MAC recently launched some new eyeshadow palettes that are part of their permanent line and with new and more affordable prices. What I love about the nine pan eyeshadow palettes is their compactness, they’re the perfect size to take when you travel and come in variety of shades.
They released five new palettes with nine eyeshadows ranging from neutral to navy and burgundy shades. I have two of the five new palettes in Amber Times Nine and Dusky Rose Times Nine.
Just to be aware the eyeshadow pans are smaller than your usual refill pans from MAC but for $32 I think you’re getting a great value for the price. The palettes are marketed as pocket size palettes.
First let’s talk about my favorite of the two, the Dusky Rose Times Nine palette. I don’t own any rosy toned eyeshadows that are similar to the Naked 3 palette so I was very excited to try this. The shades in the palette are on the rosy side but still very neutral and wearable.
The shades that come in the Dusky Rose Times Nine palette are:
- M∙A∙Cnificent Me! : Piny White Frost (Frost)
- Quiet Time: Medium Bronze Shimmer (Frost)
- Dance in the Dark: Deep Cool Brown (Velvet)
- Fabulous DNA: Light Pink Shimmer (Frost)
- Pleasing to the Eye: Midtone Rose (Matte)
- Sable: Goldplum w/ bronze pearl (Velvet)
- Frankly Frosty: Light Grey Taupe (Matte)
- In My Element: Cool Silver Pearl (Lustre)
- Cool Complement: Cool Medium Brown (Matte)
I think the shade range is very nice and you get a good matte to shimmer ratio. All the shades are very nicely pigmented except of Dance in the Dark which I found a little stiff but still workable.
The value of the palette is set to $50 and the previous price was listed as $40 against the new discounted prices of $32. I think these are great for the every day girls hence the smaller pan size because I’ve never hit pan on a regular sized MAC eyeshadow.
MAC Dusky Rose Times Nine Swatches: M∙A∙Cnificent Me!, Quiet Time, Dance in the Dark, Fabulous DNA, Pleasing to the Eye, Sable, Frankly Frosty, In My Element, Cool Complement
As you can see by the swatches, all the shades are very pretty neutral shades but instead of your usual browns you actually get some dusty rose shades.
The other palette I tested out is the MAC Amber Times Nine palette, a nine eyeshadow pan palette with amber hues. The palette also comes with a variety of shades and finishes from matte to frost.
The shades that come in the Amber Times Nine palette are:
- Cozy Grey: Coolgrey (Matte)
- Kitties: Pale bronze (Frost)
- Georgia Peach: Dirty rose pink (Matte)
- Ricepaper: Peachy gold with shimmer (Frost)
- Creative Copper: Light beige (Lustrel)
- Cork: Muted golden brown (Satin)
- Don’t Tell: Sparkly brown (Lustre)
- Aromatic: Matte brown (Matte)
- Pepper Please: Sparkly bronze copper brown (Velvet)
The shades in the palette look beautiful but the reason I prefer the Dusky Rose palette is that the pigmentation was not really there with the Amber Times Nine palette. This would be a good palette for beginners or people who don’t have a lot of experience with eyeshadow application since the shades are not overly pigmented so you’re not going to pick a lot of product when you dip your brush.
You’ll see by the swatches but especially the matte shades they didn’t swatch as pigmented as with the Dusky Rose palette.
MAC Amber Times Nine swatches: Cozy Grey, Kitties, Georgia Peach, Ricepaper, Creative Copper, Cork, Don’t Tell, Aromatic, Pepper Please
Kudos to MAC for releasing some compact palettes that are also pretty affordable. If you’re looking for some nice eyeshadow palettes that you can easily travel with these are worth taking a look. My recommendation would be the Dusky Rose Times Nine palette but they do have a Burgundy Time Nine palette that also looks beautiful and pretty wearable.
*MAC palettes provided for review consideration. As always all opinion is my own.
