MAC Fall Colour: Angel Flame Eyeshadow Quad

MAC is releasing a new collection today called Fall Colour, featuring artist Cindy Sherman in three distinct looks on the promotional displays. Fall Colour is a very large collection with the release of 48 products, and is the third collection to launch in September (along with Posh Paradise and Styledriven). The Angel Flame Eyeshadow Quad is a new and limited edition eye colour palette including the following shades: Chamomile, Angel Flame, Feather Pink, and Gravel. Each palette comes in regular black packaging, contains a total of 5.6 grams, and retails for $45.

Chamomile, Angel Flame, Feather Pink, and Gravel

Chamomile is a soft pale yellowed beige in a Satin finish. This is a re-promoted shade from the Warm & Cozy collection (Winter 2009). The texture is soft and smooth with good colour pay-off. It is lighter than Ricepaper, much less frosted than Nylon, and more yellow than Dazzlelight.

Angel Flame is a soft orangey peach with golden peach shimmer in a Frost finish. The texture is definitely on the powdery side, and goes on rather patchy. The colour pay-off was on the sheer side, and it takes quite some layering to get it to look opaque. It's like Motif without the pink duochrome, or a much softer version of Melon Pigment. It is lighter and much more orange than Expensive Pink.

Feather Pink is a light cotton candy pink with blue undertones in a Satin finish. The texture is smooth, but the colour pay-off is very sheer, and it takes even more layering than Angel Flame to get it to look opaque (probably due to the Satin finish). There's nothing in MAC's permanent range of eyeshadows that is very similar; the closest would probably be Pink Venus, but Feather Pink is much cooler and slightly darker.

Gravel is a grey-black with blue undertones in a Matte finish. The texture is a little on the powdery side because it's a slightly drier formula than other Mattes, but it has decent colour pay-off and is very easily buildable. It's like a darker and matte version of Knight Divine, or a bluer version of Print.

Overall, I was a little disappointed in this quad, since two of the four shades require a lot of work to get opaque. I tested this quad with swatches and on the eyelid, and Feather Pink was definitely the worst of the four. I felt like no matter how many layers I put on, it just wouldn't look as vibrant as it does in the pan. Angel Flame was definitely better, though I still had to pad on three layers with a 239 brush to get it looking more like the peachy orange in the pan rather than just a wash of golden peach. The colours are beautiful, though, and you can get it to work, but I definitely recommend using a good eye primer first, preferably one that's slightly tacky (Rubenesque Paint Pot would work nicely here). Chamomile is fantastic as a highlighter, used under the brow or in the inner eye corner. Gravel works nicely to darken any eye look or used with other shades to create a smoky eye, or on its own as a soft liner. I would really only recommend this quad for those who like a softer, more subtle eye look; for those looking for brighter or more vibrant colours, I would look elsewhere.