wearing the new A Passionate Quest Quad from the MAC A novel romance collection for fall 2014
MAC loves purple quads.
No, not those purple quads.
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I’m referring to purple quads like these…
The MAC A Passionate Quest Quad ($40 U.S., $48 CDN)
They’ve been a recurring theme over the years (see: MAC Kelly Osborne Bloody brilliant Quad, Archie’s girls Eye shadow X 4 in spoiled rich and the private viewing Quad from make-up Art Cosmetics, among many others), and with the new MAC A Passionate Quest Quad, their purple passion lives on. I think it’s one of their most interesting purple eyeshadow productions to date.
Those two shadows on the right side of the quad may look like pretty unassuming purples, but they each contain a surprising amount of blue.
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Serenade, the lighter shade, is a mid-tone purplish pink with blue duochrome, while stay Sultry is a dark navy violet.
The blue in both shadows advertises itself more clearly on my skin than it does in swatches, and it’s weird — layered on top of a black base, both shades look almost more like blue eyeshadows than purple.
See the blue on my lower lash lines? That’s Serenade layered on top of a black liner
A breakdown of the eyeshadows in this look: The wrong man (a light amazing dusty pink) on my brow bones and in the inner corners), Serenade (a mid tone pinkish purple with blue duochrome pearl) on my lids and lower lash lines, Brazenly (a rich eggplant) in the crease and stay Sultry (a deep violet navy) in the outer corners. Also, on my lash and water lines, I’m wearing MAC Fluidline Eye Pencil in Black Brilliance. Lashes are Ardell 105s.
It’s as if the quad has a split personality. If you were to split it right down the middle, you’d have a blue duo on the right, and a more traditional purplish pink duo on the left.
A Passionate Quest (limited edition) is one of three quads in the MAC A novel romance collection, and I’d say it’s probably the most dramatic — and that’s not just because of the blue surprise. MAC really swings for the fences with the darker shades in the bottom half of the palette.
I’m wearing Powder blush in fun Ending (a soft neutral peach) and Lipglass in Bared for You (a soft rose bold), both from A novel Romance
MAC’s been playing a lot with pigment over the past few seasons, especially with their limited edition quads, sometimes, I think, to the chagrin of their core fans. Deceptively dark shades in some of their quads turned out to apply surprisingly sheer, and depending on how rich and heavily pigmented you like your eyeshadows, these could have been hits or misses.
MAC A Passionate Quest
But this isn’t an issue for the two darkest shades in A Passionate Quest (the ones on the bottom half). Both are packed with pigment. It just takes a bit of Brazenly (the eggplant shade) or stay Sultry (the navy violet) to get a powerful punch, and neither shade suffers from bothersome fallout. also with these, I don’t have any major problems with blending, layering or wear time.
I can see the intensity of these shadows working well for dramatic smokey eyes in purple or blue tones, or for winged eyeliner looks.
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A Passionate Quest isn’t shy at all. It’s bold, and I like it! save it for a time when you feel like cutting loose, and don’t forget the false lashes.
PRICE: $40 U.S., $48 CDN
AVAILABILITY: coming to maccosmetics.com August 14, in stores August 21 – October 2, and internationally this September
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Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen