MAC has released three eyeshadow palettes for the holiday season, in smoky, cool, and warm themes. While I was somewhat interested in each of the three and will touch on the other two in subsequent posts, I was most drawn to the Smoky palette.
But I won't be buying.
I actually find it a bit odd that this is considered the "Smoky" palette.
This is the "Warm" palette:
And this is the "Cool" palette:
None of these palettes feel properly named or categorized to me. The "Smoky" palette feels the most objectively warm to me, the "Warm" palette seems like it leans pretty cool, and the "Cool" palette has the most smoky shades.
So right off the bat this collection really confuses me.
I'd like to have a little conversation about MAC before I get too far into this. MAC will always have a special place in my heart because it was the first makeup I ever purchased. I was 21 when I first bought makeup, and I bought it because I wanted to feel a little more feminine. I was a college athlete at the time, and I had been an athlete for the majority of my life. I felt I had this part of me that was so creative, artistic, and overtly feminine, but it was completely hidden throughout all the years I felt I had to fit into the athletic world. When I was 21 and in college, one girl on my team always looked like she came out of a magazine. I finally asked her how she did it and how she learned, and she told me to go to a MAC store and ask an artist to teach me how to do makeup. And I did, and I've been deeply in love with makeup ever since.
On that first trip to MAC, I bought a paint pot, quad of eyeshadows, blush, lip gloss, eyeliner, mascara, and brush. I was ready. After that, I started watching YouTube videos, and at that time, people pretty much only talked about MAC. So my eyeshadow collection grew and grew. So did my blushes and lipsticks. Eventually the Naked palette by Urban Decay came out and the entire game was changed, and my MAC shadows were used less and less until I finally felt they were too old for me to comfortably use.
I have since purchased four MAC singles: Amber Lights, Wookwinked, Cranberry, and Coppering and have the limited edition Nordstrom C'est Chick all-matte palette.
Photo: Temptalia
And I again remember why I fell in love with MAC (and makeup in general) in the first place.
But I have some conflicting feelings about MAC. I absolutely adore their Viva Glam campaign, and while I feel there are plenty of better representatives they could choose each year, I still love everything about Viva Glam and the MAC AIDS Fund. But then I am massively disappointed that their cruelty-free status has changed. I am currently not cruelty-free, but like to mostly support cruelty-free brands when possible. Seeing a brand like Kat Von D transition from cruelty-free to vegan is really inspiring and seems like a great step in the right direction. So seeing a previously cruelty-free brand give up that status feels backward. And then, of course, there was the cultural appropriation with no apology whatsoever.
Something else that has always rubbed me the wrong way about MAC is their constant, incessant limited edition collections. I don't mind so much that they exist, but really dislike that the quality always seems to be lacking in favor of cute packaging or a gimmicky idea. Unfortunately, it looks like that may be the case with the Nutcracker palettes as well.
The packaging is cute:
But the transition from round pans into rectangular seems to have compromised the quality. I looked at Temptalia's swatches and was very unimpressed.
As I mentioned, I was most drawn to the "Smoky" palette because of its collection of warm shadows, but when I really consider each shade, there is nothing interesting or unique going on here. If fact, it looks really similar to the Jouer palette I wrote about recently:
Within my own collection, I have the Kat Von D Monarch palette:
And the Too Faced Peanut Butter and Jelly palette:
I'm certainly not hurting for warm-toned neutral shadows, and need chunky, glittery, patchy shadows even less. The Nutcracker Smoky palette costs $39.50 for nine shadows and a dual-ended brush. While this is certainly a less expensive price than what MAC has traditionally offered, I still don't think this is a good deal. From my own experience, MAC's holiday brushes are not at all of comparable quality to their permanent brush line, and I found mine to be scratchy and generally unpleasant to work with. And yes, you get nine shadows for $40, but they are not great quality. I think if this palette interested you, you would be better off buying nine MAC or Makeup Geek individual shadows for $45 because then the quality would at least be worth the price.
Like so many other brands, I always get excited to see what MAC will bring out during the holidays. This year I was generally less disappointed than most years, but the quality still left a lot to be desired. And within the Smoky palette, I already had all of the colors in better performing shadows. And I won't be buying.
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