BEHOLD! The MAC Snow Ball Collection Extra Dimension Eye Shadows and Face Powders

Excuse me, miss, I’ve got an RSQ (Really Serious Question) for you: are you ready to party like it’s 1997? If you are, grab your glow sticks and look out! — because it’s MAC Snow Ball time. You have just been teleported straight into a Christmas rave circa 1997.

The forgotten era of mid-’90s frost

I’d be right there with you, hanging out in all my skinny-brow’d and Adidas-shell-toed glory, as would Gwen Stefani, because what’s a late-’90s festive fantasy rave without Gwen?

It would have to be Gwen from the early No Doubt days, of course, with space bun hair and jewels glued all over her face… We’d all be wearing frosty shadows from our lash lines to our brow bones, and shimmer and glitter for days.

See, I think that sometimes people forget that ’90s makeup wasn’t just about the mattes, because in the late ’90s, frost had a major moment. Lids and lips were fabulously frosty, and MAC Snow Ball grabs that vibe, but have no fear — MAC updated it, so it’s fun, festive and current — not dated at all.

A two-part holiday collection

MAC holiday collections are usually big, and so is Snow Ball, which is organized two parts. There are the kits and sets, with the bags, palettes, brushes and whatnot, and then there’s the main makeup collection with the eyeshadows, lipsticks, face powders and false lashes.

OH! There’s even a set of ’90s-style sparkly stickers for your face in the makeup collection! Gwen would totally approve.

In this post we’re chatting about the eyeshadows and face powders from the makeup collection. Stay tuned for swatches of the lipsticks. I’ll have those soon.

Snow Ball Extra Dimension Eyeshadows

OK, let’s start with the limited edition shadows, or, should I say the LE eye glosses? Because these eyeshadows look like wet eye gloss, AND IT’S AWESOME…

Oy, sloooow down, K. You’re getting ahead of yourself.

Alright, so, there are five of them, $20 each, and they’re in the MAC Extra Dimension formula. Being $20, they’re the same price as the Extra Dimensions in the permanent line. On that note, did anyone else notice that MAC hasn’t been tacking on extra $$$ for LE packaging lately? YES, MAC FAM. Cheers for doing the right thing.

The beautiful limited edition gold packaging looks like someone was having way too much fun and shattered a golden disco ball in the middle of the party…and then put all of the pieces back together haphazardly, which — big surprise — I totally love, because I wanna be the person smashing sh*t. 🙂

Getting back to the formula, the Extra Dimensions are a different formula than the regular MAC eyeshadows. They’re super soft, almost like a gel-powder hybrid, and exceptionally creamy and easy to blend. The Snow Ball shadows are like the party girl/party guy versions of the Extra Dimensions. They have the signature Extra Dimension creaminess, along with a whole lotta holiday extras, like glossy finishes (OBSESSED), multiple color shifts (which is when the color changes depending on the light), and “good” (air quotes) glitter.

Yes, it sounds like it could take a perilous turn at any moment — like the makeup that gets marked 50% off on an end cap at Claire’s — but don’t exit this rave early, because everything is tastefully done.

NO, SERIOUSLY!

Don’t miss Stylishly Merry

I’m all about Stylishly Merry. Where do I start? I can’t even tell what color it is half the time because sometimes it’s pink, other times it’s copper, then, like, I’ll blink see gold. It’s complex.

On top of the color shift, it’s packed with plenty of golden glitter, which you’d think would catapult it straight into tacky territory, but it doesn’t, because it’s delicate YSL/Dolce/Chanel-style flecks. So foine! And very expensive-looking.

If you saw it on my lids from an arm’s length away, you’d ask me what possessed me to smear lipgloss on my eyes, because these shadows have the glossy, wet finish of a thick eye gloss, but they don’t have the stickiness or movement (which is a good thing).

Picture something from a high fashion spread in Vogue. It looks super cool.

Yes, Stylishly Merry has All. Of. The. Things, but they’re all balanced perfectly, and I love it. Definitely worth at least a dance a swatch.

Face Powders

Onto the two Face Powders, which are $34 each. Compared to the eyeshadows, they’re relatively tame.

There’s a gold and a warm peach, both with mid-level pearl and pigment. You can wear them as blushes and/or as highlighters.

I prefer an understated cheek highlight, so I prefer to use them as highlighters. As blushes, all I have to say is “pores, pores, pores.”

Oh, I think you might be able to even use these Face Powders on your lids, too, because the Face Powder from the Fruity Juicy collection was eye-safe.

I’ve used the Snow Ball Face Powders to do an inner corner highlight and as a brow bone highlight (which is so ’90s), and they seem to work fine on my eyes.

So far, I’m having a ball with Snow Ball! 🙂 (Yes, that was a bad pun… I’m sorry.)

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen