MAC x Brooke Shields Veluxe Pearlfusion Eyeshadow Palettes

Where has the time gone? It is almost Christmas! It feels to me as if I’m pushing out reviews as fast as I can, but here I am again, late to the party. Having loved pretty much most of the stuff that MAC presented to us this year, I jumped at the sight of the Brooke Shields collection that launched last month. It was nice to have a change of pace, a bit more grown-up, everyday wearable shades. I love the elegance embodied by Brooke Shields, a lady who knows her own mind but stands tall above the noise.

I picked up both the Veluxe Pearlfusion Eyeshadow Palettes because I couldn’t choose between the 2. As Shields herself puts it,

“I like the natural part of myself, and I like the sexier side too… One was this really fresh-faced, cleaner, daytime look and the other was much more vampy with a big focus on the eyes, and I’m both of these things.”

The textures are sublime, soft and creamy to the touch (perhaps a bit too soft), and the shades all had very pretty shimmery finishes. MAC’s veluxe pearlfusion formula is designed to be applied dry for sheer color, and wet for more opaque color.

MAC x Brooke Shields Mortal Veluxe Pearlfusion Eyeshadow Palette is the warmer-toned and lighter in terms of pigmentation of the 2.

Swatches left to right correspond to shades on palette from top to bottom:

• Pale champagne with a frosted shimmery finish, and applies somewhat sheer
• Light golden orange with a frosted shimmery finish
• Light peach-pink with a shimmery finish over a satin base
• Medium golden-bronze with frosted finish. This is the most pigmented shade of the bunch.
• Medium taupe-bronze. This shade surprised me as I had expected it to be purple from looking at the palette, but it turned out to be more bronze.

I enjoyed Mortal quite a bit for casual days and when I’m out in the sun. A gentle wash of shimmery color is great when you don’t want to go completely bare-faced but also don’t want to seem like you’re trying too hard. My only gripe with this palette is, there is little contrast between the shades and they tend to just run into each other. Try as I did, I could not get to a defined eye look with this palette, and I just ended up wearing 1-2 shades on their own each time.

MAC x Brooke Shields Trusted Instinct Veluxe Pearlfusion Eyeshadow Palette is the smokier palette in the collection, and features purples and browns.

Swatches left to right correspond to shades on palette from top to bottom:

• Pale beige with a frosted finish
• Medium-dark brown with frosty sheen
• Medium copper-brown with a pearl sheen
• Medium chestnut brown with a pearl sheen
• Dark blackened plum with shimmers

I picked up Trusted Instinct because the contrast here looked promising and I’m generally very partial to purple-ish shades. However, I found the shades too soft and they tend to overblend themselves into a muddy mess. I gave it a good run, but it just was not flattering on my eyes. I ended up wearing the blackened plum close to my lash line, smudged upwards and just blended out with the pale beige.

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Overall, MAC x Brooke Shields Veluxe Pearlfusion Eyeshadow Palettes had some lovely shades. Of the two, I found Mortal to be more wearable, although I really wished there was at least 1 dark shade for some definition. I did not get to try them out wet as I almost never wear my eyeshadows wet, so I cannot comment on the effect. Regardless, if you are looking for easy breezy makeup and do not like hunting down runaway singles, these palettes are a good alternative!