nce upon a Tartan’s Tale, I peeped eye colors I would regale, but not so many, I’m sad to say, as I had hoped earlier today.
The Pearlglides are, without a doubt, my favorites from the tale no doubt, but I await, so patiently, the final act, let’s call it three. 🙂
From what I’ve seen of the collection’s eye products so far, and I’ve only seen about a quarter of it, nothing’s completely stolen my heart (but the Pearlglides have it on layaway).
A lot of what I’ve seen has been surprisingly sheer, which I guess would be cool if we were talking about Clinique, but this is MAC. In other words, where’s the beef pigment?
But this tale’s far from over, and there’s much more to swatch and see. I guess only time will tale, haha! For now, I won’t rule out falling in love.
For the single product eye shadow pics that follow, I applied one layer using a dry brush head.
MAC A Tartan Tale: The Eyes Have It
- Eye Shadows in Golden Crown and Enviably Fun: Both are pretty to look at (I’m a sucker for plaid), but performance-wise, they let me down. Shimmery Golden Crown lives up to its name but falls way short on pigment. That, and it leaves a lot of fallout beneath the lash line, bluh. Shimmery greenish gold Enviably Fun packs more pigmentation into a smoother texture that suffers from less fallout, too. To bring out more of the color in the look down below, I applied both colors with a wet brush head. $19.50 for a 0.10-oz. pan.
Makeup and Beauty Blog Rating: B- - Pearlglide Intense Liners in Undercurrent and Black Swan: LOVE
these liners. Undercurrent’s an intense dark green with golden shimmer, and Black Swan’s a deep black with silver glitter. Both of them skate along skin with loads of pigment and stay put for hours. They should make great bases for the shadows, too. $14.50 for a 0.04-oz. liner.
Makeup and Beauty Blog Rating: A+ - 5 Cool Thrillseekers Pigments/Glitters: Yargh! Applied alone with a dry brush, these shades are all but invisible on my NC35 skin. Applied with a wet brush, however, the colors come out of their shells, but then the shadows end up looking thick and heavy. Lighter lovelies applying them dry might have better luck. Oh, and I’m not a fan of the little jars; I find them hard to work with, and I keep spilling the products by accident. $32.50 for five small 0.09-oz. jars.
Makeup and Beauty Blog Rating: B- - Pigment in Moonlight Night: Here’s a promising development. 🙂 Wouldn’t this sheer black with green shimmer look pretty layered over a black liner? It’s an interesting color that I can see using to add a fun twist to standard smokey eyes. $19.50 for a 0.15-oz. jar.
Makeup and Beauty Blog Rating: B+ - 6 Dashing Lassies Eye Shadows: I like the design on the compact, but I could probably live without the colors inside. When applied with a dry brush, the three lighter shades were disappointingly sheer, and the darker colors were only a bit more pigmented. Yet again, I ended up using a wet brush to coax out the colors. Unless your shadow collection’s missing a bronze, dark brown and a beige, I’d probably pass. $36 for 0.19-oz.
Makeup and Beauty Blog Rating: B-
Eye Shadows in Golden Crown and Enviably Fun
Eye Shadow in Golden Crown
Eye Shadow in Enviably Fun
Golden Crown and Enviably Fun applied with a wet brush and Pearlglide Intense Eye Liner in Undercurrent
Powder Blush in My Highland Honey on cheeks, Lipglass in Mimmy atop Lustre Lipstick in Cut a Caper (all from A Tartan Tale)
Golden Crown
Enviably Fun
Pearlglide Intense Eye Liners in Undercurrent and Black Swan
Pearlglide Intense Eye Liner in Undercurrent
Pearlglide Intense Eye Liner in Black Swan
Undercurrent (left) and Black Swan (right)
5 Cool Thrillseekers Pigments/Glitter
Pigment in Cheers My Dear
Pigment in Mauvement
Pigment in Reflects Pearl
Pigment in Silver Fog
Pigment in Softwash Grey
Pigment in Softwash Grey, Cheers My Dear and Mauvement applied with a wet brush, Pearlglide Intense Eye Liner in Black Swan
Sheertone Shimmer Blush in Peachtwist on cheeks, Beauty Powder in Smooth Harmony below cheeks to contour and Lustre Lipstick in Courting Lilac on lips (all from A Tartan Tale)
5 Cool Thrillseekers Pigments/Glitter in Cheers My Dear!, Mauvement, Silver Fog, Reflects Pearl, Softwash Grey
Pigment in Moonlight Night
Pigment in Midnight Media
6 Dashing Lassie Eye Shadows
A Dashing Lassie
Once Upon A Time
Magical Mist
Bronze
Buckwheat
Showstopper
Once Upon A, Bronze, Buckwheat and Showstopper applied with a wet brush
Powder Blush in Melba on cheeks, Lipglass in Hearts-a-Beatin’ on lips (both from A Tartan Tale)
For more on MAC A Tartan Tale…
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
instead of wetting your pigments try them over an eye kohl or a cream color base…you will get color intensity without them looking think and heavy!!
Thanks Keri! That’s always a good way to amp up the color, woot!
Oh my! Where did the color go? I thought the first pic was just your bare eyelid until I read the caption.
Love your poem, btw. You should writes us a Haiku about NARS Bento Box. 😛
wow, everything IS way too sheer! but those pearlglides, man! they are beautiful beautiful beautiful *drools*
Oh, I know! There are stunning!
I’m thinking you might want to put these over Pearl Cream Color Base…
what’s going on?! I was so excited about this collection b/c the eyeshadows were so cute, but they’re wayyy to sheer for me. And what’s up with the pigments?? I expect MAC pigments to be full-on color all the time. Luckily, the pearlglide liner is super pretty, but I could easily pass on the rest.
