MAC Snow Ball Eye Compact/Rose Gold

In the case of the MAC Snow Ball Eye Compact/Rose Gold ($29.50), a whole lotta “no’s” equal one big YES.

First time I used this palette, I was simply blown away. There was no fallout, so no cleaning up afterward. And no layering! — which, you know, with MAC LE eye palettes, is shocking, because they aren’t usually as pigmented as the permanent collection eyeshadows, but these are potently punchy.

So, basically, no drama. None! I think this is — yes, I’m going to totally go there — the best LE holiday eye palette MAC has done in years.

If you’ve been following MAC for a while, you probably know that their LE holiday eyeshadow palettes have historically been…a little dicey. They’ve been Forest Gump’s box of chocolates in that you never know what you’re gonna get! That’s why Rose Gold’s got me shook. It’s easily up to par with the best of the best eyeshadow singles in the MAC permanent line.

Rose Gold has six eyeshadows, all of them powders. Four are regular MAC eyeshadows, and two are glittery Dazzleshadows. Thematically, it’s all about warm shades of brown, pink and copper, along with a few accent shades. If you wear a lot of pink lipsticks or glosses, this is the palette for you.

You get two browns — a lighter matte pinkish brown crease color and a darker brown, which is technically a satin but looks like a matte when you put it on, and you can use either one as a crease color or liner.

There’s also a single satiny, peachy beige highlight shade; a lid color in a shimmering copper; and two glitters, one a light gray with silver sparkle, and the other a rose gold with copper sparkle.

All of the shadows are soft to the touch, and the powders yield easily to a few swipes of a blending brush. Even the dual-ended brush isn’t completely ridiculous… Really, though, why is this so easy to use!? I seriously don’t get it, but I’m feeling it, man!

First time I worn this palette, I blocked off an exorbitant amount of time play with it because I thought I’d have to put it on and take it off a few times to practice and work my way through any layering and fallout. It took about 10 minutes to realize, “Oh, snap! I’m gonna have this eye look done in a few minutes! Wait — is that crease already blended out?” Seriously, it was boss.

Color me impressed. The shadows in this palette don’t fall short in any way. I hope that MAC continues this trend with their future holiday palettes.

Rose Gold is $29.50, and it’s one of two eye palettes in the Snow Ball Holiday Collection (I’ll have a review of the other one up soon). Everything in Snow Ball is limited edition, so if you’re interested, you might want to swatch it sooner rather than later to see if it works for you…and I hope it does!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen