Who is the genetically blessed being that is Padma Lakshmi? Well, I know her from watching one too many seasons of Top Chef. Remember the pea puree incident? No? WELL I DO, AND IT WAS SCANDALOUS!
You might know her from her modeling work or her cookbooks. She’s gorgeous. Absolutely beautiful. And she has a new MAC collection coming out soon (it’ll be available online and at select stores from March 15th through April).
It’s a full collection — eyeshadows, blushes, a few liners, some brushes, lots of lipsticks, a gloss — and it looks luxe, with sturdy gold packaging (that may or may not be metal) and intricate details. Items that would look right at home on a table in a high-end boutique that sells boho woven rugs, crystals, hammered artisan jewelry and couture peasant tops.
I’ll be talking about other items from the collection over the next few days, but today was all about one of the two eyeshadow quads. I REALLY like 70’s Sunset ($33). The colors are surprisingly cool toned, so not at all like the warm reddish brown and orange brown thing happening in the world of eyeshadow palettes now (and for the past few years).
The quad has two Mattes and two Veluxe Pearls, which are MAC’s shiny shimmers (but they stop short of frosty).
The two Mattes are mid-toned cool beige Sand & Clay, which looks like a cool-toned version of MAC Soft Brown, and a mid-toned plum similar to MAC Haux.
The two Veluxe Pearls are coppery purple Mumtaz, which has golden pearl in it (it’s like MAC Trax’s first cousin), and light mossy green Cardamom, which has a strong white undertone (it’s a lot like Swimming, a now-discontinued shimmery green that used to live in the permanent line).
It’s interesting how eyeshadows in the same MAC finish family can be soooo different in real life. Like, I love shimmery purple Mumtaz in this quad. It’s incredibly smooth, and the shimmer is visible but subtle. It’s one of those shadows that you put on your lids one day and realize six months later that you’ve worn it every day since.
As for other Veluxe Pearl in the quad, mossy green Cardamom…it isn’t my favorite.
I think the color suits the rest of the quad well. I mean, it belongs. It brightens up the entire quad, and I can I totally see myself wanting a mossy green if I were going to wear purples on my lids and lash lines, because I could do a little swish in the inner corner, but there’s something I don’t like about the texture… This one doesn’t feel as luxurious as the other three shades. The particles are larger, and the powder sheers out faster.
I dunno… And every time a stray powder grain reaches my water lines, my eyes tear up a little.
I can make it work if I apply it with a wet brush, which I might do on occasion because I do like how it looks in the inner corner.
Other than green Cardamom, I love this quad. The shades are pigmented (I like that I don’t have to pile them on to get them to show up on my skin), soft and highly blend-able. If you’re tan like me or have a deeper skin tone, you could easily rock this daily.
If you’re lighter than I am, it might be more of a special occasion or “going out” kind of thing, because the shades will probably look much more intense on your skin than they do on mine.
Overall, though, I’m diggin’ this quad, even though I don’t love the green.
Good job, Padma!
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Oh man, Mumtaz is gorgeous! ?
I couldn’t wear either quad, definitely far too dark (I’m a ghost). The packages are gorgeous though. It’s nice to see more brands realizing their customers want collections with more variety to suit more folks.
The packaging is absolutely stunning, but I don’t think the colors would really work for me.
I saw these on your insta
and they are really nice,
but sadly I bet they will be gone before I even get to Bloomies
#annoyed
MAC has been killing it with their packaging lately! I love those purple shades. I for one am totally over the orange/pink warm toned eye looks. Those colors have never looked good on me since I’m so fair skinned and I’m ready for makeup artists and influencers to switch up their looks!
Hi ladies!
I took one peek at the pics of the palette and I was blown away. I am light to medium with interchangeable eye color…yes I said that. Today my eyes are green, with one fleck of brown on my inner left eye. Other days they are hazel. But no matter what color they are on any given day, I plan on ordering this blindly. No swatching in the dept store. Imma just press the “add to cart” button. Can’t wait to try it.
That packaging is gorgeous!
The packaging is swoon worthy. The swatches are gorgeous but they are very similar to some of the palettes I already own. Might be a great little travel palette but alas, my vacations are few and far between and usually don’t involve much make up. Your swatches are so helpful! The eye look is divine.
This looks great on you – too bad about the texture/formula for Cardamom because I agree that it looks great in the corner. It brightens everything up. 🙂
Hi Kim,
Thank you! I will probably end up substituting it with a mint liner. 🙂
That will be really nice, too. I’m sure you can dupe it pretty easily. 🙂
I like the looks of those 3 lipstick colors in the UL of the photo. The eyeshadows are too dark and too matte for me.
Hi Kellly,
I will have the lipsticks and gloss swatched soon (hopefully today so the review can go up next week). To be honest mom life has been kicking my butt lately!
I hope your week was good and that you have something fun lined up for the weekend.
I’m glad this week is over! I have a couple of things to do for fun this weekend – an estate sale on Saturday with a girlfriend and a sewing group with a bunch of my friends on Sunday. And the weather here is starting to improve a little now, too. I’m sure we’ll be seeing more snow before winter truly packs it in, tho.
I think you’re doing a great mom job, tho. Connor is such a cutie!
Me too. It’s been a long one! I had a couple of big deadlines which always throws off my rhythm, but things should slow down in the next few days and I can get back into my regular groove.
Good luck at the estate sale; I hope you find some treasure!
What are you guys sewing, by the way? Are you guys doing a group thing, or do you work on individual projects and hang out?
I belong to a historical reenactment group so we sew the stuff we wear when we go to the summer festivals around the state. Mostly it’s everyone working on the same thing so we can have someone showing us and walking us through the steps, which really helps. This weekend it’s going to be smaller stuff so probably more variety on what the group works on. Of course it’s a way to get together and hang out, too. It wouldn’t be as much fun otherwise!
Karen,
You sold me on the 70s sunset eyeshadow palette. The creative way you dressed up your eyes with it was bomb! It looks like a peacocks feathers’ eye.