Yup, that’s always another option… or a creamy eye pencil!
Awww!!!! pretty pretty pretty…. all the shadows and pigments are very beautiful… but i liked the peralglide undercurrent eye liner the most.. :hypnotised: :drool: :drool:
Lovely eye of the days. I love Enviably Fun.
By the way, I e-mailed you my contest entry. Could Tabs and you e-mail me back when you get please so I know y’all got it? E-mail is so freakin’ glitchy.
Hmm these are all extremely subtle when applied dry. It seems like this collection might be geared toward fair skinned women, which given the scottish inspiration makes sense
i want undercurrent – super sexy eyeliner color
I think this entire collection might be a skip for me. Tartan isn’t my thing and I’ve got enough sheer for 5 lifetimes. Holding out hope for family crest though!
Awww, I feel so let down! Wanted cool pigments and dashing lassie, now I’¨m confused 🙁
I think I’m gonna skip this collection entirely. Everything is so sheer and disappointing. 🙁
Gio, there are 2 6-eyeshadow palettes with very nice and pigmented colors. Twist of Tartan has your kind of colors, and Reelers & Rockers have 4 Veluxe Pearl eyeshadows out of 6 e/s. 🙂
Good lord. *squints*
PASS.
Cool with swatches Karen!
I really like the pearl gliders. They are great to use under eyeshadows.
thanks for the detailed reviews! I can now safely pass on the palette I thought I wanted… I think I will grab a pearlglide instead!
I am so into the tartan eyeshadows…. I guess I have to check them out in person and choose the most pigmented of the 6. but Enviably Fun and Golden Crown looked so good int he pan.
And I love Undercurrent!! Got it from MAC Arts Supplies collection. I may need to stock up on this…it’s getting shorter by the day….
the eye look with both shadows and Undercurrent you did is very pretty!
I think I’ll pass on the shadows, but those liners will be mine!
When I first saw your first face photo, I was like: “I gotta have that eyeliner!” Turns out, I already have that one. Poor thing is not getting used enough. Need to dig it out and give it some luuuuve.
Thoese pearlglides have my name on them! Liners are such a weakness for me!
ive put 4 things on hold … and im not really looking to add more. the pearlglide liners look tempting though!
I wonder if they keep the Christmas collection sheer so that’s it’s a good universal gift to give?
I have to say that I am disappointed in the payoff from last year’s collection, and looks like I’ll be disappointed this year too. My 6 eye pan and 3 blush pan from last year are so chalky, not like MAC at all. I long for the days of Christmas 2005 when I purchased my first MAC 6 eye palette and all of the shades were so hyper pigmented!
You’re definitely right about these being sheer. Though, I must say that the Enviable Fun looks much nicer on you than it did in the swatch (which made me think Seafoam Green – yikes). 🙂 I also laughed when I pictured myself trying to work with that glitter. That would NOT end well!
im surprised that the shadows and things are looking so sheer. when i saw them in-person, they werent that pigmented either but they also werent that sheer. the pearlglide liners are GORGEOUS! im glad i got petrol blue!
I dunno. Maybe the ones you tried were more pigmented than these colors? Cause these were pretty darn sheer.
I love the green & teal eye that you’ve done here! You know I’m scared of almost every color except purple, but I might have to try that. 😀
I think My Highland Honey is hands-down the prettiest blush that I’ve seen on you, for real.
Green is good! If you’re brave enough to do purple you can most definitely rock the green. Just try it… you never know!
I’m actually very relieved. I need to save a lot of money what with the economy being in the toilet; MAC putting out a collection like this helps quite a bit. Some of the eyeliners are beautiful but, nothing that would send me running to the store or even onto MAC’s website. As for the color and/or payoff of the shadows, lipsticks, pigments, and glosses – I’m happy [for me] because I knew I was going to have to refrain from purchasing anything. I am interested to see what (other than the eyeliners) actually sells this season. I can’t imagine products being sold out as they’ve been in years before.
All I have to say is…what is up with MAC lately? I thought these eyeshadows looked so nice in the pan, but where’s the color!? I had the same experiences with Venomous Villains. I got She Who Dares and it had barely any pigment and the fallout went all over my face. 🙁 Come on MAC, get your groove back.
I bought the 6 brown eyeshadow set so far but i’m definitely going back for black swan and the gloss sets. Do you ever get glitter fallout from the pearlglide liners in your eyes? I had trouble with that from the art supplies collection. The glitter would get in my eyes and irritate, Silly glitter.
Love the pencils and the Midnight Media pigment – I’ll pass on everything else. They’ll make nice gifts for my sisters.
Hi,
Thank you for the detailed reviews. Could you please share what you used for your FOTD? I love the whole look but can’t find the details. Thanks!
So odd. I found the information after posting the question below. Hows the texture of the My Highland Honey blush?
Love the Pearl Glides and I do like the Soft Wash Grey pigment. I’m fair so I think it would show up fine on me. Also looooove Buckweat from the 6 Dashing Lassies, might have to get this just for this color. And Enviably fun and Golden crown would also show fine on my lids. These colors aren’t the most saturated but, I think I heard from someone above that there is more to the collection and it might be a bit more intense.
okay, so I wasn’t planning on getting anything from this collection (except maybe the palette with the green and vainglorious shadows… maybe) but that pearlglide in undercurrent is not DEFINITELY on my list thanks to you, Karen!
it is sooo beautiful and pigmented it is going to really pop on my brown skin! Darn you and your beutiful swatches, making me spend more of my money 😉
*now definitely, I mean. woops!
Undercurrent is GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORGEOUS!
i love love love the pencils! the pigments, NOT so much! i was expecting more since they are MAC. It seems like Illamasqua is definitely winning in the battle of pigmentation and color pay off (but of course, it will cost us more)