler skintones, and look more tan on warmer skintones. What I don't like about kits like this is that you may be a fan of the eyeshadows and not the blush, or vice versa, and then you're stuck with something you won't like or use. If you feel like you might like both the eyeshadow portion and the blush portion, then you may want to take a look. Otherwise, it's just not worth $52.