MAC Paint Pot

One of the last times that I was at the MAC counter, I decided to try out one of their Paint Pot eye shadows. I bought the color Bare Study, which looked like a pale shimmery gold when I swatched it on my hand. I wrote that I was test driving it in June and was all ready to write about it soon after. Well, after the first initial wear, I was rather disappointed. I decided to try it out several more times and I changed my views from disappointed to just unsure about how if I liked the shadow or not. Hence the delay on the review. Well, I decided that I am not a big fan of the product but I don't really hate it...if that makes any sense at all. I will try to fully explain in the review.

First the description of the product from MAC, "A highly pigmented eye colour that goes on creamy but dries to an intense, vibrant finish. Long-wearing, colourfast. Creates seamless coverage without weight or caking. Blends smoothly over the lids. Cream-based, can be mixed with MAC shadows and liners". MAC has a variety of colors available, the only one that I purchased was Bare Study.

The shades...

- Bare Study - soft beige with gold pearl (Frost)

- Soft Ochre - yellow beige (Cream)

- Fresco Rose - pink with matching pearl (Frost)

- Painterly - nude beige (Cream)

- Rubenesque - golden peach with gold pearl (Frost)

- Quite Natural - dirty chocolate brown (Cream)

- Constructivist - metallic brown with red pearl (Frost)

- Groundwork - mid-tone neutral taupe (Satin)

- Indianwood - metallic antique bronze (Frost)

- Artifact - burgundy with red pearl (Frost)

- Delft - deep teal with gold pearl (Frost)

- Blackground - black-grey with multi-colour (Pearl)

So what were my issues with this product? Honestly, my number one complaint was the pigmentation. Now I am well aware that I bought the palest shade that is offered in this line so maybe I shouldn't have expected quite as much as I did. But I really wasn't happy with the lack of pigmentation offered by this product. The first time was awful, the second was improved but I still feel that the color is lacking in impact. I used it both with Urban Decay Primer Potion and without and really didn't notice much of a difference either time. I am beginning to think that maybe I expected too much of the product but I was expecting more a stronger golden beige shade.

What did I like? I like that it dried to more of a powder finish and therefore was very effective in reducing creasing. It was relatively long-wearing and better than most cream shadows in that respect. It didn't cake and was very smooth throughout the day. Application was nice, it applies easily and didn't create a cakey mess on the eyelid.

I am still undecided on this product, I may have picked the wrong shade out to get the impact that I wanted. I might go back to MAC and swatch the other shades and see if there is another one that is more on the golden side and less on the beige. This isn't a bad shadow or shade but I think that it will work better as a highlighter than a lid shade.

photo courtesy of MAC