Sometimes I wish I had more eyes, like a Beholder from Dungeons & Dragons or Argos from the Greek myth. Then I could use my peripheral vision to catch Tabs trying to sneak up on me from behind, and I could simultaneously wear more than one of the nine new MAC Metal-X Cream Shadows ($20 each), although that would probably result in some very scary looks and time consuming faces of the day.
Do you remember the Metal-Xs from 2008? Gosh, that seems like so long ago… Anywho, there was a shade called Gilded Ash that I fell in love with then, so I was pretty stoked to hear about these nine new shades.
MAC changed the design on the pans and upped the price from $16.50 to $20. My meager eyes and I plan to spend more time with these next week and will let you know how we think they stack up against the older versions. For now, here are pics and swatches on my NC42 skin.
Cyber
Virgin Silver
Fusion Gold
Palladium
Rusty
Red Hot Copper
Venetian Tarnish
Vintage Coin
Gold Carbon
Swatches from the left: Cyber, Virgin Silver, Fusion Gold and Palladium
Rusty (left) and Red Hot Copper (right)
From the left: Venetian Tarnish, Vintage Coin and Gold Carbon
First impressions? I’m a little unsure about the lighter shades in Cyber, Virgin Silver, Fusion Gold and Palladium. They appear awfully nuanced on my skin, but I’m hoping those darker shades in Rusty, Red Hot Copper, Venetian Tarnish, Vintage Coin and Gold Carbon kick so much @ss as an eyeshadow base. 🙂
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
The first four look identical :/ We have similar skintones, so I guess I’ll be passing on these!
Hey Beautiful. Good luck on the testing, I personally havent worn any of these, and have not played with them in store, only the one time in Update last October. I ADORE the color of Vintage Coin. I hope they work as bases, but when they showed them to us, they actually used them as a finishing product! After a full eye makeup (Picture smolder liner on bottom and top and in crease, contrast over that, and deep truth on the lid. Drama!), then a sweep of Venetian Tarnish low on the lid in the middle of the eye, and the a touch on the tear duct and smudged under the eye..) I even tapped out a little of the gold liquid liner into a petri and pressed THAT on top of the Venetian Tarnish for extra sparkle.
Also, since the texture is close to the cream color bases, I think some would look awesome (Fusion Gold or maybe Rusty) diffused along the cheekbone as a highlighter.
Have fun, can’t wait to see the review. 🙂
–Brian
I am having a serious case of buyer’s regret over these. I have fusion gold, paladium, and venetian tarnish.
I kinda expect cream eyeshadows to be…creamy? And these were anything but. So much so that I can’t use a brush with these, and only fingers. (This is not a negative though, since I regularly use fingers with cream eyeshadows! I just find the hard and dry texture to be rather odd.)
These perform alright when I use them as a base but if I use them along they tend to crease and fade. It’s just I’m very much a cream eyeshadow girl and use them a lot as an over all wash on the lids when I’m in a hurry (which his a lot!) and these just don’t work well for this.
I love the look of Palladium in the pan, but as someone said, it looks identical when swiped to the other 3 lighter colors. Disappointing 🙁
However, Gold Carbon looks like a slightly dark version of the taupy silver awesomeness I was wanting… hm…
Oooh, I’m loving Rusty and Red Hot Copper. More things to add on to my shopping list! Haha, thanks for the swatches Karen!
It’s been that long already?! D: Way to make me feel old, MAC. I could have sworn the Metal-Xs were released just a year or two ago!
The first four shades seem too similar to be exciting, but I’m loving the look of Gold Carbon. I didn’t check out the Metal-X formula when it was previously released, but perhaps now’s the time!
Wow Karen, Venetian Tarnish, Vintage Coin and Gold Carbon just rock it for me
Venetian Tarnish, Vintage Coin and Gold Carbon look promising! Please keep us posted about how long they last etc etc! The lighter shades look… the same lol
Oh. My. Goodness. Vintage Coin looks AMAZING! Would look great with brown eyes 😀
The colors don’t really excite me!
And like others, the 1st 4 shades look so similar…..
the colors are beautiful but only in the pan. These are great for subtle iridescent looks and nowhere near being Metal-x….they could have been called metal dust.
These are some seriously fun shades. I’ve seen a gorgeous look recently of metallic shadow with a clear gloss on top. Have you ever tried the glossy look?
the colors are so pretty!!!
I was so excited to see this on my recent Malaysia trip, they had just launched there and I picked up Gold Carbon greedily (since collection generally take several months to come to India). I’m just so disappointed with the wear time! They crease within minutes unless you really pack on powder eye shadow on top. I picked up Gold Carbon for the color but unless I buy another coordinating powder eye shadow, I can’t wear it at all 🙁 !
Im loving the darker colours! Gotta have a look on these at the MAC counter.
And maybe do a blog post on some of them. I’ve started a makeup and beauty blog. Have a look 🙂 Ill appreciate!
Here it is: http://www.makesmybeauty.com
🙂
Gold carbon looks great.
Not feeling them…thanks for the review though!