My MAC neutral eyeshadow palettes

I got my first MAC eyeshadow in grade 7, which is now also 7 years ago. I went into MAC with, I believe, a giftcard and picked out All That Glitters, a kohl eyeliner, a lipglass and the worst mascara ever (but more about those things later). All That Glitters was my favourite shade the moment I saw it, and still is. I carried it around everywhere with me. I was the first girl to own any MAC makeup in my grade, so girls liked to play around with it too. Well, one girl dropped my beloved eyeshadow and shattered it. Ofcourse I had no idea about pressing broken shadows so with my next Christmas giftcard I bought a new one. This time I decided to get a quad 4-palette and the pro palette form of the shadow. I also bought my second shadow, a darker crease colour which was Satin Taupe. I lived with those two shadows till grade 11 when I asked for Carbon and Crystal Avalanche from my boyfriend for Christmas. He also got me a backup of All that Glitters which is actually the one in my palette currently, that I'm almost out of again.

Anyways, beginning of grade 12 I got my first job working as a hostess at a restaurant. I started making money, and it was downhill from there LOL. I decided to buy the bigger pro palette and expand my shadow collection. I started out buying ones I saw and liked after swatching but being a bit OCD, I needed to have the whole palette full asap. So after way too many trips to MAC and way too much time looking at swatches and eye combos online and a couple hundred dollars later, my big and small palette was full and I was content.

I mentioned in my last haul I bought another pro palette from someone once I found out they were selling a new, different style in stores. I put the 4 shadows that were in my smaller palette in there but being me, the empty spots were bugging me. So over the past week or so, I've bought another 5 or  6 shadows. I'm trying really hard to fight the urge to fill it now!  I'd really like to wait till I really fall in love with a color first.

I'm sorry if that was way too long of a story! I guess I just find it interesting to know how other people's makeup addictions get fueled, because that's definitely where mine began LOL

So on to my collection....
I only wear neutral colours so all of my shadows are neutrals, but I tried to buy a variety of shades.

L-R:

First row: empty, Ricepaper, Naked Lunch, All That Glitters, Electra

Second row: Amber Lights, Woodwinked, Patina, Shale, Club

Third row: Antiqued, Bronze, Sable, Satin Taupe, Knight Divine

These are pretty much all my shimmery lid colours.

In the other palette I have my two inner corner colours, and my mattes.

I also have 5 empty spots.

L-R:

Top row: Crystal Avalanche, Cork, Swiss Chocolate, Blanc Type

Second row: Nylon, Texture, Mystery, Copperplate

Third row: empty, Saddle, empty, Carbon

(** swatches coming soon **)

I'll list them here grouped by finish alphabetically with the MAC's website's description:

Amber Lights - Peachy brown with shimmer (frost)

Bronze - Gold bronze with gold-bronze shimmer (frost)

Electra - Silver with icy shimmer (frost)

Naked Lunch - Minimal pink with shimmer (frost)

Nylon - Pale gold with icy shimmer (frost) 

Patina - Taupe brown with golden pearl (frost)

Ricepaper - Peachy gold with shimmer (frost)

Satin Taupe - Taupe with silver shimmer (frost)

Saddle - Golden orange brown (matte)

Carbon - Intense black (matte)

Swiss Chocolate - Muted reddish brown (matte)

Blanc Type - Creamy beige (Matte2)

Copperplate - Muted mid-tone grey (Matte2)

Cork - Muted golden brown (satin)

Club - Red-brown with green pearl (satin)

Mystery - Muted plum brown (satin)

Shale - Mauve plum with subtle shimmer (satin)

All That Glitters - Beige with gold pearl (veluxe pearl)

Antiqued - Ash brown with bronze (veluxe pearl)

Crystal Avalanche - White with reflects (veluxe pearl)

Knight Divine - Black with silver pearl (veluxe pearl)

Woodwinked - Warm antique gold (veluxe pearl)

Sable - Gold plum with bronze pearl (velvet)

Texture - Peachy brown with shimmer (velvet)

My favourites:
Inner corner: Nylon, Crystal Avalanche
Highlight: Naked lunch, Blanc Type
Lid: All That Glitters, Woodwinked, Ricepaper
Blending: Saddle, Cork
Crease: Texture, Copperplate
Liner: Carbon, Mystery



I don't own shadows in 2 of the MAC finishes, but here's my little "MAC eyeshadow finish 101":

Frost: These are decently pigmented and very high metallic shadows. There are no obvious glitter chunks, just lots in the tiniest form to really deliver that frosty sheen. In my opinion, these go on smooth and can be really fun to create looks with.
Lustre: I don't own any of these. I did at one point and probably never will again. These shadows have almost no pigmentation and barely go on. Despite having large chunks of glitter, the glitter is barely visible once applied. Many people say this is MAC's worst eyeshadow formula, and I tend to agree. If it's glitter you sought after, you are much better off buying a glitter pigment.
Matte: No shine, completely flat. These are great for placing in the crease, or if it's a more professional or natural look you desire. There is a really large selection of Matte formula shadows and as much as I love a lot of the colours, I try to stay away from these...
Matte2: These are everything that the Matte formula should be! Like the Matte formula, they are also completely flat without any sheen or glitter. However they are sooo much more pigmented, and easier to blend. You don't have to pack on nearly as much and they are just so smooth that you don't get that patchiness that the Matte shadows sometimes give. One of my favourite formulas by far and if I'm looking for a matte colour I always try to find it in the Matte2 formula.
Satin: No metallic finish, no glitter, just the tiniest amount of sheen. I own 4 shadows in this finish and if I had no idea that they were all Satins I would have never ever have guessed it. Two of them fit the Satin description and two are pretty high in shimmer and sheen. Despite that, all 4 are good shadows. Decent pigmentation and easy enough to blend.
Veluxe Pearl: My favourite formula (may or may not be because All That Glitters is in this formula *winkwink). These shadows go on like butter. These are high in sheen but without the frosty-metallic finish that the Frost formula has. They are also high in colour payoff and MAC has a large selection of shadows in this finish.
Veluxe: The Veluxe formula is the same butter-smooth formula as Veluxe Pearl minus the sheen. I wish MAC had more than 3 shadows in this formula because it would probably be another favourite of mine, but as of right now, I don't own any.
Velvet: Another favourite of mine. In my opinion the Velvet formula is like Matte2 with a bit of a glow.  My absolute favourite crease colour is in this formula. The Velvet formula delivers high color payoff and an extremely smooth "velvety" finish.

In Canada, you can purchase each shadow in a pot for $18 at any MAC store or counter, and at most MAC individual stores you can purchase the pro palette form for $14.
To buy a full palette is $234.50 CAD plus tax. It's bit scary to think that once I have filled two, I will have spent exactly $530 total with tax but I absolutely adore my shadows and use them everyday so I'll try to ignore that.... :/

On a more positive note, what are your favourite MAC shadows? I would love to know! :)

Until next time,
xoxo V