MAC Nudes & Metallics Eye Shadow Review, Swatches and Photos (Part 1: Nudes)

Despite my overly large consumption of MAC products, I sometimes feel very ambivalent about them as a brand. In my opinion, they put out far too many poor to mediocre LE collections which though trendy or cool, rarely have the quality to justify the always demand.

A few times a year they really blow my mind, and this latest PRO only collection (PRO stores and online only) is in my mind the best collection to come out this year so far...which leads me to wonder why make these products so hard and confusing to get?!? First, this collection launched in stores on April 18th and were then slated to be online mid June, but only came online about a week ago. I was lucky to be alerted by Temptalia that the products were online, so I was able to buy most of what I wanted a few days before the collection officially launched through email - but even then numerous items were already sold out.

This post covers the four LE eye shadows in the nude collection ($18.00 CA/$15.00 US). Product photos taken with flash, swatches in natural light on NC 40 skin.

Bare Minimum, Glimpse of Flesh, Exposed and Body Conscious

Bare Minimum, Glimpse of Flesh, Exposed and Body Conscious

Bare Minimum - a pale, pinky beige satin. Fairly well pigmented and smooth, pale but not chalky.

Glimpse of Flesh - a peachy warm light brown with a satin finish, well pigmented, smooth and blendable..

Exposed - a peachy warm mid tone brown with a satin finish, well pigmented, smooth and blendable.

Body Conscious - a darker, slight more orangey version of Glimpse of Flesh. Again, well pigmented, blendable and smooth with a stain finish.

I did a double take when I first looked at these because in the pot, Glimpse of Flesh and Exposed look very, very similar. On the skin they look different enough, with Exposed pulling slightly more yellow and less peachy. I did another double take when I swatched all four because on my skin Glimpse of Flesh and Body Conscious look very similar too - with Body Conscious being a fraction darker.

The pigmentation is very good to excellent, and they are all soft and smooth without being too powdery. I think these are some of the best quality eye shadows MAC has put out in quite some time - my only criticism of this grouping is how warm they all are. It would have been nice to see half the grouping be cooler or even just neutral. I feel like cooler skin tones might find these pull too orange on them. As well, I wish MAC had varied the tonal range more, including something on the darker end of the spectrum, like a dark ashy taupe or brown for contouring the crease. 

Overall Grade: A 

Overall the collection is outstanding in terms of texture and pigmentation. The only thing that stops it being an "A+" for me is the lack of variation in both the hues and tones of the shadows.

J