MAC Year of the Snake: Large Eyeshadows

For the upcoming Chinese New Year, MAC has launched a small colour collection aptly called Year of the Snake, inspired by "the luxury-loving individuals born under its sensual sign." This collection is new and limited edition, and is available online only. To create the visual for this launch, MAC collaborated once again with graphic designer and photographer Chenman (who worked with MAC for last year's Chenman Love & Water collection). This collection is comprised of 12 products — six of which are permanent, and six of which are re-promotes. Year of the Snake sees the release of four shades of Large Eyeshadow (one of which will not be reviewed here). Each Large Eyeshadow comes in a regular black plastic pot with special edition secondary cardstock packaging featuring a metallic embossed snake design. The powder itself also features a embossed snake design. Each Large Eyeshadow contains 3 grams of product, and retails for $25.

Once Upon a Time
Aztec Brick
Altered State
Once Upon a Time, Aztec Brick, and Altered State

Once Upon a Time is a light soft warm beige in a Veluxe Pearl finish. This is a re-promoted shade from 2010's A Tartan Tale collection, and is limited edition. It has a soft, silky, 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 less pink than All That Glitters, and warmer than Sweet Satisfaction Pro Longwear Eyeshadow.

Aztec Brick is a medium vibrant orange-toned copper-bronze in a Veluxe Pearl finish. This is a re-promoted shade from 2010's Spring Colour Forecast collection, and is limited edition. It has a soft, silky, 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 orange than Amber Lights, and lighter and much less reddened than Coppering. 

Altered State is a dark purple with brown undertones and a blue-purple shimmer-sheen in a Veluxe Pearl finish. This is a re-promoted shade from 2009's Magic, Mirth, and Mischief collection, and is limited edition. It has a soft, silky texture, though it is slightly drier than a typical Veluxe Pearl eyeshadow so it doesn't feel as dense or buttery. It 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 cool-toned than Nocturnelle, and darker and less reddened than Plush Pro Longwear Eyeshadow.

Oddly enough, I didn't have any of these shades in my stash even though they're all re-promotes. (No complaints here, I was just surprised!) I was impressed with all three shades here, but especially Once Upon a Time and Aztec Brick, which are so smooth, so buttery, so pigmented, they reminded me of the Mega Metal Eyeshadows from 2011's Peacocky collection (that I still hope will become permanent one day). Altered State was a little dry for a Veluxe Pearl, but was still pigmented and went on smoothly. The fourth shade that was released with Year of the Snake is Carbon, which I didn't bother to get because it's permanent and I must have at least ten of them by now (aside from having a single pot and a PRO pan of the shade, it has also been released in a ton of palettes). But these three shades? Totally worth getting, if you don't have them already. If you don't want to shop online, though, there are pretty good dupes of these shades within MAC's permanent range that you can find in-store.