MAC Purple Times Nine Eyeshadow Palette - review and swatches

My wonderful boyfriend gifted me with this palette for my birthday. I had been eyeing it out since I had seen these pop up in MAC stores the last couple of months, but convinced myself I didn't need it.  These come in four variations, and my boyfriend picked out the Purple palette (I've taught him well!).

(L to R:Sweet Lustre, Poignant, Lightly Sugared, Mancatcher, Satellite Dreams, Bon Nuit, After Dusk, Beauty Marked, Shadowy Lady)

Sweet Lust is described as a soft champagne pink with pearls, and is a lustre finish. Unfortunately this shade is not overly pigmented, but would work as a soft highlight for the inner corner and brow bone. Poignant is a soft lavender with a satin finish. Lightly Sugared is a soft lilac with pearl, and has a frost finish. Mancatcher is a lavender taupe, also with a frost finish. Satellite Dreams is a plum with violet pearl, and has a veluxe pearl finish. Bon Nuit is described as a deep plum and has a matte finish. After Dusk is a soft red wine and has a veluxe pearl finish. Beauty Marked is a black red with sparkle pearl, and has a velvet finish. Shadowy Lady is a blackened plum with a matte finish. 

I think the best performing shadows in this palette are the veluxe pearl finishes. The only disappointing shadows are the two mattes - Bon Nuit and Shadowy Lady. As you can see from the swatches, they are not overly pigmented and swatch a bit patchy. In saying that, however, the two shadows perform well over a base (my go-to is MAC Painterly Paint Pot), and I would tend to use both shades to darken the outer V, which they work well for. If I was to create a dark eyeshadow look, I wouldn't reach for either unless they were topped on a dark base. 

My favourite shades from this palette are Mancatcher (4th shadow in the palette) and After Dusk (7th shadow in the palette). Mancatcher has a frost finish, but is quite pigmented. After Dusk is a veluxe pearl. I've never tried the veluxe pearl finish shadows, but I do want to after trying this one. 

Overall, the palettes are good value for money. In Australia, each palette retails for $65 and there are four variations available - purple, amber, burgundy and navy. I most likely will purchase either the amber of burgundy palette as well, even though I really don't need any more shadows. The size and variations in the palette make this one extremely appealing to me, and it is a great palette to travel with. Any of the palettes would be good for beginners as well, as they come with a nice variety of shades and you also get to test out the types of formulas MAC has in eyeshadows. It has been said many a time that MAC needs to update their formulas, but from my own experience MAC mattes are not the best and I wasn't expected amazing things from the two mattes in this palette. Overall, however, I like that MAC has produced palettes like this around a colour theme, and it is great having a variety of purple shades in the one place. If you were interested in picking any of these up, I would recommend giving one a go!

Thanks for reading,
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