MAC Styledriven: Pro Longwear Eyeshadow

MAC released a new collection yesterday called Styledriven, featuring 47 products, six of which are permanent and being re-promoted, and 41 of which are new and will be made permanent (!). This is a huge launch for MAC, and definitely the biggest permanent launch I've ever seen. This collection sees the expansion of their Pro Longwear line-up, featuring new shades of the Lipcreme, a new lip pencil formula, a new Lipglass formula, and a new eyeshadow formula. This review will include 12 of the 16 shades of the new and permanent Pro Longwear Eyeshadow. Each eyeshadow contains 3.4 grams and retails for $24. These are not applicable for the Back To MAC recycling program.

Clockwise from left: Carefree, Sweet Satisfaction, Lie Low, and Legendary Black

Carefree, Sweet Satisfaction, Lie Low, and Legendary Black

Carefree is a pale cream white gold in a Frost finish. Smooth and easily blendable with good colour pay-off. It is lighter than Ricepaper, and much less frosted than Nylon.

Sweet Satisfaction is a soft wheat brown with a champagne sheen in a Frost finish. Smooth, almost buttery, easily blendable, excellent pigmentation and colour pay-off. It is similar to Grain.

Lie Low is a medium-dark warm golden brown in a Frost finish. Smooth, almost buttery, easily blendable, excellent pigmentation and colour pay-off. It is less orange than Texture, slightly darker and more vibrant than Cork.

Legendary Black is a blackened brown with bronze shimmer in a Satin finish. Smooth and easily blendable with good colour pay-off. It is more brown than Smut.

Clockwise from top: Pink Frontier, Hot Paprika, Sunny Outlook, and Tease With Ease

Pink Frontier, Hot Paprika, Sunny Outlook, and Tease With Ease

Pink Frontier is a soft warm pink with a champagne sheen in a Frost finish. Smooth and easily blendable with good colour pay-off. It is more pink than All That Glitters, and less peach than Hush.

Hot Paprika is a bright burnt orange with red micro-shimmer in a Frost finish. Smooth, almost buttery, easily blendable, excellent pigmentation and colour pay-off. It is more red than Rule, and softer and more orange than Red Brick.

Sunny Outlook is a bright golden yellow in a Satin finish. Smooth, almost buttery, easily blendable, excellent pigmentation and colour pay-off. It is less gold and more yellow than Goldmine, and darker and more vibrant than Gorgeous Gold.

Tease With Ease is a bright raspberry pink with a sheen in a Frost finish. Smooth and easily blendable with good colour pay-off. It is less pink than Passionate, and much less purple than Plum Dressing.

Clockwise from top: Fresh Flare, Styledriven, Thru The Night, and Plush

Fresh Flare, Styledriven, Thru The Night, and Plush

Fresh Flare is a bright kelly green in a Frost finish. Smooth and easily blendable with good colour pay-off. There is nothing remotely similar to this in the permanent line-up, but it more yellow than Jealousy Wakes (from Bloggers' Obsession).

Styledriven is a light sky blue in a Frost finish. Smooth, almost buttery, easily blendable, excellent pigmentation and colour pay-off. It is more vibrant and less chalky than Sky Blue.

Thru The Night is a purple-tinged navy blue in a Satin finish. Smooth, almost buttery, easily blendable, excellent pigmentation and colour pay-off. It's a little more purple than Deep Truth.

Plush is a dark purple with red undertones in a Satin finish. This one was probably the only problem shade I had in the entire bunch, at least in relative to the quality of the other eyeshadows. It went on dry and patchy, and took a bit more work to build up to the colour intensity that I wanted compared to the other shades. It is also harder to blend out than the rest. It is slightly redder than Nocturnelle.

Overall, the new Pro Longwear Eyeshadows are a fantastic new addition to MAC's permanent eyeshadow collection. They are more than double the size of the regular eyeshadows at $6 more each, which is a bargain if the colour is unique to this formula (Fresh Flare, Tease With Ease, Styledriven, etc.) and/or if the shade becomes a staple and cost per use becomes low (Pink Frontier, Lie Low, Sweet Satisfaction, etc.). The quality was, for the most part, quite fantastic: smooth, pigmented, good colour pay-off, easily blendable and buildable. (The exception being Plush, which took some work to get true-to-pan colour.) Some of them are almost as buttery as Veluxe Pearls or the Mega Metal Eyeshadows from Peacocky, but are generally not quite as dense as the aforementioned. They are a slightly drier formula, but they do wear for a full 12 hours with or without a primer underneath. Because all of these shades have a pearl finish, those who prefer matte shades might be disappointed, but for all other eyeshadow fans, these are absolutely worth looking at.