MAC Shop MAC, Cook MAC: Colour Added Eyeshadow Quad

MAC will be releasing a new two-part collection tomorrow. One part is called Shop MAC, and the other part is called Cook MAC. Shop MAC includes 17 products, and Cook MAC includes 15 products. Shop MAC will see the release of three new and limited edition eyeshadow quad palettes. They come in regular black packaging with secondary cardboard packaging in bright pink with a yellow and teal design surrounding the MAC logo. Each palette contains a total of 5.6 grams of product, and retails for $45.

Laundry Daze, Colour Added, Pre-Packaged, and Self-Serve

Laundry Daze is a pale yellowed white with subtle micro-shimmer in a Satin finish. This is a new and limited edition shade. The texture is smooth, silky, and easily blendable. It has high pigmentation and opaque colour pay-off. It seems like a less shimmery version of Dazzlelight.

Colour Added is a medium bright lemon yellow with a yellow-chartreuse shimmer-sheen in a Veluxe Pearl finish. This is a new and limited edition shade. The texture is smooth, almost buttery, silky, and easily blendable. It has high pigmentation and opaque colour pay-off. It is like a slightly darker and metallic version of Canary Yellow (PRO), or like a lighter and less gold version of Bright Sunshine (PRO).

Pre-Packaged is a dark navy blue with dark teal shimmer-sheen in a Veluxe Pearl finish. This is a new and limited edition shade. The texture is smooth, almost buttery, silky, and easily blendable. It has high pigmentation and opaque colour pay-off. It is darker and less bright than Deep Truth.

Self-Serve is a dark charcoal-brown with a subtle sheen in a Satin finish. This is a new and limited edition shade. The texture is very dry, stiff, and hard to blend. It has very low pigmentation and sheer colour pay-off. I honestly found this shade really, really hard to work with; I had to pack on about five layers with a MAC #239 brush to get it to show up on my eye, even with a primer, and even then, it's very difficult to blend. The swatch above took about eight layers with both my finger and a brush. It is much more brown than Print, and more grey than Mystery.

With the exception of Self-Serve, which is just dismal, this palette is actually really nice. The other three shades just have amazing textures and colour pay-off. I was really excited to see that not one, but two of the shades have a Veluxe Pearl finish (which easily has the best pigmentation, colour pay-off, and blendability). I also like that the colour combination is more unique in this palette — I can't remember the last time MAC included a yellow shade in one of their palettes. As far as pre-made MAC eyeshadow quads go, the overall quality of this one is quite an improvement over many of last year's releases. If you don't have anything similar, this palette is worth getting it for the three shades (damn that Self-Serve!).