MAC By Request (2014): Eyeshadows

Last week, MAC released their second MAC By Request collection, which is available online only through their website. MAC By Request features popular discontinued shades that were voted for by fans through MAC's Facebook page; the three shades with the most votes were brought back and made available for purchase as limited edition products. (Note: The shades available in this year's MAC By Request collection were polled last summer.) The entire collection features a total of nine products, all of which are limited edition, and sees the re-release of three eyeshadows. Each eyeshadow comes in regular black packaging, contains 1.5 grams of product, and retails for $18. As these are online exclusives, they are not applicable for the Back to MAC recycling program.
Clockwise from left: Butterscotch, Fiction, and Diesel
Butterscotch, Fiction, and Diesel

Butterscotch is a light-medium muted warm yellow-beige in a Matte finish. This is a re-promoted shade from Circa Pre-1990, and is limited edition. It received 23,570 votes in the MAC By Request poll. It has a soft, silky, finely-milled texture, 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 range; it is darker and more matte than Ricepaper, darker and more yellow than Brule, and lighter and much more yellow than Bamboo.

Fiction is a medium-dark muted warm olive green in a Frost finish. This is a re-promoted shade from 1997's Colour Abstractions/Additions collection, and is limited edition. It received 24,376 votes in the MAC By Request poll. It has a soft, silky, finely-milled 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 muted and more khaki than Sumptuous Olive, lighter and much warmer than Greensmoke, and darker and more muted than Golden Olive Pigment.

Diesel is a dark cool-toned gunmetal grey in a Frost finish. This is a re-promoted shade from 1997's Colour Abstractions/Additions collection, and is limited edition. It received 23,687 votes in the MAC By Request poll. It has a soft, silky, finely-milled 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 blue-toned than Knight Divine, darker and cooler than Print, and darker and more frosted than Scene.

It's a throwback to the '90s! I can see why these were brought back from deep inside MAC's archives. All three eyeshadows have amazing textures — soft, smooth, pigmented, with great colour pay-off. Butterscotch is my must-have from this collection, only because it is so incredibly versatile and there's nothing similar to this in MAC's current permanent range (and chances are you don't already have this shade unless you picked it up in the '80s!). Works beautifully on all skintones; a great transition shade for light skintones, all-over lid shade for medium skintones, and highlighting shade for darker skintones. Not the most exciting colour, but it's one that goes well with everything. Fiction is a wonderful addition for fans of khaki-greens, and is different enough from all of MAC's permanent offerings to be worth picking up. The only shade here that's not a must-have for me here is Diesel, only because MAC has so many dark greys in their permanent range. If you're on the market for a dark gunmetal shade, this is a fantastic option because the texture is gorgeous and it applies beautifully, but it's very likely that you already have something similar from MAC. In any case, if you're interested in any of these, they are available online now. Snatch 'em up before they're gone!