MAC Snow Ball: Snow Ball Gold Eye Compact

Last Thursday, MAC launched the first part of their annual holiday collection called Snow Ball: "Find your rhythm and light up the night in cool frost and high-chrome shine. We've got all the bling you'll ever need to make everyone go star-struck. Be the sleighbelle of the ball, dancing until morning, feeling alive, reveling in the new generation. See you on the dance floor." The Snow Ball holiday collection sees the launch of 15 new and limited edition sets, including two eyeshadow palettes, which are described as "a unique rendition of the smoky eye drenches lids in six wintry frosted and lustrous shades. Each compact includes two shades of our special Dazzleshadow formula and comes with a double-ended brush." The Gold Eye Compact is housed in "foiled gold metallic packaging" with a clear plastic box featuring a gold geometric snowflake design. Each Snow Ball Eye Compact contains a total of 7.28 grams of product, and retails for $35.50. 
Frosted Fizz, Dazzle the Night Away, Spun from Gold, Evening Light, Well Past Midnight, and Cinder
Frosted Fizz, Dazzle the Night Away, Spun from Gold, Evening Light, Well Past Midnight, and Cinder

Frosted Fizz is a light-medium cool wheat beige with a pearlized sheen in a Satin finish. This is a new and limited edition shade. It has a soft, 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 lighter and more pearlized than Omega, lighter and cooler than Patina, and lighter and cooler than Wedge.

Dazzle the Night Away is a light cool silvered champagne with silver glitter in a sparkling metallic finish. This is a new and limited edition shade. It has a soft, slightly gritty 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. It is warmer and more golden than She Sparkles, lighter and more sparkly than Retrospeck, and more glittery than Nylon.

Spun from Gold is a light-medium warm yellow champagne gold with gold glitter in a sparkling metallic finish. This is a new and limited edition shade. It has a soft, slightly gritty texture, and goes on smoothly and evenly. It has medium-high pigmentation and semi-opaque buildable colour pay-off. It can be layered and blended out easily. It is lighter and more sparkly than Goldmine, more silvered and more sparkly than Lemon Tart (Warm Neutral x 15), and lighter and more sparkly than Something's Fishy (Power Hungry).

Evening Light is a medium-deep gilded olive brown with gold pearl in a Veluxe Pearl finish. This is a new and limited edition shade. It has a soft, 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 darker and more brown than Sumptuous Olive, cooler and more olive than Tempting, and darker and more pearlized than Dangerously Elegant (Power Hungry).

Well Past Midnight is a dark neutral-cool muted black with silver and gold shimmer in a Lustre finish. This is a new and limited edition shade. It has a soft, 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 lighter and warmer than Black Tied.

Cinder is a dark cool blackened charcoal in a Matte finish. This is a re-promoted shade from 2014's Prabal Gurung collection, and is limited edition. It has a soft, 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 darker than Print, lighter than Carbon, and more muted than Typographic.

What I appreciate about this year's holiday eyeshadow palettes is that they are both neutral, well-curated, and widely flattering. In previous years, MAC came out with more colourful options and extraneous shades that looked pretty in the compacts, but intimidated a lot of consumers — it just takes that one hot pink or mustard yellow, even in a sea of neutrals, to put someone off getting a palette. This year, MAC focused on two colour waves, and made sure that they were both wearable for all skintones and could easily create full eye looks with a single palette. Six shadows per palette is just enough to offer a good variety of shades and finishes without being overwhelming, and I like that they included two shades of Dazzleshadow in each palette to give a festive pop of sparkle. (Note: Dazzleshadows go on more sheer and sparkly when used dry, and more opaque and metallic when used wet or on top of an eye base.) I'm also pleased to note that there are no real duds here; all the shadows perform well. They go on smoothly and evenly, have great pigmentation, and are easily blendable. Whichever one you choose, both palettes will create the perfect holiday party smoky eye.